My Review: Whispering Death by Garry Disher

This is the 6th book in the Challis/Destry Australian (Victorian Mornington Peninsula) police procedural mysteries and a time in a book series when many authors start to run out of steam. Not so Garry Disher. In fact, in my opinion, this is the best book of the series thus far. Disher keeps his books fresh by rotating around the main characters from one novel to the next. This time Ellen Destry is overseas on a study trip and plays virtually no role in the story apart from an occasional skype conversation. In her absence, Inspector Challis is the main protagonist and Constable Pam Murphy emerges as an interesting, astute and very able sidekick.

As is customary with Garry Disher, the plot is multi-pronged, well researched and ties together like binder-twine. I also enjoy the characterisation. There are no 'larger than life' James Bonds or Dirk Pitts working at Waterloo Police Station. The police department is under-funded and undermanned. The characters that inhabit the station make mistakes, have diverse private lives, are battling their own personal demons and are fleshed out brilliantly by Garry Disher to make them interesting to the reader and durable enough to last multiple books.

If you have never read a police procedural novel before, then this is a great place to start, and despite being number 6 in the series, it is a standalone book (but read the others anyway!). Another wonderfully enjoyable crime fiction novel with absorbing and interesting characters by Australian author Garry Disher.

MY RATING: 5/5