- When a controversial writer is found dead and her sister is found unconscious from a suspected suicide, Blake has to search out some truths about Ballarat in order to understand how and why the woman died.
- Controversial writer Patricia Neville has finally returned to her old hometown, armed with a new novel that promises to excoriate Ballarat and it's many inhabitants - as evidenced by a book reading at the local library that quickly devolves into violence and chaos. But when she's found dead the next morning with her sister Eve unconscious beside her, seemingly part of some murder-suicide pact, Blake has to search out some truths about the place in order to understand how and why the woman died. Blake will quickly discover all is not as it seems. Eve is a devout Catholic - so why would she try to commit the mortal sin of suicide? Why does Patricia's publisher, Angus Reed, seem so emotionally unaffected by his most successful client's murder? Who is the man who drunkenly interrupted Patricia's book reading, and swore she'd 'get hers' sooner or later? And if both sisters ingested poison, then how was it administered? There's no trace of it in the house - As he investigates, Blake will butt heads with Charlie, who has been tasked with additional responsibility and authority by Lawson, seemingly as some kind of test. Is Charlie ready to show he has what it takes to one day take the reins at this Station? Blake will come face to face with the Neville's horrible family legacy, a curse he can do nothing to lift. He'll turn to the whole 'family' to try and decode Patricia's mysterious final novel, and its web of intricately drawn characters. And for the first time he and Jean will be forced to confront the fact that the road towards their impending nuptials may not be as straightforward as they'd initially hoped.
- Controversial writer Patricia Neville has returned to her old hometown, writing a new novel that bases its characters on the local people of Ballarat. The book reading at the local library quickly desce descends into screaming and chaos. She is found dead the next morning with her sister Eve unconscious beside her, seeming to be a murder-suicide that was not completed. Blake searches out truths about the sisters, cursed with fatal breast cancer. Patricia was poisoned, and did not die of the cancer or the treatment for it. Charlie's careful search of evidence at the scene found a chip of nail polish matching the angry librarian, who had wanted approval from Patricia for her own writing, and shared short stories with her, never getting any approval. The poison ruined Patricia's behaviour with others before killing her. The neighbour man who loved Eve brought over gin laced with thallium, thinking that Eve never drank alcohol, and that Patricia was a horrible annoyance. Yet Eve did drink when no one was around, and so did Patricia's agent. Doctor Blake tells both of them of the antidote. Jean speaks with Father Emery, who is firm on canon law and remarriage after divorce. Blake learns that his wife is unwilling to sue for divorce as the current law requires her to name an adulterer, which Mei Lin will not do. Blake has more options, but he and Jean like none of them. Constable Ned Simmons learns to be helpful to the detectives.
- Controversial writer Patricia Neville has finally returned to her old hometown, armed with a new novel that promises to excoriate Ballarat and it's many inhabitants - as evidenced by a book reading at the local library that quickly devolves into violence and chaos. But when she's found dead the next morning with her sister Eve unconscious beside her, seemingly part of some murder-suicide pact, Blake has to search out some truths about the place in order to understand how and why the woman died.
Blake will quickly discover all is not as it seems. Eve is a devout Catholic - so why would she try to commit the mortal sin of suicide? Why does Patricia's publisher, Angus Reed, seem so emotionally unaffected by his most successful client's murder? Who is the man who drunkenly interrupted Patricia's book reading, and swore she'd 'get hers' sooner or later? And if both sisters ingested poison, then how was it administered? There's no trace of it in the house...
As he investigates, Blake will butt heads with Charlie, who has been tasked with additional responsibility and authority by Lawson, seemingly as some kind of test. Is Charlie ready to show he has what it takes to one day take the reins at this Station?
Blake will come face to face with the Neville's horrible family legacy, a curse he can do nothing to lift. He'll turn to the whole 'family' to try and decode Patricia's mysterious final novel, and its web of intricately drawn characters.
And for the first time he and Jean will be forced to confront the fact that the road towards their impending nuptials may not be as straightforward as they'd initially hoped.
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