The Carnival is Over is a gripping Aussie Noir read, combining a twisty plot and great characters with an evocative sense of setting in both time and place - it's 1971 in Moorabool, a (fictional) rural town in central northern NSW.

The central characters from The Night Whistler - Mick Goodenough and Hal Humphries - return, five years older and with both their circumstances changed somewhat.

When Moorabool's Deputy Mayor, Tony Poulos is found dead in his shiny new GTS with a bullet in his brain, Mick is reluctant to accept Dr. Ruth Fischman's conclusion that his death was suicide. His investigations uncover a murky underbelly beneath the veneer of Moorabool's social elite, reinforced when a second suspicious death occurs, this one closer to home for both Mick and Hal. The drama builds to a thrilling crescendo as the characters converge at a Rodeo event, and are then engaged in a gripping night-time car chase towards the Queensland border.

Author Greg Woodland's character dynamics are superb and multi-layered. The plot is complex and twisty, and the setting evocative of a period in Australian history that will be familiar to many readers, including myself. The small-town setting of Moorabool is well-developed in terms of both physical and socio-cultural character, and we can well believe the nepotism and petty prejudices that both Mick and Hal frequently encounter.

I'd highly recommend both The Carnival is Over and its predecessor The Night Whistler to any reader who enjoys tautly-plotted and grittily realistic crime-thrillers. I found it particularly poignant to have been reading this book when news broke of the sad death of Australian performer Judith Durham, whose 1965 hit "The Carnival is Over" (with the Seekers) presumably inspired the title.

My thanks to the author, Greg Woodland, publisher Text Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this fantastic title.

The Carnival Is Over is the second book in the Mick Goodenough series by xx?? Australian author, Greg Woodland. Sergeant Mick Goodenough doesn’t get to see the body before Deputy Mayor Tony Poulos’s shooting is ruled “death by misadventure”. It looks like suicide, but something doesn’t sit quite right with Mick. For one thing, nobody who really knew him believes he would kill himself. Two cheque stubs for $1500 each are also puzzling.

When Moorabool Abattoir forewoman Christine Makepeace ends her life by drinking weedkiller, Mick’s Homicide training again niggles: is that a gun barrel impression on her forehead? Then a child is shot, and it somehow ties in with the suicides, when it really shouldn’t. Mick is determined to dig deeper, but certain people of power and influence would rather he didn’t.

At seventeen, life isn’t quite going how Hal Humphries planned. A bungled car theft that could have seen him doing jail time instead has him on a good behaviour bond, working off his debt in the Moorabool Abattoir offal room, courtesy Mick Goodenough. Many of his co-workers are bullies, but at least the forewoman, Christine is fair and friendly. When he hears of her death, he recalls how upset she was about the Deputy Mayor’s recent death.

As Mick continues, despite the cases being closed, to look into the two deaths, he begins to wonder just who of those he has to deal with in his job can be trusted. As sergeant, he also has to deal with a lazy and somewhat dim-witted constable, while trying to rein in an eager and enthusiastic female probationary constable. Meanwhile, Hal and his one-time good friend, Allison Tenpenny share some disturbing correspondence.

Mick manages some clever detective work and the occasional use of bluff to get the information he needs. In the lead up to a nail-biting climax (or two), Mick and Ross attend a rodeo, there’s a car hijack and, later, a fight in a back alley where a knife, a gun and a fence paling are wielded to bloody effect, the latter two events involving quite a bit of violence. Moorabool Police Station’s young probie defies orders to show courage and initiative in a tense standoff with a gunman.

Woodland conveys his New England setting, and the early 1970s era, with consummate ease. While the rampant workplace bullying, the racism and the sexism will not be fondly remembered, the popular cultural references of the time may generate some nostalgia in readers of a certain vintage. This is another excellent helping of Australian rural crime fiction, and more of this cast will be most welcome.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Text Publishing