Dead Man Switch

Set in Sydney after the Second World War, Tara Moss' The War Widow (2019) is a gripping mystery novel featuring a compelling heroine. Billie Walker is smart, brave, loyal, resilient and determined. She has recently returned home from Europe where she was a war correspondent, and is carrying a lot of emotional baggage. Her husband Jack has gone missing, feared dead, and she has recently lost her beloved father.

Walker has taken over her late father's Private Inquiry business. It is a tough gig, but she finds female clients often prefer to seek her out. She makes ends meet with cases she detests - finding dirt for divorcing couples.  But every now and then a case comes along that uses her talents to the fullest. 

Mrs Brown engages Walker to find her missing son. The teenaged Adin was last seen a few days ago and so Walker and her trusty assistant Sam start their investigations. Their inquiries lead them to a night club, an auction house and beyond. Along the way, they realise that there are other forces at play which seek to derail their search for the boy. 

Meanwhile, Walker has also promised Shyla, a young Aboriginal woman who often acts as an informant, that she will investigate some missing girls. Shyla has provided a handful of small clues, but will they be enough to go on?

Walker faces sexism at every turn, as a woman in a 'man's job', failing to vacate her position for the men returning from war. She has to support herself and is determined to earn her way in the world. With her flare for fashion and her Fighting Red lipstick, Walker is a trailblazer ready to stand up to anyone who gets in her way. Moss addresses the issues of class, race and gender that Walker confronts, in a manner that feels natural within the setting of the novel. 

I absolutely loved this novel and was gripped from beginning to end! It feels very much like a throwback to an earlier time, reminding me very much of noir detective fiction from the period. Moss has done her research and authentically depicts the immediate post-war period in Australia, with people still reeling from the trauma of WW2 and trying to come to terms with its aftermath. Every day people are faced with wounded returned service men. The petrol rations, restrictions on imports, and the fear of foreigners feels very real. Set in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, I found myself reminiscing about many of the places she describes and craving a high tea at the Hydro Majestic! 

I have admired Tara Moss for her feminist non-fiction work (Fictional Woman and Speaking Out) and have heard her speak a number of times about her work in this space. I have never read any of Moss' fiction until picking up this novel so it is exciting to know she has many more novels to explore while I await the next Billie Walker mystery. 

The War Widow has been published in some counties as Dead Man Switch.