This book is a truly fascinating yet, at times, extremely unsettling look at the Australian justice system, one that many believe is a system to be trusted and relied on to convict the guilty and free the innocent. Not so, according to the true crime stories in this book, which have been written and researched by 10 well-respected Australian crime writers such as Lindy Cameron, Kerry Greenwood, Robin Bowles and P D Martin. The stories look at miscarriages of justice dating from the Victorian goldfields in the 1860s through to the present day describing an ongoing investigation in Nauru. Kerry Greenwood explores how literary figures such as Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle influenced the justice system in their quest for fairness and equality. It is shocking yet inspiring to read of innocent people convicted on very little evidence and of the families, journalists and the Innocence Project who fight to free them. It is heartbreaking to read of the struggle and cost to the families trying to find the truth behind the murder or death of their loved ones. And it is horrifying to read of the possibly guilty people who walk free on technicalities. This well-written and readable book will appeal to readers of authors such as Helen Garner and all lovers of fine crime writing.

Susan Watt is the manager of The Next Chapter Books, Wahroonga

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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