Start with C

Start With C 

*** Long-listed in  Best Unpublished Manuscript, Whitsunday Literary Festival, 2024.

When a corrupt Bicentennial official disappears amid an Indigenous death-in-custody, town mayhem and a Royal Commission, only Kev plays detective. He first suspects the fiery Aboriginal leader Billy, then the passionate Mara of ‘Patchtown’, and later, manipulative councillor Cheryl Sheila and her fiance and Council administrator, Roger ‘Humblebum’.

Weighed down by his sense of responsibility, and his biological link to the infamous Jimmy Blacksmith, Kev wants only peace and civility, and safety for his wayward son, Danny, working for local criminals, Paddy Bourke and the Hard Boys. The Riot Squad is on a collision course with Kev, kooris and the entire town, convinced of an imminent black uprising.

What starts as a murder mystery becomes the anonymous author’s cathartic recollection of event in the months leading to Australia’s Bicentennial celebrations. Know what happens when all trust is destroyed and all that’s forgotten is again remembered.

Based on 1987/8 events that rocked the nation, it’s a thinly disguised reneactment of the times, Tall Ships, Bob Hawke and colourful Bicentennial celebrations. Start with C has four mysteries: who is the murderer? Who has been murdered? Who is telling the tale? and why is it titled ‘Start with C’?

A reader claimed it the best murder mystery since Agatha Christie, though the author claims it is Inspector Clueso meets Shakespeare.

** Authors Royalties donated to Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

https://fundraising.ilf.org.au/garry-mcdougall/posts/start-with-c-is-a-start-indeed

Published by Pamela Press. $29.95 at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DRZ12SCC