Jane Harper (born 1980) is a British–Australian author known for her crime novels '' The Dry'', ''Force of Nature'' and ''The Lost Man'', all set in rural Australia.

Early life

Born in Manchester in the UK, Harper moved to Australia with her family when she was eight. There, she lived in the outer Melbourne suburb of Boronia, and eventually acquired Australian citizenship. As a teen, Harper returned to the UK with her family and resided in Hampshire. Later, she attended the University of Kent and studied English. After spending time working on her career, she moved back to Australia.

Career

After graduating with a degree in English and history, Harper gained an entry-level journalism qualification. She got her first job as a trainee at the '' Darlington & Stockton Times'' in County Durham. Later she was a senior news journalist for the ''

Hull Daily Mail The ''Hull Daily Mail'' is an English regional daily newspaper for Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The ''Hull Daily Mail'' has been circulated in various guises since 1885. A second edition, the ''East Riding Mail'', covers ...

''. In 2008 she returned to Australia to take up a reporting job at the '' Geelong Advertiser'', then in 2011 became a journalist for the ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'' in Melbourne. Harper worked as a print journalist for 13 years before writing her first novel, ''The Dry'', which was published in 2016.

''The Dry''

'' The Dry'', Harper's first novel, is a thriller set in a fictional town five hours west of Melbourne. A Federal Agent, Aaron Falk, returns to his old hometown to attend the funeral of his childhood best friend, Luke. Falk teams up with a local detective and tries to uncover the truth behind Luke's sudden mysterious death, only to find more questions than answers.

''Force of Nature''

Harper's second thriller is set in the thickly forested mountains north-east of Melbourne, again featuring Federal Agent Aaron Falk. A group from a Melbourne tech company go on a retreat in the mountains, where Alice Russell, one of the women in the group, disappears while navigating the Mirror Falls trail. Falk has been investigating the company for financial irregularities, and the woman was his secret informer.

''The Lost Man''

Harper's third murder mystery is set in south-west Queensland on a large cattle station. The police find nothing in Cameron Bright's death from dehydration to suggest foul play, and the investigation is carried out informally by the dead man's elder brother Nathan.

''The Survivors''

In Harper's fourth murder mystery, the death of a young woman in a Tasmanian coastal town unearths questions around events during a storm 12 years earlier, when two men drowned and a girl disappeared.

''Exiles''

Visiting friends in South Australian wine country, Aaron Falk finds himself drawn into the investigation of the disappearance of a woman a year ago at the local food and wine festival, and the hit-and-run death of a man a few years before.

Awards and recognition

In 2014, '' Big Issue'' published one of Harper's short stories. Soon after, in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in 2015, Harper won an award for an unpublished manuscript (''The Dry''). In 2017, Harper won the Gold ABIA for Book of the Year and the Davitt Award for ''The Dry'', and the Gold Dagger awarded by the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...

of the United Kingdom for the best

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

of the year. Harper became a New York Times bestselling author for ''The Dry''. Reese Witherspoon bought the rights to ''The Dry'' to turn it into

a movie ''A Movie'' (styled as ''A MOVIE'') is a 1958 experimental collage film by American artist Bruce Conner. It combines pieces of found footage taken from various sources such as newsreels, soft-core pornography, and B movies, all set to a score ...

, which was released in January 2021. ''The Lost Man'' was shortlisted for the 2020

Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award The Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is one of the UK's top crime-fiction awards, sponsored by Theakston's Old Peculier. It is awarded annually at Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of ...

, and won the Barry Award for Best Mystery/Crime Novel in 2020. ''The Survivors'' was shortlisted for the general fiction book of the year at the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards. It was also shortlisted for the 2021 Colin Roderick Award.

Bibliography

Aaron Falk novels * * * Standalone novels * *

References

External links

Author's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Jane 1980 births 21st-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian short story writers 21st-century Australian women writers Alumni of the University of Kent Australian crime fiction writers Australian women novelists Barry Award winners British emigrants to Australia Living people People with acquired Australian citizenship Women crime writers Writers from Manchester Writers from Victoria (Australia)