A robbery at a jewellery shop in Orange begins a convoluted investigation for Detective Rebecca Giles, who has returned to her childhood home to be near her ill father, a retired police detective. She is also seeking answers from him regarding her mother’s drowning in a major flood when Giles was a baby.
In a town where people can barely afford essentials, local pensioner Sticky Pete is asked to come by the police station to have a chat with Giles regarding an expensive gift to his wife, who has been showing it off around town. Pete is a well-known petty thief. With the interview barely over, Giles is sent to interview a mother whose daughter, Kaleen, has gone missing. She is later found by Giles who celebrates her discovery with her colleagues that night. The next morning, tired and hung over, Giles is called to a possible drowning at a remote property. On arriving, she is confronted by a very complex and gruesome scene.
Could there be a connection between a jewellery theft, Kayleen’s disappearance and the body in the trough?
Darcy Tindale’s writing perfectly sets the tone for this troubled region in NSW with a history of disastrous floods and the tragic loss of life. Descriptions of the landscape are punchy and on point but poetic at the same time. Characters are well defined and realistic. Giles’ boss, Falkov suffering at the hands of his wife’s efforts to improve his diet, adds a little comedic relief to an otherwise dark novel.
The Fall Between is a strong debut for Tinsdale, who seems to have a deep connection to the Australian landscape, how harsh it can be and how that shapes the people who call it home.
Reviewed by Teresa Lewis
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