Some killers hide in plain sight. Others hide in ritual.

Detective Inspector Terry Stratton starts his day racing a Tasmanian triathlon, trying to outrun personal demons and professional rivals in roughly equal measure. By mid-morning he’s standing over a body staged with chilling precision in one of Hobart’s quietest parklands.

Recently demoted and handed the re-formed Homicide and Unsolved Violent Crime Unit — a home for misfits and careers in decline — Stratton sees what others miss. The murder isn’t random. It’s deliberate. Symbolic. And unfinished.

When a second body appears, just as carefully staged, Stratton becomes convinced the killings follow an arcane logic rooted in ritual and belief. As he traces the pattern, resistance grows: the media wants answers, his own team is divided, and Assistant Commissioner Morton is certain Stratton is chasing shadows.

With kunanyi / Mount Wellington looming over the city, Stratton must choose between political survival and stopping a killer racing toward a final act — where every wrong call could cost him his badge, or someone else their life.

The second book in the Detective Inspector Stratton Mysteries, Aether is a psychological murder mystery rich in atmosphere and dark humour, set on an island where isolation sharpens obsession. For listeners who enjoy a detective crime series, Australian mystery, and stories where intellect, instinct and stubborn integrity collide.