Review: BROKEN BAY, Margaret Hickey

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby provided through my local library
  
• Published: 30 July 2024??
• ISBN: 9781761344541
• Imprint: Penguin
• Pages: 384
  

Synopsis (publisher)

Old loyalties and decades-long feuds rise to the surface in this stunning crime novel, set in a spectacular Australian landscape known for its jagged cliffs and hidden caves.

Detective Sergeant Mark Ariti has taken a few days’ holiday in Broken Bay at precisely the wrong time. The small fishing town on South Australia’s Limestone Coast is now the scene of a terrible tragedy.

Renowned cave diver Mya Rennik has drowned while exploring a sinkhole on the land of wealthy farmer Frank Doyle. As the press descends, Mark’s boss orders him to stay put and assist the police operation.

But when they retrieve Mya's body, a whole new mystery is opened up, around the disappearance of a young local woman twenty years before . . .

Suddenly Mark is diving deep into the town’s history - and in particular the simmering rivalry between its two most prominent families, the Doyles and Sinclairs.

Then a murder takes place at the Sinclairs’ old home – and Mark is left wondering which is more dangerous: Broken Bay’s hidden subterranean world or the secretive town above it . . . 

My Take

Very very readable.

I enjoyed catching up with Mark Ariti in the small Limestone Coast town of Broken Bay. Mark just happens to be holidaying in the area when renowned cave diver Mya Rennik drowns in a newly discovered sink hole.

Mark accidentally becomes head of the investigation, holding the fort until a crime investigation team arrives, when a second body is discovered in the sink hole.  And then his stay in the town is extended when his car's windscreen is shattered, and he has to stay waiting for repairs to take place. 

As Mark investigates the history of various families, he follows glimmerings that seem out of place, showing us what makes him such a good detective.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.7, CUTTER'S END - Mark Ariti #1
• 4.6, STONE TOWN - Mark Ariti #2