This is the fifth Gabrielle Lord book I have read and I've enjoyed every one of them although they have been quite different.

The protagonist in this book is Jack McCain, a forensic scientist, who works in Canberra. As is common in most forensic labs he is overworked and doesn't have much time for his family and partner. Usually there are 8 homicides in the federal district per year. At the opening of the book there are three homicides in two days. An already overworked lab is inundated and the stress levels rise. Instead of staying in the lab, Jack gets back in the field to help with the crime scene investigations. This eats into his spare time even more and causes problems with his partner.

The first murder is the estranged wife of a Sydney police officer whose body was found in the parking lot of a night club. The second murder is scientist at an agricultural research station. The third is an old man with asthma who lived alone in a small village on the outskirts of Canberra. Jack discovers evidence which links the first and the third murder although he can't imagine they have anything in common. As for the second murder, it may be the most perplexing because someone went to a lot of trouble to remove all evidence from the crime scene.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Jack. On top of all this work he also has a bad head cold. However, I did get a little tired of his constant self-examination as to why he was motivated to work so hard when he knew it was destroying his relationship. There was a little too much psychoanalysis going on for my taste and I didn't think it rang true.

However, the cases themselves were very interesting. I did figure out the motivation for the lab murder before it was revealed but that could be because I have actually done ELISA tests. I was also pretty sure about who did the other two although I had to read to the end to find out the motivation.

All in all, a very enjoyable read especially for anyone who likes CSI and forensic science fiction. Lord even got a few digs in about CSI and how unrealistic their science is sometimes. Jack is a complex person so I can see possibilites for the future. ( )

The field of forensic science has never been as fascinating or as hectic, with cases simply piling up on top of each other, as they have in the books featuring Jack McCain by Gabrielle Lord. Dirty Weekend is the 3rd in the series and like the first two books combines an outstanding, multi-pronged criminal investigation with the most complex of characters who has to deal with exhausting emotional issues.

Dirty Weekend presents one puzzle after another. Two strands of investigation become many, including a twenty-year old cold case. The reader is right with Jack McCain, reading crime scenes, evaluating evidence, drawing conclusions. Gabrielle Lord’s detailed research is evident both in the development of the novel’s main themes, and the technologies used in the forensic investigations. Jack solves cases with a mixture of careful forensic investigation, memories of earlier cases, and intuition.

Lord does a wonderful job of juggling multiple storylines, highlighting the problems of dedication to the job versus maintaining personal relationships. Dirty Weekend spotlights the consequences of familial problems on more than a single level and confirms that Lord has become a leader in Australian crime fiction writing. ( )

Jack McCain is the acting chief scientist working in the Criminalistics section of the Australian Federal Police. As a supervisor, he is supposed to be delegating work more, and certainly not answering calls to crime scenes. And yet here he is, in the carpark of Canberra’s Blackspot Nightclub, because the body of a former colleague has been found there. So begins the first case in Gabrielle Lord’s DIRTY WEEKEND.
Jack McCain, former alcoholic, is a workaholic who has trouble in building relationships with people because he lets his work rule his life. He runs from intimacy, from revealing his hopes and fears. His relationship with Iona, who has moved from Sydney to live with him, is in danger of collapse because he constantly puts work first. His first marriage collapsed for the same reason, and his children have got used to his absence from their lives. But Jack strongly believes in what he is doing and that makes it nigh impossible for him to work 9 to 5.
Just as Jack is preparing to go home at the end of a long day, the second case emerges. The head of Canberra’s Agricultural Research Station contacts Jack with a sealed lab situation. Two of his research scientists are missing. The work is straightforward agricultural research on rabbit control, but it involves highly infectious materials, but only dangerous if you are a rabbit. Claire Dimitriou’s car is still in the car park, and the door to the lab appears to be open. Jack discovers Dimitriou’s body on the floor of a lab that appears to have been meticulously steam-cleaned. That and the fact that her research partner Peter Yu has gone missing, their research log has gone, and that the lab no longer houses any of the research rabbits, rings alarm bells. At least a couple of people witnessed Peter and Claire in the lab and arguing vehemently, she in tears, and he very angry.
DIRTY WEEKEND presents one puzzle after another. Two strands of investigation become many, including a twenty year old cold case. The reader is right with Jack McCain, reading crime scenes, evaluating evidence, drawing conclusions. Gabrielle Lord’s detailed research is evident both in the development of the novel’s main themes, and the technologies used in the forensic investigations. Jack solves cases with a mixture of careful forensic investigation, memories of earlier cases, and intuition.
DIRTY WEEKEND is in many ways a brave novel. Gabrielle Lord determinedly uses Australian colloquialisms, describes Australian settings, and places Australian events, and Australian scientific research, in a world setting. Watch out also for Lord’s quirky sense of humour seen in Faithful Bunnies, Terminator Rabbit, a thief called the “giant chicken”, and even in the book’s title.
13 novels in 10 years is no mean feat, and in that time Gabrielle has collected 2 awards: The Ned Kelly Award for best novel in 2002 for DEATH DELIGHTS, and a Davitt Award in 2003 for the best Australian crime novel by an Australian woman. DIRTY WEEKEND is the third in Jack McCain series: look for DEATH DELIGHTS and LETHAL FACTOR. If you'd like to find out more about Gabrielle Lord, check her website out at http://www.gabriellelord.com
Currently she is writing CONSPIRACY 365 - a 12 volume YA crime/thriller/mystery/series for Scholastic Publishing ( )

Best thing about this book was the cover. Veteran author Lord makes rookie mistakes, writing an accurate but boring mystery, with a one note protagonist who stuggles with his workaholism and destroys his relationships. But even this summary makes the book more interesting than it was. Irritating because she written other books so much better! ( )