DEADLY INTENT

It is October 1923. What looks like a routine report, on the heavy rains battering Melbourne, becomes another case of murder for The Argus’s celebrated crime reporter, Reggie da Costa, devotee of fashionable suits and flamboyant automobiles. A flooded basement hides a ghastly secret: the decomposing remains of Cornelius Stout, a wealthy widower, who has been missing for over two years. With an unlikely partner in straitlaced Dotty Wright, Reggie pursues a cold-blooded, manipulative killer with deadly intentions.

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“In this delightful historical crime novel, Australian author Laraine Stephens delivers an enthralling page turner in Deadly Intent. Readers will enjoy being transported back in time with an intriguing set of characters, led by Reggie, and a great setting to contrast and go hand in hand with the specter of a fiendish killer on the loose.” 

~ R. Barri Flowers, award winning criminologist and author

“Chock-full of delightful details and cinematic settings, Stephens paints an enthralling picture of Australia in the 1920s. Her protagonist—the flamboyant, well-dressed, moustache-smoothing, investigative reporter Reggie da Costa—is quite the charming rogue. He meets his match in the spirited Dotty, who finds she rather enjoys the darker side of Melbourne that Reggie introduces her to. Together, they puzzle through an alarming number of local murders. When his editor demands that he stick to reporting instead of sleuthing, this only fuels da Costa’s determination to continue seeking what he views as his mission…bring criminals to justice with the printed word as his sword! This is a charming and wonderfully atmospheric novel, full of riddles and flirting and endearing characters; but prepare yourself for a good dose of gritty, early-twentieth-century crime, too. Grab a cuppa, sit in a comfy armchair, put your feet up, and get ready to drift into another time and place.” 

~ Kerry Peresta, author of the Olivia Callahan Suspense Series