Deadly Intent, a crime mystery/historical by Laraine Stephens, expands the prologue’s drowning death of an unidentified man locked into a box that’s dumped into a river into an expansive list of Australian disappearances and murders in the 1920s. Deadly Intent builds its police procedural, whodunit plot on the professional and personal lattice of 1923 Melbourne crime reporter Reggie Da Costa, thirty-six years of age, nattily dressed, single, and aspirational.
While a showcase of exceptional writing, the prologue adds nothing to later exploits. There are gangsters, two notable; false documents, e.g., a fake official birth certificate; a terrace apartment house with suspects galore, and the personal tragedies inflicted on persons in the aftermath of World War I and the 1923 police strike.
Sprinkled throughout are enough references to money and marriage to conjure up the notion the period being written about is not too long after the Jane Austen novels, but without the emphasis of enhancing a woman’s role in society that British Author Thomas Hardy championed.
The sheer multitude in the cast of characters requires the reader to pay attention. With the huge character list, descriptive narrative abounds, which adds occasional sluggishness. The suggested tonic would’ve been stronger action verbs.
It’s expected there will be a divisive reader split. History buffs will be overjoyed. Thriller readers, not so much.
Reviewer Donan Berg is an AuthorsDen author of twelve novels on amazon.com in genres of romance, mystery, and fantasy. He received an advance review copy for free, and notes he leaves this review voluntarily.
Ron