Fast-paced crime drama with an interesting narrative structure.
Feature image credit: Austin Macauley
Portia Stanton-Noble has written a book steeped in mystery and suspense, full of dashing cowboys, femme fatales, and red herrings galore.
The Big Dead Dry opens as Raquel and her son are in the process of moving to the sleepy hamlet of Brumby Flat in outback South Australia. Raquel has tired of life in the big city, and instead of facing the round eternal of the cashbook and the journal (or in this case, the IT help desk), she longs to see Paterson’s vision of the sunlit plains extended. She finds a house in Brumby Flat adequate to her needs, and relocates, albeit with a few trips back to the big smoke for work.
Her social life in town is soon appropriated by the arrival of nosy neighbour and all-around busybody Bette, who offers Raquel a volunteer position in The Raindrops Shop, where Bette is unsuccessfully attempting to sell raincoats and umbrellas in a drought. Bette and her husband are new to Brumby Flat as well, having relocated with Bette’s stock from Tasmania, where it sold rather better. Before Raquel can settle in, there’s a juicy murder in town. The arrival of Senior Detective Phillip Duncan (an old flame) complicates the burgeoning romance between Raquel and Phil Proctor, the languid Texan artist come to Brumby Flat to paint a mural on the grain silo.
The book moves along at breakneck speed. No sooner do we see Raquel choose her house in Brumby Flat than we’re back at work with her in Adelaide. Secondary characters, such as Raquel’s son and her ex, flit in and out of the pages like butterflies, used only when necessary. Portia Stanton-Noble’s style has at its core a repudiation of standard structure, with scenes flowing into one another quickly and easily. This is off-putting at first as it demands close concentration, but as the story forms it becomes clear that this is Raquel’s consciousness, interspersed with small vignettes from other characters. This is a good way to write a mystery, as we know exactly what Raquel sees and what she doesn’t.
That said, the book is badly in need of an edit. While Portia Stanton-Noble’s prose is fine, the reader can get lost at times, and the lack of framing can make it difficult to understand if certain scenes are flashbacks or contemporaneous with the story.
What shines throughout the book is the author’s enthusiasm for the subject. Portia Stanton-Noble is clearly in tune with Raquel and Bette, and has drawn the other characters particularly well, using an economy of words but an abundance of style. It uplifts the book.
Reviewed by DC White
This review is the opinion of the reviewer and not necessarily of Glam Adelaide.
Distributed by: Austin Macauley
Released: September 2022
Approx RRP: $22
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