Moonlight Downs

Those of us looking for another great crime author to fill the void in between Peter Temple releases, may call off the dogs. Adrian Hyland writes a beautiful, hillarious and compelling story. Emily Temple is the perfect heroine - smart as a whip, witty, caring and impatient with small town stupidity and predjudices. In the past Australian authors have done central Australia a diservice. While facusing (understandbly) on the injustice and racism prevalent in outback communities, they have produced bleak narratives devoid of the humour, kinship and beauty also endemic to the area. Hyland has avoided this trap. Diamond Dove is a readable, surprising and thrilling mystery. Refreshing and worth every penny.

In her mid-20’s and after travelling around the world Emily Tempest goes back to the place she left as a teenager: Moonlight Downs. A run down property in Australia’s Northern Territory, nine hours drive from Alice Springs. It’s where Emily spent her childhood after her mother died and where her dad sent her to the city from when she got into too much trouble. With the Moonlight mob having only recently returned to the property after securing ownership in a Land Rights claim the place is not what it was when Emily left but she still feels drawn to it. Sadly, not long after she arrives one of the mob’s leaders is killed and Emily seems to be the only one interested in finding out who killed him.

I’m not convinced this is crime show more fiction, at least not in its purest sense. There is a crime, and an investigation of sorts, but, for me anyway, that element of the plot wasn’t particularly important, although in the end it had its share of suspense. At the risk of making this sound like some kind of schmalzy personal-journey tale (schmaltzy this definitely isn’t) solving the mystery played second fiddle to the book’s other themes. Half-Aboriginal, half-white Emily Tempest’s search for somewhere to belong and someone to belong to is engrossing because it isn’t schmaltzy. Indeed all the characters’ search for ‘home’ and ‘family’ ,whatever those terms might mean to them, makes compelling reading. And the exploration of outback Australia after land rights claims started being awarded to Aboriginal groups feels very realistic. I used to be an archivist for a state government here and I did a swag of research for claimant groups and members of the stolen generations so have some small sense of those issues and Hyland’s portrayal of them felt very realistic to me.

The best thing of all is that all of these issues are treated with a total absence of the brand of political correctness so prevalent these days that involves some group being offended on behalf of some other group. The book shows the good and the bad of everyone involved without once unduly condemning anyone or praising anyone. Things are what they are and the reader gets to draw their own conclusions. For that alone I would love the book.

However there’s more to love. There’s wonderfully dry, very Australian Emily. Although I have little in common with Emily I feel a far greater feminine kinship with her than with any of the fictional women I am supposed to ‘relate to’ (e.g. any character in Sex and the City or the insufferable Bridget Jones). Not bad for a woman created by a bloke. And the other characters are equally memorable: her childhood friend and soul mate Hazel, the neighbouring station owner Earl Marsh, the cops, the hunters are all vividly depicted.

Then there’s a depiction of a country which, for this city girl, is as foreign as northern Europe or southern Africa. But it’s spectacularly drawn and could tempt even me from my creature comforts. At least for another visit (I have ventured to the Territory a couple of times).

There’s also the funny, very irreverent, very evocative writing that made me smile a lot, cry a little and read whole chunks out to anyone who would listen. With a few words Hyland can create lasting imagines in your head.

I should have read this book ages ago but the copy I bought was filched by a friend before I got to read it and it’s done the rounds since then. Being a cheapskate I couldn’t bring myself to buy another copy so I waited patiently for my copy to return. The good thing about having done it this way is that everyone I know has read it so I won’t have to loan it out again. Which is just as well ‘cos this one’s a keeper. show less

I'm so glad that this author was recommended to me and I can't believe I haven't run across it before. Its not dissimilar in theme and tone to Philip Gywnnes [b:The Build Up|4730600|The Build Up|Phillip Gwynne|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1221910566s/4730600.jpg|3724332] that I read a few months ago in that is a crime/mystery story with a strong female protagonist set in the unique Australian state of the Northen Territory. Emily Tempest is half white and half Aboriginal and spent the majority of her childhood in Midnight Downs - a black fella camp in the wilds of the territory. After an incident in her early teens, she is sent to the city before finding her way back to the community after ten years absence. Within days the Midnight show more Downs Camp is destroyed by the savage murder of its leader. For Emily the loss is profound, a man she respects is dead, her best friend has disappeared in mourning and her home has been abandoned. The small measure of comfort she takes in the killer being identified disintergrates when he escapes. Determined to have him brought to justice, she sets out to find the elusive Aboriginal mystic but instead discovers other possibilities and her clumsy investigation will threaten her life.Emily is a complex and fully realised character, I admire her determination, loyalty and strong sense of justice as much I appreciated her vulnerabilities, pigheaded stubborness and smart mouth. I quickly became invested in Emily's search for understanding and acceptance of both the murder, and her identity. Her relationship with her father provides some light relief as well as grounds her. Her relationship with Hazel is more ambiguous, there is a dreamy quality that is hard to define. JoJo makes for a convenient lover and tends to remain periphial. Hyland is also able to illustrate the absurd and unique characters who inhabit these outback communities, the rough miners, dissaffected youth, drunken dissolutes and petty officials, however he is also careful to show the other side.Hyland is able to evoke the distinct voice of the Australian outback without commercial compromise. The slang and 'fictional' aboriginal language he uses may be difficult for those unfamiliar with Australian vernacular to translate (though he does include a glossary of sorts)however the writing is finely crafted and I don't think it poses an issue. In his acknowledgements, Hyland stresses that Midnight Downs and Bluebush are fictional communities yet its possible to visualise the dusty roads, the tin roofed humpy's, rusted car carcasses and hulking machinery with his vivid narrative. Hyland has a gift for describing the reality of the camps and fringe mining towns in the Territory with a raw honesty, but obvious affection. He captures the brutal magnificence of the landscape with a few deft lines not to mention the unrelenting heat, the flies and the primitive veneer of civilisation.Diamond Dove is an impressive read, not just for its premise but also for its wonderfully crafted characters, and its ability to communicate the authenticity of outback culture. The second Emily Tempest book, [b:Gunshot Road|7738956|Gunshot Road|Adrian Hyland|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1270156413s/7738956.jpg|10542178] is just as strong, if not stronger. If you are Australian you must read this and if you are not, read it anyway! show less

This book is set where I live, in the Northern Territory, in the center desert country – the author is a white man who is writing from the point of view of an Indigenous Australian – and doing it very well. Adrian Hyland spent many years on communities in the Central Australian desert area – so has at least lived with the people whose culture he recreates so achingly well.
Emily Tempest has a white father and an aboriginal mother. After her mother’s death her father took Emily to her mother’s people in the desert area of Central Australia; to Moonlight Downs. When she reached her teens, circumstances saw Emily leaving the community and moving to the big city for an education. The book opens with Emily returning to the community show more to get in touch with half of her ancestry. Emily has a foot in both the white world and the Aboriginal world, and is not sure she belongs in either. Almost immediately the community is plunged into chaos when one of the Elders is brutally murdered. All the evidence point to Blakie, a half mad mystical man who the whole community is afraid of. The police seem to agree and a hunt is set up for Blakie

Gradually Emily becomes convinced that no matter how scary he is, Blakie is innocent – and decides to look into the matter herself, trouble is, where does she start? If it isn’t Blakie, then who is it? Emily could be biting off a lot more than she can chew.

I have had a lot to do with Aboriginal Communities in the NT – including some of those in the desert region. Well I have to tell you that Adrian Hyland has captured the essence of the people truthfully. He presents the problems in a matter of fact way, he seems to be saying this is what happens, I’m not dwelling on it, I’m not condemning anyone, I am not blaming anyone – it just is. Land rights, health issues and alcohol problems being a just a few of the areas touched upon. But he also touches on the artistic abilities, the dreaming, the mysticism, the poverty and the resilience of the desert people; all is is portrayed perfectly. On top of this is an edge of the seat adventure with a cast of wonderfully crazy realistic characters like no others I have read about. But they seem oh so familiar to characters that I have met in the settlements and bush pubs across the Territory.

This book was the winner of the 2007 Ned Kelly Award for best first crime novel – a good measure of this books excellence. show less

Emily Tempest is finally home after a long twelve-year absence. Half white and half Aboriginal, she must relearn her place in the landscape; to re-establish old relationships with the community and people she used to love. But, at the same time she is a pesky armchair detective, always poking her nose where it shouldn't be. When a beloved member of the Moonlight Downs mob is murdered, Emily goes on the hunt to find his killer. It's personal because Emily has an extra special relationship with the victim's daughter.
Confessional: all throughout the book, when Emily was fearing for her life I thought it was an exaggeration until a few more people die. The amount of violence towards the end of the book was surprising.
Another confessional: show more you will appreciate Hyland's glossary of Aboriginal words in the beginning of the book. show less

This is an interesting series which I may return to occasionally to follow Emily Tempest's footsteps. She is an engaging and amusing central figure in this series which brings the Australian outback, and its aboriginal communities to the fore. Basing this on a fictional aboriginal people of Australia, the author nonetheless manages to capture authentic voices and concerns of aboriginals everywhere. Emily Tempest herself is written as half "whitefella" and have "blackfella", thus having a foot in both camps.

I was promised a "blow your mind" kind of series by other readers, to which I will not agree, however. The series is as equally formulaic as most detective/mystery/police procedurals -- except that it's set in the Australian outback show more with a narrator of mixed-culture. Take out all the Australian lingo and this same scenario could be just as easily played on North American soil, with its indigenous nations: it is a voice I've heard before. In the end, this type of novel works specifically because it is comfortable, recognizable, even-paced.

It will be an enjoyable series that I will drop in on occasionally, when I'm looking for a comfort read. show less

A mixed race (half Aboriginal, half white) woman, Emily Tempest, returns to the outback after running away, just in time for the de facto head of their town to be murdered. Emily is struggling to fit back in with her old friends, but is determined to find justice. The most obvious suspect is a wilder, who is impossible to track or capture. As she continues to investigate though, other secrets come to light, leading to a broader list of suspects. Some good twists at the end; however, the Australian and Aboriginal slang is overwhelming, detracting from a good mystery staged in an unusual setting. I think an American edition, replacing much of the slang, would increase the visibility/popularity of this book. Not sure whether I will read show more book #2. show less