Book Review: The Orchard Murders
As someone who very rarely reads fiction, I was pleasantly surprised with the ease by which I read The Orchard Murders. Robert Gott’s latest is the fourth novel from his Murder series. The series follows a recurring cast of detectives in 1940s Australia as they uncover the truth. For the fourth installment, Gott has set his scene in the outer suburbs of Melbourne in 1944. Inspector Titus Lambert of the Melbourne Homicide unit has enlisted the help of private agents Joe Sable and Helen Lord. The Orchard Murders does well as a standalone crime read, although I imagine loyal readers of Gott’s series would better appreciate the character development across novels.
Readers of the murder series will value Gott’s aptness in combining his plots amongst wider historical settings. Indeed, there is a particular charm in the quick references made to Drummond and Collins street. A key setting, however, is in the orchards of Nunawading where a gruesome triple-murder has taken place. The mid-war, semi-rural outer-east provides an eerie backdrop. Nunawading is home to Peter Fisher and his young family who have reached a gruesome death alongside young Emilio Barbero. Through the course of the novel, we follow as investigators attempt to unearth the connections between the weave of characters connected to the crime.
As with his other works in The Murder Series, Gott’s historical setting does not merely begin and end at quaint Melbourne references. Interwoven in the lives of the characters is cult fanaticism and religious extremism. Robert Gott has a particular gift in his ability to craft his settings. In the case of The Orchard Murders, 1944 Melbourne is not to be read as faraway or intangible. Rather, the context of the days of the Second World War informs the climate of the novel. For instance, we are invited to interrogate how the war abroad lent to xenophobia and paranoia at home. In fact, I was left wanting more as far as discussion around these themes in The Orchard Murders—although that view may be informed by my penchant for non-fiction.
Certainly, with its skillful writing The Orchard Murders is entertaining and gripping, providing a compelling read. There is an ease through which the author introduces us to his cast and entangles them in one another’s lives. Gott does well in the way that he avoids writing 1940s characters as romantic and one-dimensional. And with any good crime novel, once the investigation gets going, the author has already reeled you in. However Gott’s latest release is not resigned to just a quick mystery jaunt. Though a fiction read, it is provoking and reflective beyond the plot provided.
The Orchard Murders by Robert Grott is available for purchase from August 3rd 2021. Check out Scribe Publications here for more info.