Sunday, 29 July 2018
The Power Game, by Meg & Tom Kenneally
Ticket-of-leave convict Monsarrat and his intrepid housekeeper Mrs Mulrooney have been sent to solve a murder on the remote penal settlement on Maria Island, Tasmania.
It seems a very long way to travel for such a purpose in the 1820s, but the accused is a political prisoner, Irish rebel aristocrat Tom Power.
Mrs Mulrooney rather takes the lead in this investigation, her employer ceding to her superior skills and intelligence in a somewhat unlikely power shift.
This does allow more light to be shed on the position of women in the colonies and on the fine distinctions of class that pervade all aspects of colonial life.
The history is interesting but too much is shoehorned in to demonstrate the authors’ knowledge rather than to serve the plot, especially regarding the Irish troubles. We just don’t need to know that level of detail, particularly as the authors’ acknowledge in an end note that they have taken some liberties with the truth.
The tale needed better editing, with some sloppiness and a few minor inconsistencies let through.
Nevertheless it is a good read and a welcome addition to the Australian historical crime genre.
The end once again presages the next mystery to be solved, this time back on home soil in Sydney.
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