A new outing for Aussie detective DS Walker

Some time ago I reviewed Patricia Wolf's debut novel, Outback, and liked it a lot

It introduced DS Walker, an appealing character with an interesting past. An investigative star in the Australian Federal Police, he left the department just before a police corruption scandal broke, and has been reassigned to somewhere quiet and secluded -- the Queensland outback, where unexpectedly violent things happen.

I liked Outback  a lot, something that made me a bit nervous.  Too often a debut that I liked has been followed by unsatisfactory sequels.  As I observed to a librarian, it's as if the author is so surprised by the success of their first book that they lack ideas for the next one or two, and so reach into the desk bottom drawer where rejected manuscripts lie.  A bit of rewording, and voila.

So, was it going to like that in the case of Patricia Wolf?  Certainly not.  To my relief, every book is as good as the last, a rating that includes this one, the  fifth in the series.

There is action aplenty. First, Walker is faced with a hanging man. It looks like suicide, but as acute as ever, he deduces very quickly that it is not.  The man was murdered, and then strung up.  But by whom? And why?  And, for that matter, who the devil is he? 

Interesting enough, particularly when he finds a rather similar cold case in the books.

This is followed by a much more sensational murder, the vicious beating to death of a cricketing hero. Because of the media frenzy, Walker is swiftly sidelined by the homicide detectives in Brisbane -- but, being Walker, he prods at the mystery, snagging details that could be vital clues. 

A real page turner, this one. Walker and his Vietnamese offsider are terrific characters, very easy to engage with. Their detecting skills are so admirable, in fact, that the finale chapter describing the murder as it happened is not at all necessary.  That I will read more of the DS Walker books is a given.

And Patricia Wolf definitely earns her place as a top Australian thriller writer, alongside such stars as Chris Hammer and Gary Disher.