Bushfires cast a shroud of smoke over Melbourne in this solid police procedural as Det. Sgt. Rubens “Rubes” McCauley returns to duty as part of St. Kilda's criminal investigation unit after suffering a near-fatal gunshot wound in Australian author Henry's debut, Head Shot
. Rubes believes he's ready for the streets, but his call of “nil suspicious circumstances” on a teenage overdose nags at him. Soon the detective realizes it was murder, setting him on the trail of a network of pedophiles preying on the district and an international ring of child pornographers. Henry throws in all the expected cop shop elements—the disapproving supervisor, spunky sidekick, ex-wife, impassioned speeches—dotting every “I” and crossing every “T” en route to one climax after another. The action never quite goes viral, but crime fans ought to like the seedy St. Kilda setting, where the cops “might rub you the wrong way, maybe even disrespect you, but they'll never go lazy on you.” (Mar.)
