Jon Morgan is a retired police Superintendent and francophile who, it is said, has consequently seen almost everything awful that people can do to each other. He relishes quality writing in all genres but advises particularly on police procedure for authors including John Harvey and Jon McGregor. Haunts bookshops both new and secondhand and stands with Erasmus: “When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I may buy food and clothes.”
A novel of convicts and transportation, set in 1826. This is an engrossing and entertaining, as well as historically instructive, third outing for Hugh Llewelyn Monsarrat and his trusty housekeeper, Mrs. Mulrooney, both of whom have a past, alluded to in the narrative of this novel. Both are former convicts transported from England / Ireland long years since and, their sentences served, subject of a ‘ticket of leave’, giving them a degree of freedom in the Antipodes.
Harefield, a lowly ferryman but an arch-manipulator is brutally murdered on Maria Island, a penal colony, off Van Dieman’s Land (now Tasmania). In the frame – conveniently for the authorities – is an infamous, ‘political prisoner’, Thomas Power, transported following the commutation of his capital sentence, after ‘leading’ a revolt in Ireland. Making him responsible for the killing would suit the establishment very well, negating his charismatic influence and allowing his execution without provoking further unrest at home, and criticism abroad.
Monsarrat and Mulrooney’s backstory forms a central part of the novel and although now free their history is a constant reminder of their position in society and therefore a burden to both of them. It also informs how they treat others and their humanitarian world-view in a century very different to our own.
As their investigation develops, suspects become allies and former allies become dangerous and events threaten to overtake them, before they can return to Sydney to take up their former lives and another assignment.
The narrative is well developed and the language has an authentic early 19th century feel to it. Social and hierarchical niceties and a rarely referred to part of British colonial history are vividly brought to life. The characters feel well fleshed out and the psychology is convincing.
Whilst the book is perfectly capable of standing alone, I think benefit would be gained by starting with book one – The Soldier’s Curse.
Only one gripe in historical terms, Power is ostensibly a Catholic and son of a baronet who is said to have ‘taken up a seat in the House of Commons.’ This is pre 1826 and prior to the removal of the ‘Test Act’ requirements under the terms of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, it is unlikely he would have been an M.P. albeit that he could have been elected.
