Handywoman Barb Young has lived in the sleepy coastal town of Bullford Point for over fifty years - and frankly, in that time, not much has happened, unless you count that business where a bush turkey managed to board the ferry a couple of years ago.
When Joe Griffiths returns from Sydney after six years of drug addiction, jail and, eventually, rehab, Barb offers him a job, hoping to help him turn his life around. However, when another new resident of Bullford Point is murdered, Joe becomes the prime suspect.
Barb thinks the police have got it wrong, but the more she tries to find the truth and clear Joe's name, the more confusing things become. Is the murder connected to the developers circling the waterfront home Joe inherited from his parents? Or to the true crime podcast he has been making about the death of his ex-girlfriend, seven years previously? And what was the information the murdered woman had been trying to horse-trade with police?
As her off-the-books investigation continues, Barb discovers that drowsy Bullford Point is actually a town full of secrets - and that even though she's known everyone in the close-knit community for years ... everybody lies.
Comment: I had not heard anything about this author until I saw the amazing review - and grade - Azteclady wrote about it in her blog a few months ago. I was truly enticed by what I've read of her text and decided to try the book myself and, I will say, it was spot on, since I really liked it.
In this story, set in Australia, we follow Barb and Seb - a handy woman and a young police officer - as they go on investigating the death of Joe, a former addict who seemed to have gotten his life on track again. However, Barb just can't help noticing a few details which lead her to think Joe might not have overdosed as everyone believes, and seeking Seb's help will take them to other clues, especially since Seb and Joe and a few others had been part of a group and they even had a band once. One of their friends had been murdered and that was the end of the band, but now Joe had had the idea of doing a podcast where he would talk about the case, which is unsolved, and interviewing everyone might have been why he died. The problem is to prove this idea but Barb and Seb will use interesting methods to uncover the truth...
Reading this book was quite the experience. The author is new to me and I had nothing to compare his work with, and despite having read Azteclady's review, that I confess I skimmed a little to not be influenced, which means I was pretty much blind while starting and had no expectations except that it had to be a good story, if Azteclady had had such a good opinion of it. Now that I have read it, I did enjoy it, and I only regret I couldn't have more time to read uninterrupted.
The story follows a group of characters who live in a small town in Australia and the group of friends once had a band and it felt like they could have had a success but their lead singer Sally was murdered. The others disbanded but Joe, who was with her at the time, fell apart and started doing drugs. Their lives went on to different paths and now, years later, Joe is clean and doing some handyman jobs with Barb, an older woman who separated recently and who gave him a chance to prove himself. Barb sees that Joe is trying his best to remain clean and do something, and she can't believe he would go back to drugs but it seems that he does and he dies of an overdose.
After these events happen and are explained and even given a context, shared through emails, text messages and other means, the real story begins. Barb and Seb join forces to investigate Joe's death because while it was labeled an overdose, Barb doesn't believe this and convinces Seb, a small town police officer who we are lead to think would not be detective material, to investigate because if he didn't overdose, then someone killed him. At the same time, other situations seem to suggest a higher plan might be in motion because another young woman who knew Joe had been found dead and Joe was even considered a suspect. Could it be that there is a connection between these two deaths?
I really liked the investigation method and the several red herrings thrown our way, which are very well done to distract, but if there is one critique I could say about the investigation is that, while this is a cute and almost cozy whodunit, I can't help but feeling a little wary of how successful Barb's investigation really was, since she does manage to be in contact with people she shouldn't, in a believable way, in order to get information. I know the purpose might have been to add some coziness and even humor perhaps, to this story, but I kept thinking about the obstacles...which if she had also been a police officer, wouldn't be unlikely she could overcome them.
The story is quite detailed and we have different POVs throughout, in different chapters, of what characters are doing or thinking. Most of the story is told from Barb's perspective and this method allows us to know what is going on, although there are some things which are told in such a way we cannot distinguish if it's pertinent to the case or if it's something meant to be a distraction. I've found this method to be quite good in general, but once or twice it felt the author had no way of doing it right, because or the information given would be done in a weird/unnatural way, or what was being said was so obviously secretive that it could only mean it was something we could not know right away.
Somewhere in the middle I think some things started dragging. I got this feeling because in the need to justify some decisions or for some situations to make sense later on, the author really added a lot of information and, sometimes, maybe that wouldn't be necessary. Still, most elements were interesting to follow and the need to understand why this connected to that made it worth it. It was also quite clever to add some personal situations, not related to the investigation, regarding the main characters, because it made me interested in them and in wondering what would be next for them after the book is finished.
When the killer is identified and the hows of the deaths, I was a little surprised because while it made sense, after all that character had not had the most attention - that should have been a clue! - it was also a simpler choice. Of course part of the mystery is that we didn't have much evidence the killer could be that person, but while I was a bit surprised, I wasn't wowed by the author's decision.
Oh I am so glad you liked this one!
ReplyDeleteI obviously liked it more than you, but still, you liked it! And yes, Barb is just the best character. There's a certain recklessness in how she goes about gaining allies, and in how she confronts the other characters involved, since she really can't know who could have a motive to make sure she stops agitating over Joe's death.
At any rate, yay for liking it! And I'm with you in hoping we see more of Barb.
Hello!
DeleteYes, it was certainly captivating! I will definitely be on the lookout for other books by this author in this genre :)