This is a collection of 11 stories, set in various parts of Australia - the South Australian outback, a Queensland island or suburban Sydney and Melbourne. The Australian landscape is often a third party in the ensuing intrigue. Drawing on my professional legal experience, most stories reflect realistic crime situations, often with a female protagonist, sometimes as perpetrator and sometimes as a victim of coercive control. However, I have also included several slightly sinister speculative fiction stories set in the Australian context.