THE
DIGGERS REST HOTEL
Geoffrey McGeachin
Some men came home with skills that could easily translate into civilian life,
and others didn't. Some men wanted nothing more than to go back to the life they'd
known before, and others were hooked on a thirst for adventure or the constant
adrenalin rush of danger…
In 1947, two years after witnessing
the death of a young Jewish woman in Poland, Charlie Berlin has rejoined the Melbourne
police force a different man. An ex-bomber pilot and former POW, Berlin is struggling
to fit back in: grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder, the ghosts of his
dead crew and his futile attempts to numb the pain.
When DC
Berlin is sent to rural Victoria to track down the gang behind a spate of robberies,
he suspects he's a problem cop being set up to fail. Taking a room at the Diggers
Rest Hotel in Wodonga, he sets about solving a case that no one else can - with
the help of feisty, ambitious journalist Rebecca Green and rookie constable Rob
Roberts, the only cop in town he can trust.
Then the decapitated
body of a young girl turns up in a back alley, and DC Berlin's investigations
lead him ever further through layers of small-town fears, secrets and despair.
Geoffrey McGeachin's fifth book and first Charlie Berlin mystery marks a change
in direction for the author. From remembered stories of his father's wartime experiences
as an airman and POW in Europe and childhood recollections of growing up in country-town
Australia, he has constructed a moving tale of loss, betrayal and ultimately redemption,
built around love, mateship and murder.
Exploring darker themes
than his earlier novels, McGeachin delivers a powerful story with a vividly realised
sense of time and place and engaging characters who relentlessly pull the reader
into their journey.
Geoffrey McGeachin's first novel, 'Fat,
Fifty & F***ed!' won the inaugural Australian Popular Fiction competition,
followed by the Ned Kelly Award nominated 'D-E-D Dead!' and 'Sensitive New Age
Spy'. 'Dead and Kicking' the third title in McGeachin's Alby Murdoch series was
published in 2009. He lives in Sydney, where he teaches photography and writes.
Praise for 'Dead and Kicking': 'McGeachin's pacing is excellent,
his plotting is intricate ... but his true strength is in his characterisation.
The people he creates, from the main characters right down to the bit players,
are magnificently described and fleshed out with a rare deft touch.' - The Sunday
Tasmanian
'The Diggers Rest Hotel' is available now.
