Poppy McGowan is back and her little house in Annandale is still not renovated. She is currently visiting her Aunty Mary in her retirement village while Mary is recovering from a knee replacement. And while she’s there, it is just Poppy’s usual luck to discover Mary’s neighbour and best friend Daisy unconscious and bleeding from a serious head wound in her bathroom.
Fortunately, Daisy gets to hospital in time and gradually recovers but the attacks just keep coming – murder by strangulation, attempted murder by poisoning, burglary and vandalism – all linked to Daisy’s complicated family relationships, including a rock/pop star son, and provisions in a former husband’s will. As an extra complication, the retirement village manager appears to be taking kickbacks on the side.
Long-suffering Detective Sergeant Chloe Prudhomme and her colleagues are involved again, along with Poppy’s work associates at the ABC and in the media, and Poppy’s ‘admirer’ Tol is a constant source of strength. When he becomes a suspect, Poppy is more determined than ever to get to the bottom of these disturbing events.
Those readers familiar with Sydney will appreciate the settings in the inner city and the suburb of Ryde. However, these should not deter others from enjoying this contemporary urban mystery series. It is not necessary to have read Digging Up Dirt first to enjoy this second instalment.
Reviewed by Lynne Babbage
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pamela Hart is my married name and The Soldier’s Wife was my first book under that name, inspired by my grandfather’s service as an ANZAC at Gallipoli (see The Story behind The Soldier’s Wife). Since then, I’ve enjoyed working with other true stories set in and after WWI. Each book has given rise to the next, as I stumble over wonderful stories while doing the research for the current book. As Pamela Freeman, I’ve written children’s fiction, epic fantasy, crime fiction and children’s poetry.
I became seriously interested in historical fiction when I wrote The Black Dress, a fictional account of the childhood of Mary MacKillop in the Australia of the 1840s-1860s.
I have a Doctor of Creative Arts in Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney, and I teach writing (face-to-face and online) at the Australian Writers’ Centre.
My writing started when I was a children’s scriptwriter for ABC Kids, which was where I began to write children’s stories. But then I found that I wanted to tell stories for adults, too, and particularly stories about women’s lives, loves, tears and joys.
I live in Sydney with my husband and son and many musical instruments. (I’m a drummer – or at least I’m learning to be one!)
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