Review: THE BLUE ROSES OF ORROROO, Margaret Visciglio

• this edition published 2011 by Ginninderra Press
• ISBN 978-1-74027-673-3
• 288 pages
• Source: my local library
• Available for Kindle
• Author's website

Synopsis (Booktopia)

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.

Blue Roses won the Three Day Novel Writing Race conducted by the Salisbury Writers' Festival in 2007. The novel was expanded and entered in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition in 2009, reaching the semi-finals. One reviewer (USA) wrote, 'The historical setting is well researched and seamlessly presented. Although set in a small Australian town the themes are universal. Style-wise, this is above your average best-seller.' Another reviewer (Canada) said, 'Written with heart and humour. A book that dares to start with horse shit is going to be good.'

My Take

There is a little mystery embedded in THE BLUE ROSES but one that is really easily solved (and a crime has taken place).

But for me the fascinating part of the read is the depiction of life in South Australia on the brink of the Depression in 1929.  The story straddles both urban and rural life, in the period before cars were common conveyances, and electricity was not standard. The setting is a little older than me, but things had not changed so much by the time I was a child.

The story of how this novel came to be is an inspiring one for all who think they might have a book or a short story in them.

My rating: 4.2

Review: WEB OF DECEIT, Katherine Howell

• first published by Pan Macmillan Australia 2013
• #6 in the Ella Marconi series
• ISBN 978-1-7426-1030-6
• source: my TBR

Synopsis (Pan Macmillan Australia)

When paramedics Jane and Alex encounter a man refusing to get out of his crashed car with bystanders saying he deliberately drove into a pole, it looks like a desperate cry for help. His frantic claim that someone is out to get him adds to their thinking that he is delusional.

Later that day he is found dead under a train in what might be a suicide, but Jane is no longer so sure: she remembers the raw terror in his eyes.

Detective Ella Marconi shares Jane's doubts, which are only compounded when the case becomes increasingly tangled. The victim's boss tries to commit suicide when being questioned, a witness flees their attempt to interview her, and then to confuse matters further, a woman is beaten unconscious in front of Jane's house and Alex's daughter goes missing.

Ella is at a loss to know how all these clues add up, and feels the investigation is being held back by her budget-focused boss. Then, just when she thinks she's closing in on the right person, a shocking turn of events puts more people in danger and might just see the killer slip through her hands.

My Take

WEB OF DECEIT follows the same structure as Howell's earlier novels in the series: police investigations running in parallel with paramedics whose callout allows the reader to see another side of a victim. The result is four strong characters who are dedicated to the work that they are doing. But they all have more personal relationships on their minds as well, and I think that is what makes them seem so real. None of us operates in a vacuum. Our personal lives impinge on our work and vice versa.

Here is a well plotted novel written by an accomplished and established Australian author, the first to win two Davitt awards.

I have two novels in this series to catch up on: DESERVING DEATH published in 2014, and TELL THE TRUTH due out Feb 2015. I am looking forward to reading both of them!

My rating: 4.7

I've also reviewed
5.0, FRANTIC - #1 (mini review) - 2007
4.6, THE DARKEST HOUR - #2 - 2008
4.8, COLD JUSTICE - #3 -2010
4.8, VIOLENT EXPOSURE -#4 - 2010
4.8, SILENT FEAR -#5 - 2012

Review: THE GOLDEN CLAW, Sax Rohmer

• first published 1915
• first book in the Gaston Max series
• source/format: Amazon, Kindle
• Crime Fiction of the Year Challenge @ Past Offences

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

An illusive Chinese mastermind and his henchman have already killed one socialite and they hold a mysterious sway over many of London's elite. What is the secret of their power? Follow the trail with Sax Rohmer's famous detectives Gaston Max and Inspector Dunbar as they chase the international gang of hoodlums and their leader, the evil Dr. King.

My Take

This novel has an antiquarian almost "penny dreadful" feel about it. Gaston Max is a renowned French detective who has come to London on the trail of a Chinese syndicate who are setting up opium dens around the world. They have snared would be socialites and people who have acquired the opium habit while on diplomatic service in China. The French Surete has established that a considerable sum of money has come into the Paris opium den through a bank cheque drawn on the account of Henry Leroux, in whose London flat a woman has died.

Max is a master of disguise. He sets up a honey trap to ensnare Mr King by posing as an opium addict  who wishes to use the services of the London den. In some ways Max is a forerunner of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. He basically works alone, playing his cards very close to his chest until he is very sure of his deductions, and he relies very heavily on logic.

On the other hand the author can be seen to be in the mould of Conan Doyle with very detailed descriptions of both characters and settings. The language is a little dated, at times using vocabulary many readers would recognize as obsolete.

I was particularly interested in the timing of this plot, set before World War One, which attributes corruption in high places to the Asiatic influences, a little ironic as it was the British who intentionally introduced opium to China through trade in the 1840s. 

I've read this for the Crime Fiction of the Year Challenge @ Past Offences for the year 1915.
It is also a book for the 2015 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge.

My rating: 4.0

About the author (1883-1959)
Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward, better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is most remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu. Born in Birmingham he had an entirely working class education and early career before beginning to write. His first published work was in 1903, the short story The Mysterious Mummy for Pearson's Weekly. He made his early living writing comedy sketches for music hall performers and short stories and serials for magazines.
See more at Fantastic Fiction