Odysseus Kalaris Books in Order
The complete Odysseus "Odie" Kalaris series by Phillip Strang — all 6 Kimberley outback thrillers in reading order
Special Investigator Odysseus "Odie" Kalaris works the vast Kimberley of Western Australia — its gorges and floodplains, its savanna and its coast — reading Country the way few others can. Of Gija and Greek descent, he brings his mother's traditional tracking knowledge together with his father's analytical turn of mind to cases where modern crime collides with ancient culture. Again and again the killings turn on the land itself and what it holds: rock art and sacred sites, water and fire, ceremonial knowledge — and the people who would strip it all for profit. Atmospheric, distinctive, and deeply rooted in the Kimberley. Perfect for fans of Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, and Garry Disher.
Odysseus Kalaris Series — All Books in Order
1. Ghost Tracks
In the rugged gorges of the Kimberley, Special Investigator Odie Kalaris is called to a body staged to look like an animal attack — a wildlife photographer whose death was meant to pass unquestioned. It doesn't. Odie's tracking reads a darker story in the red earth: rare goanna breeding grounds, vandalised rock art, and powerful interests set against a proposed sanctuary. When he finds the photographer's hidden SD cards documenting systematic wildlife trafficking and heritage destruction, the trail leads to a tourism operation selling exclusive "experiences" to clients who pay for access others are denied. With the wet season coming to wash the evidence away, Odie must read the signs before the country reclaims them.
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2. The Drowning Land
When the monsoon floods turn the Kimberley cattle country into an inland sea, rising water near Warrigal Creek Station gives up decades-old human bones. Special Investigator Odie Kalaris is summoned — and what looks like a historical find turns urgent when a station hand researching an old water dispute vanishes the same way. The trail runs from the 1960s disappearance of a boundary rider to a station owner determined to protect a family legacy built on manipulated water rights. Cut off by the rising flood, with tensions climbing among those trapped on the station, Odie must read water and track alike before the waters claim another.
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3. Songline Silence
In the Singing Gorge, where sound carries in strange ways and ceremonies have been performed for millennia, an ethnomusicologist is found dead at the foot of a cliff. It could be a fall — but Dr Simon Parker's recording equipment is missing, and Odie Kalaris finds signs of a struggle at the edge. As he works the case, he uncovers an operation to extract sacred ceremonial sound for commercial use, and a tangle of academic ambition, commercial greed and cultural exploitation around it. Navigating the boundaries of knowledge that was never meant to be sold, Odie must reach the truth before those responsible grow desperate enough to kill again.
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4. Burning Season
Fire is both life and destroyer in the Kimberley savanna, and when a climate scientist's body turns up in a controlled burn gone wrong, it's written off as an accident. Odie Kalaris finds otherwise: the traditional fire breaks were deliberately sabotaged, and rock art sites are being targeted in the flames. Dr Nathan Bennett had been a whistleblower, and his research threatened development worth billions — enough for someone to want both the man and his findings to burn. Under mounting political pressure and with evidence vanishing in the smoke, Odie must read the fire's signs before the killer strikes again.
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5. Ancient Waters
In the drought-stricken Kimberley, a water-project engineer is found half-submerged at a sacred waterhole, the scene clumsily dressed with traditional elements by someone who did not understand them. Odie Kalaris sees the staging at once. When a second body — an environmental consultant — turns up at another sacred site, the case opens onto generations of deliberate deception: colonial-era survey manipulation that diverted water from traditional lands, and modern interests fighting to keep a century-old theft hidden. As the drought sharpens every tension in the region, Odie must trace the water's true path — the one the records were rewritten to conceal — before it costs more lives.
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6. Crocodile Tears
In Broome's tourist-perfect marina, where million-dollar boats sell wilderness dreams to wealthy visitors, a death looks at first like a robbery gone wrong. Odie Kalaris's tracking exposes the staging for what it is. Behind the killing of Jack Lawson lies a sophisticated fraud network preying on elderly investors, run through years of apparently legitimate operations and woven deep into Broome's tight-knit business community. As the regulators close in and desperate suspects multiply, Odie must read the human signs — the tells, the lies, the pressure points — before someone is pushed past the last moral line. On this coast, the tide washes yesterday's crimes away and brings fresh ones in.
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If you enjoy the Odysseus Kalaris thrillers, explore Phillip Strang's other Australian outback crime fiction — the same vast country, seen through different eyes.
DI Maya Thorne — Australian Outback
Phillip Strang's flagship outback series. DI Maya Thorne works the same harsh interior as Odie Kalaris, across eighteen novels of remote-community crime where the landscape is the first obstacle and everyone keeps their own counsel.
See the Series →
DSC Sarah Reeves — Alice Springs
Outback noir out of Alice Springs. If you like how Odie's cases turn on land, culture and buried history, DSC Sarah Reeves works similar country and similar crimes across six novels.
See the Series →Explore the Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Odysseus Kalaris?
Odysseus "Odie" Kalaris is a Special Investigator in Western Australia's Kimberley region. Of Gija and Greek descent, he combines traditional tracking knowledge with modern investigative method — an approach that lets him read a crime scene, and the country around it, in ways others cannot.
What order should I read the Odysseus Kalaris books?
Each novel is a self-contained case, so you can start anywhere — but publication order, beginning with Ghost Tracks, is the natural way in and follows Odie's world as it builds across the series.
Where is the Odysseus Kalaris series set?
The series is set in the Kimberley, in the far north of Western Australia — from its gorges, cattle stations and savanna to sacred sites and the coast at Broome. The landscape and its cultural heritage are central to every book.
What kind of crime novels are the Odysseus Kalaris books?
They are Australian outback thrillers with a strong sense of place and culture, where the crimes turn on the land itself — rock art, water, fire, and ceremonial knowledge — and the people who would exploit them. Readers who enjoy Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, or Garry Disher tend to find the series a natural fit.