Title: All That Glitters
Subtitle: Deceit, Murder, and Passion in the New South Wales Goldfields
Author: Robert Walker
Publisher: XlibrisAU
ISBN: 9781543408942
Pages: 208
Genre: Fiction / Mystery
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop
Pacific Book Review
Australia is the locale for this inaugural novel from Robert Walker. It’s made up of equal parts murder mystery, police procedural, and sex romp. The mystery includes not just one, but three murders. The police procedures encompass both distant outpost and big city operations. The sexual escapades are put on a continuous loop that runs throughout the narrative.
Grant is a Sydney police detective on holiday. He’s vacationing alone because he’s separated from his wife and family. It seems his job is too much for her and her nagging is too much for him. Exploring an old gold mine, he comes across dead bodies that haven’t been dead all that long. When he reports what he finds, he winds up getting temporarily assigned to help with the investigation.
Sophie is a local police officer who is seconded to Grant to help with his investigation. In addition to being smart and talented, she also happens to be drop-dead gorgeous. It doesn’t take long before Sophie and Grant wind up in each other’s arms and in various other anatomical places designed for male and female interaction.
Author Walker commits a lot of time and a number of pages to detailing Grant and Sophie’s lovemaking as well as their murder investigation. Both gain steam as the novel progresses, though the former becomes a bit repetitive as the latter unspools intriguingly. In addition to the two protagonists, whose backstories are filled in nicely, the author also creates memorable supporting characters. One in particular is Ol’ Jim, a foul-mouth, roughhewn miner who swills liquor and spouts off about people who have done him wrong.
Walker spins his yarn via first-person narration from detective Grant. That choice enables readers to get a more intimate feel for the emotions that drive the officer’s dedication to his job as well as his love life. Interestingly, the majority of the actual physical action in the novel is dramatized mostly in sex scenes. The solving of the grisly murders is chiefly handled intellectually with bits and pieces of individual police work eventually leading to solving the crimes.
The author does a particularly good job of highlighting specific locales in and around the New South Wales gold fields. His ability to provide specificity regarding mines, small towns, and outback areas, adds an air of authenticity to his tale.
If you like your mysteries both savvy and sexy, chances are you’ll find what you’re looking for in All That Glitters.
