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The Diggers Rest Hotel: A Charlie Berlin Novel

The Diggers Rest Hotel: A Charlie Berlin Novel 1

A Charlie Berlin Novel

by Geoffrey McGeachin
Paperback
Publication Date: 26/03/2014
5/5 Rating 1 Review

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Two years after witnessing the murder of a young Jewish woman in Poland, Charlie Berlin, ex-bomber pilot and former POW, has rejoined the police force a different man. While he is investigating a spate of robberies in rural victoria the body of a young girl is discovered and Berlin's pursuit of her killer reveals that the war has changed even the most ordinary of people and places.

'A feisty, beautifully researched thriller . . . shot through with brilliant insights and great dialogue. The best new Aussie entrant in the crime stakes since Peter Temple.' The Mercury

'A bottler of a book . . . superbly crafted. A terrific book in all respects.' Weekly Times

'Charlie Berlin is a wonderfully flawed human being doing his duty, falling apart and picking himself back up again.' Austcrimefiction.org

'McGeachin's reconstruction of post-war Australia has an air of authenticity . . . there is a depth to the characters that is characteristic of the better modern detective fiction.' Daily Telegraph
ISBN:
9780143205500
9780143205500
Category:
Crime & Mystery
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
26-03-2014
Publisher:
Penguin Random House Australia
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
336
Dimensions (mm):
201x132x21mm
Weight:
0.25kg

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The Diggers Rest Hotel is the first Charlie Berlin Mystery by Australian author, Geoffrey McGeachin. It is 1947, and ex-bomber pilot, Charlie Berlin has returned from the war bodily (if not psychologically) intact to resume his police career. DC Berlin, now 27 years old, is a bit of a loner, a misfit, still subject to blackouts, nightmares and flashbacks, a legacy of his time as a pilot and POW. His boss sends him to Wodonga to investigate a series of payroll robberies that have left local police baffled.

He learns the robberies are committed by a gang of five balaclava’d motorcycle riders toting sub-machine guns, but there is a dearth of further clues. While Rob Roberts, the young constable assigned to him, has some ideas, he is offered some valuable information by a journalist for The Argus, in town to interview Russell Drysdale. The other local police are uncooperative, and the witness accounts less than helpful. Then, the corpse of a beheaded young Chinese girl is discovered in an alley, and Berlin finds his detecting talents under extra pressure.

McGeachin gives the reader an excellent plot with a few red herrings and the odd twist or two. Charlie’s crime scene investigation is, of course, basic: the use of DNA, microscopic trace evidence, computers and mobile phones all far into the future. McGeachin expertly captures the feel of post-war country Victoria, the moods and attitudes of the people; his characters are believable and their dialogue is natural. Berlin is a character with depth and appeal, so readers will be pleased to know that he appears in at least two further books. This is excellent historical crime fiction.

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