Reviewed by Ian Hamilton
The body count by the end of this murder mystery is very modest: one dead man (although there are three fatalities if you count Horace the prize-winning bull and Frank the corgi).
We are placed in a small rural town with the delightful name of Myddle. It is located on the Clive River and is, by implication, fertile land with reliable rainfall. These factors make it desirable and valuable. The landscape and connection to the land are key contexts of the story that unfolds. This is true for indigenous characters Troy and his mother Rita but also for Evie Rogers, who inherited the farmland which had been in her family for more than a century. Evie is upset by her husband’s plan to build a tourist eco-retreat on her favourite part of the property, an area known as the Bluff, as she sees this as inconsistent with her role as custodian of the land. Due to a plot twist, there is the possibility that at least some of the Clive Downs Cattle Station will be returned to indigenous ownership.
Jenkins is attentive to descriptions of her setting: its sights and sounds. We are reminded of the Blue Gums, Poincianas, “water gushing over lichen-encrusted boulders” and a wide variety of bird song and other details. Readers who visualise as they read are likely to find the details enhance their pleasure but there are times when insertion of such detail into dialogue seems a bit jarring.
Within this setting the author has two key events: a missing teenage girl (Bea Baulderstone) and a murder (apparently by shotgun). Both of these things are revealed early in the novel. From that point Jenkins moves back in time to reveal events and reactions to events. If all fiction is a dance between revelation and concealment, then this author has succeeded in engaging and sustaining our curiosity. Some readers may find the novel a little over-written but there is always movement forward and rewards for patience. The inclusion of WhatsApp dialogue – if something of its brevity can be called dialogue – between Ruth (more of her below) and her son Jack, presently living in London, adds a contemporary feel to the novel’s style and structure.
As is the case with so many works of fiction, the acid test of success is skill in characterisation. We have two principal characters, Evie Rogers (owner of Clive Downs) and Ruth Dawson (a prominent city lawyer recently widowed). When Ruth’s firm is disbanded due to malpractice by another senior partner, she is persuaded to fill in for her old friend Harry in his Myddle law practice. Both these women demonstrate strength of character, high principles and strategic thinking. Through what is said by them and about them, they become three-dimensional creations. The novel is given further substance by the choice of other characters, who seem to fall, broadly, into admirable and honest characters, such as Bea, Troy and Rita and those with repulsive morals such as Gazza (Constable Gary Parker) and Dash (Evie Roger’s husband). A rather enigmatic yoga teacher Chandra may be both.
Through the interactions of the characters the reader is exposed to familiar themes: racial stereotyping, Indigenous dispossession, environmental irresponsibility, sexual exploitation and duplicity. Although these serious matters are not always compatible with the murder mystery genre, they seem to be a standard element of modern Australian prose. With that in mind, the book is recommended for readers who enjoy thought-provoking ideas, attention to the Australian landscape, Australian characters and a skillfully narrated story.
One final note: the novel includes the following warning: “This book includes some racist dialogue and depiction of sexual assault.” Interestingly it does not alert the reader to frequent vulgar slang.
The Bluff
[2025]
by Joanna Jenkins
Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 978 176147 064 6
$34.99; 432pp