Western Australian debut novelist Karen Herbert makes an accomplished start with this rural crime tale where the death of a middle-aged woman tears the lid from a Pandora’s box of small-town secrets.

Ten years after her teenage son, Darren, is murdered, Sandra Davies’ friend Barbara is found dead and her DNA matches that found under Darren’s fingernails years before.

Herbert engages readers early in a tale of swirling secrets. Her debut flows well and there’s a nice pace and tension even as The River Mouth eschews much in the way of violence and operates at a steady simmer more than a high boil. Soaked in small-town atmosphere this is a good first bow that has me looking forward to an encore.

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Herbert is the author of The River Mouth (2021) and The Castaways of Harewood Hall (2022). In 2021 she was awarded a Fellowship at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre for her manuscript Vertigo.

Karen spent her childhood in Geraldton on the midwest coast of Australia before moving to Perth. She holds a Master of Science in Applied Psychology and has worked in aged care, disability services, higher education, Indigenous land management, social housing and the public sector.

She is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a board member of Advocare, and immediate past President of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA). Karen lives in Perth, Western Australia with her husband, Ross.