A Peninsula Murder Mystery

A rapist in a police uniform is stalking Inspector Hal Challis's Peninsula beat, a serial armed robber is headed his way, and there is a very clever, very mysterious female cat burglar who may or may not be planning something on his patch. On top of all that, Challis has been carpeted by the boss for speaking out about police budget cuts.

Meanwhile, at the Waterloo Police Station, something very interesting is going on between Constable Pam Murphy and Jeannie Schiff, the feisty young sergeant on secondment from the Sex Crimes Unit.

The Peninsula Murder Mystery series has been a favourite of mine since The Dragon Man was released back in 1999. The series features Detective Inspector Hal Challis and is set on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. So it was with great anticipation that I started reading the 6^th and latest book in the series, Whispering Death.

Just like the first two books in the series, the title of this new one makes reference to a small airplane, a Bristol Beaufighter nicknamed Whispering Death, made relevant by Challis’ interest in small aircraft.

A young woman has been raped and left naked in the bush outside of Waterloo where she is found by Constable Pam Murphy. The circumstances surrounding her abduction and rape are disturbing for the locals of the small community and the police force in galvanised into action as they begin their search for the rapist.

One of Challis’ troubles is caused by his own moment of candour when he complains about lack of police resources and funding to a newspaper reporter. Although he wins the support of his fellow frontline officers, his superiors are less than impressed. The last thing he needs is the distraction of having to answer questions about whether he is a team player and the political shenanigans that follow while the police force attempts to assure anyone who listens that crime fighting is in a better position than it has ever been.

But living beside them on the estate were the underemployed, the unemployed, the elderly poor, struggling single parents and housing commission, welfare and mental health clients. Uneducated and unhealthy, left stranded by the IT revolution. Most were law abiding, but a handful were responsible for some of the nasty, and plenty of the mundane, crime in Waterloo, a permanent heartache for social services and a headache for the police. And they were largely invisible to the people who treated the Peninsula as a playground: Melbourne’s retirees, sea-change professionals, cocaine footballers and casino executives. ..pg 104

A great strength of the series as a whole that is carried forward in Whispering Death is the way in which the recurring characters are dealt with by Disher. The Waterloo police station is manned by an eclectic bunch of characters with widely varied personalities and they are examined individually during the course of each book.

Okay, I think I have crapped on long enough about Whispering Death. Suffice it to say that it is a very solid police procedural novel that crime fans will enjoy immensely. I am a little biased because I have enjoyed the previous Peninsula mysteries and am a long-time Disher fan. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Hal Challis, Ellen Destry and the rest of the police officers on the Peninsula, here are the books in which you can go back and do so:

The Dragon Man

Kittyhawk Down

Snapshot

Chain of Evidence – Ned Kelly Award winner

Blood Moon