Book review: Whispering Death by Gary Disher

INSPECTOR Hal Challis is a methodical, maybe old-fashioned, type of copper.

INSPECTOR Hal Challis is a methodical, maybe old-fashioned, type of copper.

He thinks things through, tinkers with old machinery in his down time and has the quiet respect of an under-staffed, under-resourced rural Victorian police station.

For all this down-home goodness, there is no saccharine plot, dialogue or characters. Garry Disher is a master at bringing a worldliness to this police station and district.

It is Australian crime ction without the cringe. Despite a lack of gunplay, despite understated, workmanlike police ofcers with ordinary lives, Disher again lays out an old-style detective yarn with compelling plot and prose.

Whispering Death
Garry Disher
Text, $23.95