Snapshot (A Hal Challis Investigation) - Hardcover

Disher, Garry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569474265 ISBN 13: 9781569474266

Publisher: Soho Press, 2006

Synopsis

It takes months for Australian social psychologist Janine McQuarrie to succumb to her husband’s pressure to attend spouse-swapping parties, but eventually she gives in. Then, driving with her young daughter one day, she gets out of her car to ask directions and is shot and killed. The little girl escapes when the gunman's pistol misfires.

 Inspector Hal Challis of the Crime Investigation Unit is assigned the case, but his efforts are thwarted by his boss. The dead woman was Superintendent McQuarrie’s daughter-in-law, and he  seems to be more interested in protecting his son than in finding his daughter-in-law’s murderer. Who might have a motive to kill this attractive young wife and mother? One of her clients? One of the swingers she’d gotten together with at a party? Or, the obvious suspect, her husband?

About this title

About the Author

Garry Disher is one of Australia's best-known novelists. He's published over forty books in a range of genres, including crime, children's books, and Australian history. His Hal Challis and Wyatt crime series are also published in the US by Soho Crime. He lives on the Mornington Peninsula, southeast of Melbourne.

Reviews

Fans of grim, uncompromising police procedurals will welcome Australian Disher's gritty, well-plotted third novel to feature Insp. Hal Challis (after 2005's Kittyhawk Down). A dedicated but haunted man, the Melbourne homicide detective is still recovering emotionally from his late wife's attempt to kill him. When Janine McQuarrie, a therapist who happens to be the daughter-in-law of Challis's police superintendent, is gunned down in front of her seven-year-old daughter, Challis and his longtime partner, Ellen Destry, get on the case. Their discovery that the victim had recently sent pictures from an orgy to some of its participants—including her own husband—leads to a number of suspects, including their boss. Soon, more bodies turn up, suggesting that McQuarrie may have been mistaken for someone else. A fully realized character, Challis is the fitting center of what will hopefully be a long series. (July)
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The third Hal Challis mystery finds the Australian police detective on the trail of a murderer who killed a woman in front of her young daughter. As Challis digs deeper, he learns that, in the dead woman's family, there were more than the usual secrets--the kind that could get somebody killed. Disher is one of the most popular mystery writers in Australia, and he deserves to be. His compelling brand of procedural has appeal for readers who want investigative detail, but it also will satisfy the character-driven crowd as well as those looking for atmosphere above all else. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Soho Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569474265
• ISBN 13: 9781569474266
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288