"Dirt Creek" by Hayley Scrivenor, is an excellent crime thriller debut with intricate storytelling, suspenseful pacing and well-developed characters. The author does a very good job of exploring the impact of both past and present trauma in the residents of a town that is …more slowly fading from lack of meaningful progress. One feature I enjoyed was giving several children story arcs of their own, including a collective voice of "we." This gave the reader a unique viewpoint into the town, with the perspective of the children both enhancing and contrasting with the experiences of the adults.

As a librarian, I will definitely be ordering this book and recommending it to patrons who enjoy crime fiction and authors such as Jane Harper and Liane Moriarty. As a reader, I hope this is the first of many from this author. (less)