Dilemma by Jon Cleary

Publisher's Synopsis

From the award-winning Jon Cleary, a new novel featuring Detective Inspector Scobie Malone, in which the routine arrest of a fugitive leads to disturbing allegations against the Crown Prosecutor, and the abduction of a child model reveals an ugly side to the world of fashion.

When Scobie Malone returns to the bush town of Collamundra to apprehend a husband who disappeared after the murder of his wife four years earlier, it seems a cut-and-dried case. But as the trial begins, a key witness recognizes a face in the fourtroom, and Scobie finds himself investigating the Crown Prosecutor - an individual revered by colleagues as the perfect family man and a pillar of the community.

Meanwhile, Sydney is agog at the kidnapping of a child model whose freckled face has launched a thousand products. Malone, like everyone else, finds it hard to take the abduction seriously - until a body is found. As a devoted father, Scobie is shaken by the murder of a child, but his inquiries reveal that the family life little Lucybelle experienced was a million miles from the settled existence of the Malones.

Suddenly Malone is embroiled in two cases where, the deeper he probes, the more he wishes he hadn't. And having uncovered the truth, he must decide whether to proceed - knowing that if he does, a family will be destroyed.

My Review of Dilemma by Jon Cleary

With the two cases come two storylines and they occupy the Scobie Malone's time completely. The first looks to be an open and shut case in which a man has been accused of murdering his wife. Norma Glaze was murdered 4 years earlier and her husband, Ron, disappeared that same night. He's now been found living under another name in the small country New South Wales town of Collamundra. Scobie has to make the trip out to confront the man, get him to admit his real identity and bring him back to Sydney to stand trial. The thing with this case though is that we know that Ron Glaze didn't murder his wife. We know that Scobie is wrong in his conviction that he has just arrested an innocent man. But further to that, we know that the real murderer, by an outrageous stroke of coincidence, is the prosecuting solicitor from the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The second case involves the kidnapping and subsequent murder of 5 year old Lucybelle Vanheusen, a child star who was the face of many advertising campaigns and the daughter of a fashion designer. When Malone delves into the lives of the Vanheusens he finds that the family life was not as perfect as outward appearances would have suggested. The further into the case he goes, the less he likes it and the more convinced that naming the murder will cause outrage. But as a policeman he's got to be committed to pursuing his suspects no matter how distasteful it may be.

Once again we're brought back to the DPP who will eventually be prosecuting the Vanheusen case. After a day in court at the Ron Glaze hearing, Scobie is approached by a woman who recognised the DPP solicitor, linking him to the night that Norma Glaze was murdered. He had been at the club that night 4 years ago and never mentioned it to Scobie. Suddenly, Malone has a new suspect, one who is in a position of power (a favourite theme of Jon Cleary's), but he has little to no evidence and runs the risk of destroying a family if he is wrong. He's left with the burning question of exactly how he should handle the situation.

This is a fairly routine police procedural mystery as far as the way the investigation is conducted and runs along the traditional lines that fans of the genre would be accustomed - interviews, research, more interviews. Through a lot of hard work and dogged determination, Scobie manages to get under the skin of his suspects and slowly unpeels the truth. Where this story differs, and where the fascinating appeal lies, is in just what he decides to do with that truth - in fact, how Scobie Malone deals with his dilemma.

Jon Cleary manages to cut straight to the heart of everyday Australians through insightful commentary and characters that you can relate to completely. There is always a slightly cynical edge to the Scobie Malone books, particularly when commenting on the attitudes of certain parts of the Australian culture. He ensures that you have to take a long hard look at yourself as he tackles class and racial issues with measured bluntness, hiding nothing.

I only had one qualm with the story and I actually found it quite astounding. For some reason in the course of the story, Jon Cleary chose to completely reveal the ending of one of his earlier Scobie Malone novels. Upon Scobie's return to the fictional town of Collamundra, the setting of Pride's Harvest, Scobie muses over the events that took place there. Effectively, every important point relating to the ending of Pride's Harvest is revealed. So a warning to you, if you are planning on reading Pride's Harvest, do so before tackling Dilemma.

Some might find this the kind of story that seems slow and the progress is almost non-existent, but in actual fact, the emotional drama involved is extremely intense. Readers who prefer an action-packed thriller will find Dilemma to be a bit of a drag, I fear, but if you enjoy being faced with solid social and ethical issues, this will prove to be a tasty treat.