News location:

Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

When Love is in the air

[box]“Love, Honour and O’Brien”, by Jennifer Rowe, Allen & Unwin, (rrp $22.95).[/box]

Love, Honour and O’Brien
Love, Honour and O’Brien
A NEW star has arrived in the dark night of Australian fiction… and not a moment too soon.

Her name is Holly Love and she’s an absolute delight. She’s charming, funny and so real you can hear her breathing. Indeed, I confidently predict that this, her first appearance, will be the forerunner of some of the best-read Australian books of the next the decade. She’s the creation of mystery writer Jennifer Rowe, whose earlier works have gained a loyal following. However, this is her big breakthrough.

The adventures of Holly Love, accidental private investigator, as she tracks a dreadful bounder through the towns and villages of the Blue Mountains kept me (and later my wife) totally engrossed and often wild with laughter all through its 350 pages. Most of the supporting characters, such as Abigail Honour, the daffy psychic, Eric the Elvis impersonating chauffeur, awful Una Maggot and the timorous pest exterminator, Trevor Purse, are beautifully – indeed luminously – drawn. Others either need a little more development or may be discarded in subsequent adventures.

Either way, the author has a wonderful core of protagonists, a splendid setting and soon, I promise, will have a readership panting for the next episode.

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Robert Macklin

Robert Macklin

Share this

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews