Chain of Evidence

I enjoyed this police procedural set in Austraila, but I have to agree with some of the negative comments here chiding Disher for having too many plotlines. It takes some getting used to, but I suppose handling multiple cases is a more realistic view of police work than traditional detective fiction where one case is the focus of attention from start to finish. In this one Inspector Hal Challis and Sergeant Ellen Destry are pursuing seperate paths as Challis is called to his boyhood home in the Outback and Ellen steps into his place at work, and at home where she is housesitting for him while he is away. Their regular phone conversations reveal a growing attraction. The split narrative works okay, I think, but I thought it would have been stronger is the seperate cases had proceded at different paces - say having one conclude midway through the book, instead of having both ending at, well, the end. That approach seemed (was) contrived. We also meet several other characters on the police force, including the enthusiastic rookie Pam Murphy and the skittish Scobie Sutton, who Ellen astutely observes probably should not have become a cop. The book is much more of an ensemble piece than typical detective fiction. This is the first novel in the series I have read, but I am definately looking to read more.

I've liked Disher's writing since first reading "The Dragon Man." For me, this was his best since that debut. "Kittyhawk Down" and "Snapshot" were both very good, but not quite as good as "Dragon" or this one. Excellent character development, especially with Ellen Destry, very well plotted and a good sense of setting. And I have to disagree with another reviewer about too many subplots. Can't wait to read his next one.

Dang it! Disher's at it again. I really like his writing and especially like the setting of his stories in peninsular Victoria, Australia. But the man doesn't seem to have met a story line that he didn't want to include in his novels. His last book, "Snapshot" wasn't as busy and it was much better for the manageable number of subplots and crossplots. This time, Inspector Hal Challis is called away to his childhood home, Mawson's Bluff, in the Outback of S.E. Australia. His father is dying and there are relationships to resolve and ghosts to chase. Challis's interactions with his sister and father are lovely pieces of this book. The mystery to be solved in Mawson's Bluff is a bit of a clunker but it isn't awful. Meanwhile, Sergeanty Ellen Destry has been put in charge of Challis's Crime Investigation Unit and is staying at his house in his absence. She's left her marriage and is unsure about a budding romance with Challis. (Just the usual complications at the office.) Because Challis is gone, Ellen must pull together the team to investigate an awful crime - the abduction of a child by a pedophile with a clever system that makes fools of mothers and victims of daughters. This is a tough storyline and flinchingly close to today's headlines. But it is well-written and tells a necessary story about how fiends acquire and exploit children. I've been a pretty faithful Disher reader since "Dragon Man" and I see no reason to stop - I just wish he'd flesh out his good main stories and give a few of the side stories a rest, even if it means we don't get such detailed insight into the lives of our complex police unit.

Bad news rarely comes alone. "Chain of Evidence" is a mystery novel featuring previous scene Inspector Hal Challis as he returns to his Australian home where his father is dying, but his brother is law is also missing. He sets out to find him, as back home newcomer to the series Sergeant Ellen Destry tries to track down the scum members of a suspected pedophilia ring. A gripping set of mysteries, "Chain of Evidence" is sure to please fans of the genre everywhere.

In Australia Police Inspector Hal Challis returns home to Mawson's Bluff in the Australian Outback, as his father is dying. Sergeant Ellen Destry takes over running the Peninsula East's Crime Investigation Unit in Waterloo, Queensland temporarily. At the annual Waterloo Show, ten years old Katie Blasko vanishes; shockingly her mother waits twenty-four hours before reporting her missing to the cops, who know how critical the first few hours are in terms of retrieval. To her shock her superiors want her to close the case though she fears a pedophile ring may be operating in the peninsular. Meanwhile in Mawson's Bluff, a corpse is found inside a plastic bag lying on top of a coffin buried four years ago. Inside is Challis' odious brother-n-law who vanished at the same time the coffin was interred. Challis' sister Meg assumed he was alive as she has been receiving junk mail that she thought came from him since he left her. He unofficially investigates. There are obviously two major subplots; both are well written and could stand alone as investigative tales. However, rotating back and forth subtracts from the overall impact of each in spite two well written multilayered story lines that come across as rotating novellas. Still Gary Disher provides his audience with an engaging Australian police procedural as Challis is out of town conducting an unsanctioned private investigation re his family while Destry works a police procedural inquiry into a kidnapped child. Putting Destry in charge of dealing with media, the brass, and politicians refreshes this excellent series. Harriet Klausner