by Garry Disher
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Product Description
"A police procedural . . . featuring a squad of interestingly flawed homicide cops working multiple cases that feature multiple puzzles and a pool of incisively well-drawn murder suspects. . . . First rate."-The New York Times Book Review "Gripping. . . . As the story neatly advances from the viewpoints of characters both major and minor, Disher artfully employs misdirection. . . . Fans of [Peter Robinson or Ian Rankin] will find much to like in this dark whodunit."-Publishers Weekly "Procedural fans looking for something a little different will devour this one. Enough dark overtones to elevate the series into the Ian Rankin league."-ALA Booklist The once-peaceful beach resort of Bushrangers Bay, not far from Melbourne, is the site of multiple crimes that must be investigated by Homicide Squad Inspector Hal Challis of the Mornington Peninsula Police Force and his staff. A toddler is missing; an unidentified corpse has been fished from the sea; cars are being stolen and torched; letter boxes are being burned. And then one of Challis's own friends, Kitty Casement, who runs an aerial photography service and flies a Kittyhawk, is murdered. Figuring out the connections and identifying the criminals absorbs all the energy and intelligence of this cast of sympathetic but complicated policemen and women.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A Brief Review of Kittyhawk Down, 2008-09-07
Garry Disher has another winner with Kittyhawk Down. Protagonist, Hal Challis, and his team of investigators are realistically portrayed in their fears and cognitive skills on the job. Disher books contain a great deal of "noir" with a glimmer of hope for humankind that keeps avid mystery readers turning pages to find that grain of good. Nice descriptive text for those of us who haven't been to Australia.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Australian procedural is dark and emotionally charged, 2005-10-10
Disher's thoughtful, emotionally charged police procedurals, set in a bucolic coastal area of Australia, feature Inspector Hal Challis, a lonely loner, beset by pathetic calls from his ex-wife, who's imprisoned for the attempted murder of Hal himself.
Hal's relationship with journalist Tessa Kane suffers a bit from his wife's suicide threats and then a bit more with Hal's interest in a fellow small-plane buff, a woman who takes aerial photographs and suddenly needs his help when she's inexplicably attacked.
Meanwhile, readers of Disher's first Challis book, "The Dragon Man," will remember his team. Ellen Destry nabs a rapist with satisfaction, but drags her feet going home to her nagging husband; Scobie Sutton bores everyone silly with the joys of fatherhood, but his daughter has head lice again; young Pam Murphy can't seem to curb her spending or her ambition and boorish John Tankard lusts after her while despising her zeal for work.
And the Meddler, a local busybody and inveterate letter writer, who has just discovered his hurtful nickname, decides to take his meddling a step further. Shifting viewpoints keep us a couple steps ahead of the cops as the murders pile up, but with the deft use of twists and red herrings Disher keeps his mysteries until the page-turning conclusion.
Character drives these absorbing, darkish procedurals from an award-winning author whose success in Australia deserves to be echoed here.
8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
 Who Cares, Hal?, 2005-08-01
I completely disagree with Harriet Klausner's "review". I am convinced she doesn't read the books she "reviews". They can't all be "Excellent Police Procedurals" Harriet! Before her "review" of this novel, I knew she would rate it 5 stars and call it an "Excellent Australian Police Procedural". She just skims the blurb, thumbs through the chapters, and then logs on to this venerable website. I don't think she's ever given a novel anything but five stars--check her other "reviews" and you'll see that I'm right.
Now to the novel. The problem here is that one doesn't care who did the crimes as none of the suspects or victims catches our sympathy at all. One can't be all too sad if one bum kills another bum--even though we know she/he shouldn't do it. Of course, Hal is still the brooding, solitary, and quite melancholy hero of the story. Ellen is the female counterpart. Nothing happens to them throughout the course of this novel. It's tiring to read books, or worse, a series, in which the characters remain stagnant.
The writing is straightforward, and Disher is still better than most at his craft. Think of something new! Have Challis find a friend--something!
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
terrific Australian police procedural, 2005-06-29
Though it took him years, Melbourne Homicide Squad Inspector Hal Challis' believes he has moved past his former wife's efforts to have her lover kill him now that he is seeing newspaper editor Tessa Kane and making new friends. Still Angela keeps in contact using the threat of suicide as a blackmail ploy to get Hal to forgive her and to help get her out of her life imprisonment. Hal knows the suicide threat is real, but wants nothing to do with his ex spouse who still haunts him as he regularly visits her anyway.
Hal meets Kitty Casement, an aerial photographer who he likes in spite of his seeing Tessa. Someone threatens Kitty's life so Hal assumes she took pictures that threaten the illegal activity of the culprit although this could be part of nasty letter writer the Meddler or her spouse Rex. While searching for a missing toddler and working the latest homicide, Hal and his team struggle to identify who succeeded in ultimately killing Kitty.
Though the above paragraphs concentrate on Hal, this terrific Australian police procedural provides numerous perspectives especially that of other cops working the mundane like a teen party or the homicide. The story line is fast-paced, but the key is that all the cast seem genuine even those that could have easily slipped into stereotypes. KITTYHAWK DOWN is a fabulous tale due to the solid caseload and strong characterizations starting with Hal whose life is moving forward one day at a time.
Harriet Klausner
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