If Canticle Creek was chosen as a blind date with a book, what hints would you write on the wrapping to entice a reader?

AH: A classic page-turner, shot through with humour, beauty, excitement and cliff-hangers – literally, in at least one instance.

How have your experiences as a volunteer firefighter made their way into your work?

AH: I’ve been a firefighter for over a decade now and fire influences everything I write; it’s the driving force in our environment. A couple of years ago I was out at a wildfire and it swung round quicker than I expected. I copped a blast of heat and smoke that knocked me off my feet. As I hit the deck of the truck, a single insight flew through my brain: that this is the fate that awaits us all if we fail to tackle climate change.

Adrian Hyland. Photo by Morgan Brown.

What is it that draws you – and other Australian crime writers - to rural towns as a setting?

AH:  Living in a small town, you are forced to interact with people from every walk of life, in a way you tend not to do in Balmain or Fitzroy. Small towns broaden the imagination. And, of course, in a small town, you’re never far from the bush.

How has the landscape of our country inspired you?

AH: I lived for many years with traditional Indigenous people in the Northern Territory, and they have a way of looking at country that transformed my view of the world. Once I was camping with a couple of old Warlpiri men in the Tanami. During the night, nature called. As I stepped out onto the nearby creek bed, a massive king brown snake reared up and struck out at me. I scrambled back to camp and one of the old fellers asked if I was okay. I told him about the snake, and he muttered a phrase I’ve never forgotten: ‘That’s okay; takes a little time for the country to know you.’ That phrase – with its concept of the land as a living thing, the direct opposite of how a whitefeller would have expressed it – resonates with me to this day.

What recent reads have you loved and would recommend?

AH: My favourite lockdown reads have been Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet and Mick Herron’s Slough House series. Both are rich with humour and compassion.