Darcy Tindale

The Fall Between is a suspenseful Australian crime fiction debut from Darcy Tindale, set in the Upper Hunter Valley of NSW.

The morning after finding both a missing child and a cache of stolen jewels in Muswellbrook, Detective Rebecca Giles finds herself standing over the naked, trussed body of a young woman floating in a cattle trough on an outlying property, an eerie reminder of her own mother’s tragic death. As the investigation into the brutal murder unfolds, Giles becomes convinced the disparate cases are somehow connected.

There is a ripple effect of sorts in play in The Fall Between, where one relatively minor crime leads, by some combination of desperation, greed, opportunity, and even bad luck, to a series of more serious crimes, resulting in more victims, and perpetrators. The main mystery is well thought out, with some deft misdirects, and the various strands of the story tie in cleverly.

Giles is an appealing, realistically rendered character, though not infallible, she presents as both a decent person and a conscientious detective. There’s some angst related to the death of her mother when she was an infant, and her father’s declining state of health, that affects, but doesn’t define her.

The setting is recognisably Australian, Tindale ably evokes the contrasts of the regional environment, from its suburban small towns to the isolated areas among the bush.

With its well crafted storyline and engaging lead character, The Fall Between is an absorbing and satisfying read.… (more)