Broken Bay by Margaret Hickey

Publisher's Synopsis

Old loyalties and decades-long feuds rise to the surface in this stunning crime novel, set in a spectacular Australian landscape known for its jagged cliffs and hidden caves.

Detective Sergeant Mark Ariti has taken a few days’ holiday in Broken Bay at precisely the wrong time. The small fishing town on South Australia’s Limestone Coast is now the scene of a terrible tragedy.

Renowned cave diver Mya Rennik has drowned while exploring a sinkhole on the land of wealthy farmer Frank Doyle. As the press descends, Mark’s boss orders him to stay put and assist the police operation.

But when they retrieve Mya's body, a whole new mystery is opened up, around the disappearance of a young local woman twenty years before . . .

Suddenly Mark is diving deep into the town’s history - and in particular the simmering rivalry between its two most prominent families, the Doyles and Sinclairs.

Then a murder takes place at the Sinclairs’ old home – and Mark is left wondering which is more dangerous: Broken Bay’s hidden subterranean world or the secretive town above it . . .

My Review of Broken Bay by Margaret Hickey

Mark Ariti appears destined to solve old cold case mysteries. He unwound the difficult Cutter’s End case that took him back 30 years and now he’s faced with a case that again dredges up a mysterious disappearance from decades before. Broken Bay is the 3rd book in the series featuring the small town detective sergeant and once again presents a man who manages to overcome most of his minor flaws to lead a fascinating investigation. 

Mark is on holiday in Broken Bay, South Australia. The main reason he’s in town is for a deep sea fishing trip, a gift from his sister who knows he has no sea legs. Back on dry land with his stomach just starting to calm down and he hears, along with the rest of the town, that a cave diver has become trapped, feared dead while exploring one of the underwater limestone caves in the local area. The problem lies in the logistics of bringing the body back to the surface.

The Limestone Coast, as it’s known, is a porous piece of the South Australian coast that has a habit of continuously crumbling and changing with sinkholes opening up at regular intervals. The result, apart from the obvious dangers, is that it has become a mecca for cave divers to visit and explore.

He’s in the area so Mark’s not particularly surprised when the call from headquarters comes asking him to stick around and oversee the body recovery task. More officers will be arriving to assist as well as professional divers to conduct the body recovery.

But when the body is brought back to the surface, it’s not the body of Mya that has been recovered. It’s another diver, and this one has been in the water far, far longer than a mere couple of days. This is a discovery that prompts quite a few questions and Mark is immediately thrust into the midst of a mystery that drives straight into the lives of 4 local families and what could turn out to be a dark history.

The cave diving aspect is a nice jumping off point to the story and provides an unusual area of interest to give the plot a point of difference. But there’s far more to get the teeth into with a convoluted family drama providing a more pressing focus of the attention.

I found Mark Ariti to be a little less likable this time around with quite a bit of bumbling around and proving to be less effective as an investigator. In fact, most of his progress came thanks to his more motivated colleagues, his girlfriend and, weirdly, an old woman suffering from Alzheimer’s.

This is yet another Australian police procedural set among some of the most picturesque pieces of landscape in the country. The surrounding area is admirably portrayed and creates a beautiful yet somewhat menacing backdrop to the drama being played out around it.

This is a mystery that’s slow to build, introducing a wide range of characters who are all somehow linked to one another. It requires some careful attention to be paid before the connections begin to be made and things start to make sense. By the end, my patience paid off and I was rewarded with a strongly constructed plot and a shocking ending.