I have been very pleased to read three novels this year (four if you count border town Broken Hill in SA where it has been on occasion over the years) set in South Australia where I live. Three of them have a historical flavour.
Click on my links for my reviews
4.8, THE BANK INSPECTOR, Roger Monk
The perfect crime!
One Monday morning, a bank branch is robbed.
No one hurt or threatened.
Not a hold-up.
Not a tunnel into the vault.
A three minutes robbery and the robber drives away. Not followed. Not
caught.
A perfect, flawless crime.
Detective Sergeant Brian Shaw hardly knows where to start, especially as
he is distracted by an attempted murder in a nearby street.
A story of greed, treachery and a heart-breaking family feud.
4.4, ODDFELLOWS, Nicolas Shakespeare
On 1 January 1915, ramifications from the First World War, raging half a
world away, were felt in Broken Hill, Australia, when in a
guerrilla-style military operation, four citizens were killed and seven
wounded. It was the annual picnic day in Broken Hill and a thousand
citizens were dressed for fun when the only enemy attack to occur on
Australian soil during World War I, took them by surprise. Nicholas
Shakespeare has turned this little known piece of Australian history
into a story for our time.
4.2, THE BLUE ROSES OF ORROROO, Margaret Visciglio
In the summer of 1928, the body of Michael Walsh is brought home to
Norwood from Mount Gambier, where he died on a train. That night his
wife, Rose, attacks his coffin with an axe. Rose's estranged daughter,
Mary, returns for the funeral. Mother and daughter are reconciled but as
Michael is buried, dark secrets are resurrected. The Blue Roses of
Orroroo is a humorous account of rape, incest and Stolen Generations
related by Rose Walsh, a not always reliable witness, as she strives to
rescue her family from destitution and, fuelled by kerosene and roses,
to restore her own self-esteem.
Happy New Year! I read one book set in S.A. this year - Elizabeth Ferrars, The Crime & the Crystal. Not such a great mystery, but so interesting to see Adelaide through a stranger's eyes.
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