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Since her first novel, hastily written Fortress, Gabrielle Lord has made an impressive name for herself in Australian crime fiction. Lord has had a broad spectrum of jobs, including unqualified teacher, brick cleaner, peach picker, market gardener and, rather more long-term, employment officer and these together with the intense and wide ranging research she has pursued have given her an enormous base on which to build her fiction. The Sharp End, Tooth and Claw, Jumbo, Whipping Boy , Bones, Feeding the Demons and Death Delights have all enhanced her reputation as a novelist, while she has also written scripts, which have earned widespread admiration, for film and television. Gemma Lincoln (note her initials) is a private investigator who made her debut in Feeding The Demons. Gemma, who runs her own investigations business, obtains a large part of her income from insurance work. Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing includes one such examination involving a fire and the death of a prominent millionaire, Benjamin Glass. Gemma is hired by the widow, one-time underwear designer Minkie Montreau to discover just what took place. In tandem with that case, Gemma tries to ensure the safety of street girls by uncovering the identity of the man who seems bent on raping and killing them, along the way beating a disguised Gemma. As if that were not enough, Gemma must also satisfy a client as to whether his wife is being unfaithful and deal with problems within her own company. A former police officer, Gemma is distressed when her lover Steve, a serving police officer goes undercover in order to try to trap Sydney's leading crime figure, George Fayed. Gemma later learns that Steve is closely involved with Lorraine Litchfield, the widow of Sydney's former crime lord, who has been assassinated by Fayed. Gemma must not only deal with all kinds of hazards - including a patronising police officer with whom she must cooperate - but also try to convince a runaway child to return to his mother. Lord is a consummate suspense writer. Her characterisation of Gemma is excellent. Not for her the idea of the heroine supporting her man with blind faith despite his appearance of perfidy. Gemma is believably jealous and the average woman reader would surely understand the almost unreasoning emotion that impulsively endangers the life of her boyfriend Steve. The pace of the novel is hectic. Lord's dialogue is well done. Not for her the blatant ockerisms of some of her male counterparts yet her protagonists are unmistakably Australian in their speech. I do have one small quibble with the adventure : I felt the double denouements were a trifle overdone and unnecessarily melodramatic. I felt very sorry for Gemma as she struggled with personal; injury - Lord, unlike some other authors, does not have her protagonist blithely and agilely leaping around after being hurt. Nonetheless, I felt some of the dangers were too reminiscent of those besetting Harrison Ford on a bad day, and the grand finale could have been a shade more understated. This having been said, the novel is one of the better reads of this year. Editor's Note: This book is not yet available in the US. Ask your favorite independent bookseller to find a copy for you.
Reviewed by Denise Wels, July 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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