London

ANTIDOTE TO MURDER is the second Dr Dody McCleland book from WA based author Felicity Young. If this is a series that you are yet to catch up with, then all I can say is get to it. Immediately.

Set in Edwardian London, McCleland is a qualified doctor, fighting a society that has some very confronting attitudes towards women, in particular. To remain working as a doctor, McCleland has to battle daily against mindless prejudice and power games. To simply survive many more women are fighting a similar battle. Particularly any poor woman who is unlucky enough to be single, poor (or both) and pregnant. In a world where contraceptives are expensive and frowned upon, the attitude of people to young women in very difficult circumstances is portrayed starkly by Young.

One of the great strengths of this series (THE DISSECTION OF MURDER is the first book) is the way that they illustrate the nature of the society in which Dody McCleland must find a way to live her life. There is a very realistic tussle between her desire to stay working as a doctor, and her attraction to Matthew Pike, and the inevitable loss of work and position that marriage imposed in those days. Alongside McCleland's professional life, her sister and friends continue their suffragette activities, and it is within the spectrum of the fight for overall rights, that the spectre of illegal abortion arises. Somehow the blaming of the deaths of young women, at the hands of a criminal abortionist, on the only female doctor within sight, seems inevitable.

In a delicate balancing act, the resolution of who actually killed those women and why, is part of a wider exploration, looking at the nature of women's lives in that time period. The balance maintained is done cleverly, subtly, it's a crime story undoubtedly, but along with that, it's a look at a way of life that should remain well behind us. Although there are days when I do wonder if that's going to always be the case. Perhaps the reading of history wrapped up in proper, good old storytelling should become mandatory - for both men and women, because this, most definitely, is not women's fiction. It's informative, it's interesting, and it's very very revealing. It's most definitely not a world I want to return to, and I'm really grateful that Young takes the time to write this series. It's well worth reading, even if you don't think you're a fan of historical crime fiction.

The morning that I went for my drivers licence, I'm not sure who was the most worried. My very patient, very kind driving instructor or me. Because we both knew that when it came to parking, I might as well be driving a block of flats. It didn't matter what that poor man did, there was no way in the world I could "get" parallel parking, and nothing much has changed in the intervening years. So I guess from the opening scenes of Jane Casey's THE BURNING I was feeling a little frisson of connection with DC Maeve Kerrigan.

That connection alone is never going to be enough to hold a reader's interest in any particular book however, particularly as I'm not convinced that the book should be described as a thriller. It's definitely more in the vein of a police procedural, albeit with a strong feeling of tension and pressure.

Whilst there is the search for a serial killer at the centre of the storyline this is another twist on that scenario in that Kerrigan's focus is actually on a killing, initially put down to the serial killer, but with sufficient differences to make her question that. This means that this victim's life needs to be examined closely, and along the way, that of her friend Louise North.

Somewhere in the characters of North, the victim Haworth, and her wealthy handsome ex-boyfriend who seems to have a rather sinister reason for transferring his attentions to North, there's obviously an unreliable narrator. The question is which one. Or is it any of these three. Could it perhaps be one of Haworth's other past lovers? As the viewpoint switches back and forth between Kerrigan and North, there are glimpses of the truth that kept this reader intrigued right to the end.

Personally I really liked the character of Kerrigan. I liked her imperfections and doubts, her reckless commitment to the task at hand. I liked the slightly tongue in cheek humour, the idea that she was a woman holding her own in a world of blokes with attitude problems. I thought there was much about her that was very appealing, although I'd imagine that some people could struggle with the very laid-back, dry sense of humour.

The best thing about getting to this party late as usual, is that there are more books out now in the Maeve Kerrigan series, which have gone onto the Must Acquire list.
 

Allen & Unwin have re-released Barry Maitland's ALL MY ENEMIES, the third book in the Brock and Kolla series. Given that the book was originally published in around 1996 there were a few things intriguing me. Obviously, whether or not it would stand the test of time, but also, what would it be like going back to a book so early in a series that has since become a favourite.

Interestingly I could still remember this book from the first time I read it, mostly because of the way that it starts to build this ongoing team, partly because of the interesting setting in which Maitland places them but also because it's a good solid police procedural, albeit with a little bit of a leap and some heavy lifting towards the end. The book is really clearly establishing some personality traits in the main characters. Brock is a bit of a hands off manager in some ways, stepping into the action when required, otherwise a bit standoffish and slightly elusive. Kolla is dogged, determined and more than a bit obsessive when it comes to finding a scent and following it down all sorts of highways and byways. Lesser characters in the group - particularly fellow team member Bren have enough "on screen time" to give them depth and reality. Something else that dawned on me was the way that cameo performances for characters outside the team have been built into the narrative - in this case the obvious stand out being Kathy's Aunty Mary(anne) - her life-changing decisions at an age when most people are settling for their lot is wonderfully done, to say nothing of giving Kolla a way into a group of people that otherwise might have been too contrived.

What was particularly interesting was the way that the book does stand the test of time. In fact, the time-frame was somehow irrelevant, even if there were things that might have dated it (not that I particularly noticed - too invested in the story itself). Having the benefit of knowing where Maitland does take this series, it was particularly interesting to see the beginnings of the architectural elements - those special places, buildings and locations that Maitland weaves into the later books with such aplomb. Here it's present in the weird little bar that forms the central part of the team's briefing room, although in ALL MY ENEMIES it's understated, less part of the plot than these elements become in the future.

The Brock and Kolla series is written by an Englishman, who lives in Australia, set with what seems to be considerable authority in London and surrounds. I understand Maitland does a fair amount of research into his locations and certainly they come across as realistic, complete, really a major element of the books. The other thing that stands out in these books is the attention to detail in procedural elements, and in character behaviour and personality. There's something very careful and controlled about the way that these books, the stories and the characters evolve. Which shouldn't for a moment be taken as meaning that the books themselves are somehow subdued. They are fantastic stories, involving two terrific central characters, without a single hint of "romantic interest" that's so very overdone these days. They make this reader at least, see, experience and enjoy the particular locations they are set in.

ALL MY ENEMIES really is a terrific reminder of just how much I love this series.

I can't tell you how pleased I was to finally get to read THE WRECKAGE. I've been a fan of this series since it's inception, with only one minor disappointment in the last book which headed off into shock tactics a little too overtly for my liking. THE WRECKAGE, however, is a terrific thriller, with a complex and masterfully executed plot and a sense of pace and tension that is nicely balanced with a bit of romance and some family secrets.

It probably doesn't hurt that the action centres around Vincent Ruiz in this book, one of my favourite of Robotham's shifting cast of central characters (in itself a particularly clever idea). The book is made up of a number of different threads, some of which are reportedly based on true events. Using a series of short, sharp chapters, Robotham switches the focus amongst these seemingly unconnected threads. Handled well this idea of chopping and changing the viewpoints and the story threads really provides a strong sense of pace and tension, cutting and weaving the story, moving rapidly through the various events, never giving the reader time to relax. Here it's handled very well.

The other aspect well handled in this type of scenario is whether or not these disparate elements - robberies in Iraq, a missing British banker, and a young female scammer in danger from a shadowy, and very efficient assassin connect. It's less of a surprise these days when they all do, but how they do is extremely important. Here it's done with considerable assurance and believability. The reader is drawn towards the conclusion, rather than fed the details up front, there's enough to guess about, wonder about to really keep you turning pages.

I'm not much of a fan of star ratings, or arbitrary numbers when it comes to books (even though many sites insist that you use them). My private rating system is all to do with whether or not I got much sleep whilst reading this book. Needless to say THE WRECKAGE rated very very highly - it's a book that kept me awake most of the night as it was next-to-impossible to put down.

Whilst it's not particularly unusual to have a flawed central protagonist, unapologetic ones are less common. Add being female, and that makes IN HER BLOOD's Catherine Berlin a rather rare beast, and a very welcome one.

Set in London after the Global Financial meltdown, Berlin is a government investigator who receives a tip-off about a local loan shark, then finds her informant floating in the Limehouse Basin, brutally killed. The first complication is that her female informant has been anonymous, and even the police seem to have trouble identifying her. The second complication is at the same time a notorious doctor is murdered and the pharmaceutical heroin he provided on prescription to registered addicts stolen. Leaving Berlin with the third complication of only finding a very limited temporary source, and the final, really big complication of sorting out a permanent alternative supply.

Berlin is a registered heroin addict, completely opposed to more mainstream treatment options, including methadone, she's an addict who had some measure of control over her addiction... as long as her doctor was alive.

Hence the flawed, unapologetic protagonist. Berlin (she doesn't use Catherine) is completely aware of her addiction and firmly of the opinion that she has it under control. Which makes the sudden inaccessibility of the ongoing medical supply a rather interesting problem for her. Hauxwell has pulled off a balancing act - on one hand you can see that it's not going to take much of a push for Berlin's life to spiral out of control, and at the same time you can see she's not going to let that push happen without one hell of a fight.

Illustrating the limited supply of heroin, the story is divided into "The First Day", "The Second Day" and so on covering the 5 days of supply that Berlin has. Before it runs out, she has to do something about her own life, and whilst she's aware of that, and thinking of her options, her desire to know who her informant was and solve the murders is also pressing - not least because some of her investigative choices are very compromised by the overriding addiction. These suspect choices provide a very interesting insight into the all-consuming nature of addiction, no matter how much somebody thinks they have it under control. There is quite a bit of that teetering on the edge going on for all the characters - Berlin, her bosses and workmates, the cops, the crooks. Really just about the entire cast have choices to make be they conscious or unconscious.

Early on there was some confusion about the involvement of an independent investigator right in the heart of a series of murder enquiries, but the writing was so sharp, and the way that the plot wove the world of drug addiction and rehabilitation, cops and crooks, high-finance and loan-sharking together was clever and very realistic. But really, the best aspects of IN HER BLOOD was Catherine Berlin who is a surprisingly sympathetic, unapologetic, flawed protagonist.

A DISSECTION OF MURDER is the first in a series of books from Western Australian author Felicity Young.  Set in London at the turn of the twentieth Century, featuring Dr Dody McCleland, the first female autopsy surgeon, the action in this book takes place in the midst of the Suffragette struggle, with the crime being investigated the death of a prominent suffragette during a rally that turned particularly violent.

More historical crime fiction, in other words.  Not so long ago I'd have been dodging this particular sub-genre.  Particularly when it comes with a hefty mixing of fictional and non-fictional events and characters.  It's worth reading Young's author note at the end of the book to get your head around who and what are the fictional aspects of the book, just to keep reality straight in your head, because A DISSECTION OF MURDER really has a most authentic, realistic feel about it.  Needless to say, I've been converted recently, mostly because of some excellent local authors.

Readers will have to stick with the early part of book as it does take a while for things to get moving.  To be fair, it is the start of a new series, and there's a fair bit of background explanation, the whys and wheres of Dody McCleland becoming the first female autopsy surgeon, and a significant amount of scene setting going on.  Once all of that is worked through, the book quickly becomes extremely compelling.  Part of this is due to the characters - Dody and her sister Florence seem like very real people, the world that they live in is very vividly drawn.  There's a fullish cast of characters surrounding them, and whilst many of them are, by necessity, very much bit players, there's also some starring roles - not the least of which being the Morgue attendant.  In what seems like quite a deliberate styling, the two sisters are poles apart - Dody is considered, cautious, almost withdrawn; Florence more vivacious, outgoing, impulsive.  Obviously these two character traits are going to dictate the parts that both women play in the unravelling of the plot, but that set-up didn't come across as overly manipulative.  Perhaps because the relationship between the two sisters, whilst sometimes volatile, seemed right, supportive and understanding.  Undoubtedly accepting who and what they are is helped by their bohemian family background, as clichéd as that may sound, somehow it gives the girls licence to be willing to push the boundaries.

The main police character in the book - Pike - is a man very much of his time.  Jilted widower, father of a young daughter, he supports the concept of the women's vote, but not the methods being used to achieve it.  He carries an injury from his time as a serving soldier, which constantly weighs on both his mind, and his career prospects, making him vulnerable to the whims of the upper-hierarchy of the Force.  He is a nice combination of stickler for the proprieties and bender of rules when justified by the circumstances, his life has not been as privileged as the McCleland sisters, but he is an interesting combination of acceptance, contentment and longing.

The plot of the book is reasonably strong, although there is the occasional point at which the death of the suffragette disappears a little into the difficulties of the struggle in general, the violence of the police and their motivations, and the involvement of Irish Nationalists.  There's also just the slightest hint of possible romantic leanings for the two main characters, which will undoubtedly appeal to many readers.  Given it's the opening in a series which is obviously setting up a world for Dr Dody McCleland to function in; particularly as many of the difficulties she experiences as a female doctor, let alone autopsy surgeon, are very far removed from our own current day female experience; I was more than a bit surprised about how happy I felt going with the scene setting.  It's a sure sign that A DISSECTION OF MURDER is the opening book in a series I'll be looking forward to seeing more of.

Publication Date: 1st March, 2012.