Dirt Town

Dirt Town is the first novel by award-winning Australian author, Hayley Scrivenor. The audio version is narrated by Sophie Loughran. When twelve-year-old Esther Bianchi goes missing on the last day of November, the town of Durton springs into action: local cop Sergeant Macintyre quickly gets the experts involved, and co-ordinates a search centring on the place she was last seen on her way home from school. But her best friend, Ronnie Thompson is convinced she'll turn up soon.

A two-year veteran with Missing Persons, Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels and her colleague, Detective Constable Wayne Smith are there within hours and, despite a search elsewhere in the state for missing twins, manage to get the dogs for the first forty-eight hours. Without result.

They question Esther's parents, and those close to the family, taking DNA samples and searching vehicles, and a school shoe seems to provide a breakthrough: a man is taken into custody. But there's a lot more going on in this town than is apparent at first sight and, mostly for reasons of self-preservation, people aren't telling what they have seen or what they know.

Sarah is occasionally distracted by thoughts of her recent break-up, but is methodical and intuitive in her investigation; she's grateful for the support of Macintyre, only later realising that he may not be as impartial as necessary; her sidekick, Smithy, proves himself hardworking and possessed of intelligence and initiative. When their investigation is diverted by another crime, they still manage to keep open minds and not jump to erroneous conclusions.

Scrivenor uses multiple narrators to tell the story, including one she calls "we", that seems to be the generic voice of the town's children, who offer us this bit of wisdom, amongst others: "none of us can escape who we are when others aren't looking; we can't guess what we're capable of until it's too late."

There are no cardboard characters in this tale: everyone of any significance has depth and complexity, while the clever and twisty plot keeps the reader guessing right up to the final reveal. An outstanding Aussie rural crime debut.