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BABEL by Barry Maitland Allen & Unwin, September 2002 280 pages $Au29.95 ISBN: 1865088390 Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Scots born, London bred, Barry Maitland, after a varied academic career in Britain, came to the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, where he became Professor of Architecture. Maitland's first mystery novel, The Marx Sisters, was shorlisted for the John Creasey award for best first crime novel. The book introduced his seriescharacters Detective Chief Inspector David Brock and Sergeant Kathy Kolla (I have never been able to ascertain if her name is a deliberate play upon words.) Maitland's second novel, The Malcontenta had a more contentious history in that, while it was co-winner of the 1995 Ned Kelly Award, it was nearly denied that honour because of the location of Maitland's birth and that of his series characters' territory. It would have been a crime indeed had Professor Maitland been denied official recognition for his extremely well written and engrossing books. All My Enemies, The Chalon Heads and SilvermeadowÝ maintained the high standard of Maitland's writing. Now the author has retired from Newcastle University in order to write full time, he has not introduced a new series but continues, in Babel, to chronicle the adventures of Brock and Kolla.

After the physical injuries and emotional trauma experienced by Kathy Kolla in Silvermeadow

Kathy, despite being officially on leave, becomes involved in the case after the intervention of a journalist. Brock has been feeling the lack of Kathy and her ability, which he lacks, of winning the confidence of those affected by the murder who are being interviewed about it. She meets Springer's traumatised student as well as members of the Muslim community. Springer, in life, had railed against fundamentalists of all kind, scientific as well as religious and the police inquiries become more complicated after the tragic, apparently racially motivated murder of the main suspect, Abu Khadra, Khadra, a Pakistani, was a member of CAB-Tech, the semi-autonomous scientific community, supported by money from the Middle East, within the UCLE . Haygill, the professor in charge of CAB-Tech was the object of Springer's particular hatred. Inexorably the staff, who are of Middle Eastern origin, are drawn into the inquiry since they appear to fulfill all criteria of those whom Springer abominated and would be likely to wish him dead. Leon Desai, Kolla's one-time lover, becomes enmeshed in the investigation and assumes a key role when he goes undercover.

This book is as intricately plotted as all of Maitland's previous works. A great deal of research has obviously been done on the customs and religion of Islam. The novel was written prior to the senseless massacre of September 11 but exemplifies the kinds of fear and loathing exhibited toward people of Middle Eastern appearance after that tragic date. While Kolla and Brock as well as others, are, of course, subjected to physical violence and mental strain, the gore and terror are not quite so graphically depicted as in earlier books, an improvement, to my mind. As a former academic, Maitland expounds on the devolution of universities and how they have become business houses rather than efficient places of higher learning. The characters of the main protagonists develop further as their private lives are more closely examined. The writing is clearly literate, the plot eminently believable despite the particularly unexpected solution to the puzzle. While there are what could be seen as hooks implicit in the story, it will be no hardship to read more of the trials and tribulations of Kolla and Brock in further adventures which I await with great pleasure.

Note: This book is available in the UK but not yet in the US. The cover shown is from Australia.