The Australian Book Of True Crime by Larry Writer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Short, informative essays on some of Australia's most famous and/or interesting crimes. While there are a few notable exceptions-- Ivan Milat immediately springs to mind-- they are more than compensated for by a number of cases from the late 19th and early 20th Century of which I was unfamiliar. Writer's style is simple and, for the most part, unobtrusive, although he lapses into the occasional conservative judgement that jars with the text: there is a constant association between his subject's physiognomy and his/her criminal behaviour that wouldn't be out of place in a 19th century textbook, for example. But the book serves as a worthy primer for anyone unfamiliar with the cases in question, and is presented in sufficiently non-sensationalist terms to satisfy anyone wishing a genuine examination of the crimes in question.
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