Australia is basically a mystery novel waiting to happen. We’re a country where people casually say things like, “Watch out for drop bears,” and tourists can’t always tell if we’re joking. Half our wildlife looks like it was designed by a horror writer and entire towns can exist several hours from the nearest decent coffee (or so I’ve heard, I don’t drink coffee!).
(Read this parody – actually written by a Douglas Adams fan: Jeremy Lee aka Orinoco – which is a pretty good summary of Down Under except for the snakes, we do have a lot of snakes).
Honestly, we were built for mystery stories.
England has spooky castles and foggy moors. Australia has isolated highways, tiny towns where everyone knows your business before you do and enough empty landscape to hide a body, a secret or an entire missing-persons case without too much trouble.
It’s perfect.
One of the best things about Australian mystery settings is that the environment itself feels mildly threatening at all times. In a British mystery, someone gets murdered in a manor house library. In an Australian mystery, someone disappears after pulling over on a remote highway because they “just needed to stretch their legs for a minute.” Different vibe entirely.
Our settings come with built-in tension:
- endless bushland
- roads with no reception
- towns with one pub and seventeen rumours
- scorching heat
- sudden storms
- wildlife that absolutely could be involved somehow
And the best part? None of it feels unrealistic. Australians will read: “She drove four hours through the outback without seeing another car.” …and think, sounds about right.
One of the biggest advantages Australian settings have in mysteries is isolation. In a lot of places around the world, help is nearby. In Australia? Good luck. Phone reception disappears. Roads stretch for hours. The nearest police station might be in another town. Your car breaking down becomes a genuine plot point instead of a mild inconvenience. That isolation raises the stakes immediately. A suspicious noise in a crowded city is unsettling. A suspicious noise when you’re alone in a bush campsite three hours from civilisation? That’s how mystery readers lose sleep.
What more could a mystery writer want? Living Down Under has always been deadly.
Where do you think the perfect mystery setting is? And why?
June 1, 2026 at 10:50 am
Are you writing a mystery? Yeah, I can see it. Location totally as a character.
June 1, 2026 at 4:52 pm
I am, Liz. Set in Australia (naturally), lol. Hopefully the bush does come across as a character – but I guess I’lll have to wait and see what people think when it’s finished.