Taking a Chance (Deborah Burrows, Macmillan)

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of Nell, a journalist in Perth during World War II. Although Nell generally covers ‘women’s business’ for a tabloid paper, one day she is asked to cover the sentencing of murderess Lena Mitrovic after the usual male crime reporter calls in sick. It is here that she meets Johnny, a well-known war correspondent and a captain in the American press corps. Johnny is convinced of Lena’s innocence and recruits Nell to help him prove it. During their investigation they stumble across a number of related stories—the most compelling pertaining to the unfortunate plight of the ‘Lost Girls’ out for a good time with the American and British servicemen stationed in the city. Fans of Kerry Greenwood’s ‘Phryne Fisher’ series will really enjoy this book. Many of the ingredients are similar: an ambitious, sassy and very likeable female heroine acting against established social norms; ordinary details of what it was like to live in Australia in the 1940s; and let’s not forget a dashing male character. It is very readable and I really do hope that this is the start of an ongoing series with Nell and Johnny as a crime-fighting duo. 

Rachel Wilson is a Melbourne-based media academic and former bookseller

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Category: Reviews