The Water's Dead:
A DI Nyree Bradshaw Novel
by Catherine Lea
A young Maori woman is murdered, her body found at the base of Mason’s Rock waterfall. Also, six-year-old Lily Holmes is missing, last seen in the victim’s care.
For Detective Inspector Nyree Bradshaw, the clock is ticking. Lily is diabetic and needs to be found quickly. Nyree must find the murderer to save Lily.
This is a pitch-perfect detective crime thriller. It reminds me in flavour of Anne Cleeves and has all the twists and strong characters you would expect from one of her novels.
Lea’s DI Bradshaw follows the pattern of police officer with an imperfect life fighting to do the right thing. Bradshaw is up against the toxic masculinity which bedevilled the 1980’s New Zealand Police and the traces (perhaps more than just traces) which linger on. She’s also up against the beliefs and wishes of the Maori whanau surrounding the murdered girl – simmering violence, the need for revenge, for utu challenges her investigation.
Lea is a deft hand with dialogue and everyone we meet has their history and well-defined character. My sympathies shifted, ebbed and flowed around them all. I learned one or two things about death rituals from a Maori perspective and shared the aching misery of dire poverty which dogs the population, particularly in the North. Lea managed to show without preaching and her writing is all the more effective because of that.
Great twists in the end brought the novel to an immensely satisfying conclusion.
I see from the back of this book, Lea has other titles to her name and I will be looking for them. But please, Catherine – I would love more from DI Nyree Bradshaw.
A DI Nyree Bradshaw Novel
by Catherine Lea
A young Maori woman is murdered, her body found at the base of Mason’s Rock waterfall. Also, six-year-old Lily Holmes is missing, last seen in the victim’s care.
For Detective Inspector Nyree Bradshaw, the clock is ticking. Lily is diabetic and needs to be found quickly. Nyree must find the murderer to save Lily.
This is a pitch-perfect detective crime thriller. It reminds me in flavour of Anne Cleeves and has all the twists and strong characters you would expect from one of her novels.
Lea’s DI Bradshaw follows the pattern of police officer with an imperfect life fighting to do the right thing. Bradshaw is up against the toxic masculinity which bedevilled the 1980’s New Zealand Police and the traces (perhaps more than just traces) which linger on. She’s also up against the beliefs and wishes of the Maori whanau surrounding the murdered girl – simmering violence, the need for revenge, for utu challenges her investigation.
Lea is a deft hand with dialogue and everyone we meet has their history and well-defined character. My sympathies shifted, ebbed and flowed around them all. I learned one or two things about death rituals from a Maori perspective and shared the aching misery of dire poverty which dogs the population, particularly in the North. Lea managed to show without preaching and her writing is all the more effective because of that.
Great twists in the end brought the novel to an immensely satisfying conclusion.
I see from the back of this book, Lea has other titles to her name and I will be looking for them. But please, Catherine – I would love more from DI Nyree Bradshaw.
Review by T J Ramsay
Title: The Water’s Dead
Author: Catherine Lea
Publisher: Breaklight Press
ISBN: 9780473594749
RRP: $34.95
Available: bookshops
Author: Catherine Lea
Publisher: Breaklight Press
ISBN: 9780473594749
RRP: $34.95
Available: bookshops
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