Review: THE BANK TELLER, Roger Monk

• this edition published by Horizon Publishing Group 2018
• ISBN 978-1-922238-74-0
• 361 pages
• #3 in "Bank" series
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Amazon)

A top executive dies suddenly.
An accident?
A murder?
An inside job?
Hundreds of suited suspects in one city office.
Detective Sergeant Brian Shaw is recalled from Yorke Peninsula.
From sleepy country town to throbbing city throngs,
clashing personalities, old scores to be settled, frustrated ambitions, jealousies, and something new:  female tellers.
A hotbed of suspicions from managing director to tea lady.
And who started the rumour that one of the tellers may be involved?
Why?  Who?
Know why and you may know who!

My Take

This is #3 in the series based in Adelaide around 1950, focussed around Detective Brian Shaw. A real treat for South Australian readers in particular, but really for all who reflect on how things have changed in the last seven decades.

The novel is a delightful mix of fact and fiction. During the second World War women were allowed to take on the role of tellers in various banks and some were so good at it that they remained in place after the men returned from the services.The fictional Great Southern Bank has branches not only in South Australia but in most of the eastern states. It's Managers and tellers have been moved around from city to country and vice versa and many are fiercely loyal to the bank.

Like many of its competitors the GSB has been looking for that investment that will give it "the edge" and, as a result, now has a problem that, so far, only its Board is aware of.

A beautifully written, quite complex, story which starts with a murder when the General Manager, Staff, is literally booted down the grand marble staircase and dies as a consequence.

Detective Brian Shaw, who has had dealings with the GSB in the past, is brought back to Adelaide from Yorke Peninsular to solve the puzzle.  And within days there is a second murder.

A highly recommended read.

My rating: 4.7

I also recommend
4.8, THE BANK INSPECTOR #1
4.8, THE BANK MANAGER #2 

Review: THE BANK MANAGER, Roger Monk

• 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

Synopsis (Publisher)

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

Review: THE BANK INSPECTOR, Roger Monk

• Publisher: The Horizon Publishing Group
• ISBN: 9781922238375
• ISBN-10: 1922238376 
• Format: Paperback 
• Language: English 
• Number Of Pages: 422
• Published: 1st September 2014
• source: my local library 

Synopsis (Booktopia)

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.

My Take

Thank you to blogging friend Bernadette for the recommendation to read this book. Her review at Fair Dinkum Crime is here.

This novel has so far not received the publicity it deserves. The plot is remarkably simple but at the same time intricately woven with a delicate twist. The setting is local - South Australia, Adelaide, Grote Street, Norwood, the Barossa Valley - some recognisable local scenery, set in 1950, some strongly drawn characters, and some intriguing mystery.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. For overseas readers I wish I could recommend an e-book but there doesn't appear to be one yet. I live in hope. I also have hopes that it will make the Ned Kelly shortlist.

My rating: 4.8

Author Bio: 

Roger Monk was born in Adelaide and grew up on the Yorke Peninsula and Lower North of South Australia. He spent over twenty-five years in banking, latterly as bank secretary, and five years in management development in the Australian automotive manufacturing industry before joining the University of South Australia. For many years, he has specialised in managerial and organisational behaviour and the psychological implications of business practices, and as a supervisor of Honours, Masters and Ph.D. students. He also works with tertiary students with Aspergers syndrome problems and on the preparation of textual case studies.
Roger holds a BA, a Master’s degree in Organisational Behaviour, an MBA, a Ph.D. in Human and Organisational Psychology and is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. He has done substantial overseas research, lectured extensively in Hong Kong, and Singapore and has worked at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Cornell University.
Roger lives in the foothills above Adelaide with his wife, Valerie, a registered nurse, and enjoys writing, reading historical biographies and murder mysteries, gardening and fishing. He has grown and made his own dry Eden Valley Riesling at their property in the Barossa hills.
Roger’s novel “The Bank Inspector” is a crime/thriller story that will appeal to lovers of the genre and certainly all bankers all over the world.