The Lost Man by Jane Harper

Nathan Bright lives a life few would envy.  He ranches on a spread in the Australian Outback, a sparse, brutal environment where temperatures over one hundred are common and droughts are followed by floods that can cut him off from civilization for weeks.  Not that being cut off is much different for Nathan.  He has been ostracized by the surrounding farms and village for more than a decade, the result of a hasty decision that broke one of the prime rules of outback survival.

Now Nathan lives alone after the breakup of his marriage.  His son lives with his wife and her new husband and Nathan sees him occasionally on school breaks.  This is one of those as it is almost Christmas.  But it isn't a happy occasion.  Nathan has just gotten word that his brother Cameron, from the neighboring farm, has been found dead at a local landmark.  He meets his other brother, Bub, at the location.  Cameron has died of heat exhaustion and dehydration which is a long and terrible death.  His car is not at the site and no one seems to know how Cameron came to be there either.

As Nathan and his son Zander meet with the remaining family at the family ranch, tensions are high as everyone attempts to give meaning to the death.  Nathan starts to learn buried family secrets about Cameron.  Cam had married the woman who Nathan had started a relationship with after his marriage and they have two daughters.  They all live on the homestead along with Nathan's mother, Bub and a long time family friend, Harry.  At the moment two backpackers, a couple from England, also live there working on the land.  Are any of them responsible for Cameron's death?

This is the third Harper novel.  As with her others, The Dry and Force Of Nature.  As with those two, the Australian environment is a big part of the novel and it's bleakness and unforgiving nature matches the action in the story.  This is a family with lots of secrets going back decades and the slow revealing of them fuels understanding of how this death occurred.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.