OMG. I loved, loved, loved this book.
I first learned of this incredible story when I listened to the podcast Lost in Larrimah. The book gives so much more detail and insight as the authors have done even more research and investigation into the unsolved Australian outback mystery. How does a man, who lives in a remote Northern Territory town with just 12 residents, simply disappear without a trace.
Through the authors' vivid writing, you can feel the oppossive heat, taste red bulldust and shiver in the outback darkness. I laughed out loud many times and other times stopped just to absorb the true craziness of the outback. A blind crocodile, endless snakes, exotic birds, a life sized Pink Panther and the tall stories that are mostly true. At times I feared for the authors' safety as they relentless pursued the truth of what happened to Paddy Moriarty.
Couldn't put it down.
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![Larrimah: A missing man, an eyeless croc and an outback town of 11 people who mostly hate each other by [Caroline Graham, Kylie Stevenson]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61wlbvZKvRL._SY346_.jpg)
Larrimah: A missing man, an eyeless croc and an outback town of 11 people who mostly hate each other Kindle Edition
by
Caroline Graham
(Author),
Kylie Stevenson
(Author)
Format: Kindle Edition
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Larrimah: hot, barren, a speck of dust in the centre of the nothingness of outback Australia. Where you might find a death adder in the bar and a spider or ten in the toaster. Maybe it's stupid to write a love letter to a town that looks like this, especially when it's someone else's town. A town where there's nothing to see, nothing to buy and the closest thing to an attraction is a weird Pink Panther in a gyrocopter whose head falls off intermittently. A town steeped in ancient superstition and pockmarked with sinkholes. It's Kadaitja country. People go missing in the bush there, the traditional owners say.
It's doubly stupid to write a love letter to a town where someone did go missing and one of the remaining residents might be a murderer. A town at the centre of one of the biggest mysteries outback Australia has ever seen - a weird, swirling whodunnit about camel pies and wild donkeys and drug deals and crocodiles, a case that's had police scratching their heads for years, while journalists and filmmakers and Hollywood turn up, from time to time, to ask what the hell happened here.
And it makes no sense to fall for a place when the town is crumbling into the dust and it looks a lot like your love letter might end up being a eulogy. But whatever happened in Larrimah, it's strange and precious and surprisingly funny. Journalists Kylie Stevenson and Caroline Graham have spent years trying to pin it down - what happened to Paddy Moriarty and his dog, how they disappeared, how they might take the whole town and something even bigger with them.
'Simmering feuds, colourful characters and a mystery disappearance. The extraordinary story of a tiny town and its big secrets.' - Michael Rowland
'A locked-room mystery in the Never Never. Larrimah has all the hallmarks of an Australian classic.' - Gideon Haigh
'A remarkable story, wonderfully told.' - Mark Brandi
It's doubly stupid to write a love letter to a town where someone did go missing and one of the remaining residents might be a murderer. A town at the centre of one of the biggest mysteries outback Australia has ever seen - a weird, swirling whodunnit about camel pies and wild donkeys and drug deals and crocodiles, a case that's had police scratching their heads for years, while journalists and filmmakers and Hollywood turn up, from time to time, to ask what the hell happened here.
And it makes no sense to fall for a place when the town is crumbling into the dust and it looks a lot like your love letter might end up being a eulogy. But whatever happened in Larrimah, it's strange and precious and surprisingly funny. Journalists Kylie Stevenson and Caroline Graham have spent years trying to pin it down - what happened to Paddy Moriarty and his dog, how they disappeared, how they might take the whole town and something even bigger with them.
'Simmering feuds, colourful characters and a mystery disappearance. The extraordinary story of a tiny town and its big secrets.' - Michael Rowland
'A locked-room mystery in the Never Never. Larrimah has all the hallmarks of an Australian classic.' - Gideon Haigh
'A remarkable story, wonderfully told.' - Mark Brandi
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAllen & Unwin
- Publication date28 September 2021
- File size4626 KB
Product description
About the Author
Kylie Stevenson has 17 years' experience as a journalist, her work appearing in newspapers, magazines and websites all over the country, including The Guardian Australia, The Australian, The Weekend Australian Magazine and numerous health, lifestyle and travel publications. Kylie was awarded the inaugural Andrew McMillan Writers Residency at Larrimah in 2016, and a resulting piece of creative non-fiction won a 2017 Northern Territory Literary Award. It was this residency that also sparked her interest in the town and ultimately led to her award-winning podcast Lost in Larrimah with Caroline Graham.
Caroline Graham has worked as a newspaper reporter and magazine writer, and now teaches journalism at Bond University on the Gold Coast. She has also facilitated the publication of major student-authored investigative packages in The Guardian Australia, News Corp, APN Australian Regional Media and Crikey. Caroline is the co-author of Writing Feature Stories: How to research and write articles, from listicles to longform (Allen & Unwin, 2017) and has almost completed her PhD. --This text refers to the paperback edition.
Caroline Graham has worked as a newspaper reporter and magazine writer, and now teaches journalism at Bond University on the Gold Coast. She has also facilitated the publication of major student-authored investigative packages in The Guardian Australia, News Corp, APN Australian Regional Media and Crikey. Caroline is the co-author of Writing Feature Stories: How to research and write articles, from listicles to longform (Allen & Unwin, 2017) and has almost completed her PhD. --This text refers to the paperback edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B098HZ31Y8
- Publisher : Allen & Unwin (28 September 2021)
- Language : English
- File size : 4626 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: 23,801 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 64 in Murder & Mayhem True Accounts
- 69 in True Crime (Kindle Store)
- 75 in Murder & Mayhem Accounts
- Customer Reviews:
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98 global ratings
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Top reviews from Australia
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Reviewed in Australia on 27 October 2021
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One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in Australia on 11 December 2021
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Just loved this book. Having travelled the Stuart Highway many times and experienced Fran's pies, it was easy to relate to the places and people mentioned. It was funny, sad, but mostly an easy and thoroughly enjoyable read. Congratulations, will recommend it far and wide!
Reviewed in Australia on 6 November 2021
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Fact is stranger than fiction
This is a fascinating story of a remote Australian town on a major highway on the edge of the "never never"
Based on a factual account of an Australian mystery it is well written, entertaining and makes compelling reading. I couldn't put it down.
You'll want to visit Larrimah just to savour the jam and scones.
This is a fascinating story of a remote Australian town on a major highway on the edge of the "never never"
Based on a factual account of an Australian mystery it is well written, entertaining and makes compelling reading. I couldn't put it down.
You'll want to visit Larrimah just to savour the jam and scones.
Reviewed in Australia on 12 January 2022
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Amazing story that flowed so well. Totally possible due the country we live in, the people we meet and those we never meet, but can associate with.
Great to have real localities that tell the story of our country that 99.9% of people can't relate to, but it's out there if you take the time to "smell the roses" as the saying goes.
Great to have real localities that tell the story of our country that 99.9% of people can't relate to, but it's out there if you take the time to "smell the roses" as the saying goes.
TOP 10 REVIEWER
Larrimah, I read, is a flyspeck on the map of the Northern Territory. It is on the Stuart Highway, 75 kilometres south of Mataranka and 95 kilometres north of Daly Waters. It was from this hot, barren place that Paddy Moriarty and his dog Kellie went missing at dusk on 17 November 2017. Neither Paddy nor his dog have been seen since.
‘Stories are usually sprawling, murky things.’
Journalists Caroline Graham and Kylie Stevenson won a 2018 Walkley award for their podcast ‘’Lost in Larrimah’, and then visited Larrimah to assist them in writing this book. While they did not find Paddy or solve his disappearance, they found plenty to write about in Larrimah. After Paddy disappeared, Larrimah only had eleven human residents. The menagerie at the Larrimah Hotel (aka The Pink Panther Pub) includes an eyeless croc and it is fair to say that each of the humans that lives in Larrimah is a character.
Ms Graham and Ms Stevenson share some of the history of Larrimah (how and why it was established) and some of the stories they were told as they stayed in Larrimah, including speculation about what happened to Paddy and why.
I was intrigued by the mystery of Paddy’s disappearance, interested in the history of what seems to be a dying town and fascinated by some of the characters who live there. I am glad I read this book during a comparatively cool spring in eastern Australia: I doubt that I could be comfortable in the outback heat. Will we ever know what happened to Paddy? This year, the NT Police announced a $A250,000 reward for information. I wonder.
This book is an interesting blend of a mysterious disappearance and history, of people and place.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
‘Stories are usually sprawling, murky things.’
Journalists Caroline Graham and Kylie Stevenson won a 2018 Walkley award for their podcast ‘’Lost in Larrimah’, and then visited Larrimah to assist them in writing this book. While they did not find Paddy or solve his disappearance, they found plenty to write about in Larrimah. After Paddy disappeared, Larrimah only had eleven human residents. The menagerie at the Larrimah Hotel (aka The Pink Panther Pub) includes an eyeless croc and it is fair to say that each of the humans that lives in Larrimah is a character.
Ms Graham and Ms Stevenson share some of the history of Larrimah (how and why it was established) and some of the stories they were told as they stayed in Larrimah, including speculation about what happened to Paddy and why.
I was intrigued by the mystery of Paddy’s disappearance, interested in the history of what seems to be a dying town and fascinated by some of the characters who live there. I am glad I read this book during a comparatively cool spring in eastern Australia: I doubt that I could be comfortable in the outback heat. Will we ever know what happened to Paddy? This year, the NT Police announced a $A250,000 reward for information. I wonder.
This book is an interesting blend of a mysterious disappearance and history, of people and place.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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Reviewed in Australia on 11 October 2021
Rich with detail, whimsical and poignant, Larrimah reads like an Aussie yarn with its abundance of colourful, eccentric characters and unlikely sounding events, except this is a true story… well, in so far as the truth can be known.
Top reviews from other countries

Chris Long
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book!
Reviewed in the United States on 27 December 2021Verified Purchase
This is a great book. Definitely worth a read.