Mallee Scrub

It's nearly Christmas in Tiverton, South Australia. Constable Paul Hirschhausen spends his days conducting welfare checks, finding lost dogs, and forging relationships in the community. After being demoted from Detective and sent out to this one-cop town a year ago, Hirsch has made peace with his situation. 

But this sleepy town has its share of crime. Someone has been stealing copper, disadvantaged teens have taken a ute for a joyride, vandals are defacing properties, a young child is locked in a hot car, and a drunk driver has crashed their vehicle into the Tiverton pub. Hirsch handles each of these matters relying on his intuition and experience. Just when he thinks he may enjoy a quiet Christmas with his girlfriend Wendy, the crime rate rises. When the violence starts - a slaughter of animals, a murder, and then some missing children - Hirsch is joined by Detectives from Adelaide and Sydney and a manhunt is underway. There will be no peace for Hirsch this Christmas.

Peace (2019) is the second novel in Garry Disher's Hirschhausen series. I really enjoyed the first, Bitter Wash Road (2013), and was keen to see the evolution of Hirsch as he settles into this town.  While focussed on the main character, Disher paints a vivid portrait of this dry and dusty community. The townsfolk are realistically portrayed and through them Disher provides insight to the social and economic complexities that  are the reality of living in rural towns.

I have read a lot of Australian rural noir - including Jane Harper's Exiles, Hayley Scrivener's Dirt Town, and Chris Hammer's Treasure and Dirt - and Disher should be as well known as these authors. A master of tension and pace, Disher is a gifted writer, who has crafted an engaging page-turner. So glad to know there are two more Hirsch books - Consolation (2021) and Day's End (2022) - as well as a dozen other Disher novels to explore.