Sally Bothroyd

The winner of the inaugural ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize, Brunswick Street Blues is an entertaining crime fiction debut from Sally Bothroyd.

Though she’d rather be behind the bar at the Phoenix, when the Brunswick Street pub owned for forty years by her adoptive father, Baz, is subject to a barrage of anonymous complaints, Brick Brown gets a job in the PR department of Melbourne’s Yarra City Council in hopes of identifying the complainant. Sneaking into the archive room after hours in search of paperwork that might give her answers, Brick is horrified to find the body of the Mayor, Dickie Ruffhead (which explains the bad smell that has permeated the council offices). She can’t admit to the break-in so Brick decides to leave an anonymous message on her boss’s voicemail, but when the Mayor’s death is announced, she’s puzzled by reports that Dickie was found at home, the victim of a heart attack.

Connecting the cover-up to rumours of corruption involving the Development Consent Committee, a theory that seems to be supported by the sudden interest of respected investigative journalist, Mitch Mitchell, in council business, Brick wonders if it may be related to the attacks on Baz’s bar. She’d discuss it with Baz except he’s closed the Phoenix and left behind only a brief voice message, claiming he is in need of a few days break. Digging around with some help from Sue, a writer for the neighbourhood paper, results in Brick repeatedly crossing paths with Mitch Mitchell, but it’s not until she stops him being bundled into the boot of a black Mercedes by a couple of thugs that he’s willing to share information.

Brick and Mitch quickly realise that the corruption isn’t confined to a deal between a property development company and select Yarra City councillors but extends into higher levels of government, and someone is willing to kill to protect their secrets. The action and suspense ramps up as the pair uncover missing documents, suspicious deaths, hidden tunnels, identity theft, long repressed memories all while enduring attempts on their lives. There’s quite a lot going on with the plot, perhaps a little too much, throwing off the pace at times, but I really enjoyed how it all came together at the end, and much of the humour too.

In her mid-to-late twenties (I think), Brick is a likeable character. Abandoned as a baby, she lived in several foster homes before being (not-quite-legally) adopted by Baz as a young child, with several secrets exposed over the course of the book that reveal more about her early childhood. Her unconventional background and skills come in handy, as does her eclectic group of friends and acquaintances that includes a paranoid record store owner, an IT specialist, a parking inspector, a former councillor, and Brick’s newly returned roommate, a doctor who has been working in Somalia. Inevitably there is the development of romance between Brick and Mitch, but it’s not intrusive.

While it has its flaws, I liked a lot of elements of the plot, many of the characters and the balance of humour, suspense and action. If Brunswick Street Blues is intended to introduce a series then Bothroyd has laid a decent foundation to build on.… (plus d'informations)