This is the second book in a series centred on Detective Sergeant Stephen Minter – an Austrian-born, cockney Jew, who’s recently moved to post-World War II Australia with his partner, Brigid Delaney. This is no police procedural, though. This is literary fiction at its finest, with beautifully rendered, fully rounded characters and an ambiguous mystery at its heart.
In the wild weather of Victoria’s Queenscliff is the notoriously dangerous beach called the Rip. In winter, an artist, Sam, sees a man leave his clothes on the sand and plunge through the waves, swimming strongly. The man disappears. Minter is charged with discovering what has occurred – especially when it’s discovered that the man is Harry Playford, a politician deemed next in line to be Prime Minister. When no body is found, Playford’s life is dissected, with Minter finding that neither his wife nor his mistress are concerned, believing he’ll return when he’s ready. Has Playford drowned, or ‘… has he died in the way some insects do – in order to take on a whole new life?’ Meanwhile, Brigid has her own challenges. After working in Intelligence during the war, she’s on loan to the newly formed ASIO, trying to plug a leak. Her research uncovers secrets
Playford may want to remain hidden. A brief section from Playford’s point of view hints at an existential crisis. There is a finality of sorts, but some questions remain unanswered.
Carroll’s writing is pure. There are beautiful segues from chapter to chapter and from one character’s perspective to another. This is not a page-turning frenzy; The Afterlife of Harry Playford is a magnificently crafted, page-savouring bliss.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven Carroll is the multi-award winning author of sixteen novels, including A World of Other People (2013), which was the joint winner of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, and The Time We Have Taken (2007), which was the winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the Southeast Asia and Pacific Region and the Miles Franklin Award in 2008. The Art of the Engine Driver was shortlisted for France’s Prix Femina literary award for Best Foreign Novel in 2005. Forever Young (2015) was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award in 2016. A New England Affair (2017) was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award in 2018 and The Year of the Beast (2019) was longlisted for the 2020 Voss Literary Prize. Goodnight, Vivienne, Goodnight was longlisted for the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize and for the 2023 Voss Literary Prize. His previous novel, Death of a Foreign Gentleman (2024), was the first in a series of postwar literary crime novels featuring Detective Sergeant Stephen Minter.
Steven lives in Melbourne with his partner, the author Fiona Capp, and their son.
Read more about the ‘Stephen Minter’ series
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