The Build Up

This very much readable novel is set in the monsoon season in Darwin, referred to locally as “The Build Up”. Hot humid days and the oppressive tropical climate weigh down on the inhabitants of the city, sapping energy and attention.

Detective Dusty Buchanan is undeniably annoyed when she is taken off a long-term murder case that she has been investigating. Her frustrations increase when she is sent to investigate a report of a body found near a local Vietnam veterans’ camp site, only to have the body go missing before the forensics team can arrive.

Dusty is demoted to uniform and sent to a desk job in disgrace, but she can’t let go of either her previous investigation or the new murder case. As she digs deeper, she finds unexpected connections and must work to not only solve the case but restore her own tarnished reputation.