The Dragon Man

The Dragon Man by Garry Disher is an award-winning book, the first novel in the Australian series featuring Detective Inspector Hal Challis. I picked it up on a whim. I am not sure I've read any novels that take place in Australia, but I find this fascinating. The characters have interesting lives, and I appreciate how well fleshed out their private lives are while still maintaining the focus on the crime-based plot. I'll pick up the rest of this series along the way. This book takes place during the Christmas holiday season.

from the back of the book:

MEET HAL CHALLIS, DETECTIVE FOR THE MORNINGTON

PENINSULA POLICE FORCE IN SOUTHEAST AUSTRALIA, IN THE

FIRST INVESTIGATION IN THIS PRIZE-WINNING CRIME SERIES

A serial killer is on the loose in a small coastal town near Melbourne, Australia. Detective Inspector Hal Challis and his team must apprehend him before he strikes again. But first, Challis has to contend with the editor of a local newspaper who undermines his investigation at every turn, and with his wife, who attempts to resurrect their marriage through long-distance phone calls from a sanitarium, where she has been committed for the past eight years for attempted murder -his.

Reviewing the Evidence says it "completely engages the reader". Kirkus Reviews closes a positive review by saying, "This series debut from the prolific Disher (The Sunken Road, 1996, etc.) doesn’t read like one, thanks to fully formed characters and wall-to-wall mysteries. The offbeat setting’s a bonus for US readers." Publishers Weekly calls it "an intelligent, atmospheric police procedural".