Dark Country is the second book in the loosely-linked series set in Dungirri.
Most people in the small town of Dungirri have considered Morgan ‘Gil’ Gillespie a murderer for eighteen years, so he expects no welcome on his return. What he doesn’t expect is the discovery of a woman’s tortured body in the boot of his car, and new accusations of murder.
Haunted by her failures, Detective Isabelle O’Connell is recalled to duty by DCI Alec Goddard to investigate the abduction of yet another child from her home town. They have only days to find the girl alive, with few clues, a town full of suspects, and a vast wilderness to search. It soon becomes a game of cat and mouse, with Bella firmly in the killer’s sights.
My eclectic background includes an Honours degree in social history and English, and a range of work experiences – HR in a hospital, youth worker, dance teacher, organisational development manager, educational designer, and now occasional academic.
Sergeant Kris Matthews has a challenging job to perform in a very tough environment. Dungirri is a small community and offers all that Australian bush towns do such as peace, beauty and extreme isolation. Its people must rely heavily on each other and to lose the trust of a neighbour means to lose your sense of belonging in your own town.
The remoteness of the location can either help or hinder a murder investigation. The distances to cover by a small police force are large
Book Review:
You'd be hard put to think of another mystery series, with a female protagonist that is set in the Australian outback so on this alone, perhaps author Brownyn Parry has chosen her setting and thus her market very well. We have somewhat of an old fashioned girl leading the action in this novel, and it serves the character well to have that pioneering spirit in a single woman keeping law and order in the back of beyond.
A huge and not to be undersold appeal of Parry's novels is the picture they paint of small town Australia. Dungirri could be any one of hundreds of towns in any of the mainland States and it pays gentle respect to the tenacity of their inhabitants that live in such inhospitable surrounds. DARK COUNTRY is a more sophisticated novel than its predecessor, AS DARKNESS FALLS, though the two are very similar in construction and plot. The army of romantic suspense readers that have embraced a new talent will no doubt carry that interest onto the third book currently in the works. Parry's novels have that aura of yesteryear about them, which can be a nice change to reading of an investigation made more clinical by the opinion of instantly available experts and the swift results of forensic testing.
Romantic suspense is a combination of two genres that are the two best sellers in this country, romance and crime/mystery. The writers who choose to tackle this market can often alienate the readers of either camp who stray in by not including enough of the unspoken formula to each. DARK COUNTRY is not about the mystery, rather the mystery or crime element is a tool in which to bring the two lovers together. The suspense relates to whether Gil and Kris can overcome obstacles to be together, not as to whether a killer is brought to justice, or not.
Australian author Brownyn Parry lives in country New South Wales with her husband and two dogs.
Haunted by her failures, Detective Isabelle O’Connell is recalled to duty by DCI Alec Goddard to investigate the abduction of yet another child from her home town. They have only days to find the girl alive, with few clues, a town full of suspects, and a vast wilderness to search. It soon becomes a game of cat and mouse, with Bella firmly in the killer’s sights.
For Bella, this case is already personal; for Alec, his best intentions to keep it purely professional soon dissolve, and his anguish over Bella’s safety moves beyond the concern for a colleague.
Book Review:
A difficult setting, and a difficult task for the debut novelist. Bronwyn Parry does a fine job with bringing a small Australian bush town to life and this is the great strength of the read. You can taste the dust in the air and truly really picture everyone talking out the sides of their mouths (so thus to avoid the blowflies). Where it would be a stretch is in calling this a a crime novel, or even one of romantic suspense as there is no real mystery to solve or any pretense in constructing one. As a developing relationship drama it serves very well, and will draw the reader in with their concerns for the couple of the hour and allows time to mourn the passing of small town trust.
The unsettling and claustrophobic feeling of isolation and fear carries the reader from chapter to chapter, giving the reader a taste of the "closed room" or "apartment building" drama as the characters are all introduced relatively early in the piece and there is no chance any unseen characters will come into play due to the geographic restrictions of the setting. It also makes it slightly ridiculous that for example someone could fire off a shot in a main street unseen, or that a police investigation could be conducted at such a lackadaisical pace. If we don't concern ourselves with such things, the read is more than able to be enjoyed being that a novel set in the Australian outback is a rare find, and Parry makes excellent use of both landscape and cast in her economically styled narrative.
There are small cultural anomalies here and there, probably for the American market ie truck rather that ute or utility etc but they are not a huge detraction.
AS DARKNESS FALLS is the first in a series of loosely-linked novels. The manuscript of this novel was awarded the 2007 Golden Heart Award by the Romance Writer's of America. The author's background includes a Honours Degree in History and English and she is undertaking a part-time PhD in online communities of romance readers and writers. Brownwyn Parry lives in country New South Wales.
