Emily Tempest, drawn back to Central Australia and to the place she grew up, Moonlight Downs, instantly feels at peace with the Warlpuju people. Here are her best friend Hazel and Hazel's father Lincoln Flinders, a much respected tribal elder. The Warlpuju have always been her mob and Moonlight Downs her Country. Emily was instantly accepted and included from childhood even though she is the daughter of a white man and a Wantiya women. She's done her fair share of walkabout since she left the Downs and the mob were driven off by the last station owner, so this is her first return since the successful land claim that returned this traditional land to its traditional owners.When Lincoln is brutally murdered just hours after Emily's return, the easy suspect is Blakie Japanangka. Wild man, savage protector of tradition and guarder of sacred sites, Blakie is known to everyone as a bit of a nutter. Since her return Emily has seen Blakie arguing with Lincoln more than once and the manner of Lincoln's death seems to indicate a ritual killing, maybe because of some broken taboo. When the local police arrive from nearby town Bluebush, the hunt for Blakie is on straight away. But Blakie's from this Country, he knows it like the back of his hand, and after a clumsy attempt by the police to grab him, he disappears into the scrub. In the meantime the mob moves off Moonlight Downs, lost and looking for leadership they slowly move to the squatter camps outside Bluebush. Even Emily, despite swearing she never would, ends up working in a pub in Bluebush, living in a flat in town and still pursuing what happened to Lincoln with a single minded intent that gets up the nose of a lot of people very quickly. The appearance of Earl Marsh, the big, brash and offensive owner of the station next door to Moonlight Downs and the slimy government representative Massie eventually make Emily question her pursuit of Blakie, even though Police Sergeant Tom McGillivray doesn't agree.DIAMOND DOVE is an aboriginal novel written by a white man who has spent many years working with communities in Central Australia. The Warlpuju mob is an invention by the author, based on a number of different groups in that area. Much of the Aboriginal terminology though can be found in languages to the north of Alice Springs. DIAMOND DOVE is a reference to the totems of both Lincoln and Hazel, woven through the story. It's an interesting choice for a white man to write an affectionate, funny, telling story which is so strongly imbued with a sense of Aboriginal Culture and Country.One of the major strengths of DIAMOND DOVE is that interwoven with the mystery of Lincoln's death is a wonderful, sensitive and enlightening glimpse into realistic contemporary Aboriginal life. There's explanations of totems, taboo, sacred places, familiar structure and relationships, lifestyle, skin names, taboo names, traditional tribal structures and the effect of country. There's some telling insights into the differences between the white community and the local Aboriginal communities – in and around the town of Bluebush and outside it, at the stations and in the mining communities. There's also some fabulous and frankly hilarious observations of a redneck outback Australian country town that will have you crying with laughter. There's even a touch of Outback Mechanic – with fuel being fed into wrecks of old cars from tins tied on the roof! Hyland has got a real knack of writing the dialogue in a lyrical manner, that reads with the lilt that you get when Aboriginal speakers move to and from their own Language and English. There's something in that speech pattern that echoes the bush and for this reader, those dialogue sequences were a real joy to read.DIAMOND DOVE is a novel where a lot of major components merge really well. The characterisations are fabulous. Emily is strong, loud, opinionated, flighty, caring, ratty, forthright, independent and kind and she feels very female, very current day Aboriginal to this reader at least. Tom McGillivray is your classic outback cop – done it, seen it, nothing surprises anymore. Hazel is an Aboriginal woman, living as close to a traditional lifestyle as she can, comfortable in that choice. Other members of the mob are more clearly caught between a Traditional life and the supposed lure of the white culture. There is a supporting cast who are sketched out beautifully, either in brief cameo appearances or as a larger part of the story. The mystery is intriguing, the manner and style of Lincoln's death adding that possibility of ritual and therefore something deeply Aboriginal as a possibility. The sense of place or setting for the novel wins on a number of levels. There is Central Australia and the differences between the deserts and the outback and the small town worlds. There is also Aboriginal Central Australia with the totem elements, the sacred places and the hidden places. Finally there is humour, dry, ironic, sardonic, rude, pointed and observational.DIAMOND DOVE hints at the beginnings of an ongoing series, and Emily would be a great entrant in a long line of amateur Female Investigators. It is highly recommended.------The Diamond Dove is one of the smallest pigeons found predominantly around areas of water in semi-arid areas of Central, West and Northern Australia. They are very delicately marked around the eyes, are often seen on the ground in a toddling sort of run, and their wings can make a whistling noise when flying. They tend to be seen in pairs or small groups.------This one is definitely going to make my Tops of 2007 - no doubt whatsoever.
Adrian Hyland will take you on a wonderful journey through the Austrailian Bush in this surprising murder-mystery with his terribly interesting character of Emily Tempest, and all of her friends and enemies alike.We first meet Emily, trying to find her place in the world, returning to her homeland of Australia, to her childhood memories and best friends, in Moonlight Downs - the (Aboriginal) community where she grew up.Shortly after she arrives however, the community leader, Lincoln, is brutally murdered, and all of the signs point to an aboriginal sorcerer, Blakie. A man-hunt begins after him, and leads Emily to become deeply involved in this case and catching the real killer, which for a while has her thinking it may not be Blakie after all, until she returns to the camp after a long absence due to an argument with her best friend Hazel. After she sees what has happened, and finds Blakie there, she is sure it was him that killed Lincoln after all. But she soon finds out that she was completely mistaken, and is in for the run of her life from the real killer.I didn't really start to enjoy this story until it really got going and completely sucked me in. I for one, was completely shocked at who the real killer was, and now that I think back to where he re-enters the story, it's a bit on the obvious side, with him just happening to be there. Still could be a good shocker though, because it really comes from nowhere. He was the last person I would have suspected! Anywhoozer, I also enjoyed the language in this book, shocking and vulgar as it may have been at times, it was also downright funny with the way they sometimes chose their words. If you're interested in the Australian Outback (like I am), this book gives a wonderful picture of what life is like there.From the dust-jacket: Moonlight Downs, the first Emily Tempest mystery, was published in Australia and England as Diamond Dove. It won Australia's prestigious Ned Kelly Award for best First Novel.
What do You think about Moonlight Downs (2008)?
Diamond Dove is a wonderful novel. Engagingly written, with good prose, a well crafted, multi-textured plot, and perfectly paced, Hyland transports the reader into the natural and social environment of the Australian outback, the worlds of aborigines and white settlers, and their interface. In both the bush and the town, Hyland evokes a rich sense of place conveying their respective sights, textures, sounds and smells. The characterization is excellent, with Emily Tempest particularly well drawn, with just the right amount of back story that the reader understands the context but is always kept in the present. The scenes and dialogue are well constructed, with a good blend of observations, pathos, wit, and social commentary without it ever becoming a sermon. Indeed, Diamond Dove cleverly explores race relations and social and political tensions in contemporary Australia without straying from Emily’s quest to discover who killed her friend and mentor.
—Rob Kitchin
Half-aboriginal Emily Tempest returns to the camp of Moonlight Downs not far from Alice Springs after years of traveling around the world. Just as she is settling in, Lincoln Flinders, a respected community leader, is killed. The local sorcerer is an obvious suspect. However, doubts about his guilt arise when several land ownership disputes surface. I wanted to like this book because Emily is such an remarkable character. Unfortunately, the story never seemed to come together. It is filled with racial tension and many of the white characters are disgusting lowlifes. Even accounting for her desire to reconnect with her cultural identity, it is difficult to understand why Emily would want to return to such a place.
—Susan
The immediate comparison for a fan of American mystery fiction is to compare Hyland's writing to that of the late lamented Tony Hillerman, who wrote highly readable and well informed mystery novels set in and around the Navajo lands of the Southwest. Hyland is equally knowledgeable about the aboriginal people of Outback Australia, a part of the world he's lived in and where he's interacted with its native communities extensively. Hyland provides the bridge to this world in the form of one Emily Tempest, daughter of a white miner and an aboriginal mother. As Moonlight Downs opens, Tempest has exhausted many of the possibilities open to her in white culture, having taken the Western route of college and travel, and now seeking a lost aspect of her identity, returns to Moonlight Downs, the ancestral home of her "mob". These aboriginal people are not her "skin group" by blood, as her deceased mother came from another part of the country, but they are her people by virtue of having grown up with them. Her essential question is, Is this my home? As this is a murder mystery, that question gets derailed a bit by a killing early on, and Emily's relation to the victim combined with her feisty and determined nature drive her to pursue the killer. It's a well done who done it which I didn't figure out till near the story's resolution. But as with many of the mysteries and crime novels I read, it's the 'what else?' that really holds my interest. Hyland uses the genre to talk about the interaction of "whitefellas" and "blackfellas" and everyone in between in an area of Australia that might be best equated to an earlier version of the American "Wild West". As Hyland says in this interview, there is a fascinating mixture comprised of an ancient culture living by myths and dreamings residing side by side with the most recent of newcomers, many of whom have blown into this wild space like sand.
—Seana
