Crime thriller set in Ballarat

LOCAL writer Digby Stevens has just released his latest crime thriller in the Jack Waters series, set in Ballarat.

In Ice and Fire, investigator Jack Waters returns as he and his investigative partner Peter Murtagh continue their probe into the ice epidemic growing in Ballarat.

The new book is a sequel to A Murder of Crows and like the first in the series, is a work of fiction inspired by plenty of factual research.

“It’s very satisfying to have it published, and there are actually two more books that I’ve already actually written so when my editor catches her breath I’ll be asking to get onto book three,” said Stevens, a retired teacher.

“I’ve been tackling a lot of heavy themes. The first was about institutional abuse and this one is about drug manufacture and trade in a regional city which happens to be Ballarat. They are issues that need to be tackled in a way that is hopefully sensitive.”

In Ice and Fire a burned body is discovered in Lake Wendouree, shortly after a suspicious explosion at a factory in Delacombe.

As Waters and Murtagh dig, it emerges that a criminal organisation is building a cartel and eliminating competition in their quest to dominate the drug trade.

The two investigators must race to solve the case as the bodies start to stack up.

As in A Murder of Crows, Ballarat features large, “but not in a way that would alienate the non-Ballarat reader, with places locals can name-check and visit and characters drawn sympathetically and sensitively,” Stevens said.

The local writer describes his Jack Waters books as “a cross between Raymond Chandler, Ian Rankin and British TV psycho-crime dramas”.

The new book is available in Ballarat at Collins Booksellers on Lydiard Street and Everybody Knows Books in Sturt Street, as well as online.

Anyone keen to meet the author in person will have the chance to do so over this weekend.

He will be among several writers attending That Little Bookshop Spooky Bookfest tonight, Friday 31 October from 5pm to 8pm, Saturday 10am to 4pm and Sunday 10am to 2pm at 320 Pleasant Street South, opposite the Bunch of Grapes Hotel, with a portion of proceeds from the event going to charity.