Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland

Diamond Dove

Adrian Hyland

Once you get used to all the Australian slang and work out just who all the many characters are, this book provides a fascinating insight into a changing Aboriginal culture and their conflicts with white Australians. Although this is a murder mystery, it's not a typical whodunnit - it is the larger-than-life characters and their quick-witted dialogue, rather than the crime, that stay in your head after you've finished reading.

Extract
'Fear's presumably got a lot to do with it,' he said eventually. 'We're talking Blakie, after all. He's one out of the cracker barrel, that feller. No telling what he'll do to you, body or soul. Wouldn't surprise me to hear they were arguing, though. Lincoln was about the only feller round here who'd square up to Blakie without shitting his britches. Course there's always the possibility that Blakie really didn't kill him.'
Parallels
  • The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  • The Secret River by Kate Grenville
  • Rabbit-Proof Fence - the film