Description de l’éditeur
The long-awaited sixth installment in the Inspector Hal Challis series set in Australia, available in the United States at last!
Hal Challis is in trouble at home and abroad: dressed down by the boss for speaking out about police budget cuts; missing his lover, Ellen Destry, who is overseas on a study tour. But there's plenty to keep his mind off his problems. A rapist in a police uniform stalks Challis's Peninsula beat, there is a serial armed robber headed in his direction and a home invasion that's a little too close to home. Not to mention a very clever, very mysterious female cat burglar who may or may not be planning something on Challis's patch. Meanwhile, at the Waterloo Police Station, Challis finds his officers have their own issues. Scobie Sutton, still struggling with his wife's depression, seems to be headed for a career crisis; and something very interesting is going on between Constable Pam Murphy and Jeanne Schiff, the feisty young sergeant on assignment from the Sex Crimes Unit.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
pcMajor budget cuts hamper the investigations of Insp. Hal Challis in Ned Kelly Award winner Disher's solid sixth novel featuring the Melbourne cop (after 2009's Blood Moon). Challis has two difficult cases to crack: a sophisticated cat burglar who diligently researches her targets and commits her thefts far from home is at large; and a man wearing a police uniform is sexually assaulting women. After Challis mouths off about the effect on his department of the diminished resources to a reporter covering the serial rapes, his professional future is jeopardized, adding another, and unneeded, layer of pressure, even as it remains unclear whether the rapist is a colleague or just posing as one. As with the best procedurals, this book succeeds in its vivid portrayals of Challis's supporting cast, humanizing the officers who have to deal with pain and suffering almost nonstop.
