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