Garry Disher
A small bushfire, but nasty enough for ice cooks to abandon their lab. Fatal, too. But when the bodies in the burnt-out Mercedes prove to be a pair of Sydney hitmen, Inspector Hal Challis’s inquiries into a local ice epidemic take a darker turn. Meanwhile, Ellen Destry, head of the new sex crimes unit, finds herself not only juggling the personalities of her team but hunting a serial rapist who leaves no evidence behind. The seventh instalment in Garry Disher’s celebrated Peninsula Crimes series sets up new challenges, both professional and personal, for Challis and Destry.
‘Peninsula Crimes’ consists of police procedurals based on the Mornington Peninsula outside Melbourne, featuring Inspector Hal Challis and his partner – in life and work – Ellen Destry. As the series has progressed Disher has been switching the focus between these two more and more, creating an interesting dynamic in their professional and personal partnerships, and giving the series a lot more depth as a result.
- The Dragon Man (1999) introduced readers to Challis and Destry, the fictitious town of Waterloo, and a flawed, complicated and tricky bunch of characters – many of whom are ongoing. The Peninsula has always been a favourite Melbourne summertime holiday destination, with safe beaches and plenty of camping opportunities, and that sort of village influx feeling is beautifully depicted, as is the chaos that a possible serial killer invokes, along with the standard annoyances of aggravated burglaries, letterbox torching and vandalism.
- Kittyhawk Down (2003) and again there are the mindless petty crimes and annoyances that seem to go with idiots on holidays; there are personal complications aplenty for all the cops, plus murders and general mayhem.
- Snapshot (2005), cementing this series as something to be followed closely. Spouse-swapping parties, spite, senior police interference (and personal connections) all combine with a known killer but an unclear motive to give a reader plenty to be enthralled by.
- Chain of Evidence (2007) with Disher abruptly yanking Challis out of the now familiar Peninsula setting and sending him off to a remote town in outback South Australia where his father is dying. As the focus switches from Destry back on the Peninsula tracking down a ring of paedophiles, to Challis in the outback searching for the truth about the disappearance of his brother-in-law, there is clear evidence of a master plotter and storyteller at work here.
- Blood Moon (2009), it’s Schoolies Week so there’s trouble enough without the hint of romantic interest between Challis and Destry tumbling into rapid cohabitation with mixed feelings on both their parts and plenty of career implications from above. Combine that with some very pointed digs at community planning out of control, people who move to rural areas and then try to change everything that made them want to go there in the first place, a bullying and controlling husband, sexual assault and bashing, and Disher is juggling a lot of elements and doing it with aplomb.
- Whispering Death (2012) again saw Challis pitted against the upper echelons, while dealing with home invasions, a sinister twist in a rapist’s behaviour and a cat burglar who normally is very careful to avoid muddying the local waters. Once again readers will be struck by the cleverness of this plot, where even those elements that might be considered a little clichéd are elegantly delivered, and the timing is absolutely spot-on.