Overview

1950. An obese man lies dead in the zoology shed of the local university. Rats are running all over and around his body which is naked to the waist and covered in lard. Two mysterious handwritten signs are found nearby and a numbered pendant is tied around the man's neck. Two days later, another man lies dead at the back of a local hotel. He is face down in an old bath filled with water. Two more signs are found near the body but are different from the messages found with the previous victim. And another pendant is found around this man's neck but with a different number from that on the first body. Is there a connection between the victims? What do the messages mean? Do the numbered pendants suggest a sequence of murders? Detective Harry Taylor is stationed in the quiet and conservative city of Armidale in country New South Wales. He must use all his experience and investigative skills on these unusual and challenging cases. University lecturers and students, newspaper reporters, priests, other police officers, forensic specialists and townsfolk all have their opinions but are at a loss as to the identity of the murderer and their motive. Harry's job is complicated by breaking in a new detective, addressing false accusations from his past, a daylight physical assault, the tension of the local population and making time for his romantic life.

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A descendent of eleven convicts, Laurie was born in 1935 during the great depression at Barellan, a small country town in the Riverina. For the first fifteen years there was no electricity, running water, paved roads or sewerage, but it was a wonderful country, supportive, community.He completed his secondary education at Yanco Agricultural High School, where after surviving the accepted bastardisation of that time, he enjoyed his experience, and passed the Leaving Certificate with 1st class honours.Following two years at Armidale Teachers College, and compulsory National Service, he commenced teaching as an 18-year-old at Richmond High School, during which time, he completed his degree by external studies from New England University. This was followed by service at Cowra High School, (1962-64) and as Head Teacher at Queanbeyan High School (1965-69). In 1967 he exchanged with the head teacher at Kaikorai Valley High School at Dunedin in New Zealand.In 1968 he wrote his first book; Assignment Geography, a student workbook that was published by Cheshire.In 1969 he was appointed an Inspector of Schools, and spent many years travelling to many country schools in NSW after which most of his service was in the Metropolitan South-West and Metropolitan West regions. In 1980 he was granted a Teaching Services Fellowship to study educational systems in North America, UK and Europe, and combined those studies with his post graduate studies into organisational development, industrial relations and economics at the University of NSW.Laurie completed his service with the Department of Education as Regional Director, Metropolitan West, responsible for human resources, industrial relations and training and development. That region had 270 schools, 130,000 students and 16000 staff. Following that service he established a private management consultancy, specialising in crisis management, industrial relations, conflict resolution, organisational development, mediation and career transition. Much of that work was done with the NSW Police Service, NSW Crime Commission, Rural Fire Service, Corrective Services and Juvenile Justice.In the early 2000s, he wrote three practical guides for supervisors and managers which were published by Allen and Unwin. They were: Making Conflict Resolution Happen; Making Negotiations Happen, and Employee Relations.In 2001, Laurie moved to the Sunshine Coast where he took up painting to relax and decided to commence writing again. In 2011 he self-published a collection of bush yarns from the outback titled; Dust, Dags, Drongos and Flies, and followed that with his life story titled, Three Crows on a Blood-Stained Saddle.In 2019 Laurie wrote and self-published the first of his crime fiction series, starting in 1947 in a small country town in central NSW. It is titled HARRY, The Ants Nest. Detective Harry Taylor, recently returned as a member of Z Force, working behind enemy lines in Borneo, is sent to Goonaburra to investigate the murder of a young woman in the town where he was born.The second in the series titled, HARRY, The Target, is set in early 1948, and was published in 2020. Harry returned to the serious crime scene in Sydney where he had to deal with the Mister Bigs of crime, as well as corruption within the force. There was a contract taken out on Harry.After his service in Sydney, Harry Taylor is sent as a Detective Sergeant to Wagga Wagga. His exploits there are the subject of the third and fourth book in the series titled, HARRY, Amazing Grace, published in March, 2022 and HARRY, The Red Raddle, published in 1923.He has just completed the fifth in the series titled HARRY, Straight Eight, that is centred on Armidale. The most common feedback from readers of these books is that they should be made into a film or an ABC TV series.Laurie is a member of the Australian Society of Authors and the Australian Crime Writers Association.

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