Saturday 13 August 2011

My Review: The Diggers Rest Hotel by Geoffrey McGeachin



The Plot
In 1947, two years after witnessing the death of a young Jewish woman in Poland, Charlie Berlin has rejoined the police force a different man. Sent to investigate a spate of robberies in rural Victoria, he soon discovers that World War II has changed even the most ordinary of places and people.


Taking a room at the Diggers Rest Hotel in Wodonga, he sets about solving a case that no one else can – with the help of feisty, ambitious journalist Rebecca Green and rookie constable Rob Roberts, the only cop in town he can trust.


Then the decapitated body of a young girl turns up in a back alley, and Berlin's investigations lead him ever further through layers of small-town fears, secrets and despair.


My Review
I have to admit that I started reading this novel with some trepidation. Historical crime fiction has never been a favourite of mine. I always found the genre a bit like Enid Blyton for grown-ups, with lashings of sentimentality and moral fibre. However, somewhere amongst the pages of this book I was turned. This book became my very own time machine. Each evening as I read, I was transported back to post-war 1940s rural Australia.


The two world wars had scarred Australia. Rationing lead to thriftyness and the front bar drinking culture was in full force. Small towns had secrets, graft, and alliances and a universal distrust of foreigners. Amidst this backdrop, the Charlie Berlin literary character is introduced to us. He too is scarred by the war, with the horror of being a fighter pilot and POW gently teased out of him throughout the novel. Charlie is a complex character, and his vulnerability and self-destructive streak coupled with obvious intelligence endear him almost immediately to the reader. You are on board with Charlie. A very private man, where only you, the reader, are privy to Charlie's inner pain.


Following the war, Charlie Berlin re-joins the police force, and is sent to rural Victoria to investigate a series of armed hold-ups. The plot thickens when a young Chinese girl is found dead and decapitated. Charlie's crime-solving meanders along as he bumbles around the countryside with his assigned local sidekick, rookie constable Rob Roberts and the ambitious and beautiful journalist Rebecca Green. Seemingly inocuous visits to various crime scenes, ultimately lead Charlie to piece together the puzzle, and solve the crimes.


Overall a wonderfully researched historical crime fiction novel. The mood of the time was fully captured. There was no rose-coloured reminiscing involved. People made mistakes. Men drank, fought and had drug addictions. Police were corrupt, women flirted and teenage girls became pregnant.


I feel Geoffrey McGeachin has hit a winner with Charlie Berlin. A complex and enigmatic lead character, a captivating plot and as a sideline, a wonderfully enjoyable social commentary of Australia in the late 1940s. I can't wait for the next installment so that I can travel back in my time machine and rejoin Charlie Berlin for a 'frothy' in another rustic Australian front bar! It's my shout Charlie!

2 comments:

  1. Lovely review, especially liked the line about Enid Blyton for grown ups - so true of some hist fiction. I liked this one very much too, especially the way that it didn't cut out the awkward things that we would consider politically incorrect these days (like Charlie's views on women wearing trousers).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Meant to add, now that I've found you I'll include links to your book reviews in my monthly wrap ups at the Aussie Crime Fiction blog that I host with another fellow crime fiction tragic. We do reviews, news, new release stuff or whatever we think is relevant to Aussie crime fiction and last month I started doing a monthly wrap up of all the news and reviews I spy around the web. The blog is at Fair Dinkum Crime

    ReplyDelete