Double Madness

Cass Diamond #1

by Caroline de Costa

Set in Queensland, this debut crime novel Double Madness by Caroline de Costa, takes us into a sordid underbelly of psycho-sexual depravity. As local residents and authorities in Far North Queensland assess the damage in the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi, a woman's body is found in bizarre circumstances deep in the rainforest. Cass Diamond of Cairns CIB is on the team investigating the murder of fashionista Odile Janvier and it's not long before she uncovers a disturbing connection between the victim and the local medical profession. One of the pleasures of this novel is that de Costa is unafraid to spend time with the characters and the landscape, and Double Madness benefits from this soaking in. While never brutal or bloodthirsty, it nonetheless feels heavy with danger. Fiona Hardy is a bookseller at Readings Carlton and a committee member of the Australian Crime Writers Association Authentic and snappy. An assured debut into crime fiction by Caroline de Costa. Marianne Delacourt, author of Sharp Shooter. Caroline de Costa's Cairns is a community rife with secrets, and where for every secret there exists someone ready to take advantage.Fast-paced, unsentimental and forensic, Double Madness is sure to entertain. David Whish-Wilson, author of Zero at the Bone and Line of Sight.

Genres: Crime, Australia

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2015

About the author

Caroline is professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at James Cook University College of Medicine. 'Double Madness', featuring Detective Cass Diamond and set in Cairns, is published by Margaret River Press in mid 2015 and is her first crime novel.

Reviews

[Alex Cantone · Rating 4 out of 5]

The decomposing body of a woman is found off a muddy track, wrists and ankles bound to a tree by Hermès scarves. Middle-aged, stylishly dressed in a Donna Karan shirt, a designer silk shirt from Paris, a bra from Intissimi, one red-soled Christian Louboutin shoe missing, expensive jewelery, Bulgari wristwatch.

The location is Davies Creek National Park west of Cairns, in Far North Queensland. It is late February, 2011. Earlier that month category 5 Tropical Cyclone Yasi spared Cairns, veering south-west to deliver the rest of North Queensland “a touch-up”. (It was still a category 1 system when it surged through Julia Creek, 650 kms or 400 miles inland from Townsville).

The body is discovered by chance by a Cairns-based obstetrician and his wife whose vehicle has become bogged in a stream, and the investigating officer is single-mother Detective Cass Diamond, of American-Aboriginal heritage. The body is identified as that of Frenchwoman Odile Janvier, whose husband Michel is missing. When Detective Diamond approaches a dentist to confirm identity everything goes pear-shaped, with femme fatale Odile Janvier implicated in a sex scandal that rocks the close-unit medical community.

“Double Madness” marks the debut crime novel of Caroline de Costa, lecturer in medicine at James Cook University in Cairns, the most Camelot of Australia’s cities. This is a stylish whodunit, tilted towards chick-lit, with flashbacks to 2009. The female detective lead is complemented by GP Jane O’Malley (married to anaesthetist George), psychiatrist Lyndall Symonds (divorced from serial philandering GP Trevor) and pathologist Dr Leah Rookwood, all mothers, sharing support and friendship while their male counterparts dither or run for cover.

Aside from the human interest stories there is the unique landscape and vistas. I really enjoyed the segment traipsing through rainforest, sweating in the humidity, clothes catching on the native bamboo lawyer vine (aka “Wait-a-while”), the birdlife and amethystine Python and recommend it to other readers.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before mentioning the plot I have to describe the setting, because this engrossing thriller is still a rarity in that it is set in or about Cairns in Far North Queensland. Located in time just after Cyclone Yasi a woman's body is found in the rainforest near Davies Creek, and it certainly does not look like an accident.

Cass Diamond is one of the newest detectives in Cairns CIB, and is one of the investigators. The investigation is very heavily character driven, as is the book in general, so as we discover the identity of the missing woman and slowly start to get a handle on the exceptional circumstances surrounding her life and death, we are met with hosts of characters.

Actually, I am really a bit in awe of the authors ability to have so many vivid, well described characters in one regular sized crime novel. The norm for a lot of thrillers is one or two clear, main characters, a handful of side characters you can barely keep track of and an extra or two. Double Madness has enough believable, well developed characters to fill Cairns and overflow to the rest of FNQ. The story jumps back and forward in time a little as some of the characters are fleshed out, which I didn't mind at all. A lot of them are doctors, and the seeming ease with which they are created not all of these characters are nice or flattering, but they all are intensely human and distinctive.

Though character and story driven, with more forensics than explosions, I found it a fast paced story that was hard to put down. The slow unfolding of the crime and it's main players was unusual and fascinating, with the an unexpected conclusion to the investigation/story which was individual and deeply satisfying.

Having lived in Cairns I got a massive thrill from how beautifully the town, the surrounding rainforest and the general 'vibe' of the place were described.

[Lee Rene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double Madness is a unique Australian crime novel with elements of a police procedural, erotica, and medical drama. The writing is colorful, replete with interesting characters, multiple protagonists, subplots, and backstories. In my opinion, the author could have sculpted a stronger story with better pacing from the point of view of one protagonist, but the action and the Australian setting kept me turning the page. I'll look forward to more offerings from the author in the future.

[Amy (Lost in a Good Book) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: I was provided with a copy of this book from the publisher for review.

De Costa hooks you into poor Odile's story from page one, piquing your interest with her final resting place amongst a cyclone ravished rainforest in Queensland. From then on she introduces you to the complicated world of small town antics, police investigations, and people with secrets of every sort.

The writing style and dialogue adds a great believability and sense of reality; the voices feel natural, conversations are realistic and not overly formal, characters are complicated, make mistakes, and have their own issues and back stories that come into play. The multiple perspectives allow an insight into the minds of each character, providing new information than what is told to others, and it lets readers determine for themselves what role people may play in this crime.

The story doesn't focus entirely on the investigation, there are sub plots and character histories explored, and the personal lives of characters keep moving forward while the investigation happens around them. The "psycho-sexual depravity" isn't explicit either, and only really emerges in the latter half of the book, though there are a few creepy and intense moments and references that make your skin crawl along the way. Everything has a part to play though and every references and detail acts as a red herring and a clue, and the more that is uncovered the stranger it becomes.

Switching between narrators and revealing information out of sequence shows the complexity of relationships and the small town environment really well. While the investigation reveals some details, and character flashbacks and thoughts reveal others, there is enough not being told that readers are always guessing and piecing together clues themselves. With everyone a possible suspect you soon doubt your own opinions as credible theories and evidence is found for almost every one.

This is a cleverly written crime novel and one reflective of human nature, the panic and rash decisions of those questioned make everyone a suspect and de Costa ensures you pay attention as tiny details can make all the difference and passing references and meetings may be more consequential than they appear. There are so many theories and possible scenarios running through your mind as you read, and all of them have a chance since de Costa is just vague enough and creative enough to make anything possible. But it isn't until the end, when everything falls into place, that you realise how clever she's been and how important those tiny details have been.

A longer version of this review was published on my blog https://lostinagoodbk.wordpress.com/2...

[Craig Sisterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an intriguing debut novel from a newer Australian author which grabbed me promptly at the start, but had some wobbles as it went on. There's plenty of originality in the characters, setting, and story, and a strong sense of place and the world in which the novel unfolds, but a few jarring notes pulled me out of the tale at times.

A Cairns doctor and his wife take an unusual shortcut through a national park forest outside of the city, become bogged down among post-cyclone terrain and have to abandon their car and walk out, only to stumble across the body of a Frenchwoman, tied to a tree with expensive Hermes scarves.

As the police look into the case, it emerges that the women's husband is missing, having vanished before the cyclone. Strangely for a place like Cairns, which has a 'small-town' feel, the local community doesn't seem to know much about the Janviers. With the couple estranged from their sons (on in prison, one in another state), the cops struggle to form a picture of the pair.

When they do, it takes them in some unexpected directions, including into the disturbing private lives and behind-closed-doors world of some among the Far North Queensland medical profession.

There's much to like about De Costa's debut. Her central character, Cass Diamond is distinctive and feels authentic, rather than a composite of traits put together to 'be different' in the crime field. An aboriginal woman in her 30s, raising a teenage son as a solo mother, Cass has plenty of challenges on the personal and professional fronts. We learn about her in a fairly natural way, and there are moments of attitude and humour that make her quite engaging, and feel very real.

Unfortunately some of the other characters don't fare so well, even occasionally feel like stereotypes or caricatures, moving pieces just orbiting around Cass and the crime for the sake of the story.

There's a really strong sense of place in DOUBLE MADNESS; the people and places in Far North Queensland may be from the same country, but are very different to shiny Sydneysiders or hipster inner city workers of Melbourne. De Costa captures a variety of that local flavour well.

There is a tendency to pass information to the reader through character conversation, sometimes in a straightforward way that can veer info-dumpy or a bit clangy, dialogue-wise, at times. That pulled me out of the story now and then, disturbing the flow, but may not bother other readers as much.

Overall, a good solid debut novel that with a few tweaks could have been really, really great. De Costa shows a lot of promise as a crime writer, with flashes of brilliance, and Cass Diamond is the sort of character that you could easily see helming an ongoing series. I'd certainly read more.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Living near Cairns certainly heightens my enjoyment of this well paced story of crime and criminal procedures. There are quite a lot of characters with many of them ending up as suspects in a gruesome murder. They fact that most of them know the others adds a certain irony. Maybe you have to know the place to know how well the author captures the country-side and the climate; her knowledge of the medical profession is also obvious. What a great debut novel.

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for 'curled up in bed' reading. Not challenging in any real way; would make a good three to six part television series. I'll be looking for more of her writing.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good crime book, well written and interesting.

[Libby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two and a half stars

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of DOUBLE MADNESS, Caroline de Costa is a professor at the School of Medicine at James Cook University in Cairns, and the book is set amongst the medical profession, in Cairns. Writing obviously about a couple of worlds that she knows well, this debut novel combines a strong sense of the place, and the climate, with a well-delivered intricate plot.

The body of Odile Janvier is found deep in the rainforest outside Cairns by sheer chance when local doctor Tim Ingram and his wife take a very unlikely shortcut, a little known back track which is a dodgy proposition after Cyclone Yasi. After their car gets trapped, on the walk out, they discover her body, tied to a tree with a number of expensive Hermès scarves. Investigations quickly discover that her husband has also been missing since before the cyclone, but with both of them are estranged from their sons - one in Tasmania, one in jail - and oddly in a small place like Cairns, nobody knowing much about the pair, their disappearance was not noticed. Once the investigation kicks off, it's not long before some disturbing connections between Janvier and members of the local medical community start to emerge. All the while her husband remains missing, and no matter how hard Cass Diamond digs, it's hard to work out the complex web of blackmail, money around this strange couple.

The central character of Cass Diamond stands up really well to the focus of that position. An Aboriginal woman with a teenage son, she's a great balance of personal and professional, with details of her background pulled into the narrative in a way that's engaging, without being overwhelming. Strong and sometimes funny she's very real and somebody that readers would be happy to spend time with.

There's a good balance of medical information versus the need to keep up the pace of a thriller, although the psychological dynamic between the victim and her husband is particularly interesting, and well fleshed out. The combination of a smaller city setting and the insular and inter-connected world of the medical profession therein, provides some nice complications - and plenty of potential suspects, once a possible motive is established. There's also some depressingly creepy behaviour outed amongst those that we'd all prefer to think of as above the tacky, although these days it's so easy to believe it should give pause for thought.

Within the plot there are a few red herrings, and a reasonable amount of confusion in why or even how this woman died, particularly in the beginning, all of which provides readers with opportunities to draw some conclusions, or at least have a stab at solving the crime along with Diamond.

A promising debut DOUBLE MADNESS has got a lot going for it. Some psychological insights into relationships, and the power of the sex drive, to say nothing of some decidedly revolting behaviour on the part of people that you'd think would know better, built around a great new protagonist in Cass Diamond. Another one that you'd hope will turn into a series.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Double Madness is a book that grows on you. It took a while for the plot to pick up pace, but then the mystery of a dead Frenchwoman found tied to a tree with silk scarves became spell binding. Many in the medical community seem to hold a grudge against the woman, as does the victim's husband, who can't be found anywhere. Aboriginal Detective Cass Diamond and her Cairns team hit one puzzling road block after the other. I enjoyed the detailed setting in tropical Queensland, but the book truly shines whenever it takes place in a hospital or doctor's office. Caroline de Costa is professor at the School of Medicine in Cairns., Australia.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never would have picked this book up to read (I tend to habitually avoid Australian fiction), but was given it as a gift earlier this year. Ended up reading it and really enjoying it.

If half stars were an option, I'd give this one four and a half out of five.

Narrative structure quite complex and can be confusing it you don't read it for a little while then have to get back into it. But when read quickly, the structure is quite effective.

[Helen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Double miss! Superficial character development, average storyline. Monotone - did not feel anything for any of the characters, stilted conversations, over-detailed when it really didn't matter (2 pages describing a jogging route.....I don't care!), no real highs or lows, and very little climax. Several hours of my life I'll never get back.

[Mike Hendricks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found this book underwhelming. The writing was basic, lowest common denominator stuff. No tension to the story. All key facts related via conversations between characters - lazy technique. Given it was a debut novel, hopefully there's improvement.

[Zuzu Burford · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. 3 1/2 stars.