Blue Streak

Mark Wyles fell hard as a policeman, demoted, and sent to the isolated Hawker Station on the fringe of South Australia’s Flinders Ranges. However, a missing person creates a surprising opportunity to regain detective status when he and rookie policewoman Katherine Cooper follow a trail of disappearances from outback Hawker to Adelaide. The unlikely pair make a formidable team and unearth a plot involving a network of Communist sympathisers seeking intelligence about British missile tests at Woomera. However, to prevent the intelligence from escaping to the USSR, they must stop a ruthless killer.

“Blue Streak ticks all the boxes of suspense.” Krystyna Duszniak, Lost Histories.

Mike has a long history of educating and storytelling. He taught English and history at various secondary colleges for thirty years and was a regular educational reviewer for Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper. Mike frequently presented to English teachers for the Victorian English Teachers Association. Adolescent literature is a special interest and Austin Macauley published his first adolescent novel Dig, in 2022. ‘Dig’ was commended for its subtle exploration of themes like war and masculine identity by Dr Mary Purcell, Melbourne University: ‘Young secondary readers would connect with Michael’s engaging characters.’ (VATE, 2022). Mike also has an interest in Cold War history, so it’s not surprising ‘Blue Streak’ is a Cold War thriller. He is currently preparing a sequel to ‘Blue Streak’.