What do you think?
Rate this book
Cam Fraser #2
Flare Up
Outback murders, dodgy thieves, organised crime and arson - a small outback community is crackling with nerves, as Cam Fraser investigates.
Sergeant Cam Fraser's letter of resignation is signed sealed but as yet undelivered. It's sitting in the car when he travels out to help the wife of an old acquaintance with a bit of shearing. Rita's husband Pizzle has gone missing so Cam is lending a hand, but there's a stench around the shearing shed that he can't ignore. What Cam finds when he searches inside will derail his plans for retirement and set a rural community -- already on alert for an arsonist lighting bushfires -- on edge.
Sergeant Cam Fraser's letter of resignation is signed sealed but as yet undelivered. It's sitting in the car when he travels out to help the wife of an old acquaintance with a bit of shearing. Rita's husband Pizzle has gone missing so Cam is lending a hand, but there's a stench around the shearing shed that he can't ignore. What Cam finds when he searches inside will derail his plans for retirement and set a rural community -- already on alert for an arsonist lighting bushfires -- on edge.
207 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2016
About the author
Felicity Young
16 books92 followersI was born in Germany and educated at an English boarding school while my parents travelled the world with the British army. I think the long boring plane trips home played an important part in helping me to develop my creative imagination.
I settled with my parents in Western Australia in 1976, became a nurse, married young and had three children. Not surprisingly, it took ten years to complete an Arts degree (English lit) at UWA.
In 1990 my family and I moved to a small farm 40 kilometers NE of Perth (Western Australia) where I established a Suffolk sheep stud, reared orphan kangaroos and embarked upon a life of crime writing.
I settled with my parents in Western Australia in 1976, became a nurse, married young and had three children. Not surprisingly, it took ten years to complete an Arts degree (English lit) at UWA.
In 1990 my family and I moved to a small farm 40 kilometers NE of Perth (Western Australia) where I established a Suffolk sheep stud, reared orphan kangaroos and embarked upon a life of crime writing.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 21, 2017
Another good read from this excellent author, who can set her mysteries in historical London or in contemporary Australia equally effectively.
Flare Up is set in an Australian country town. The police force is very small, the hospital is over an hour away and when a bush fire starts there is only the local Bush Fire Brigade to handle it. When not one but several dead bodies turn up Cam Fraser is the policeman on the ground who has to deal with the immediate issues.
As well as dealing with police procedure there is a lot of time spent on family relationships. Cam's daughter is as big a pain as she was in the first book but at least in this one someone stands up to her with interesting results. I liked the way Cam resolves his job issues at the end of the book. Taking the middle road is often a good plan.
One star lost for being a little too intricate. Eventually I lost interest in the details of the major crime because there were just too many facts to follow. Not that I let that get in my way of enjoying the book as a whole:)
Flare Up is set in an Australian country town. The police force is very small, the hospital is over an hour away and when a bush fire starts there is only the local Bush Fire Brigade to handle it. When not one but several dead bodies turn up Cam Fraser is the policeman on the ground who has to deal with the immediate issues.
As well as dealing with police procedure there is a lot of time spent on family relationships. Cam's daughter is as big a pain as she was in the first book but at least in this one someone stands up to her with interesting results. I liked the way Cam resolves his job issues at the end of the book. Taking the middle road is often a good plan.
One star lost for being a little too intricate. Eventually I lost interest in the details of the major crime because there were just too many facts to follow. Not that I let that get in my way of enjoying the book as a whole:)
July 7, 2016
Sergeant Cam Fraser was on sick leave from the job as he recovered from the injuries he’d received some weeks prior - his resignation letter written but still undelivered. Ruby, Cam’s teenage daughter was dead against her father continuing in the force after having lost both her mother and brother three years previously with her father having been badly hurt himself. When Cam and Ruby had relocated to Glenroyd in Western Australia (Cam's childhood home) from Sydney, he thought the quiet life would bring father and daughter closer together…
Helping Rita Pilkington around the shearing shed as her husband had disappeared, Cam wondered at the dreadful smell; surely the odour of the wool and lingering sheep smells wouldn’t be that bad? The discovery of a badly decomposed body set a chain of events in motion which included murder, cattle and sheep rustling, arson and desperate criminals. With Cam back on the job (the letter of resignation still undelivered) he felt more alive than he had for weeks. As his offsiders, Leanne and Pete helped him in the investigation, his girlfriend Jo was a volunteer in the rural fire department...
With the violence ramping up, Cam and his team were incensed at the unnecessary horror surrounding them – they needed to end it. But could they before more bodies were found? And what would happen to Ruby?
Flare Up is book #2 in the Cam Fraser series by Aussie author Felicity Young and an intense, gritty murder mystery. Fast paced with full on action, I flew through the pages. A thrilling police procedural, Flare Up is one I highly recommend.
Helping Rita Pilkington around the shearing shed as her husband had disappeared, Cam wondered at the dreadful smell; surely the odour of the wool and lingering sheep smells wouldn’t be that bad? The discovery of a badly decomposed body set a chain of events in motion which included murder, cattle and sheep rustling, arson and desperate criminals. With Cam back on the job (the letter of resignation still undelivered) he felt more alive than he had for weeks. As his offsiders, Leanne and Pete helped him in the investigation, his girlfriend Jo was a volunteer in the rural fire department...
With the violence ramping up, Cam and his team were incensed at the unnecessary horror surrounding them – they needed to end it. But could they before more bodies were found? And what would happen to Ruby?
Flare Up is book #2 in the Cam Fraser series by Aussie author Felicity Young and an intense, gritty murder mystery. Fast paced with full on action, I flew through the pages. A thrilling police procedural, Flare Up is one I highly recommend.
November 17, 2016
If you take absolutely nothing else from author Felicity Young's Cam Fraser series, then it should serve as a reminder of how important volunteer fire services are in rural communities Australia-wide. Young's background in her local service provides a real-life understanding of the embedded nature of those services, and the affect that they can have on the personal and professional lives of volunteers and their close relationships.
The Cam Fraser series isn't however, just about fire-fighting. It's a police procedural, with a central character who has a personal life, in a small community where the past and present often collide. In the earlier book in this series (FLASHPOINT) we were introduced to Fraser, and his teenage daughter Ruby, after his wife and son were killed in a fire that also injured Fraser. A move from Sydney to the small town of his childhood in Western Australia was supposed to give father and daughter a chance to recover physically and emotionally, but his first case on return left him injured and contemplating resignation.
The discovery of a body in a wool bale in a shearing shed sets off an invesigation which ends up uncovering a long trail of murder, cattle and sheep rustling, and the use of arson as a diversion tactic. It also quickly becomes apparent that there are some pretty ruthless characters behind all these activities and they are not above some nasty goings on in order to protect what's obviously a very lucrative criminal undertaking.
The plot in FLARE-UP is nicely complicated, making sense in a rural area where smaller populations and greater distances mean witnesses are going to be thin on the ground, but people behaving oddly do get noticed. The arson elements blend nicely into the overall community aspects - creating the potential of witnesses, and a lot of threat and concern into the bargain. The competing priorities of policeman Fraser and his fire-fighting teacher girlfriend also contributes some personal tension, giving Young a chance to explore the difficulties of new relationships after traumatic loss - to say nothing of the problems that teenage children can present in that sort of scenario.
Much of the background to everybody comes from the earlier book, although it would be easy for a new reader to step into this series at FLARE-UP without missing out on too much. The interactions between Fraser and the other local cops are great, and the passages between his daughter, girlfriend and himself well executed. The plot is good - with the inclusion of crimes more common in rural areas, than perhaps urban, providing a different viewpoint for readers who should enjoy a series which is both entertaining and realistic.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
The Cam Fraser series isn't however, just about fire-fighting. It's a police procedural, with a central character who has a personal life, in a small community where the past and present often collide. In the earlier book in this series (FLASHPOINT) we were introduced to Fraser, and his teenage daughter Ruby, after his wife and son were killed in a fire that also injured Fraser. A move from Sydney to the small town of his childhood in Western Australia was supposed to give father and daughter a chance to recover physically and emotionally, but his first case on return left him injured and contemplating resignation.
The discovery of a body in a wool bale in a shearing shed sets off an invesigation which ends up uncovering a long trail of murder, cattle and sheep rustling, and the use of arson as a diversion tactic. It also quickly becomes apparent that there are some pretty ruthless characters behind all these activities and they are not above some nasty goings on in order to protect what's obviously a very lucrative criminal undertaking.
The plot in FLARE-UP is nicely complicated, making sense in a rural area where smaller populations and greater distances mean witnesses are going to be thin on the ground, but people behaving oddly do get noticed. The arson elements blend nicely into the overall community aspects - creating the potential of witnesses, and a lot of threat and concern into the bargain. The competing priorities of policeman Fraser and his fire-fighting teacher girlfriend also contributes some personal tension, giving Young a chance to explore the difficulties of new relationships after traumatic loss - to say nothing of the problems that teenage children can present in that sort of scenario.
Much of the background to everybody comes from the earlier book, although it would be easy for a new reader to step into this series at FLARE-UP without missing out on too much. The interactions between Fraser and the other local cops are great, and the passages between his daughter, girlfriend and himself well executed. The plot is good - with the inclusion of crimes more common in rural areas, than perhaps urban, providing a different viewpoint for readers who should enjoy a series which is both entertaining and realistic.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
January 18, 2019
This was a bit slow and confusing at the start but did get better but not as good as the previous book.
December 15, 2020
It took me a little while to place this book, but after a chapter or two I was back in the swing of things, even with the action picking up from the first page. The plot twists came thick and fast, and while I would have preferred a little more time was spent focusing on one of the minor characters, I struggled to put this down. The climax was long and drawn out, ending rather deliciously. The resolution had a lovely hook into the next of the series, if it happens.
October 12, 2019
This one got my heart racing - almost too much!
April 5, 2016
Cam Fraser, Sergeant at Glenroyd police station, is on sick leave and set to resign. But things don't go according to plan and he is dragged back into the job to help with a double murder. All he does is discover that the small country town has more secrets than you can poke a stick at and things are never as straight forward as they seem.
The start of this was a bit slow and confusing. It improved but there were times that the writing was confusing with it's details. Not as good as the previous book in the series but still enjoyable. I've really come to enjoy Felicity Young books.
The start of this was a bit slow and confusing. It improved but there were times that the writing was confusing with it's details. Not as good as the previous book in the series but still enjoyable. I've really come to enjoy Felicity Young books.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews