Body of Lies
by Sarah Bailey
Allen & Unwin
Driving home in the early evening from the pub, after having more than a few drinks, Bob Dalgliesh was overtaken by a female driver in a speeding station wagon. Moments later, he was nearly run off the road by a maniac in a four-wheel drive driving even faster down the deserted country road.
Feeling like a character in an action movie, Bob watched as the cars collided and the station wagon became airborne and nosedived into a tree. The four-wheel drive was gone, and he called the ambulance service to free the body of the motionless woman.
Barely clinging to life, the woman was taken to the hospital, but she didn’t regain consciousness and died without anyone finding out who she was or where she came from. Her body was taken to the hospital morgue, but panic ensured when the hospital had a power blackout, and the body was stolen.
At the same time Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock was visiting her father in the hospital and she is drawn into the investigation, even though she was meant to be on maternity leave. It was too tempting not to try to work out why anyone would steal a dead body from a morgue.
When a baby is found abandoned (but alive) at the local lake the following morning, the link to the dead woman seems obvious but as there is no body available and no name, investigations need to be wide-ranging … or maybe the answers are closer to home.
Uncovering secrets is all part of the policing job, even when the secrets are those of friends, colleagues or even relatives. The more secrets Gemma uncovers about the people she thought she knew the best, the more she is in danger.
Then there is the prejudice. Small country towns might welcome Asian cuisine and faster internet but there are many things that are not welcome – and sexual diversity at the local police station is one of them. An alternate community living becomes an obvious place to search but there are also nefarious activities being conducted by the town’s most ‘upstanding citizens’.
Lezly Herbert
You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.
