Canticle Creek by Adrian Hyland

Publisher's Synopsis

When Adam Lawson’s wrecked car is found a kilometre from Daisy Baker’s body, the whole town assumes it’s an open and shut case. But Jesse Redpath isn’t from Canticle Creek. Where she comes from, the truth often hides in plain sight, but only if you know where to look.
 
When Jesse starts to ask awkward questions, she uncovers a town full of contradictions and a cast of characters with dark pasts, secrets to hide and even more to lose.
 
As the temperature soars, and the ground bakes, the wilderness surrounding Canticle Creek becomes a powderkeg waiting to explode.

All it needs is one spark.

My Review 

As with his earlier crime novels, Diamond Dove and Gunshot Road, Adrian Hyland uses a strong, highly capable female lead as the chief protagonist in Canticle Creek. This is a well-drawn murder mystery with a rural Australia setting that depends on grit and determination to pick apart scant and elusive clues.

Jesse Redpath is a police constable in charge of the tiny station in Kulara in the Northern Territory. A local youth, Adam Lawson, who has shown an artistic flair, evident in the graffiti he has spread around the area, is up before the local magistrate. Jesse convinces him that it would be better if Lawson was placed with her father who would provide greater guidance and a more positive path than prison.

Unfortunately, Adam doesn’t hang around long. The next thing she hears is that he has turned up dead in the small town of Canticle Creek, Victoria after apparently murdering his girlfriend.

This doesn’t sound right to Jesse. Sure, Adam was prone to getting himself into mischief but he was no murderer. She takes some leave and, along with her father, heads to Canticle Creek to poke around and take an unofficial look into the deaths.

This is a well-constructed story that brings together a strong plot with a range of memorable characters. The pace begins quite slowly as Jesse encounters the various local characters who will go on to become her central suspects.

But the pace begins to really ramp up the further she goes with more deaths and close calls providing a heightened sense of danger.

While Jesse is a highly capable character who plays the protagonist role with strong determination, she is joined by two more highly capable women.

Possum, the sixteen year old friend of the murdered woman, proves herself to play a vital role in the story, both as a sounding board for Jesse’s investigation and as a source of local knowledge. Meanwhile, Nadia makes quite a journey from a woman who is highly suspicious of the police to a strong ally with some intriguing insights into her past.

Tough, highly capable women dominate the story and they grow more substantial as the investigation proceeds. This is a clear strength of Hyland’s storytelling ability.

Another strength, and something I wasn’t expecting to appreciate, is the role that art plays in setting the tone of the novel.

Each of the location settings, from the Northern Territory to Canticle Creek in Victoria are visually enhanced through the eyes of the artistic characters in the novel. The hues and shades of the Australian countryside become even more vivid and stark as they are described in the paintings and other artworks that crop up throughout.

Hyland cleverly inserts some serious tracker capabilities into the investigation by virtue of Jesse’s association with Danny Jakamarra, an aboriginal police tracker who has provided her with some rudimentary tracking knowledge. It’s a skill that she uses with some effectiveness to get her investigation started. Danny appears only briefly in the book, but I felt he had more to offer. Hopefully there is a follow-up book where we might see more of him.

Canticle Creek is a well-crafted, absorbing mystery with strong characterisation. It is a novel that can be enjoyed for its gripping storyline, strong character development and well-constructed plot. I hope Hyland has plans for more featuring Jesse Redpath.