The Tilt, by Chris Hammer

This sequel to Treasure & Dirt sees Nell Buchanan promoted and teamed up with Ivan Lucic in a rural Homicide flying squad, based in Dubbo. Nell is chuffed but Lucic is frustrated at being sidelined from Sydney. So he is a less than ideal partner when they are sent to investigate a skeleton that has turned up in the river near her home patch on the Victorian border. As with the previous book, an enormous cast of characters can be hard to keep track of, especially as the tale is told in three time periods involving Nell’s grandfather’s childhood in WWII and her mother’s teenage years in the early 70s. Then an ASIO investigation of neo-Nazi recruitment of preppers is thrown into the mix – interesting and topical, but there was already enough going on. It’s a gripping tale, hard to put down, and told from Nell’s point of view so a different perspective from the first book and with an interesting take on historical and contemporary water politics.