WAROONA resident Grant Peake is releasing his first crime novel, The Red 65.
The fictional story follows a pair of Australian detectives who reopen the case of a missing child star.
The rural New South Wales boy is scouted by Universal Studios and leaves his farming family to make it big in Los Angeles.
However, while overseas the child wanders off alone to get a soda and never returns.
Past and present unravel as the detectives try to uncover the lost child’s story.
Peake spent more than nine months on and off writing the novel while caring full-time for his elderly father.
“I’d stay up late into the night writing," Peake said.
"It was a good way to relax.”
Peake said the different layers to the story would appeal to both Australians and Americans, and he hopes readers will take away life lessons from his characters.
Peake said he was eager to publish his second crime novel and had already started to write his third.
A free, catered book launch for The Red 65 is planned for 6-9pm on March 16 at the Waroona Community Centre where Peake will be signing copies and speaking about the book.
