1980: Rose and Ian Kelly arrive in the small South Australian town of Barker for supplies, before driving a further couple of hundred kilometres to begin shearing at Jacksonville Station. Rose, heavily pregnant with their first babies, worries that despite Ian's impending fatherhood he remains a drifter who dreams of the open road. <br/><br/>2020: When the Australian Federal Police swoop unheralded into Barker and make a shocking arrest for possession of narcotics, Detective Dave Burrows is certain there is more to the story than meets the eye. <br/><br/>After many months of grief over her brother's illness and death, journalist Zara Ellison is finally ready to begin a new chapter of her life and make a commitment to her boyfriend, Senior Constable Jack Higgins. But when she's assigned to investigate the Barker arrest, Jack begins to believe that Zara is working against him. <br/><br/>It takes a series of unconnected incidents in Zara's digging to reveal an almost forgotten thread of mystery as to how these two events, forty years apart, could be connected.<br/><br/>Praise for <i>Red Dirt Country</i><br/><br/>'A gripping, powerful story.' Blue Wolf Reviews <br/><br/>'McDonald's understanding of farming life is effortlessly drawn . . . another great book . . . McDonald leaves us on the edge of our seat.' Debbish.com<br/><br/>'Engaging mystery and authentic rural setting.' Book'd Out