- ISBN:
- 9780992329662
- 9780992329662
- Category:
- Crime & Mystery
- Format:
- Paperback
- Publication Date:
- 01-09-2014
- Publisher:
- Clan Destine Press
- Country of origin:
- Australia
- Dimensions (mm):
- 198x128x28mm
- Weight:
- 0.36kg
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Reviews
2 Reviews
An intriguing plot involving a missing woman wound through with a 'poison pen' subplot keep the tension high and the pages turning. The protagonists have depth and you really get to like them.
As far as Australian crime novels go, this debut is a cracker. I look forward to getting my hands on the sequel in November.
Tell Me Why: Rural Crime Files 01 is the first book in the Georgie Harvey and John Franklin thriller series by Australian author, Sandi Wallace. With her live-in lover pressuring her to commit, an expensive run-in with a pedantic judge and her current work less than stimulating, writer Georgie Harvey needs to escape from Melbourne. As a favour to her sweet old neighbour, Ruby, she heads to Daylesford to track down the lifelong friend Ruby is worried about, Susan Pentecoste.
As a Senior Constable in Daylesford for the last sixteen years, John Franklin is looking for a case where he can step up, show his initiative, maybe impress the District Superintendent and join Criminal Investigations. When two young single mothers come into the station with identical poison pen letters signed by “Solomon”, he is determined to investigate in his own time, and keep that irritating junior constable he has been lumbered with in the dark.
Georgie soon discovers that Susan has been gone from her farm quite a bit longer than usual; she also realises that Susan’s is absence very probably related to the mysterious disappearance of her husband, Roland, after a fire that put Susan into Intensive Care, five years earlier. But when Georgie tries to interest the Police, that arrogant DC Franklin is quickly dismissive of her concerns.
Wallace gives the reader an original plot with plenty of twists that slowly unfold, and a couple of exciting climaxes. Her characters are familiar, people we have all met or encountered; they have depth and appeal, although some are not quite what they first seem. Their dialogue is natural and often funny, as is the inner monologue of the main characters. Wallace captures the feel of country Victoria beautifully both with her descriptive prose and the local characters that inhabit the town. There are a few red herrings, a bunch of possible suspects for both letters and missing persons, and the reader is kept wondering about Susan’s fate with interludes between chapters.
Sassy, unpredictable Georgie and well-meaning maverick Franklin are both likeable characters, and while their interactions are mostly less than friendly, there is a chemistry between them that remains unresolved. Thankfully, this is only the beginning: readers will definitely want more of Georgie Harvey and John Franklin. This page-turner is an excellent debut novel.
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