Melaleuca by Angie Faye Martin

When Renee Taylor comes home to the small outback town where she grew up to look after her sick mother, she is determined to return to Brisbane as quickly as possible. She has moved to the police station in her town acting as a constable but longs to return to her real work as a detective in the city. When the body of a young woman is found by the creek, she is put in charge of the murder investigation and gradually uncovers links to the disappearance of two young Aboriginal women thirty years earlier. She is faced with the dark secrets and prejudices of the small country town. Will she be able to find the truth about the murder and disappearances or will the town’s inhabitants keep silent?

Melaleuca is an important novel that succeeds on many levels. For readers who enjoy a well written rural noir, the country setting, the intelligent detective and small-town mentality will attract and keep their interest with its many clues and red herrings. For readers who want more than a mystery they will find themselves deeply immersed in Renee’s struggle to find justice, to come to terms with her white and Indigenous heritage as well as the racism that is deeply embedded in society. Martin succeeds in vividly describing the dignity and family support of the indigenous community of the small town, while clearly showing the poverty and hardship that it faces. The indifference of the police investigation of the two Indigenous young women who disappeared is also highlighted and the class and power structure of the prosperous landowners is explored.

This is an unforgettable novel that I believe should be promoted in every library. Readers need to read the Author’s Note at the end and may be interested in the Good Reading magazine interview with author. Highly recommended.

Themes: Murder, Corruption, Detectives, Rural noir, Racism.

Pat Pledger