Blood Moon

March 2, 2009
Two major crimes occupy Det. Insp. Hal Challis and his subordinate and now lover, Sgt. Ellen Destry, in this superior police procedural from Australian Disher, the fifth entry in the Ned Kelly Award–winning series (after 2007’s Chain of Evidence
). Challis and his team of Waterloo, Queensland, officers investigate the brutal assault on a private school chaplain as well as the murder of a public official in charge of enforcing compliance with land use regulations. Extra pressure for the first case’s resolution comes from a prominent politician who already has an axe to grind with the police. That Challis’s relationship with Destry violates police regulations complicates matters. Disher has a gift for terse description (e.g., Challis’s boss “wore the look of a man who’d been adored but only by his mother and long ago”). While the deus ex machina solution to the official’s murder may disappoint some, the personal interactions among Challis and his colleagues will quickly engage even newcomers. Author tour.

April 13, 2009
Verdict: Despite a rather abrupt ending, Disher's compelling procedural offers plenty of detailed, realistic casework, but the most satisfying reading pleasure lies in the complex interactions among his richly developed and very human characters. Australian crime writers have been long underappreciated here, but Disher's latest may start to change some mystery fans' minds. [Disher's U.S. tour concludes with an appearance at Book Expo America; see Prepub Mystery, LJ 12/08.] Background: In this fifth Inspector Hall Challis title (after the Ned Kelly Award-winning Chain of Evidence), Challis and Destry are now lovers and living together when they are called to investigate the brutal beating of a chaplain at a posh private school. It seems the chaplain heads a fundamentalist church, and his brother, who works for a prominent politician, writes a racist blog. The case is further complicated when one of Challis's officers allows the brother to compromise the crime scene. At the same time, the team must probe a sexual assault during Schoolies Week (the Aussie equivalent of spring break) and identify the murderer of a young woman in charge of punishing land use violations on Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula. Was it her job or her jealous, controlling husband that led to her death?-Wilda Williams, Library Journal

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