Mischance Creek

Constable Paul Hirschhausen (Hirsch) runs the one person operated police station in Tiverton, north of Adelaide in South Australia. Part of the work of a country cop is to know the local community well and he starts each day by walking around the town first thing in the morning. But he is also responsible for the welfare of the many properties surrounding Tiverton. The main police station is at Redruth about a thirty minute drive from Tiverton.

Each November Hirsch conducts a firearms audit which involves checking that all weapons in the community are registered and stored securely. This also allows him to do a welfare check on those living in his area of responsibility as well as the opportunity to notice if anything usual or illegal is occurring in the region.

One day he assists the driver of a car which has ended up in a ditch. Initially he surmises that the driver is a tourist but then discovers that Annika is visiting the area to try and discover what happened to her parents when they visited the area several years before Hirsch came to the district. Her father's body had been found in a mine shaft but her mother had simply disappeared. Hirsch becomes interested in this cold case as well as maintaining his daily routine.

When a skeleton is found Hirsch works with the investigation team sent to solve the case. It is not long before links are found to other suspicious activity in the region. He also has to contend with several locals who are 'sovereign citizens' as well as another group who promote conspiracy theories.

Garry Disher has become one of my favourite Australian crime writers. In Mischance Creek the local environment and the range of country characters add an important element in the resolution of the crimes occurring in what should be a quiet country area of South Australia. Mischance Creek is the fifth book in the Hirsch series of novels.

Day's End

Set in 2021 in outback South Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Paul Hirschhausen (Hirsch) carries out his duties as the only police officer in the small town of Tiverton, plus the many properties in the large surrounding area, though Hirsch reports to a larger police station in Redruth which is half an hour away by car. Hirsch makes it his business to get to know the residents in the community that he polices and spends much of the time assisting them when problems, big or small, arise.

Day's End is the fourth book in the Paul Hirchhausen series and the novel begins with Hirsch taking Janne Van Sant to visit the area where her son was last seen when he worked on a property in the region. They are informed that Willi and his girfriend had left the property to travel north. Janne is concerned as she has not heard from her son for several months. On the return journey to Tiverton they discover a body in a suitcase that has been set on fire. Janne confirms that Willi is not the body in the suitcase.

Meanwhile it soon becomes apparent that harassment via social media is taking place in the community as well as many sites in the community being vandalised with grafitti. Reports also start coming in about the validity of a recent hard rubbish collection. A variety of seemingly unrelated reports eventually cause Hirsch to decide that an extreme right wing group, propagating conspiracy theories, is being established in the community. The local First Nations community is one target as is the local doctor attempting to provide COVID-19 vaccinations.

Day's End was a book that I just had to keep reading. Another great addition to the growing genre of excellent Australian crime novels. 

Shortlisted for the 2023 Australian Book Industry Awards - General Fiction

Cosolation

Paul Hirschhausen (Hirsch) is the sole police constable in the rural community of Tiverton, South Australia. His role in the town should primarily be community policing and he spends much of his time travelling around the properties in the area ensuring that all is well and assisting when required. 

Investigating a case concerning a snowdropper working in the district is one of his major concerns until he recieves a phone call about a young girl being mistreated by her family. A phone call from another school alerts him about a father who is threatening the school principal. Then Hirsch's life becomes busy. In a short time there are murders to investigate, a man and his son on the run threatening community members, a group of Irishmen attempting to con elderly residents and a serious case of fraud to investigate.

This is a fast paced crime novel keeping the reader involved and guessing as more aspects of the plot are revealed. But it is also a novel about Hirsch, both as a policeman and as human being. We also learn more about life in a small country community, several hours drive from Adelaide. 

Consolation by Garry Disher is the third book in the Hirsch series. I recommend that this book should be read when you have time to relax and just read as once I started reading I did not want to be interrupted. I now look forward to the next instalment in the series.

Bitter Wash Road

Paul Hirschhausen (Hirsch) had only been stationed at the one person police station at Tiverton in rural South Australia  for three weeks when the Sergeant at Redruth Police Station contacted him about reported rifle shots near the Tin Hut in Bitter Wash Road. Returning from the incident Hirsch received another call instructing him to go to Muncowie where a body had been located near the road. The victim was later identified as a sixteen year old school girl who appeared to have been a victim of a hit and run accident.

Hirsch  had previously been a detective stationed in Adelaide until he reported criminal activities occurring in the department resulting in the arrest of a number of his fellow officers. Hirsch was demoted to the rank of constable and banished to the country where he was accused of being a maggot by the Redruth police. Not ideal working conditions. However Hirsch was determined to make the best of his new situation and set out to familiarise himself with his new community and its characters.

While trying to discover what really happened to Melia Donovan Hirsch discovered, near Bitter Wash Road, another body which was considered to be a suicide. A friend of Melia had also disappeared. Although he had only been in Tiverton for a short time Hirsch was aware that all was not right in the area and he gradually uncovered a cover-up of crimes carried out by supposedly respected community leaders of the district.

The descriptions of the countryside in this crime novel by Garry Disher allow the reader to almost feel and taste the dust and feel the heat in the sparse farming community and the small run down settlement of Tiverton. As we journey with Hirch as he endeavours to investigate what really happened to the two females we also learn about the police corruption he experienced in Adelaide and the corrupt activities of his fellow colleagues at Redruth.

A fast paced, enjoyable Australian crime novel. Garry Disher has recently written a sequel to Bitter Wash Road - Peace.

Garry Disher and Bitter Wash Road

Peace

Garry Disher's latest Australian crime novel is set in a small community, Tiverton, in rural South Australia. Constable Paul Hirschhausen (Hirsch), the sole policeman in the town, reports regularly to Sergeant Hilliary Brandl stationed in the larger town of Redruth.  Hirsch therefore feels responsibility for the members of this small community who he endeavours to get to know personally, making it easier to maintain peace and trust among the citizens. But sometimes this is easier said than done.

Christmas is approaching and, when doing his rounds, Hirsch discovers a missing dog, indications of copper theft, occasional break-ins in isolated properties, graffiti and then one of the locals drives her car into the pub. All in a days work for a country copper, particularly one who has been instructed to wear a Santa suit for Tiverton's Christmas celebration and judge the Christmas lights competition.

However in the next few days a number of serious crimes occur requiring not just the police from Redruth but also two police officers from Sydney to assist investigations. It is soon obvious that Hirsch is not being told the full story about these crimes and begins to wonder who can really be trusted. To further complicate his life someone has made a report to the Adelaide police about how Hirsch manages crimes in the town.

Descriptions of the town and surrounding dry and dusty countryside feature prominently in this novel along with the humanity and compassion of Hirsch as he strives to solve the spate of serious crimes that occur over the Christmas New Year period. Another excellent Australian crime novel.