When the Rooster Crows

Every town has its secrets. Some are buried. Others are hidden in plain sight.

In the isolated Australian town of Old Redclay, children have vanished without a trace.

No bodies. No answers. Only whispers.

And every whisper leads to the same name.

Rooster.

A towering, disfigured man who lurks on the outskirts of town, Rooster is the creature parents warn their children about. He rarely ventures beyond the shadows, never speaks, and has spent his entire life feared by those who have never bothered to understand him.

To the people of Old Redclay, he is a monster.

But monsters are not always what they seem.

When Bridget OLeary arrives from Ireland, she finds herself drawn into a community where appearances are carefully maintained, questions are discouraged, and the past is something best left undisturbed.

Unlike the townspeople, Bridget begins to see something different in the mysterious man they call Rooster. Beneath his intimidating appearance lies a loneliness she cannot ignore—and a humanity the town refuses to acknowledge.

But as Bridget ventures closer to the truth, she discovers that Old Redclay is a place where silence protects the guilty, suspicion destroys the innocent, and some secrets are worth killing to keep.

Because the most dangerous monsters dont always hide in the shadows. Sometimes, they stand in plain sight.

When the Rooster Crows is the first novel in The Old Redclay Series, an atmospheric Australian historical Gothic mystery weaving together suspense, family secrets, prejudice, compassion, and an unforgettable bond between two unlikely souls.