Adelaide has developed an eerie reputation for bizarre and horrific murders - even Salman Rushdie has called it a place "where things go bump in the night".

After the revelations of the so-called "bodies in the barrels" murders, in which twelve people were murdered and many of their bodies dismembered and defleshed, a British tabloid went so far as to christen Adelaide "the murder capital of the world".

Yet of all of Australia's cities, Adelaide prides itself on its civilisation and the moral foundations laid out at its creation - when it was founded as a shining model, a paradise of order and reason in the Great Southern Land. So what really is the truth behind this split society - city of light or city of murder?

Bestselling author Susan Mitchell was born and grew up in Adelaide, and in this fascinating and disturbing book she sets out to discover first-hand the truth behind the Snowtown murders and to ask how a city as cultured and civilised as Adelaide has spawned such terrible crimes. She takes us inside the worlds of its ruling class, cultured middle class and hidden underclass. Using a blend of storytelling, narrative and interviews in order to discover the truth, Mitchell has produced a gripping journey into the heart of a modern-day Utopia gone wrong.

Author

Susan Mitchell

Apart from being a full-time writer, she is a freelance journalist, public speaker and broadcaster. She has also presented radio programs on both the ABC and commercial radio as well as her own television program, 'Susan Mitchell: In Conversation'. Previously, she was a senior lecturer in Communications at the University of South Australia.

Country of Origin
ISBN
1405036109
Year of Publication

Add new comment

This is a book review site, with no relationship whatsoever with any of the authors mentioned here.

We do not provide a method for you to contact authors for any reason and comments of this nature are automatically deleted.

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.