Aoife Clifford is an author new to me, but she’s definitely one to watch.
Those who visit this site often (if there are any of you!) will probably have noticed I have recently developed a fondness for Australian crime fiction. (Iceland is my other favourite setting at present, and of course Scotland, which I’ve rather been neglecting – I’ll make that up to you this summer, I promise!) Anyway, the name “Outback Noir” seems to have been given to the books by Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, Garry Disher, et al. They’re all set in the dry, dusty centre of Australia, where farmers pray for rain.
This is a very different kind of small town – it’s called Merritt, and it’s wet, windy weather here. Alex Tillerson, a city barrister whose marriage has collapsed and whose workload is getting worryingly light, has arrived in the town where she was born to see her mother, Denny, who’s suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s. Her visit doesn’t start well, as she and her mother come across a woman’s leg on the beach – belonging to Maxine McFarlane, a successful local artist and art teacher. When the rest of her body is retrieved, she’s alleged to have drowned while kayaking – but there’s no salt water in her lungs. Alex learns from locals about Bella Greggs, a teenager who was found two years earlier in a freshwater ravine, but with salt water in her lungs – a death deemed unsuspicious. Maxine nurtured Bella’s burgeoning art talent, and before her death was said to be planning an exhibition which would shock the townspeople, with reference to Bella’s death, and possibly pointing a finger of blame at someone.
Merritt is a small town where people know each other’s business.
Alex left when she was small, so isn’t aware of all the relationships in the town. As Robyn, a busybody-type who runs the local museum, says to her: “People here are a bit like trees, with roots deep in the earth, far more tangled than what’s visible on the surface.” We probably all know places like that; I grew up in one. Alex’s status as a “legal professional,” plus the fact she found Maxine’s leg, means she finds herself persuaded to investigate the two deaths.
This isn’t the sort of crime thriller where I could figure out whodunnit from paying close attention – I found it more a character study of all the main residents of the town, particularly the men, who are all viable suspects. There’s the longtime local policeman, who seems to decide for himself what’s a crime; the handsome young Indian doctor, new to town; the millionaire investor who’s planning to invest a fortune in building an eco-friendly town extension; his young representative, who wants a future that pays more than fishing can offer. There’s also the elderly doctor who was Alex’s grandfather’s partner in the GP practice, recently returned from working abroad. And the friendly chap who runs the kayak club and fills in some blanks for Alex – or Bella’s drug dealing stepfather. I kept picking suspects, then changing my mind!
And of course Alex ends up in a dangerous position – you can see it coming and you’re thinking, “NO! Don’t!”
The past comes back to haunt people, too…
Questions are answered about Alex’s childhood – I felt that storyline could have worked effectively as a separate book, as it was about historical events unknown to me. Clifford has a literary style of writing, and she creates original and compelling characters I really enjoyed learning more about. Her writing is definitely worth watching – so that’s another Australian writer on the “must read” list!
A well-crafted piece of crime fiction which is difficult to put down, peopled with memorable characters.
With thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate in this tour, and Ultimo Press for the ARC. This has not affected my opinion, and this is an honest review.
Author Aoife Clifford.
Do check out my wonderful fellow bloggers’ thoughts on this book’s blog tour!
BLURB: In the wild, coastal town of Merritt, Alex Tillerson and her mother make a shocking find on the beach. The police claim it’s an accidental death but there are whispers of murder and that it is not the first.
‘It isn’t strangers you need to worry about here. Blood lines run deep and in unexpected places. Every victim, every accused, we’ll know. The past runs alongside us all the time. Some days it spills into the open.’
Bella Greggs was found dead at the bottom of a ravine but drowned in salt water. Maxine McFarlane was pulled from the ocean but with no water in her lungs. Black feathers were found with both bodies but what do they mean?
As Alex fights for answers to honour the dead, and to discover why her mother fled town as a teenager, good people keep looking the other way, memories become unreliable and secrets threaten to reveal the past. Alex discovers the truth never dies but it can kill…
crimeworm 