The Broken Shore

Journalist Peter Temple's novels have won five of Australia's prestigious Ned Kelly Awards for crime fiction. THE BROKEN SHORE makes it easy to see why. Melbourne Homicide Detective Joe Cashin is recovering in his hometown, Port Monro, where it soon becomes apparent that big cities aren't the only places big crimes occur. Peter Hosking handles the rough-and-tumble characters as easily as the more subtle ones. Child pornography, racism, sexual abuse, political intricacies, and Cashin's personal problems all contribute to Temple's sophisticated plot and allow Hosking's performance to bring a host of truthful characters to light. There can be little doubt that this is an Australian original--earthy, raw, and savage, yet as breathtaking and surprising as the country itself. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

December 31, 2007
What do you do if you want to turn the latest book by a writer who's won five Ned Kelly Awards (Australia's equivalent to the Edgar Awards) into an equally impressive audio version? Blackstone had the perfect solution: get a reader like Hosking, who can do all the voices, from big-city cop Joe Cashin, young and old aborigine men and women, and truly frightening racist cops who will do anything to bury their deadly secrets. Hosking's characters are instantly and subtly rendered, springing to life quickly in listeners' minds. And his reading of Temple's descriptions of the Australian countryside, ranging from lush to rough, is a virtual audio trip to the source. This talented team catches the excitement and the beauty of a unique land. A simultaneous release with the FSG hardcover.

Starred review from April 2, 2007
In Temple's beautifully written eighth crime novel, Joe Cashin, a city homicide cop recovering from an injury, returns to the quiet coastal area of South Australia where he grew up. There he investigates the beating death of elderly millionaire Charles Bourgoyne. After three aboriginal teens try to sell Bourgoyne's missing watch, the cops ambush the boys, killing two. When the department closes the case, Joe, a melancholy, combative cynic sympathetic to underdogs, decides to find the truth on his own. His unauthorized inquiry, which takes him both back in time and sideways into a netherworld of child pornography and sexual abuse, leads to a shocking conclusion. Temple (An Iron Rose
), who has won five Ned Kelly Awards, examines Australian political and social divisions underlying the deceptively simple murder case. Many characters, especially the police, exhibit the vicious racism that still pervades the country's white society. Byzantine plot twists and incisively drawn characters combine with stunning descriptions of the wild, lush, menacing Australian landscape to make this an unforgettable read.