Pride's Harvest by Jon Cleary
Written: Mar 27 '06 (Updated Mar 27 '06)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Solid plot that builds in intensity.
Cons: Personal realtionships feel forced.
The Bottom Line: This is the 8th Scobie Malone novel. This Australian police procedural series is notable for the insightful social commentary as much as the compelling drama of mystery.
|
|
|
| damieng's Full Review: Pride's Harvest Books |
Over the course of 7 previous books, Jon Cleary's ever reliable policeman Scobie Malone has risen through the ranks of the New South Wales Police Department to his present rank of Detective Inspector and has conducted investigations in England, America and his home turf of Sydney. This time, in Pride’s Harvest, Scobie goes bush as he heads out to the western New South Wales (fictional) country town of Collamundra.
Along with his ever-reliable sidekick Detective Sergeant Russ Clements, Scobie investigates a murder case that looks anything but straightforward. The body of the Japanese manager of a cotton farm was found, mangled, in a threshing machine. Kenji Sagawa had been murdered and the local police decided they needed detectives with more experience at investigating murders and called the Regional Crime Squad, South Region in Sydney. Scobie, as acting officer in charge of Homicide, and whose family just happened to be visiting friends in Collamundra, decided to assign the case to himself.
What Scobie and Clements find upon their arrival in Collamundra is a reception that, while not openly hostile, is extremely reserved. The locals are very reticent when it comes to answering any of their questions, there is a deep-seated undercurrent of racism throughout the community and there is growing unrest from within the nearby Aboriginal settlement. In short, the place is a tinderbox just waiting for an ember to set it off. It’s Scobie’s job to keep the sparks to a minimum.
A common scenario for a Scobie Malone mystery has Malone pitted against a very wealthy person or a high-ranking politician who tends to stand in the way of his investigation. In this case he’s up against both. Chess Hardstaff is the prominent landowner around Collamundra and pretty well rules over all that goes on in the area, including the local police. Gus Dircks is the Minister for Police and also comes from Collamundra. He’s Hardstaff’s man and just happens to be in town for the upcoming annual race meeting. Dircks’ number one priority is to protect Hardstaff from Malone’s pointed questioning, a fact not lost on Malone or Clements.
A seemingly racially motivated murder inquiry soon becomes much more for Scobie as he feels as though he has unearthed a more insidious evil that lurks on the periphery of Collamundra.
Pride’s Harvest is a carefully plotted police procedural thriller that slowly increases in tension as Malone relentlessly turns the screws of his investigation. As he interviews the locals, it was striking to note that, rather than having the suspects mounting up like in most murder mysteries, the suspects were actually drying up. While the Sagawa investigation begins to stagnate, an older, more closely guarded death starts to look more and more suspicious.
This is a very straightforward murder case that is simple to follow, as is the compilation of clues and evidence through face to face interviews. But more striking are the underlying attitudes of the characters, their intolerance of outsiders of all ilk and their unreasonable prejudices.
Jon Cleary taps into the inner psyche of everyday Australians and reveals the good and bad traits in all of us through his characters. Real issues such as Aboriginal deaths in custody plus the living conditions of many Aboriginals are considered with brutal honesty. As for the atmosphere and landscape of remote western New South Wales, these are captured with great clarity, so much so that you can almost taste the windblown dust blown in from the desert.
The only weak parts of the book involved Malone and his wife. Their relationship just strikes an uneasy chord with me. Their conversations are too proper, the language between them doesn’t ring true compared with the rest of the book and the banter, meant to make Malone sound like an easygoing family man just feels forced. The whole familial part of Cleary’s writing doesn’t seem to come as easy as the action.
Pride’s Harvest delivers yet another outstanding mystery that satisfies on many levels. The plot is nicely constructed and builds to a thought-provoking conclusion, the characters are challenging and the issues are relevant in the real world.
The Scobie Malone series to this point:
The High Commissioner (1966)
Helga’s Web (1970)
Ransom (1973)
Dragon’s At the Party (1987)
Now and Then, Amen (1988)
Babylon South (1989)
Murder Song (1990)
Pride's Harvest (1991)
Originally published on the Australian Crime Fiction Database at www.crimedownunder.com
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
damieng
|
|
Location: Sydney, Australia
Reviews written: 427
Trusted by: 94 members
About Me:
Stop thanking me for my patience...I don't have any.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.