This deep dive into Kangaroo Island uncovers a hotbed of envy, wealth and hubris, environmental wars and post-colonial tensions, with a murder thrown in.<\/p>\n
Quite the insider piece of crime fiction from an author born in Greece who was adopted into an Australian family and has a law degree, a PhD in biomedical science and lives in Canberra I found myself looking up details wondering if they were true.<\/p>\n
Each layer of the story is dense with interest. Richard Marlowe, ruggedly handsome and stupidly rich, speeds through a blackened landscape damaged by bushfires. He and his wife Holly live in a temple of design which the locals dislike as an intrusive display of wealth that dominates the natural setting. Marlowe greets Holly and his two Samoyeds then retires with a crystal snifter of scotch poured from what sounds like a heinous epoxy resin bar meant to resemble the ocean. The next morning, he pulls on his wetsuit, leaves his wristwatch and sandals on his towel and goes for a swim. It\u2019s the last we see of Marlowe alive.<\/p>\n
When he fails to return, the first thought is a fatal encounter with one of the Great Whites whose home is the Southern Ocean but his disappearance brings to the island Det. Sergeants George Manolis and junior sidekick Constable Andrew Smith, a First Nations man better known as Sparrow. \u201cAbout to depart the island of Australia,\u201d Manolis texts to his wife. \u201cHopefully there\u2019s no queue at customs!\u201d<\/p>\n
There might as well be because the island has its own culture, rules and social order. There are the locals who have been there for a while, say 20 years or so, then there are the local locals who want to keep the island their secret \u2013 they don\u2019t want smog, traffic, crime, bureaucracy, or cops.<\/p>\n
Papathanasiou\u2019s readers will know this is the fourth in a related but stand-alone series of rural noir novels featuring Manolis and Sparrow and together, they have their own dynamic. The older and wiser Manolis, who has marriage problems and a secret, is a mentor to Sparrow, who gets sea sick and bears a weighty grudge against those who treated the island as unclaimed land. (\u201cNo blackfellas here, lads. Come on in, carry on!\u201d Sparrow scoffs.)<\/p>\n
As Manolis and Sparrow ferret around, the social issues and grievances mount up, from the impact of diesel SUVs on emissions to the scourge of roadkill, the destruction of ecosystems through fires and the new threat of offshore drilling for oil and gas that would compromise marine life. It comes almost as a surprise to return to what is shaping up as murder.<\/p>\n
Motives spring up like weeds as Manolis and Sparrow interview key people including Holly and Marlowe\u2019s neighbour and business partner, James Lavender, who lives in a neighbouring tower of cold marble and crystal chandeliers. Then there is the mysterious young artist, Skye, who lives in a beach shack and who Holly says is Marlowe\u2019s not-so-secret girlfriend.<\/p>\n
The haters multiply to include a beekeeper who had a dispute with Marlowe over a dud queen bee to the enigmatic Skye who is not what she seems. They follow the clues as Manolis juggles a fragile reunion with his wife and Sparrow, in an unexpected piece of sweetness, finds interest in one of the locals, a rugged lad called Elvis.<\/p>\n
The book is in essence a series of diversions into the island\u2019s history and culture and how the past collides among a small group of people for whom the Kangaroo Island land and lifestyle is everything. It comes as a bit of a wrench when Marlowe\u2019s body turns up and we are back to solving a murder \u2013 while technically a piece of crime fiction, Papathanasiou gifts his readers with much more.<\/p>\n