The Fall Between by Darcy Tindale

Publisher's Synopsis

On a hot November morning, the first body lies in a cattle trough . . . It will be another two hours before rigor mortis sets in. Until then, the slim fingers will float below the water’s surface, gently bobbing, beckoning Detective Giles to come and find her.

Detective Rebecca Giles has just finished interviewing aging petty crim Sticky Pete over a spate of break-and-enters when a disturbing new report comes in. Twelve-year-old Kayleen Ellis has vanished from her home in Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter Valley.

Hours later, Giles is a local hero, having apparently solved Kayleen’s case and the spate of jewellery thefts.

Yet the hangover from her celebrations has barely kicked in when the body of young jillaroo Ava Emmerson is discovered in gruesome circumstances on a nearby farm.

Giles is convinced the link between all three cases lies in the town’s tragic history, perhaps even in her own mother’s mysterious drowning thirty years ago.

In a place where nothing much changes, suddenly a great deal is happening - and Giles’s life and career are now on the line.

My Review of The Fall Between by Darcy Tindale

Set in the NSW town of Muswellbrook, The Fall Between is a strong rural crime thriller by Darcy Tindale. This is a debut novel of high quality that introduces a highly capable and cluey police detective, Rebecca Giles. This is a rapidly evolving crime story that flows effortlessly from Muswellbrook to Singleton and out west to Orange in a small town extravaganza.

The story opens as Giles is interviewing a local petty criminal by the name of Sticky Pete. His wife had been spruiking around the traps about the emerald earrings Pete had bought for her birthday. Worth far more than the break-and-enter exponent could ever afford to buy legitimately, there’s little doubt his purchase, made at the local pub, is going to get him in trouble.

When twelve year old Kayleen Ellis suddenly goes missing it’s all hands on deck and Giles is called in by her CO to look the case over. It appears she had gone to bed the night before and, sometime during the night, simply vanished. Through a pretty dramatic piece of detective work, Giles not only finds the missing girl but she also may have discovered the culprit behind the spate of break and enters that had been taking place in the local area.

Meanwhile, out in a water trough on a nearby property lies the body of a young woman. She has been strangled, wrapped in barbed wire and left semi-submerged in the water waiting for discovery. Giles is called out to the scene, at first reported as a suspected drowning, the true horror of the situation only becoming clear after she’s faced with the body.

Her investigative skills are about to be sorely tested with this case.

Giles is the daughter of a local legend in the police force, her father’s still around but suffering MND so his mind is still sharp even if his body’s failing him. It’s clear she has the same brilliant mind when it comes down to figuring out tricky problems and, as she demonstrates on more than one occasion, is prepared to get physical when necessary.

The dialogue exchanges are sharp with occasional moments of impressive wit and wholly in keeping with each of the characters portrayed. In most cases the character interactions helped to create the tone of the novel.

Tindale executes an impressive plot that displays intriguing intricacies that weave together multiple subplots into a seamless narrative. The combination of the private and public personas of Giles are well developed to provide a fully formed character who simply demanded respect and complete admiration. More so for the occasional mistakes that she makes which only helps to make her more human.

There’s plenty to like with this first outing and it feels as though we’ve only just scratched the surface of what Rebecca Giles is capable of.