*** LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER AWARD ****** A SUNDAY TIMES CRIME PICK OF THE MONTH ***''A scorchingly good novel'' - MICHAEL ROBOTHAM''Disher is the gold standard for rural noir'' - CHRIS HAMMER''An utterly compelling mystery with rare heart and humanity'' - DERVLA MCTIERNAN________________________________________AN ACT OF INEXPLICABLE CRUELTY. A FAMILY DESTROYED.Constable Paul Hirschhausen runs a one-cop station in the dry farming country south of the Flinders Ranges. He''s still new in town but his community work - welfare checks and a light touch - is starting to pay off. Now Christmas is here and, apart from a grass fire, two boys stealing a vehicle, and Brenda Flann entering the front bar of the pub without exiting her car, Hirsch''s life has been peaceful.Until he''s called to an incident on Kitchener Street, a strange and vicious attack that sickens the community. And when the Sydney police ask him to look in on a family living on a forgotten back road, it doesn''t look