Review: Snapshot

Australian author Disher opens his latest Hal Challis procedural with a murder victim driving nervously to the scene of her execution, her 7-year-old daughter by her side, triumph on her mind. Point of view switches to the hit man and his dismayed slacker driver as the gruesome scene unfolds, culminating in the escape of the little girl into the woods.

Tense pandemonium breaks out in Challis’ Mornington Peninsula homicide squad. The dead woman is the daughter-in-law of loathed Police Superintendent McQuarrie, who seems immediately intent on deflecting the investigation and shielding his son from police attention.

But the child is a surprisingly calm and observant witness and when the murder team discovers that the victim had secretly taken pictures at the sex parties her husband dragged her to and sent them to prominent participants (including her husband), murder for hire looks increasingly likely. And the husband, as cold and dislikable as his wife – she was a psychologist with a confrontational approach - is looking better and better as a suspect.

Fans will be pleased to find Challis’ team intact. Hal himself is no longer seeing the local newspaper editor Tessa Kane, but has turned a guilty eye on his sergeant, Ellen Destry, unhappily married to a bitter traffic constable. Destry returns the regard, though both hold back.

Young Pam Murphy is still partnered with rude, misogynistic John Tankard, whose psychological counseling, mandated after last year’s shooting, seems to have scrambled his brain. They’re on a traffic assignment – driving around in an unmarked sports car rewarding courteous drivers – and provide as much comic relief as they do accidental aid, red herrings and missed chances. Scobie Sutton still chatters ceaselessly about his amazing little daughter and plugs away at his job wishing he had more of Challis’ intuitive spark.

Before it’s all over, more will lie dead on Australia’s Peninsula coast and the lives of several of the continuing characters will have taken major turns. Disher delivers another fine story in an atmospheric, realistic, character-driven series.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Lynn Harnett

Book Review: Snapshot