Books

On the night of July 14th, 2001, the most mystifying murder and abduction on Australian soil took place 180 miles north of Alice Springs in the remote, Northern Territory.

To this day, the body of Peter Falconio has never been found and the young Englishwoman who escaped his killer's clutches, Joanne Lees, stumbled out of that night with a story that raised more questions than answers.

A real treat for followers of true-life crime, Robin Bowles travelled more than 30000 kilometres around the Australian outback to re-examine every twist and turn in an alleged murder that lacked a body, motive, cause of death or any witnesses. The suspect, itinerant mechanic and drug dealer, Bradley John Murdoch, agreed to provide exclusive access to Robin during sixty hours of prison visits over two long years, providing a chilling insight into the accused’s side of the story. This was an alleged crime that called for Australia's police and frontier forensic scientists to play at the top of their game. Instead, media scrutiny, botched police work, dodgy forensics and political involvement were just a few of the serious issues which dogged the whole investigation and subsequent trial.

Dead Centre is also the story of Joanne Lees’s survival in spite of all the odds and how she evaded an alleged killer and experienced bushman and lived to tell the tale. Is the right man in prison? Is Joanne's story correct? Is there more to be found?

You be the judge.