- first published by the Horizon Publishing Group 2016
- ISBN 13: 978-1-922234-573
- 337 pages
- source: my local library
- paperback also available from Amazon
Detective Sergeant Brian Shaw is transferred to a country town.
Just an ordinary, average Australian country town where nothing ever happens — except blackmail, fornication, embezzlement, revenge, avarice, brutality, snobbery, rape … and murder.
Like any other ordinary, average Australian country town.
My Take
We first met DS Brian Shaw in Roger Monk's first crime fiction book, THE BANK INSPECTOR.
I felt his character emerged rather more clearly in THE BANK MANAGER.
The year is 1950. Superintendent Matthews of the South Australian Police Headquarters decides to try stationing detectives in different regions in the state. This will mean when a serious crime occurs a detective will not have to be sent out from Adelaide, he will already be more or less on the spot.
Brian Shaw's boss Inspector Williams breaks the news to him that he will be reporting to the Midway police station on Yorke Peninsula as officer in charge of all detective functions.
Shaw does not have very long to settle in. The day after he arrives the manager of the Midway branch of the Great Southern Bank disappears on his way back from visiting a local agency. His car mysteriously turns up in his garage overnight but there is no sign of Frank Anderson.
I very much enjoyed this carefully plotted story. There is a good sense of South Australian country life just after World War Two, and some interesting characters. Brian Shaw is seen by some families as an eligible bachelor, and receives a number of social invitations which gives the reader a good idea of the structure of this country town.
Unfortunately there is no sign of an e-book, but South Australians at least can easily get a copy of both titles through their local library. I look forward to the next in this series.
My rating: 4.8
I've also read 4.8, THE BANK INSPECTOR
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