Set in the unforgiving world of ice dealers, addicts and enforcers, Garry Disher’s seventh instalment in the ‘Peninsula Crimes’ series paints a grim picture of an industry in which money is everything. The location – not Kings Cross or St Kilda but Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula – is unsettling. It’s a seemingly idyllic semi-rural, coastal setting of holiday homes and retirees, not at all a likely setting for murder.

Garry Disher cleverly weaves together the interrelated enquiries occupying the murder, sex crimes and drug units. Visiting Senior Sergeant Coolidge puts some tension in the Challis–Destry romance, and Disher paints an unglamorous portrait of police life – a complete absence of work-life balance, poor pay and, in the case of Detective Constable Pam Murphy, impending homelessness.

This is a great piece of writing from Disher, who successfully creates a strong sense of place, characters you care about and plot twists that take you by surprise. Working on many levels, it’s also a commentary on celebrity and the influence of the media in convicting or acquitting. Most chillingly, Signal Loss portrays a world in which life is cheap and where the most vulnerable are traded and abused.

Reviewed by Sue Noonan