Gus and the Burning Stones
by Troy Hunter
Wakefield Press
At Hazelton High School in Melbourne, Gus started a detective agency as an assignment for Business Studies, with his class mate Shell, and friend and neighbour Kane. This unfolded in Troy Hunter’s first LGBTIQ+ Young Adult novel Gus and the Missing Boy, where the trio actually solved a cold case on a Missing Kids website.
Gus also discovered that his parents actually weren’t his biological parents. That was six months ago, and amateur sleuth Gus had been trying to investigate his past to find out about his biological parents when he received an anonymous email telling him where to locate his birth mother Jane.
The message instructed Gus to go to an off-grid community located three hours from Melbourne called The Circle, because it was built near an ancient circle of stones. Kane (who had dropped out of high school two years ago) drives Gus and Shell out to the remote community but when they get there, a huge storm makes sure they can’t leave.
As the storm rages, a houseboat belonging to Walker, the owner of the neighbouring caravan park, burns on the nearby lake. When his charred body is found, it turns out that everyone in the community seems to have a motive.
Somehow, Walker knew everyone’s secrets and it looked as if he would do anything to get hold of the land that the community is on, and have the stone circle as a tourist attraction. But the inhabitants of the community are not the only people with secrets.
The search for Gus’s mother takes a back seat as Gus fights the urge to self-harm; non-binary Shell fights her insecurities and Gus discovers the reason for Kane’s recent body transformation. On top of all that, the community has been cut off from the rest of the country and there is a murder to solve.
Troy Hunter, who co-hosts Queer Writes Sessions Podcasts, says “‘I am so chuffed to be able to share another Gus, Shell and Kane mystery – one that I hope will keep everyone guessing till the very end.”
WARNING: This book discusses serious issues including self-harm, substance abuse and death.
Lezly Herbert
