Maria's two sons, Mark and Adam, have lived in a holding pattern longer than Rachael Brown has been alive. When the investigative journalist learned that a crucial witness's evidence had never seen daylight, the case would start to consume her - just as it had the detective nearly four decades prior - so she asked for his blessing, and that of the James brothers, to review Maria's case.
In her exhaustive and exhausting 16-month investigation for the ABC podcast Trace, Rachael reviewed initial suspects, found one of her own, and prompted devastating revelations about a forensic bungle and possible conspiracies that led to calls for the coroner to hold a new inquest.
This is a mesmerising account, as Rachael traces back through her investigation - one that blew the dust off a 38-year-old cold case, gave a voice to the forgotten and the abused, and could have serious implications for two of the state's most powerful institutions.
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