Ex-convicts, bushrangers, ruthless gold prospectors, forgers and impostors, thieves and murderers: they all flow through the stories that make up this collection, challenging colonial law and order. The landscape itself can seem to stimulate criminal activity, where identities change at will and people suddenly disappear without a trace. In the bush and the tropics, the goldfields and the city streets, colonial Australia is a troubling, bewildering place and almost impossible to control - even for the most vigilant detective.