The Broken Shore: A Novel

The Broken Shore is Peter Temple's award-winning eighth novel, a crime story set in Australia. The protagonist is Joe Cashin, a big-city detective who has been reassigned from the Homicide Squad to a small town on the South Australian coast where he grew up, following a traumatic incident. Scarred both physically and emotionally, he settles into a quiet life as a country cop, walking his dogs and reflecting on his past. When a prominent local resident is attacked in his home and left for dead, Cashin becomes involved in a murder investigation. Suspicion initially falls on three teenagers from a nearby aboriginal community. However, Cashin doubts this conclusion and begins to uncover evidence of a more complex and sinister situation than a simple burglary gone wrong.