Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor introduces a writer who looks set to be a new star in the interesting, innovative and lively (for a genre powered by death) field of Australian crime writing.
In the dusty, simmering town of Durton something has happened to 12 year old Esther, she has gone and the adults are in a state of barely repressed panic. Her best friend Ronnie and their friend Lewis want to find out where she has gone and what happened after she and Ronnie left school.
Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels, in the tradition of all such characters – all humans really – has some issues of her own to work through, while she tries to solve the mystery of Esther’s disappearance. Ronnie is pushing buttons and upsetting people and Lewis knows more than he is prepared to admit, in case his own secrets tumble out for all to see.
When Esther is found, everyone is caught in the resulting storm of accusation, suspicion and sadness.
Scrivenor writes believable characters and her evocation of small town charm and community existing alongside curdled and rotting feuds, quiet desperation, violent alliances and willful ignorance is skillfully done. An original and unusual aspect is her gang of kids who range around the town, bored and fretful, noticing everything. The point of view of the action revolves between several characters and every few chapters she writes in the collective voice of the roving band of kids, a knowing/unknowing Greek chorus to the main events – this is such a clever idea and really adds something to the story.
Can’t wait to read the next book!
The UBS Otago Review of Books 