Matthew Spencer - "Broke Road"

Join our host Fiona Taylor for the final RBC Book Club episode for 2025.

December’s @readingby.candlelight Crime/Thriller Book Box features the brilliant Matthew Spencer and his gripping new novel BROKE ROAD.

Broke Road is the second instalment in Spencer’s acclaimed Rose Riley series, and it’s an absolute masterclass in crime writing. When a woman is found dead in the Hunter Valley, Detective Sergeant Rose Riley is pulled back into the landscape of her childhood, where vineyards and luxury resorts sit uneasily beside prisons, drug dens, and long-held grudges.

As media pressure builds and old wounds resurface, Rose must navigate local secrets, small-town tensions, and the shadows of her own past… while true-crime author Adam Bowman is never far from the story. Taut, atmospheric, and compulsively readable, this is crime fiction at its finest.

If you loved Black River, you are in for an absolute treat, BUT this can also be a stand-alone story, complete in itself.

In this 30 minute chat, Matthew shares what inspired this story, how he gets police procedures SO RIGHT and what's next for Rose Riley ✨

'Reading by Candlelight' is a book subscription that celebrates up-and-coming Australian authors, delicious beverages, and incredible creations. Each month features a different novel paired with a handmade scented candle, a seed paper bookmark, a beverage (choice of alcoholic/nonalcoholic), a surprise, and an invitation to join the RBC Facebook Community.