Just Finished Reading... The Holiday Murders by Robert Gott

 The year is 1943, at Christmas, the place is Melbourne. Inspector Titus Lambert and his Homicide team have had their Christmas Eve interrupted by the report of two horribly grisly murders committed in one of Melbourne’s leafy suburbs. A father and son lie dead. The daughter Mary, a radio actress, apparently returned from work to find her father and brother lying in their blood. 

Checking out the house, the police find piles of magazines connected with the Nazi-sympathising Australia First movement, but Lambert learns that John Quinn, the father, was working for Military Intelligence, spying on them. Could this be the reason he was murdered? But what about his son? 

Titus Lambert’s team includes Sergeant Joe Sable, a non religious Jew who is just realising that anti-Semitism is much bigger in Australia than he had thought. Helen Lord, as a woman, is never going to get beyond the rank of Constable. Titus gives her the chance to do more than secretarial work, because she is a very good detective. 

I should explain that we know whodunnit by about the second chapter. This is not a mystery, except to the characters. It’s a thriller, yes, but not a whodunnit. The only mystery is why, something we learn in the last chapter. And to be fair, the author doesn’t cheat his readers; I think I would pick it up on a reread. 

There are many historical details, something I appreciated as I read. The Leonski Brownout Murders are recent. American soldiers are all over the place. The magazine found in the victims’ home, The Publicist, is real. You can find it in Trove, on the Australian National Library web site. It was horribly anti-Semitic - and the contributors included some huge names in Australian literature, such as Xavier Herbert(Poor Fella My Country), Miles Franklin(My Brilliant Career), after whom an award is named, and Eleanor Dark(The Timeless Land). And they knew exactly what they were writing for. Every time I read about them from now on, I will remember...

I confess this is not my usual fare. I like a lot about it, especially the history, but I generally prefer whodunnits and cosies. I quite like police procedurals, but this is not quite a police procedural either. The good news is that if you enjoy it there are more; this is the first in a series. It’s good summer holiday reading. 

Just don’t read it over a meal!