3.5★s
Brunswick Street Blues is the first novel by Australian author, Sally Bothroyd. Bar tender and sometimes jill-of-several-trades, Brick Brown has taken a job in the PR department of Yarra City Council because she’s concerned about her Uncle Baz’s pub, the Phoenix on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. She’s trying to subtly uncover the source of complaints to council that threaten the continuation of pub’s licence.

But sneaking up to the archives after hours nets her no information, just the dead body of the Mayor, Dickie Ruffhead. (So that’s what that smell is!) The PR department puts a different spin on his death, and some other weird things are going on, including that renowned war correspondent, Mitch Mitchell turns up at a council meeting, seeming very interested in a certain development. He remains tight-lipped when questioned, however.

When Baz shuts the pub and disappears, Brick isn’t too worried at first. But when he remains AWOL, she becomes concerned, and starts asking questions. When she spots Mitchell hanging around the Phoenix and the record shop next door, stalking him seems like a good idea and works in his favour when she foils a kidnap attempt.

From there the plot gets quite convoluted, involving a shady developer in cahoots with the Victorian Premier, the dodgy sale of a former convent, a number of hit-and-run accidents, a fall from a roof that might not be, aliases and false identities, adoptions, a hidden tunnel, look-alikes, missing documents, repressed memories, blackmail and corrupt councillors. The pace of the story is a little uneven, sometimes dragging, sometimes rushing headlong into action, and borders, at times, on slapstick.

Some of Brick’s choices defy logic, and most of the characters don’t have a lot of depth, but it’s conceivable that this could be the first of a series with more detail emerging later. In which case the quirky team will likely consist of a barmaid/council employee, a musical publican, an investigative reporter, a handy young IT whizz, a doctor, another journalist/mum and a paranoid record retailer.

It is to be hoped that the terrible formatting associated with the anti-theft measures evident on EVERY page is corrected in the final copy because it is extremely distracting, making the advance copy a less-than-pleasant read. Nonetheless, a creditable debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harlequin Australia.