Dead Centre

The Peter Falconio case is one of the most interesting criminal cases in Australian history. A British tourist, Peter Falconio disappeared at night in the outback in 2001. His companion, Joanne Lees was reported attacked that night. It was a front-page news sensation around the world. A massive police manhunt and investigation across several states ensued. Some thirteen months later Bradley Murdoch was charged with his murder and the attack on Joanne Lees.

Robin Bowles' investigation of the case included over fifty hours interviewing Bradley Murdoch, plus interviews with other significant characters in the case, a reenactment of the reported circumstances and a personal search for Peter Falconio's body.

The book covers a complex and controversial police investigation, court proceedings and an examination of the many remaining questions that are still unanswered to this day. It also covers Robin's own journey through the investigation of a case that sent shockwaves through Australia and England.

In 1996 Robin read a newspaper report about the alleged suicide of Victorian country housewife Jennifer Tanner. Guessing there might be a book in the €˜story behind the news€, she closed her PR business for a year and wrote a best seller, Blind Justice, now in its eighth reprint. She has written a bestseller almost every year since. During her career as an investigative writer she also obtained a private investigator€s licence. Some of the cases she was involved in inspired her novels, The Curse of the Golden Yo-Yo and Mystery of the Missing Masterpiece. Widely recognised as Australia€s foremost true crime writer, Robin is also a national convenor of Sisters in Crime Australia.

€˜Robin Bowles relentless investigation, including over 50 hours spent interviewing Bradley Murdoch, reveals not only the complexities of a case investigated over thousands of kilometres, but realities of people and places which are almost alien to those of us who hug the green shores around the dead centre and populate that landscape with our deepest fears and worst imaginings,€ Katrina Beard presenting the Davitt Award for true crime to Dead Centre, 2006.