Episode 1

A family has been brutally killed on their farm outside the small Australian country town of Kiewarra.

It hasn't rained for two years, farms are failing and tensions in the community are running unbearably high. It seems Luke Hadler reached snapping point, killed his wife and child and committed suicide.

When policeman Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for his old friend's funeral, he’s keen to escape again.

He certainly doesn't want to be reminded of the secret he and Luke shared 20 years earlier...

Read by Richard Goulding.

Crime Down Under showcases some of the best crime fiction from contemporary Australia.

Author Jane Harper is a journalist who moved from the UK to Australia in 2008. The Dry is her first novel which won awards after publication in Australia.

Abridged and produced by Sara Davies.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2017.