Crucifixion Creek

September 14, 2015
This nail-biting first in a trilogy from Ned Kelley Award–finalist Maitland (Raven’s Eye and 11 other Brock and Kolla mysteries) introduces Harry Belltree, a Sydney, Australia, homicide detective, who’s obsessed with the accident that killed his parents and left his wife, Jenny, blind from traumatic brain injury. When Greg March, Harry’s brother-in-law, is murdered, he helps with the case, until his superior takes him off it. Harry begins his own investigation, which quickly becomes entangled in a villainous conspiracy involving illegal land deals, dangerous bikers, and corrupt politicians. He’s helped by Jenny, who has expert computer skills, and by Kelly Pool, a pushy journalist to whom he feeds information to draw out those involved. In the pursuit of justice, Harry commits some shady acts that not only put him and everyone around him in serious danger but also jeopardize his law-enforcement career. Complex, interesting characters will keep readers engaged until the improbable and unsatisfying ending.

Starred review from September 1, 2015
The creator of DS Kathy Kolla and DCI David Brock, those ornaments of the Met (The Raven's Eye, 2013, etc.), goes Down Under to feature an even more hard-used cop. What is it with suburban Bankstown, Australia? In rapid succession, Stefan Ganis, a former member of the Crows biker gang high on meth, shoots a hostage he's taken and gets shot himself; a neighbor finds retired businessman Charlie Waterford and his wife, Grace, dead in a local restaurant; and builder Greg March gets stabbed to death. Greg's brother-in-law, DS Harry Belltree of Sydney Homicide, at first avoids pesky Bankstown Chronicle reporter Kelly Pool but is much more attentive when she suggests that all these deaths are connected. After all, Harry's been nursing his own conspiracy theories for three years, ever since a suspicious car accident killed his parents and blinded his wife, Jenny. So he's the perfect audience for a theory that links this murderous new outbreak to the Crows, shady financier Alexander Kristich, Counsellor Joost Potgeiter, and Lord knows who else. But Harry's not one to sit around theorizing. Wasting no time, he breaks into Kristich's office. What he finds there profoundly changes his relation to the case-and the reader's relation to Harry, who thereafter leads Jenny, Kelly, his Homicide partner, Deb Velasco, and Greg's business associates on a wild ride seasoned with murder, corruption, and other outrages. Unlike the 12 cases Maitland set Kolla and Brock, this one expresses its moral complications through nonstop action. First of a series. Though you'll wonder early and often how Harry can possibly survive for any sequels, you'll hope again and again to be proved wrong.

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Starred review from November 1, 2015

Sydney homicide detective Harry Belltree has not recovered from the death of his parents in an accident that also blinded his beloved wife. He's convinced there's more involved. When called to a hostage siege that ends badly for a meth-head biker, Harry considers a new avenue of investigation. An elderly couple, emaciated and dressed in rags, is found dead at a cafe in Sydney. Their friends claim they were wealthy, so where did the money go? And, when Harry's brother-in-law, Greg, is stabbed to death in the streets, things become more personal. Kelly Pool, an investigative journalist, begins to put the puzzle together with help from Harry, who has to go off-grid to be of any assistance. VERDICT Maitland, better known for his "Brock and Kolla" mysteries (The Raven's Eye), starts a new trilogy set in Sydney, featuring an aboriginal detective. Well written with an elaborate plot, this fast-paced novel explores some aspects of the racial divide in Australia. Recommend for Claire McNab readers or anyone who likes police procedurals.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2015
Harry Belltree's attitude toward bad guys recalls Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder a moment before Matt snuffs a killer: I just don't want you to be alive anymore. But Sydney homicide detective Belltree's mop-up style makes Scudder seem restrained. This unsparingly dark tale wraps itself around a complex plot that obliquely explains how Harry came to be Harry. His parents were killed, his wife was blinded in a smash-up that only he believes wasn't accidental, and he has endured a rough tour of Afghanistan. Then his brother-in-law is stabbed and killed, and Harry's inquiry into that killing opens the plot to loan-sharking, real-estate swindling, and child-trafficking. They're all connected and all exposed by Belltree's investigative style: shake the tree, see who falls out, and kill them. There are quieter pleasures, too, like Harry's tenderness toward his blind wife. Recommend this bare-knuckle tale to fans of Peter Temple, another hard-boiled Aussie who likes it rough.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)