I’d given up hope of another Detective Gemma Woodstock novel so was ecstatic to see this one come out earlier this year. If we’re talking Aussie Noir detectives, I might have to put Woodstock ahead of Jane Harper’s Aaron Falk (The Dry; Forces of Nature; Exiles), Woodstock scoring points for instinct, putting two and two together, feistiness and courage. If only she could get her life together.
But in Body of Lies, it seems Woodstock is at last doing well on the home-front. She has recently returned to her hometown of Smithson – she’d escaped it after the first book, lived dangerously for a time in Melbourne, but with a new relationship going well, she has come back to her old job. Gemma wants to be a good mother to her son, and has a new baby, but with the help of Mac, the man best pal Candy says is a saint, it all looks fairly promising.
Gemma’s still on maternity leave – Scarlett is just nine-months old – when she becomes caught up in a crime. Her dad’s had a health scare, so Gemma is at the hospital when the lights go out and a body is stolen from the morgue. But even before that, we’d had a white-knuckle scene with a car being chased off the road – the somewhat inebriated witness says it’s murder and so do the forensics. A murder and a stolen body before page 20!
Gemma is like a bloodhound, her detective nose is twitching and she wants in on the case. Jonesy, her old boss, is keen to have her help, as they’re short-staffed. But she’ll have to answer to DS Everett who finds Gemma pushy and inclined to do her own thing. Gemma finds Everett lacking in imagination and reluctant to share information. They’re going to have to work as a team but for a chunk of the book that seems unlikely to happen.
I’m halfway through Monday’s points when I smell Everett, a woody cologne that doesn’t fit with the musty aroma of the office. He stands in the doorway in an expensive suit, and not for the first time I wonder what led him to leave Melbourne and take a role in Smithson. It’s rare that a senior detective relocates to a small town mid-career. Smithson has become more of a drawcard in recent years, but in my experience, city cops only give up their plum metro roles when a problematic personality is being off-loaded or – like in my situation – when someone wants a fresh start due to personal reasons.
The body stolen from the morgue has yet to be identified, and that is surprisingly difficult in a town where everybody knows everybody. Before long the plot is complicated by the discovery of a newborn baby in a park by the lake, and then there’s another murder. Are the crimes all connected? Meanwhile Gemma is making a hash of juggling work and home life. Mac is busy on his own cases, and Gemma can’t help feeling there’s something he’s not telling her.
I always enjoy Gemma Woodstock as she’s such a determined police officer, as well as a thorn in the side to those in authority. She takes a lot of risks and stirs up a lot more trouble for herself, so you know that she’s going to put herself in harm’s way at least a couple of times before the end of the book. And so it is here, the plot racing away with some revelations you would never guess at and a thrilling, action-packed ending. Her relationships with new colleagues take some surprising and interesting turns too, making for a well-rounded and satisfying storyline.
This will probably be the final book in the series, which is perhaps a shame, although it would be nice for Gemma if life settled down a little for once. I’ve enjoyed her way of thinking, her banter with Candy the journalist and the avuncular Jonesy. But I’m sure Sarah Bailey has more exciting stories up her sleeve; perhaps she has a new detective waiting in the wings. Body of Lies is a four-star read from me.
Judith McKinnon 