Geoffrey McGeachin: Blackwattle Creek

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Another good Charlie Berlin mystery
This is #2 in the excellent Charlie Berlin detective series set in Melbourne from the late 1940's to the present day. In the first of the series, THE DIGGERS' REST HOTEL, Geoffrey McGeachin introduced us to Charlie Berlin, recently returned from WWII where he was a bomber pilot, with traumatic memories of being shot down over Germany and suffering as a POW at the end of the war. He also introduced us to Rebecca, a photographic journalist who later became Charlie's wife.

Roll on a few years and Charlie and Rebecca are a loving couple living in Melbourne with two fine but demanding primary school children. Charlie is still with the police force but he has not progressed as far in the force as he expected due to his independent ways and the effects of continued traumatic memories. Rebecca is still active with her camera and finds the most profitable jobs to top up the tight family budget are weddings, not the top news assignments that she hoped for.

One day Rebecca asks Charlie to help a a recently widowed friend with a problem in his spare time. He soon finds that the problem isn't a minor one when he discovers that her friend's husband had been buried missing a leg. Charlie discovers that funeral parlours all over Melbourne are sending body parts to Black Wattle Creek, a defunct asylum for the criminally insane. Things become dangerous as Charlie investigates, his best friend in the force who has helped him with information is seriously attacked, Charlie is warned off by the Special Branch and his family are threatened. What follows impacts on the contemporary Cold War scares and fears of nuclear war.

My main memory of this book won't be the investigation, carried out in Charlie's inimitable independent style, which is pretty far out and fanciful, but the great evocative picture that Geoffrey McGeachin paints of suburban life in Melbourne in the 1950's, with milk bars; Admiral TV's bought to view the recent Olympic Games; their spec built suburban house with a back yard and chook run, Hills Hoist and outside toilet; fish and chips wrapped in newspaper, and steak and kidney pies; Tom Thumb firecrackers; distrust of recent immigrants ("reffos" and "bloody wogs"); and of course the Aussie Rules grand final.

I have now read #3, #1 and #2 in the series and would rank them in that order. The series is well recommended to readers who like a different style of detective novel, especially one set in Melbourne more than 50 years ago.

Geoffrey McGeachin: The Diggers Rest Hotel: A Charlie Berlin mystery

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Start of a great Australian crime series
After reading and enjoying ST KILDA BLUES which was released last month I was keen to read the two previous books in the Charlie Berlin series. I was not disappointed with this first book in the series as it gave me a better understanding of Berlin's history as a Melbourne detective shortly after he had returned from WWII.

During the war Charlie Berlin was the pilot of a Lancaster bomber shot down on his 40th mission over Germany. As a POW he saw the devastation of war up close especially when his starving group of POW's were passed by a group of emaciated Jews. His memory and especially his dreams will never forget the Jewish woman who was executed in front of him by an SS guard.

Charlie is sent from Melbourne to assist the Wodonga police with the investigation of a series of payroll robberies by "five blokes wearing balaclavas and carrying Tommy guns, riding jungle-green Harley Davidsons with sidecars". This certainly isn't your normal bush town robbery and Charlie is rushed there by plane - a stressful experience because it is the first time he has flown since being shot down over Berlin.

When he arrives in Wodonga he stays at the Diggers' Rest Hotel, a typical bush town hotel with a range of great local characters. As well as meeting young Constable Bob Roberts, his driver, and the local police sergeant (who is not too happy with the imposed assistance), Charlie soon comes face to face with Rebecca Green, a photo journalist with a Melbourne newspaper who is following the story of the robberies. Charlie and Rebecca's paths will always be close as the case develops.

An interesting feature of this book is how McGeachin makes Charlie's investigations almost ancillary to the character development and background settings of the book. The descriptions of Australia after the war, especially the returned servicemen with PTSD still haunted by the memories of war were emotional and telling. The descriptions of rural Australia, Albury/Wodonga and the Diggers Rest Hotel gave an extremely authentic picture of that time.

THE DIGGERS REST HOTEL was the winner of the 2011 Ned Kelly Award by the Australian Crime Writers' Association. It is a great introduction to a talented Australian crime writer and well recommended. I will make sure that I read #2 BLACKWATTLE CREEK in the near future.

Geoffrey McGeachin: St Kilda Blues

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A great Australian Crime Thriller
This book was a great surprise - a very good surprise. It is possibly the best Australian police crime thriller I have read and is at the top of my list of police crime thrillers worldwide. The reason is pretty simple - this book doesn't include any of the over the top unbelievable rubbish that so many thriller authors use to attract their audience. It is written in clear and mostly simple prose, with great characterisation, solid police work, good intertwining of police and personal plot lines, well researched historical background and above all lots of plot twists which come together with an amazing emotional impact.

The book is set in Melbourne in 1957 when Detective Sergeant Charlie Berlin has been called out of exile in the Fraud Squad to investigate the disappearance the daughter of a rich and powerful property developer which may be connected with a serial killer. Charlie is a great detective but a flawed and troubled character after 29 bombing raids over Berlin and surviving near starvation as a POW. Charlie still has nightmares about witnessing the killing of a Jewish girl by an SS officer. The property developer, a German migrant, has an uncanny resemblance to that officer.

While Charlie and his colleague, DS Bob Roberts start to track down the killer and hopefully save the life of the teenage girl, the book flashes back to the development of the personality of the serial killer via foster homes and abuse at a religious seminary in the bush. The background setting of Melbourne in the 1950's is superbly researched and evocative (I started visiting the city in the early 1960's) featuring Holdens, Essendon's pathetic AFL performance, Jean Shrimpton, mini-skirts, hot pants, no bras, and marijuana,

This not just a crime thriller but also a story about someone who is still struggling with PTSD from the war and family stresses after both his son and daughter have left home under clouds to make their way in life. Charlie reflects "Life goes on. Life always goes on, he knew. Life was a bastard like that." This adds an extra, extremely strong, emotional element for Charlie to cope with as he uncovers clues to the killer.

This is #3 in the Charlie Berlin series and is written so that it can be easily read as a stand alone book. I will certainly go back and read the earlier books in the series. At the end McGeachin leaves us with a seed to a further book in the series which I eagerly await.

5 stars, highly recommended.