Ring of Fire: Crime Fiction as a Means of Examining Projections of Australian National Identity into the Asia-Pacific Region: A Novel and Exegesis

Abstract

This thesis consists of a creative component – the novel Crocodile Tears, and a theoretical essay. Both address the question: How has Australian crime fiction worked to reinforce or undermine projections of Australian national identity into the Asia-Pacific region? Crocodile Tears is a detective story reuniting Indigenous “spook” Rory Driscoll with Detective Philip Kwong of the WA police. A retiree is murdered in suburban Perth, the trail leads to Timor Leste, and its blood-soaked history.