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Garry Disher makes it all look so easy. With nearly fifty books under his belt, including general fiction, children's literature, non-fiction, two well-respected crime fiction series, and two Ned Kelly awards along with other honors, he is a pro, and his latest release in the US, HELL TO PAY, is typical of his work: seamlessly fluid if spare narration, vivid characters molded out of Australian soil, and a story that doesn't rely on gimmicks to make you keep turning the pages.
In this novel, a constable from Adelaide has transferred to the small town of Tiverton trailed by rumors. Paul Hirschhausen, or Hirsch (as he is known) is caught between residents who don't trust cops and cops who don't trust him. Three weeks into the new job he literally comes under fire when he's sent out to Bitter Wash Road after a resident reported shots fired. When a bullet whizzes past his head he ducks behind his vehicle, wondering if there's any point in calling for backup. It could be that the same jokers who left a bullet in his letterbox are making good on a threat.
It turns out to be something else – but for a small town, Tiverton has a way of keeping Hirsch busy. He's soon dispatched to check out a report of a body found beside a highway. It's an aboriginal girl in her teens. Hirsch has experience above his pay grade and quickly realizes her body had been moved. The doctor who pronounces here death recognizes her – a sweet girl, but wild. It looks as though she was struck by a car, but whether it was an accident or murder is unclear. Hirsch's colleagues are none too pleased to have to investigate the death of someone who they don't believe is worth the bother.
Disher's portrait of this rural farming region is harsh and gritty, but he appreciates its hardscrabble beauty and the history that has shaped the narrow-mindedness of some of its residents. Hirsch is so new to it he's still using a GPS to find his way, but he has an eye for the landscape: "You might find a fleck of gold in these creek beds if you were lucky, or turn your ankle if you were not. It was land you walked away from sooner or later: Hirsch saw a dozen stone chimneys and eyeless cottages back in the stunted mallee, little heartaches that had struggled on a patch of red dirt and were sinking back into it."
There's something of the Western in this story. Hirsch rides into an isolated town, a man of mystery with a badge and the moral authority to set things right. Yet he's a thoroughly Australian bloke who just wants to do his job properly and, in this unwholesome situation, is up for the fight it will take.
There's nothing flashy about this story. The characters are not larger than life, there are no explosions or breathtaking cliffhangers, and yet it's shot through with honesty and effortless style. If you're looking for fine writing that doesn't call attention to itself about an investigation that is as real as yesterday's newspaper featuring a quietly decent cop, you can't do better than this.
§ Barbara Fister is an academic librarian, columnist, and author of the Anni Koskinen mystery series.
Reviewed by Barbara Fister, August 2014
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