High Beam

Something is very rotten in the state of Tasmania. Brad Finch, the franchise player of the Tassie Devils Football Club, is the victim at the heart of a new murder mystery. Forensic analysis, dogged detective work and inspiration may prove insufficient in the search for the true perpetrators of the conspiracy. Intensive media interest, interfering superior officers, and corrupt business interests threaten to derail the homicide investigation conducted by the Serious Crimes Squad. The team must face unpalatable truths about the nature of professional sport and the exercise of power in modern Australian society. Detective Inspector John Mahoney, the chief protagonist of this police procedural, is an outsider in his hometown of Hobart. Disillusioned by his private life and shocked by the corruption he unearths, he queries his capacity to continue in the job. He must decide if he has the courage to ‘speak truth to power’. Introducing a distinctively fresh voice in Australian fiction, HIGH BEAM is the first in a crime series that delves beneath the surface of the ‘lucky country’ to investigate the flaws of modern society.