DINOPAL

"Make a fortune overnight," Josh's dad said. "Easy as..." But he didn't say anything about opal thieves...

Josh and his father, Steve, head to Lightning Ridge, an outback opal mining town in Australia, hoping to make a fortune mining opals. They don't expect to be caught up in a fossilised dinosaur bone drama, or to risk their lives underground when a catastrophic event hits the mine, miles from help.

Searching for help for Josh, Steve comes across a team working to retrieve extremely rare and precious opalised dinosaur bones. Lightning Ridge is the only place in the world where these precious fossils are found, and the team are not the only people who would like to get their hands on one. In the dead of night, Josh unwittingly becomes involved in a robbery attempt.

Will they foil the robbers? Will the opalised bone be safe?

DINOPAL is fiction inspired by the author's own 2018 road trip to the Lightning Ridge and Grawin opal fields to see opalised dinosaur bones for herself. A fast-moving, short-chapter adventure for readers aged 7 to 12 who love dinosaurs and mysteries, and the sequel to DINOTHAW.