Dust and Bones

Maya Thorne Australian Outback Thriller Series #1

by Phillip Strang

A drought-exposed creek bed. A bullet in the skull. A detective confronting the past she fled.

When skeletal remains surface at Billabong Station, Detective Maya Thorne is dragged back to Warragulla — the rural hometown she swore never to revisit. The bones belong to Cameron Lockhart, a local landowner buried where bushfires would erase the evidence. Someone wanted him forgotten.

Partnered with Senior Constable Luke Carver, Maya's investigation quickly spirals beyond a single murder. Hidden records reveal contamination data that was buried as deliberately as the body — and connections to deaths on properties across multiple states.

For Maya, this case cuts close to bone. Fifteen years ago, she raised the alarm about poisoned land on these same farms. Officials dismissed her. Her father, then a senior councillor, said nothing. Now his dementia-fractured memories are surfacing truths someone powerful will kill to keep hidden.

What did her father know? Who silenced Cameron Lockhart? And how far does this conspiracy reach?

The closer Maya gets to answers, the more dangerous Warragulla becomes. Some secrets run deeper than the drought — and some people will do anything to keep them buried.

For fans of Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, and Garry Disher.

Book 1 in the Maya Thorne series — 13 books available.

Genres: Novella

119 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 21, 2025

About the author

Phillip Strang is a crime fiction writer with over 150 novels published across multiple series. Born in Sydney, Australia, he has spent much of his life travelling extensively — installing telecommunication networks across remote regions of Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. That experience of working in difficult, culturally complex environments shapes his writing: his books are grounded in real places, real tensions, and believable characters under pressure.

His main series are DI Keith Tremayne (Salisbury and rural Wiltshire), DCI Isaac Cook (London), DI Sarah Lynch (Scottish Highlands), Natalie Campbell, Alex Harlan, and Maya Thorne. Between them, they span village murders, urban homicide, remote Highland crime, and beyond — all with the same focus on detectives who don't give up, whatever the politics thrown at them.

He is married and lives in Australia.

Find him on Facebook: facebook.com/PhillipStrangWriter and Instagram: instagram.com/phillipstrangauthor

Reviews

[Lee Brothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big surprise in every chapter as each reveal leads to more unbelievable information! Great storyline! Great back stories! I really liked Maya! She's been through so much and come out making the best of things! Can't wait to see what happens next!!

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dust and Bones is written by Philip Strang.
The title is Book #1 of the Maya Thorne Australian Outback Thriller series.
The location is a small town, Warragulla, in the Australian Outback. “Skeletal remains have been discovered in a drought-exposed creek bed at Billabong Station, likely from the brush fires that ravaged the region 3 years ago.”
A taut, tense plot; interesting, intelligent characters; and a brutal landscape.
A new title and series for me. ****

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The first installment in the Maya Thorne Australian Outback is a quick read that needs some work but shows promise.

Maya Thorne has recently returned to her hometown when human remains are discovered in a dry creekbed to help with the investigation. The mystery of who murdered the victim hits closer to home than Maya ever imagined it would. When she was a teenager. Maya was interested in environmental activism. She made a significant discovery but was brushed off as being a dramatic teen. Her discovery then, as well as her own father, have unexpected ties to the current case. Maya, as well as as anyone digging deeper into this crime, may be in serious danger.

The characterization is good. It definitely could be developed more but I found the characters likable and interesting.

The plot is okay. It's a short book so there isn't a lot of time for plot development. The mystery unfolds in a logical manner and everything made sense. The ending ties up nicely.

I really enjoyed two things about this book:
- the environmental aspects of the plot
- the Australian Outback setting and how it impacts what they do (ie. huge dust storms and drought)

I read the ebook version and there were a lot of grammatical errors. At times this made reading confusing and frustrating.

Overall this was okay for a quick read.

[April Scully · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so poorly written I’m going to assume it had to have been AI. The premise of this book is so promising that I was extremely excited to jump in and. read it.
However the characters are two dimensional at best, there are gaping plot holes such as the detectives identifying the owner of the weapon but the killer is a completely different person and no explanation is offered regarding how the killer got the weapon.
Sentences are poorly constructed and often repeated several times.
Characters seem to appear and then disappear at will and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the flow of the book.

[michelle o'flynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This detective murder mystery had a very interesting plot with political and environmental themes.
However, the lack of punctuation and lack of attention to accuracy in the details, spoiled what could’ve been a much more enjoyable read.
Even a half decent proofread would’ve picked up on these things

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all I wouldn’t call it a thriller. I was disappointed in this first book. It looked like a great series and this is the first time I have read this author. I will give the second book ago and see how I go. There was no “grab” you pages in this book and it wasn’t a page turner.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was an easy - crime - read. it wasn't overly complicated but there was intrigue. will read other books from this author.