The Millwood Mystery

Marjory Graham runs panicked into the night, desperate to find help. When she wakes Dr Reade and returns home with him, they find Barbara Graham poisoned. The inquest reveals a wealth of suspects: Barbara's stepdaughter, her fiancé, and her future sister-in-law. Whispers begin to spread through Millwood.

The Millwood Mystery is a psychological thriller set in a small town in the remote Hunter Valley. The crime is a vehicle for our journey into the lives of Millwood society, where appearance is paramount and transgression brings judgement, isolation, and financial ruin—particularly for women. Lockett explores women’s place in society, expectations around marriage and divorce, domestic violence and women’s lack of agency, and the repercussions of loneliness and isolation in small-town Australia.

This recovered gem of Australian mystery is accompanied by Reading Notes, including an essay by the author: 'Divorce Considered from a Woman's Point of View.'