Crimson Lake by Candice Fox

Six minutes—that’s all it took to destroy Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but never convicted of abducting a teenage girl, the once-respected Sydney detective flees north to the remote town of Crimson Lake, desperate for anonymity. But the past clings like a shadow.

When private investigator Amanda Pharrell—herself an ex-con convicted of murder—hires Ted to help solve a bizarre disappearance, the two unlikely partners are drawn into a mystery that mirrors their own haunted lives. In a town of secrets, trust is dangerous, and redemption may come at a deadly cost.

Taut, atmospheric, and deeply human, Crimson Lake is a masterful crime thriller about guilt, survival, and the fragile boundaries between innocence and sin.