Book Reviews: When mystery writing goes absolutely right

I've read two extremely good crime / mystery fiction titles in the past week - one is a short story collection, and one is the third book in a great series. I would heartily recommend both, albeit for quite different reasons!

Having previously only read Rendell's Inspector Wexford novels, which I enjoyed but didn't consider rave-worthy, I came to this short story collection with a solid respect for her craft as a writer but no very big expectations. 

I was delighted to be, on the whole, surprised by the depth, power and complexity of many of these stories. Naturally, not every one is a hit (I've yet to read a collection with no variation in quality), but the best ones are incredible, and will stay with me a long time.

Rendell combines mystery / puzzle staples with supernatural elements (in two, arguably three, stories), social commentary including a scathing take on misogyny and its many and various faces (in at least half of them) and psychological thriller-style tension (two in particular are outstanding exemplars of this).

My favourite stories of the book:

1. The Irony of Hate - because it really is actually ironic
2. The Thief - bent my brain, excellent psychological thriller
3. The Long Corridor of Time - best, and saddest, of the paranormal ones
4. Trebuchet - not a mystery, not a thriller, but a massive gut-punch story on "what man hath wrought". 

For me, a solid 8/10, with some stories rising even higher than that.


I read the first two books in this series earlier this year (review here) and was looking forward to this one - and wow it did not disappoint. This was the best one yet, and I really liked the previous two books in this series so that is intentionally a high compliment! 

In this outing, Hazel, having left her fashion house tea lady job, begins working as a union tea lady, both at Trades Hall and down on the docks. Just as the previous two books delved with freshness, vividness and unexpected depth into the world of Sydney fashion houses in the 1960s, this book takes on the fraught and contested spaces of 60s counter-culture, nascent unionism, and gang-based criminal enterprises, including brothel-keeping wars, in a way that feels utterly authentic but neither grim nor depressing.

The characters from the earlier books are back in full colour, and I was delighted to meet them all again. Irene in particular jumps out of the page again in this adventure, and I absolutely love her, hoary old reprobate that she is. 

I loved the side quests too and the way that secondary characters from the earlier books are being lovingly shepherded through their own stories - for instance, Pixie and Alice's boutique was a wonderful plotline with which I was (and remain) highly invested. But then, I love Pixie and Alice - and of course Hazel (the main protagonist) and Maud and Betty and all the others - too. Actually, Hampson just does character really, really well - she manages to write people who feel real and compelling, all without sacrificing the action.

All in all, an outstanding historical cosy that centres the stories, strengths, concerns and thoughts of working class women in 1960s Sydney, and tells an absolutely terrific story. Warm and unqualified recommend and an unusual-for-a-mystery 9/10 from me.

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