McIntosh is a ‘million copy bestselling author’ for a long list of other novels and has written three previous ‘Jack Hawksworth’ books, all set in his usual milieu of England. This time she has him following the leads in an international IVF scandal from Europe to South Australia.

McIntosh lives in that state, so readers from South Australia will recognise streets, parks, even schools in Adelaide, as well as Yorke Peninsula towns such as Wallaroo.

Hawksworth is apparently in recovery mode from a violent wounding during his last case, and has a new Chief Superintendent, a female officer who takes a dim view of the romantic entanglements he seems to attract.

But she authorises him to visit Australia, following what he has deduced is an organised crime syndicate, paying fertile women to harvest their eggs. After travelling from the UK to Eastern Europe for the procedure, some had died at home after a botched surgery. He believed the syndicate transported the eggs to Australia by courier and sold them at vast profit, cashing in on the yearning of infertile couples to have children.

So off to Australia goes Jack. There are a couple of murders and, sure enough, Jem, wife of a prominent obstetrician, is attracted to him. The ending of the novel is tidy, with only one surprise.

I love a good thriller or murder mystery. But I like my detective characters to be relatively gritty, totally believable in their humanity and flaws, as well as capable of solving a crime. I found McIntosh’s Det Supt Jack Hawksworth just a tad too attractive, with his major flaw a propensity for having love affairs with women involved in his cases. Is this novel about crime, or is it a romance?

Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville

Fiona McIntosh runs popular writing masterclasses. Find out more here.

FROM THE AUTHOR