Book review

                                                    Conviction By Frank Chalmers

Review, Mike Beckett

The Australian Outback seems to be a favourite setting for crime novels with authors such as Jane Harper, Gary Disher and Chris Hammer providing a feast of excellent who dunnits, you have to wonder if is there room for yet another such author? 

Well, there will have to be if newcomer Frank Chalmers’ can keep up the standard of his first offering; Conviction. It is not a case of ‘more of the same’, having many features which differentiate it from the usual Australian Outback novel. It is not set currently but back in the 1970s, in a medium sized rather than small town and in Queensland rather than the usual NSW. It’s also not the sole cop police station which are pretty much standard for these novels. But has a staff of six.

Detective Ray Windsor is exiled to Royalton police station by his Brisbane superiors who were unhappy with his outspoken opinions. His reputation of being a bit mouthy had preceded him resulting his finding on arrival that he was less than welcome. 

It soon becomes obvious that the station was not functioning with the police strangely leaving numerous crimes not investigated and even cattle regularly disappearing not being followed up. What Ray found most perplexing was the lack of any concern about solving the deaths of two young immigrant family’s girls. 

There is clearly corruption in the police station but who are the ones behind it is not clear. This has been a long standing situation and the townsfolk have come to just accept it with a shrug and in many cases of themselves taking advantage of the slack policing.

This is quite a long book with the plot becoming ever more more complicated as it evolves and differing cases of corruption become apparent. Who is up to what and why?  However Frank Chalmers writes clearly keeping it from becoming entangled in the reader’s mind.  As a result what seems to be the conclusion is but just one of the crimes and as the dreadful TV advert says; ‘but wait there’s more’.  I am sure that the reader will not see the final one coming.

This is a brilliant debut, I’m hoping another of this author’s stories is not too long coming.