Police Procedural

BLOOD SUNSET - Jarad Henry

Author Information
Book Title: 
Blood Sunset
Author Name: 
Jarad Henry
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9781741754200
Series: 
Rubens McCauley
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Location: 
Melbourne
Publisher: 
Allen & Unwin
Year of Publication: 
2008

Book Review: 

BLOOD SUNSET is the second book from Jarad Henry, HEAD SHOT having already introduced us to Detective Rubens McCauley, his work partner Cassie, his ex-wife Ella and Prince the cat.  Don't for one moment get the wrong idea though - the presence of the majestic Prince in these books doesn't indicate anything on the fluffy or lighter side.  BLOOD SUNSET takes us further into the darkness of street life and into the truly nasty side of prostitution, paedophilia, influence and corruption.
 
McCauley is back at work after being shot.  The physical damage is visible, the psychological damage slightly less obvious.  He's also trying to repair the damage to his relationship with his ex-wife.  They split up because of his obsession with "the job" and McCauley has finally realised how much he was to blame in that.  He also has immediate family problems.  His beloved mother has suffered a massive stroke; and his brother Anthony is carrying the burden of looking out for their elderly parents, whilst he has his own worries about drugs and his young adult children.
 
When the body of Dallas Boyd is first discovered something doesn't quite sit right with McCauley but he allows a uniformed colleague to talk him into the conclusion of accidental death.  As he takes time to think about the circumstances he slowly comes to believe that this is not correct, but he doesn't expect the reaction he gets from his boss, Eckles and the level of the fallout that is to come.  As Melbourne swelters in the heat and chokes in the smoke from massive bushfires, McCauley finds that desperation has an affect on him and everyone around him.
 
 
This is one of those classic police procedurals, with a central cop prepared to go it alone with everyone against him, although there's no cliche here.  Whilst McCauley's going out on a limb, he's prepared to admit that he's not always right and then again, he's not always wrong either.  Sure his boss is an idiot and actively trying to sabotage him, but that is balanced well by the way his motivations are slowly revealed - to say nothing of the jealousy and tension between uniformed and plain clothes cops.  The plot of BLOOD SUNSET is twisting and turning, and nicely complicated, touching on the most appalling elements of human society, without dwelling, avoiding any sense of voyeurism.  The police procedural elements are deftly handled and totally realistic.  Melbourne is a character in its own right, with St Kilda being the central focus and the weather and bushfires serving as a great way of recalling the feeling of those long, hot, smoky Melbourne summer days.  There is also a good supporting cast of characters and the balance between family and job nicely maintained. 
 
It's more than about time that another really good police procedural series muscled it's way onto the Australian landscape and you've got to think that the first two Rubens McCauley books are announcing an arrival to remember.
 

SHATTER - Michael Robotham

Author Information
Book Title: 
Shatter
Author Name: 
Michael Robotham
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
9781847441782
Series: 
Joe O'Loughlin
Vincent Ruiz
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Special Interests: 
Clinical Psychologist
Location: 
United Kingdom
Publisher: 
Hachette Livre
Year of Publication: 
2008

Book Review: 

SHATTER is the much anticipated 4th book in an ongoing series by this author.  All of these books are strong psychological thrillers, with good plots peopled with some believable characters.  Each book switches the central protagonist around an expanding character group - sometimes with the others playing bit parts.  In SHATTER Clinical Psychologist and Parkinson's sufferer Joe O'Loughlin returns to take the focus, with DI Ruiz taking a supporting (and supportive) role.
 
As the book gets started Joe is working part-time as a lecturer - the Parkinson's is starting to affect how he can lead his life and it's an ever-present "character" in everything he does.  When called to the bridge he's profoundly startled by the sight of a naked woman perched on the edge of a bridge and he's profoundly distressed when he can't stop her from jumping.  Everyone is convinced this act - for all it's bizarre characteristics - has been a suicide, but when her daughter - Darcy - gets in touch with Joe she is able to convince him that not only would her mother not suicide, she wouldn't do it in that manner.  And there's the question of the mobile phone - who was she talking so frantically to.
 
Joe's therefore not that surprised when yet another naked woman is found dead in bizarre circumstances, but it takes that death to finally convince DI Veronica Cray that there's something very very weird going on.
 
One of the great strengths of Robotham's writing is that he can take the reader along the ride of what is a pretty intricate plot -  the weird deaths, a strange lurking presence on the end of a telephone call, Joe and his Parkinson's, amongst other things whilst not losing sight of the characters that are central to these plots.  The victims have a personality, the killer is allowed to be more than just an "evil presence", Joe's personal life, his own daughters, and his wife Julianne intertwine with his investigation and retired Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz.
 
Even at points when the reader could get cocky and think that the obvious is about to happen, there's a twist - just a little twist but enough to keep you reading and wondering.  Robotham obviously has great skill as a story-teller.  The book takes a very disconcerting subject matter, an unusual and quite sobering twist on the standard murder scenario and it makes it seem not only feasible but frighteningly so.  But at the same time he can generate a feeling of sympathy for so many of the players in this story that could have / maybe should have / had they done something - then none of this needed to happen - and that applies not just to the victims and the perpetrator.
 

Voodoo Doll

Submitted by Karen on

Author's Home Country: 
Australia
Category: 
Crime Fiction

Blurb from the book

A year since the death of the man who abducted her, Sergeant Jill Jackson has been promoted and is stronger than she's been in years. But with the promotion comes a transfer to a taskforce targeting gang-related home invasions in south western Sydney, a new partner, a whole new team to work with, and some of the grisliest cases Jill's ever encountered.

Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Special Interests: 
Victim Impact
ISBN: 
9781863256148
Location: 
Australia
Series: 
Jill Jackson
Publisher: 
Random House Australia
Year of Publication: 
2008

STRANGERS IN DEATH - J.D. Robb

Author Information
Book Title: 
Strangers in Death
Author Name: 
J.D. Robb
Author's Home Country: 
USA
ISBN: 
9780749938833
Series: 
Eve Dallas
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Special Interests: 
Futuristic
Publisher: 
Piatkus
Year of Publication: 
2008

Isn't the killer almost always someone the deceased trusted, someone that they knew?  Thomas Anders, a philanthropic and kind businessman seemed to have done a whole lot of good in life and probably, by way of his massive fortune left behind, would continue to do so in death.  Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD, 2060, is suspicious by nature and by occupation; a very extravagant and lurid murder scene has been presented to her, and when she sees a widow trying very hard not to appear all too merry after the death of her supposedly beloved spouse – the doubts and disbeliefs pile up.  What is

Book Review: 

STRANGERS IN DEATH is the 26th book in the hugely successful "in Death" series.  You have to be impressed by that.  They are all the things still that they were in the first few books of the series - smart, funny, absorbing and simply delightful offerings of escapism.  Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, has no peer in her ability to regularly churn out the best sellers across her chosen genres of women's fiction, drama, the supernatural and with this series, the future police procedural.  So effortlessly is the future world of Eve and her man Roarke detailed from book to book that it is easily imagined to be one day truth, albeit not perhaps as soon as only 50 or so projected years in the future.  As it was with "Hal", readers of the Eve Dallas books will be one day frowning that the Auto chef has not yet been invented, or that their food street vendors have not evolved into highly mobile "air carts".

Roberts keeps her stories domestic and true to the city of New York and despite the possible scope allowable in doing so, keeps her the crimes ageless in motive and opportunity.   They remain urban dilemmas, with the added spin of advanced technology being both a hindrance and a help with the police investigation.   STRANGERS IN DEATH take a new look at an old theme, the discussion of which would be here a major plot spoiler - but it's good to know that new light can still be shone through old windows. 

A.T.

THE DEAD PLACE - Stephen Booth

Author Information
Book Title: 
The Dead Place
Author Name: 
Stephen Booth
Author's Home Country: 
United Kingdom
ISBN: 
000717200
Series: 
Ben Cooper
Diane Fry
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Publisher: 
Harper Collins
Year of Publication: 
2005

Book Review: 

I like this series.  I like Diane Fry.  Why do I have to say that?  Well Diane Fry is one of those characters that divides opinions on most of the discussion lists I belong to - you either like her or you don't (much like Elle Pascoe in the Reginald Hill Dalziel and Pascoe novels).  Personally I hope that Diane Fry doesn't lose the mouth and the attitude, given what has been revealed about her in earlier books - she's perfectly entitled to be as grumpy as she damn well pleases.   And that's probably the only reason that you'd want to read Stephen Booth's series in order - there is an ongoing progression of character development that helps you understand both Fry and Cooper a bit.
 
In THE DEAD PLACE Mr Booth has again bought that wonderful feeling of suspense and tension to a story without necessarily resorting to overt violence.  His "villains" are oftentimes ordinary people who get themselves into bad positions, or are forced to extremes by circumstances.  Frequently there are a lot of characters who are just a bit odd - dare we say "eccentric", sometimes they are hiding things, oftentimes they are just that - a bit odd.  THE DEAD PLACE has a lot of possibilities for the head "villain", and to my mind, the interesting sort of resolution - where the villain is a victim in their own right.  
 
Body snatching is a complicated crime to look into and Ben Cooper's main problem is initially in identifying whose skeleton is found lying pretty well unconcealed in a remote - but not untraipsed part of the forest.  Whether or not this body is the "body" that the taunter sending messages to the Derbyshire Police via telephone is referring to, isn't immediately obvious but it doesn't seem so.  Of course where or what The Dead Place that he refers to also isn't immediately clear, nor is why he used a funeral for cover for his initial call.  Investigating a crime that may or may not have occurred, or be about to occur makes Diane's investigation just a bit complicated as well.
 
Beautifully complex, wonderfully atmospheric, nicely creepy but with a deftness of touch that makes it sinister without being cliched, THE DEAD PLACE is a book I've been hoarding for quite a while.  I live in hope that Mr Booth will feel inclined to continue writing for a long time to come.
 

HEAD SHOT - Jarad Henry

Author Information
Book Title: 
Head Shot
Author Name: 
Jarad Henry
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
1740970950
Series: 
Rubens McCauley
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Location: 
Melbourne
Publisher: 
Thompson Walker
Year of Publication: 
2005

Book Review: 

The blurb on HEAD SHOT says Jarad Henry has worked in the legal criminal justice system for the past ten years.  It shows. There is a credibility to HEAD SHOT that implies that Henry knows how things work. He has met the people and walked the streets. Anyone who has been following the saga of the Melbourne gangland killings and the success of the Purana taskforce in securing convictions in relation to the killings, will find more than a few parallels in HEAD SHOT.  I don’t know exactly what Henry’s job has been the past few years, but I suspect there could be a true crime book there that might prove even more fascinating than HEAD SHOT.
 
Henry has a second novel BLOOD SUNSET due for publication in May, 2008 and I, for one, can’t wait.  
 

THE RIVERMAN by Alex Gray

Author Information
Book Title: 
The Riverman
Author Name: 
Alex Gray
Author's Home Country: 
United Kingdom
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Year of Publication: 
2007

Book Review: 

There is always the sense that author Alex Gray knows exactly what she is talking about; such is the impression of total authority and confidence in her words.  THE RIVERMAN is the fourth book in this series showing a pleasing graduation of intensity and detailing of investigative procedure from the first entry, NEVER SOMEWHERE ELSE.    They walk on the dark side for sure; the Lorimer/Brightman series is dancing with that level of seriousness that could yet deviate from "darkly" atmospheric to completely dour and unappetizing.  Gray excels in setting the scene and has made the river a character without words in THE RIVERMAN, all but floating the mist right up out of the pages.  Is it all becoming a tad too bleak and grey - the balance in this novel is precarious but it is felt that it has been a deliberate effort to make it so.   As with other fine Scottish crime series that do no need to be named, Gray has a wonderful sense of place, firmly rooting her stories in Glasgow and making it more about the effects of urban discontent than of about the personal doings of the characters.  
 
THE RIVERMAN would have benefited from some trimming of scenes that draw away from the tying up of the threads.  In order to make the read more of an investigative experience for the reader the findings of other forensic personnel and consultants etc would have been a welcome inclusion.  The viewpoint was narrow here for the police, yet included much of what for they were not privy to with the actions of the suspects as it all begins to fall apart for them.  
 
A solid entry in a series that is up there with the best, included in that select group, if you'll forgive its mention one more time, of the "Tartan noir".  
 

GRIEF ENCOUNTERS - Stuart Pawson

Author Information
Book Title: 
Grief Encounters
Author Name: 
Stuart Pawson
Author's Home Country: 
United Kingdom
ISBN: 
9780749080327
Series: 
Charlie Priest
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Publisher: 
Allison & Busby
Year of Publication: 
2007

Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is sitting in the monthly superintendent’s briefing doodling idly on his notepad when Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Swainby, one of the ugliest men ever to don a uniform, announces he is leaving the force. He adds that certain allegations are going to be made about him and asks that he be given the benefit of the doubt.

Shortly after that a local member of parliament is photographed in a compromising position in the back of his car. He too chooses to bow out quietly, only he finds a much more permanent method.

Book Review: 

Reading GRIEF ENCOUNTERS is like slipping into a pair of your favourite comfy slippers.  It may not set the world on fire for being fashionable or chic but you know you are going to enjoy the experience. Stuart Pawson steers away from the dysfunctional stereotypes that abound in crime fiction these days.  It is near impossible not to like the amiable Charlie Priest and his team at Heckley nick.  These are ordinary people who come to work each day and share jokes, socialise and lead quiet unremarkable lives; just like the majority of us. And perhaps that is the clue to the popularity of Pawson’s Charlie Priest series. The men and women of Heckley could so easily be you and me.

GRIEF ENCOUNTERS is the twelfth in the Charlie Priest series and may there be many more.

HEAD SHOT - Jarad Henry

Author Information
Book Title: 
Head Shot
Author Name: 
Jarad Henry
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
1740970950
Series: 
Rubens McCauley
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Location: 
Melbourne
Publisher: 
Thompson Walker
Year of Publication: 
2005

Book Review: 

There are days when the fact that I'm often so far behind with local authors that I could kick myself, and today is definitely one of those days.
 
HEAD SHOT is the debut novel for Jarad Henry, with Blood Sunset - his second book to be published by Allen & Unwin in 2008.
 
HEAD SHOT is a police procedural that's written with enormous aplomb and deftness.  The author has a background in the criminal justice system and that experience shows through, but doesn't overwhelm the reader.  This is not a police procedure manual, but a great book about a young cop who makes a convenient patsy for the corrupt and flat out criminal.
 
Set in Melbourne, the story is placed realistically in and around that town, and reading it now, with the knowledge of not too long ago underworld behaviour - well it really works as a fictional story, but there's just a little edge there that seems very realistic.
 
McCauley is a good cop, just over obsessed with his job, and weighed down by the implications of the job and the accusations made against him.  He finds himself partnered unexpectedly with a young female cop - Brit  - Constable Cassie Withers who married an Australian, moved to Melbourne and joined the police force.  Both characters have shattered personal lives behind them - but for different reasons, and both characters work well.  Either arguing the point with each other, not trusting each other, or working together.
 
I'm serious when I say I'm kicking myself for taking so long to read this book.  
 

THE REDBREAST - Jo Nesbo

Author Information
Book Title: 
The Redbreast
Author Name: 
Jo Nesbo
Author's Home Country: 
Norway
ISBN: 
978-1-843-4321-3
Series: 
Harry Hole
Categorisation
Category: 
Crime Fiction
Sub Genre: 
Police Procedural
Location: 
Norway
Publisher: 
Harvill Secker
Year of Publication: 
2006

Book Review: 

Okay - a little housekeeping first.  I can't get accented characters to work properly here ... yet.  I'm working on it because it annoys me as much as it undoubtedly annoys readers of these posts.  
 
Secondly, a little background to the Harry Hole (pronounced - we think - Hurler, but corrections from those who really know would be extremely welcome)!  THE DEVIL'S STAR (released in English first) is actually number 5 in the series, THE REDBREAST (released in English second) is number 3 in the series and NEMESIS (to be released about now, so third) is actually number 4 in the series.  Confused.  So were the rest of us :)
 
On the upside the first two available books are readable out of order, although THE REDBREAST does explain Harry's situation and demeanor in THE DEVIL'S STAR.
 
But THE REDBREAST - well it's a wonderful book.  As you often find in these wonderful, multi-layered and textural (that's textured as opposed to text) books from fabulous Scandinavian authors, we're treated to some entertainment, with an exploration of a societal problem / an itch that needs to be scratched.  THE REDBREAST explores the ongoing fallout from the Second World War.  That war has ramifications in the local society right up until the current day, and it's worthwhile reading THE REDBREAST just to see how the war affected other cultures, maybe countries that were much closer to the action than we were - for example - in Australia.  
 
Nesbo is also the sort of author who is not afraid to cause the reader trauma - characters that you get close to can die, their death can involve other characters who continue on.  Nothing is straight forward and nothing is constantly easy.
 
If this makes THE REDBREAST perhaps sound a bit too much, then it shouldn't.  It's the sort of book that moves backwards and forwards between the then (1940's at War) and now (1999) as Harry investigates the existence of a very unexpected weapon, without necessarily knowing who has it or why.  There are sub-plots built into the narrative as well, neo-Nazi's; drugs; all sorts of underground activities that clearly show that life these days isn't straightforward.  All of those threads stack up in comparison against life in the war years - the complications of whose side to fight on, the reaction to collaborators when the war was over, the difficulties of surviving through a war, and in a time when attitudes were considerably different than they are today.
 
 

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