Opal Fields #2 teases
This is the second murder mystery involving Jenny Williams, a police constable who gets posted to the remote Australian opal mining town of Coober Pedy to find out what happened to her missing aunt and cousin but is sidetracked from her main goal by having to solve current crimes. In this ‘episode’, she investigates the death of a young girl who was reported kidnapped five years earlier.
I liked it a little less than the first book in the series (Her Buried Bones) due to the too frequent reminders that Jenny has a secret personal mission. Okay we get it, it’s on her mind ALL the time but this is beyond obsessive. Also, there is something irritating about the depiction of her character flaws: a combination of pig-headedness and naivety which frequently sees her ‘jumping the gun’, charging off impatiently without back-up, or deliberately countermanding direct orders.
Her colleagues often display misogynistic attitudes, that women are intrinsically hysterical, impetuous and untrustworthy and the way Jenny is written seems to go along with this outdated prejudice. The trope of the maverick cop having to struggle against authority and break rules but still succeed in solving cases is also tiresome. Jenny got rid of a corrupt cop in the first book, can she not now be allowed to handle her senior colleagues better? Win their trust, get their cooperation?
Worse still, although the author has a good feel for the setting, has credible plots and a reasonable feel for character development, the writing style is somewhat simplistic and I find myself wanting to edit or rewrite parts as I am reading.
Jenny is written as both an engaging and infuriating character. She constantly butts heads with colleagues and superior officers but is forgiven/tolerated due to her tenacity in solving crimes. Beyond dogged in following up leads and clues, she frequently puts herself (and others) in harm’s way. She is meant to be a good reader of people yet her attachment to her friend Penny, the forensic scientist who flies in from Adelaide as a scene of crime specialist, is a bit creepy tbh as is her reluctance to act on her attraction to men (like Nev and Nick). One aspect I do like and respect is the sensitivity with which the author deals with aboriginal characters, their culture, history and struggles. All in all, I find myself sufficiently intrigued by Jenny’s cases to read on.