Bertha Schippan, beautiful but headstrong daughter of a Wendish-German family, is murdered on New Year's Day, 1902. A posse of Adelaide police arrive at the family's lonely Murray Flats farm thirty-six hours later, but by the time an Aboriginal tracker can start his work, a gale has blown all clues away.

Steve West, mining engineer and ex-footy star, just wants a dirty weekend in town, but he can't stop people telling him their secrets. When crusading Kara incites a breakout in the desert, Westie finds himself her reluctant accomplice. Soon he's got a runaway asylum seeker in tow, and all the world, it seems, on his tail.

Albert Augustine Edwards, usually referred to as 'Bert', was one of Adelaide's most flamboyant characters. Reputedly the illegitimate son of Charles Cameron Kingston, premier of South Australia, he was born in obscurity in the slums of Adelaide's West End in 1888. A self-made man, Bert was a city councillor, parliamentarian, and philanthropist, a friend of the poor and scourge of the establishment. He had connections and influence everywhere - in the markets, pubs, sporting clubs, churches and prisons - and soon enough he became known as the 'King of the West End'. Flash in dress and loud in manner, he brooked no opposition. Bert's future looked rosy, until 1924, when the Labor Party took office and his enemies began to stack up quickly. It all came crashing down in 1931. In a sex scandal engineered against him, Bert was imprisoned for nearly two-and-a half years for gross indecency with an underage male. And they say Adelaide was dull! Here, dark and bright, is Bert Edwards in the full biography that his colourful life deserves.

Adelaide's Park Lands have long been home to large events, as well as numberless small, private encounters. Until now, no book has been published to document this wealth of social activity. In The Adelaide Park Lands, Sumerling recounts tales both enchanting and bizarre from the time of earliest European settlement until present days.

50 years of research reveal the full story of the murder of Bertha Schippan in 1902 in Towitta, South Australia.

Samorn, the Adelaide Zoo's last elephant, was adored by generations of zoo visitors. A gift from the Thai government in 1956, she was transferred thirty-five years later to Monarto Zoo to live out her days. When she died there in 1994 there was an outpouring of sadness from all who knew or grew up with her. Elephants and Egotists is a tribute to Samorn, but also tells of other elephants sent to South Australia and the colourful characters who decided their fate. Elephants, particularly those in Southeast Asia, are now a critically endangered species needing our concern and immediate action. As Sir David Attenborough asks: 'The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?'