Archives par étiquette : The Pilkington Agency

THE LINEUP de Nicholas Timms

Set against the backdrop of the iconic Byron Bay, this debut thriller dives into the hostile and sometimes violent world of competitive surfing.

THE LINEUP
by Nicholas Timms
PRH Australia, July 2026
(via The Pilkington Agency)

A killer on the loose. A surfer out of his depth…

Bo Curren was once a champion surfer. Now, at twenty-eight, he’s all washed up – unable even to set foot near the ocean.

Instead, he spends his days alone in his apartment, drowning his sorrows in whiskey and watching surfers on his laptop via the 24-hour surf webcam.

Then one day he sees something he shouldn’t. A camera trained on a deserted Byron Bay beach picks up a murder right there on the sand.

The police dismiss his report, and no bodies are found. Yet Bo knows what he saw.

And he has a clue: the murderer’s distinctive surfboard. If he can track that down, he’ll catch the killer.

But is he ready to dive back into a world where the rules are unspoken, outsiders aren’t welcome, and where secrets can be as dangerous as the waves?

A word from the editor, Bev Cousins: « I’m thrilled to be publishing Nicholas Timms’ sensational debut thriller, THE LINEUP. As a publisher of crime fiction for over thirty years both in the UK and Australia, it takes a very special book now to catch my eye – but I fell for this one hook, line and sinker. With heart-stopping ocean set-pieces amid tense detective scenes, Nicholas Timms masterfully balances the thrills of surfing with the twists and turns of the best crime fiction.’

‘The Lineup reads like a riptide.  Once you’re in it it won’t let you go.’ — Michael Brissenden, bestselling author of Dust

‘The Lineup crashes into the Australian crime scene with the force of a perfect wave — a tense debut that drags you under and doesn’t let you surface until it’s done. Highly recommend.’ — R.W.R. McDonald, author of The Nancys

‘The kind of book that grabs you and doesn’t let go, The Lineup will sweep you away in an adrenaline rush of action and intrigue, all the while exploring a poignant thread about trauma and grief.’ — Jess Kitching, author of The Life Experiment

Nicholas Timms is a writer and former competitive surfer based in Sydney. Now working as a copywriter for a globally recognised advertising agency, he has been the creative mind behind several award-winning campaigns.

THE BURIED TEACHESTS d’Annika Blau

An extraordinary true story of family secrets, scandal, and survival.

THE BURIED TEACHESTS
by Annika Blau
on submission
(via The Pilkington Agency)

THE BURIED TEACHESTS follows journalist Annika Blau’s journey after she stumbles upon a secret family legacy. What follows is a remarkable investigation into a family who rose to prominence as purveyors of the famous 4711 cologne, only to be brought down by scandal, internment, and erasure.

A few years ago, Annika discovered that two teachests of mail collected by her great-grandfather had been found during a demolition and auctioned off for a small fortune by strangers. They were lauded as one of the most significant hauls of military mail in Commonwealth history, containing rare correspondence from Sydney’s WW1 prisoner of war camp. But for Annika,they revealed family secrets, silences and shame.

Using the mail as clues, Annika uncovers the riches to rags tale of the relatives who collected it. Charting a path through two world wars and the Great Depression, it’s a story about the family’s rise to Sydney’s high society and their fall to years behind bars as British “war trophies”. At the heart of the story is a mystery: why did Annika’s great-grandfather collect this historic haul only to hide it under some floorboards? Ultimately, she discovers he buried not just the teachests, but the truth of who the family were and where they came from.

At once memoir and investigation, The Buried Teachests sits alongside Wifedom by Anna Funder and The Hare with Amber Eyes as a powerful exploration of identity, loss, and the truths families bury to endure.

Annika Blau is an award-winning journalist, editor and podcaster. She is a reporter for ABC Radio National’s flagship investigative program, Background Briefing. In 2023, she wrote, produced and presented The Buried Teachests: a two-part podcast series for RN’s History Listen program.

DUST de Michael Brissenden

One of Australia’s most respected journalists, during his long career Michael Brissenden has covered politics, national security issues and spent many years working as a foreign correspondent. He now writes gritty crime novels that tackle social issues while maintaining a gripping pace.

DUST
by Michael Brissenden
Affirm Press/ Simon & Schuster, September 2025
(via The Pilkington Agency)

Lake Herrod, a once-thriving community, now lies in the shadow of a nearly dry lake. The town, like the water, is evaporating and its residents are left clinging to what little remains.

When Aaron Love discovers a fresh corpse near the cracked lakebed – along with evidence his missing father is alive and linked to a web of organised crime – he is thrust into a world of deception, injustice and betrayal. With the town on the brink of collapse, Aaron and a haunted detective, Martyn Kravets, uncover a web of conspiracy that reaches far beyond the small community.

Dust is a dark, gripping thriller that explores the complexities of identity, a search for truth, and the unyielding forces of corruption in a world where lives are lived on the fringe, and nothing is as it seems.

‘A deeply human, timely and utterly compelling crime novel, one of the very best to come out of Australia in recent years’. – The NZ Herald

‘Heartbreakingly good.’ – The Age/The Sydney Morning Herald

Michael Brissenden was a journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for 35 years. He was posted to Moscow, Brussels and Washington and worked in Canberra for many years in various roles – including as the Political Editor for the daily television current affairs program – The 7.30 Report, as the ABC’s defence and security correspondent and as the presenter of the ‘AM’ Current Affairs program on ABC radio. From 2017 to 2021 he was a reporter with the ABC’s investigative television documentary program – Four Corners. Michael has contributed to a number of essay collections over the years and written for The Bulletin, The Canberra Times and New Matilda. He now writes fiction and has published four novels: The List, Dead Letters, Smoke and Dust.