I did very much enjoy this mystery set somewhere outside of Sydney in a small community that is popular with tourists and weekend visitors. One such visitor is Jonathon who bought a small cottage on an acreage to spend weekends in. The fact that the family next door in Haven is "different" is obvious but it is only when the younger sister, Astral, starts speaking to him from the Haven side of the fence that he becomes curious about them. He learns that there are 3 sisters and a mother, Rachel, who have lived there for a number of years. Recently failed rock star Adam Quinn has started to live with them. Quinn sometimes goes into town but Rachel and the three girls are very seldom seen. When Jonathon is invited by Astral to come over to the Haven side of the fence he realizes it is unusual but he doesn't expect to find the badly decomposed body of Adam Quinn in the chicken shed. It looks like Quinn shot himself but Rachel is missing and the house was set on fire while the girls were sleeping so it looks suspicious. Tessa Vance and Steve Hayden and other members of the Sydney Homicide Squad are called in to investigate. Soon there is another suspicious death, this time of the schoolteacher Fiona Klein that the girls were staying with. Tessa feels that she knows something that will solve the mystery but she can't quite put her finger on it. When she does all the pieces fall in place.

This was a well written mystery but I also enjoyed the descriptions of the flora and fauna. I can't quite get my head around living in a place where parrots and other (to me) exotic birds fly free but it certainly added to the appeal of the book. ( )

I persevered with this book, to the end, however it was under sufferance. Just could not get into it. The storyline was difficult to follow and listening to the character's "thoughts" being read in the middle of a conversation was off putting, to say the least. Two stars for an Australian author and setting. ( )