Sarah Bailey Books In Order

Publication Order of Gemma Woodstock Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Sarah Bailey is an Australian writer of fiction. Based in Melbourne, she is a writer that also has a background in communications and advertising. with about fifteen years of experience working in the ad industry. She is the mother of two young children. In addition to writing fiction, she also works as a director for Mr. Smith, a creative projects company.

When she isn’t working at Mr. Smith, Sarah Bailey has been busy writing. She has composed a few short stories over the past few years and a few opinion pieces as well. She has recently turned her efforts to writing full time and The Dark Lake is her debut novel. It’s taken little time for Bailey to gain traction with her writing as the novel has been doing incredibly well since its first release.

The Dark Lake was first released in Australia in May of 2017 by Allen & Unwin. It made its way to the United States and Canada in October the same year after doing quite well. It can be purchased in Australia, Canada, and the U.S. right now.

This debut novel from Sarah Bailey was named to the best books of 2017 list from Barnes and Noble retailers and has also been put on the long list for a nomination for the Australian Indie Book Awards 2018. Rights to release the book have also been sold to Italy, the U.K., China, Turkey, and Germany, with plans for release in 2018.

In addition to selling well, The Dark Lake was also optioned for the screen by Hopscotch Features. There are plans in the works to turn this into a feature film. She has a second book being released that is titled Into the Night. It will be released in May 2018 in Australia and if her first book is any indication, it will soon be released in the U.S., Canada, and a number of other countries too. The book will feature the return of Detective Gemma Woodstock, homicide investigator in a small town where not a lot goes on.

The Dark Lake is the 2017 first novel of fiction from Sarah Bailey. Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is the main character in this chilling debut from Bailey. Woodstock is the head homicide investigator in a small town in the sticks. It’s a rural town, so not a lot of people really get into trouble and nothing much bad happens here. So you can imagine Gemma’s shock when a body is discovered floating in the local lake– and it’s that of someone she went to high school with.

It would be one thing if it were someone that she hadn’t really known that well or had been a quiet face. That would have been easier to process somehow. But the body is that of Rosalind Ryan. She may be dead, but her secrets are still alive. Rosalind had been one of the most beautiful students to ever go through the halls of Smithson High School. Her presence and her inscrutable face had combined with her beauty to exact an almost magnetic pull over all of the school.

Rosalind was very popular at school while she was a student and later returned to teach drama at the school. Gemma didn’t know too much about her other than the standard facts of someone who had been such a presence. The majority of the details of her life remain a mystery to Gemma, just as it was when they went to school together. Now her death is a puzzle to solve, something that doesn’t quite add up the more that you look at it.

Gemma is confused. Rosalind had a good job teaching while she was in Sydney– so why did she give it up to come all the way back to her hometown? What was Rosalind doing choosing to live in a small apartment that was run-down when she could have afforded better and her father is one of the richest men in town? She had so many admirers and friends around, but the more that the homicide inspector looks into the case, she starts to think that no one really knew her that well at all.

The more that Gemma digs into the case, the more that she starts to become obsessed by it. The enigmas she finds in Rosalind are both compelling and frustrating. Gemma also has her own secrets. The more she starts to learn about Rosalind, the more that she starts to feel that they have in common. And with one of her secrets being an affair with a colleague and the others involving tragedies that she’d rather leave in the past, she’s starting to relate more to a dead girl she never knew than half the people living around her.

It’s up to Gemma to figure out what happened to the dead girl she knew and who murdered her. As Gemma sets out to solve the murder, nothing is going to stand in her way– even trauma from the past can’t stop her now. Someone’s been killed, and someone’s going to pay for it if Woodstock has any say in it.

If you love books in the thriller and mystery genre, you will love this compelling debut from Sarah Bailey! People are comparing this novel to being as layered as thrillers from authors like Sophie Hannah and Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl. The characters are being called ‘compelling’ and ‘strong’ with emotions that help and hinder their work at the same time.

Oline Cogdill of the AP calls this a ‘multilayered police procedural’ that manages to take an intimate look at a community and its police detectives. Cogdill praises Bailey’s use of “character development and superior storytelling” over violence to fuel the novel and says that she is off to ‘an excellent start’ with this book starting off the series. He’s not alone, with others stating shock that this is the first book from Bailey as it is such an absorbing thriller book.

Pick up the book that is being called “absolutely stunning” and “beautifully written”. Check out The Dark Lake today and read this book before it becomes a movie!

2 Responses to “Sarah Bailey”

1. Natalka: 2 years ago

   Apparently, Where The Dead Go by Sarah Bailey has not been released in Canada. Is this true and if it is when it will it be released in Canada? If it has been released, who is the publisher in Canada?

   Reply
   • Graeme: 2 years ago

     Yeah that one seems to be an Australia only release right now. I checked Amazon in the States and it’s the same as Amazon Canada where we can buy it, but it takes a few weeks to arrive

     Reply