Police Procedural

A new Pufferfish novel will always be a thing of joy - whiteboard lists or no whiteboard lists and BIG RED ROCK fits the bill perfectly. Of course you will need to have a love of self-deprecating wit that's so dry you'd swear it originated in Uluru rather than Hobart. You will need to like the bear-prodding style of investigation, that's actually covering up an acute ability to observe, retain and analyse the smallest drips of information. And in this outing, be prepared for some personal revelations - in that dry, understated, not bothered sort of style that Pufferfish is the appointed monarch of.

As always, BIG RED ROCK has all the personal machinations; the working relationships with what is now a well-established, well-oiled team of 3 investigators; the romancing of long term partners; the tension with the higher-ups; and the day to day struggles of your typical hard-bitten, worn-down, put upon cop type (Pufferfish in case you were wondering), intertwined with a murder and a mystery - all in the glorious setting of Tasmania, with a smidgen of Alice Springs, and mainland capital cities included for a change of scenery. In Tasmania Pufferfish and team (minus one) are confronted with the possible accident, could be suicide, ultimate murder of Hildvi - successful woman, wife who sent her husband Wayne out for pizza and fell to her death in their fancy house in the hills above Hobart.

Meanwhile the minus one is off in the wilds of Tasmania looking into the disappearance, presumed murder of one young country singer. Pufferfish has a watching brief on that one - for reasons which become clear and present well into the story.

Along the way there's also Wayne the highly specialist, long-distance Removalist; the mysterious and frankly odd Kurt Cowboy; cocaine importation; major investigation Operation Centipede; Uluru; Alice Springs; Pufferfish and a lot of connections. Connections, crossed paths, tripped over feet, stood on toes, odd goings on, people gone missing, people showing up, and the whole damn thing. 

BIG RED ROCK is absolutely a good Pufferfish novel, in a series that's positively crowded with really good novels. They are comedic, dry as desert dust, pointed, observational and more than a bit unusual in their style and construction. If you've not read any of them, then there's now an opportunity to get on board with one of the best things (other than all those other lovely things that come out of Tasmania - cider / cheese / salmon / apples / food / pinot / oh the pinot. Did I mention pinot... Sorry, where was I...). Oh yes, earlier books in the series have now been re-released which is the perfect excuse for you to dive right in. Anywhere in the series will do nicely - there's some relationship building that expands throughout but you'll get the gist wherever you start. 

Grabbed a copy of this after seeing it on the list of Ned Kelly entrants for 2017 - without paying a lot of attention to the category it was entered in. (I've been cherry-picking from the list when I see a copy of the book available anywhere). I have to confess I went back and checked as I thought it was a debut novel, and was having a bit of trouble reconciling some elements. HOLY DEATH is the 3rd in the, I believe, self-published Inspector West series.

I have to confess I absolutely struggled with this one. Formal in dialogue style, I couldn't get the timeframe straight in my head - if asked I'd say this was an historical series, set a long time ago. Which it probably isn't. With what felt like a very wordy style, there's back story there, but still there's something about Inspector West that didn't quite jell with this reader. Hence the feeling that it may have been a debut - which it obviously isn't. 

As with all these things, other reader's mileage will vary dramatically.

If the universe wants to be particularly nice to us, it will make sure that A DARK SO DEADLY is the start of a new series from Stuart MacBride. There are echoes here of his long running Logan McRae series, but it's delivered with a slightly straighter bat (you'd have to be dead set in front to pick it though), and lots and lots of potential for places for the Misfit Mob to go and crims for them to annoy.

A haphazard grouping of cops who have been in trouble in the force, one who is most definitely not going gently into any sort of night - good or otherwise, and a female boss who is slightly erratic but nowhere near as in your face as DI Steel from the McRae series and there's so much potential here it's hard to know where to start. There's heaps of gallows humour that had this reader somewhere between smirking and laughing loudly at points, and then there's some beautifully dodgy villains, some over the top scenarios (mummified bodies for goodness sake) and that uncomfortable awareness that a scenario quite this horrible really shouldn't be making the reader laugh this much. But then readers, like the cops they are reading about, have to get through the worst of the worst, and MacBride is a genius at making it all feel like the world's gotten seriously it's weird and sick but it's going to be okay. 

The Misfit Mob might even work out a way to be okay. You'd have to hope so as there will be some serious sulking in these parts if the universe screws this up on us, and this isn't the start of a new series.

The beauty of a standalone is the tantalizing possibility of it being a series starter.  A DARK SO DEADLY introduces an irresistible new cast of characters (that this reviewer absolutely wants to see again) with the ‘Misfit Mob’.  This ragtag collection of police officers is pure reading gold and it is a testament to the authors skill that he is able to create (again) a fresh set of police officers who are all complex, rich with backstory, and let’s not forget, hilarious.  You can’t help but feel for Callum who has the whole world either badgering him for something or actively dropping bombs on him from a great height. 

This ridiculously enjoyable book hurls along at a great pace, throwing up new dodgy villains and antagonistic colleagues for Callum to deal with at every turn.  MacBride injects a terrific amount of energy and fizzy enjoyment into his novels and A DARK SO DEADLY is no exception.  It’s rare you find a crime novel that is truly horrifying, whilst making you laugh out loud during the reading.    Another great book delivered from a modern crime master.

LET THE DEAD SPEAK is the 7th novel in the Maeve Kerrigan series. A sobering thought for me given how much I liked this character in book number 1 and yet still I've now managed to miss books 2 through 6. Which means I can definitely say even if you've never read any of this series, LET THE DEAD SPEAK will work well.

A police procedural in style, LET THE DEAD SPEAK relies heavily on character interaction between Kerrigan and the team that she works with. There are a few tensions dotted throughout which are mostly self-explanatory, in particular there's obviously some clouds over Kerrigan from the recent past. When eighteen-year-old Chloe Emery's mother disappears, leaving behind signs of a bloody struggle, the entire team are baffled by the missing body. Despite that tension between within the team, they do manage to stay focused on the investigation that leads them to some dodgy neighbours and some very odd outcomes.

The plot here is an interesting undertaking with some elements that are going to be easy to pick, and much that remains unclear right until the end. Without a body, Kerrigan and her team are forced to focus on the possible why's of Kate Emery's fate, rather than the how or who up front, meaning this is a good old fashioned investigation in many ways, working each lead as it appears, weeding out a wide range of red herrings and possible suspects by coming to understand the victim, her family, and the immediate neighbours. 

The use of first person narrative by Kerrigan works well here, giving the reader an inside view on the frustrations, achievements and feelings around an investigation like this. Peppered as it is with acerbic humour and plenty of barbs and cracks from colleagues, the perspective creates an immediacy and realism that wouldn't necessarily work as well with a more observational style. 

About the only thing that readers who are new to this series might notice is that there is obviously back-story to Kerrigan's recent promotion, and her relationship with DI Josh Derwent - that alone should be enough of a reason to plug the gaps in reading the series, but it really shouldn't stop anybody from starting with LET THE DEAD SPEAK if that's the best option available. A series definitely worth reading whatever order you opt for.