The art deco font on the front cover called to me.
And I wondered, what could be inside this marvelously designed book?
I checked it out, having skimmed the description on the inside flap and had a vague notion that it was a steampunk novel. It wasn’t. It was something way cooler.
Razorhurst, by Justine Larbalestier, is set Sydney Australia”s deadly Razorhurst neighborhood in the early 193o’s. Kelpie, a street urchin, stumbles upon a murder and the book is about the 24-hours following this event.
Goodreads summary: The setting: Razorhurst, 1932. The fragile peace between two competing mob bosses—Gloriana Nelson and Mr Davidson—is crumbling. Loyalties are shifting. Betrayals threaten.
Kelpie knows the dangers of the Sydney streets. Ghosts have kept her alive, steering her to food and safety, but they are also her torment.
Dymphna is Gloriana Nelson’s ‘best girl’, experienced in surviving the criminal world, but she doesn’t know what this day has in store for her.
When Dymphna meets Kelpie over the corpse of Jimmy Palmer, Dymphna’s latest boyfriend, she pronounces herself Kelpie’s new protector. But Dymphna’s life is in danger too, and she needs an ally. And while Jimmy’s ghost wants to help, the dead cannot protect the living . . .
The novel is inspired by real events which Larbalestier describes in her blog. This is the history of Australia that we never hear about. Fortunately, Larbalestier’s writing really gives you a sense of what it was like to live in that particular time and place. There are some very bad people, but Kelpie’s blend of street-wisdom and naiveté soften the edges.
This is a very serious novel. If it is too much for you, you might prefer seeing Australia’s underside in the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries series, which is set in the 1920’s. I had this in my mind as I read Razorhurst.
So, as summer vacation winds down, think about taking a last-minute murderous vacation Down Under through a book or television.
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