DESCRIPTION
A gripping small‑town murder mystery where secrets cut deeper than knives.
Police photographer Olivia Chatfield returns to her idyllic childhood home on the White Sands Peninsula expecting a quiet birthday week—fishing, photography, and time with family. Instead, she’s arrested for the murder of Brendan Taylor, a schoolmate she’s known since kindergarten.
Brendan’s death is no accident. Drugged, stabbed with chilling precision, and left to die as While My Guitar Gently Weeps plays in the background, his final moments reveal a killer who is calm, calculating, and terrifyingly familiar.
Olivia is certain she’s being framed. But the detectives leading the case—one an old schoolmate with a grudge—refuse to listen. As her car is impounded, her reputation shredded, and her freedom stripped away, Olivia realises someone in this quiet coastal village wants her gone. Someone who knows her movements, her friendships, her past… and her secrets.
Retracing the days before the murder, Detectives Joseph Paterson and Tessa Mariani uncover hidden tensions, old betrayals, and a web of lies stretching back years. Everyone has something to hide. And someone is willing to kill to keep the truth buried.
As Olivia fights to clear her name, she must confront the unsettling question:
Who hates her enough to want her behind bars—or dead?
Perfect for fans of Jane Harper, Candice Fox, and Dervla McTiernan, A Secret to Die For delivers a twist‑laden mystery set against the atmospheric beauty of coastal NSW, where even the most peaceful places can harbour the darkest secrets.
ISBN PAPERBACK: 978-1-922893-08-6
PUBLICATION: AUGUST 7, 2026
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WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT “A SECRET TO DIE FOR”
Gaylene B Corben ratchets up the tension again in her latest book. The past, in the form of school friends (and enemies), causes trouble for Olivia Chatfield when she is suspected of the murder of someone she’s known since childhood: With the help of her boyfriend, Detective Joe. Paterson, she must revisit old rivalries; and traumas, to save herself and unmask the real killer. -Barbara Scott Emmett, author & editor.
