In the fictitious settlement of Wolfftown on the west coast of Tasmania, Sasha Torte is in jail. She’s been found guilty of the murder of Adam Dasher and has appealed the decision.

The authorities have retained Algernon Wolff to prosecute. To ensure a guilty verdict, however, Adam’s brother bribed members of the jury.

It is well known in the district that Algernon loathes free-spirited women, ever since his bride absconded to Sicily with the notorious and devilishly handsome bushranger Fabrizio Constanzo. Algernon was left standing at the altar.

Sasha’s lawyer didn’t stand a chance of getting an acquittal.

While she waits for the decision from the Court of Appeal, Sasha decides to write a memoir, giving the background to her spectacular downfall.

Rose Kane, Sasha’s mother, disappeared when her daughter was eight. Rose was attending the Royal Hobart Fruit and Farm Produce Exhibition, where she was introduced to the Marquis of Glastonbury, who was visiting from England. He was unable to assist with any information as to the whereabouts of Rose because he was found naked in his exclusive hotel bedroom with a six-inch blade buried deep in his heart.

On a bedside table the police found an empty champagne bottle, a neatly peeled and quartered apple, and ruby earrings belonging to Sasha’s mother. The Torte household had been under the erroneous impression that Rose was dining with George Washington Walker and his family. It therefore came as something of a shock to discover that old George – humanist, defender of the underprivileged and a Quaker – had died before Rose was even born.

The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte is pure escapism. The author presents us with immoderation in excess, unrestrained melodrama and Charles Daniel O’Rourke, patissier par excellence. A rip-roaring, imaginative and exhilarating tale.

GREAT FOR BOOK CLUBS

Reviewed by Clive Hodges