by Joan Sauers
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2025
Review
by Karin Kos
Joan Sauers deftly establishes a plot that is interwoven with intriguing sub-plots to whet the reader’s appetite in her Southern Highlands mystery novel Whisky Valley. Set in the haunting region of the New South Wales Southern Highlands district, Sauers brings to life her protagonist Rose, a dedicated historian who has found the district a safe haven after her divorce. We met Rose, a woman in her mid-40s in Sauer’s previous book, Echo Lake, and it’s great to see her back. Rose is rebuilding her life as a single woman who needs the emotional space of the bushland to find her place of harmony.
However, the reader quickly learns that this beautiful backdrop of dense forest is also a place that haunts Rose, as she is recovering from the trauma of a brutal attack while out for a hike.
It’s like Echo Lake found the old scar and drove a knife into it, and now it won’t stop bleeding. The plot of Whisky Valley is woven with moments of great joy and of apprehension. As Rose questions who she can trust, as she battles to separate the truth from fabrication. She’s still coming to terms with the idea of finding love again after a her till-death-us-do-part marriage fell apart, and creating a sense of her own worth.
Rose’s curiosity and habit of Miss Marple-like sleuthing, and her need to understand her fears that hinder her inner life, bring her into the sphere of the psychologist Nestor Valk. Valk owns a Victorian mansion, Hardwicke Hall, located on the outskirts of Bowral. The Queen Anne-style house and its museum quality is where the reader is brought into the visual world of high art with “an eerie landscape by Arthur Boyd”. Rose’s love for chamber music and the patronage of a Spring Chamber Music Festival draws her in.
This story explores the competitiveness and duality experienced by people in the music industry, constantly vying for lucrative patronage. But at what cost? Sauers plays with the complexities of family values and the marred relationships that small towns tried to keep hidden.
Characters are diverse and interesting and it’s easy, as a reader, to become entangled in the secrets they keep. It feels like we’re shadowing Rose, peering over her shoulder, trying to solve the mysteries that sustain the many sub-plots. There are several characters in Whisky Road and Sauers has given them all depth, and managed to avoid stereotypes. This gave the reader insight into the human psychology of microcosms in small towns, and how behaviour can have broad ripple effects felt by many within families and towns alike.
Sauers masterfully pursues her musical knowledge with historical discussions of the colonisation of the area, and the difficulties faced by settlers in their time. Creating characters that are lively, sincere and charismatic, it is hard to put this book down and I found myself staying up late at night, wanting more. Whisky Valley is both book title and a location that is equal parts daunting and magical. Where the real people are connected with ghosts of the past, and the harsh conditions of the early colonists are met with a sensitivity that only a talented writer can achieve.
Definitely, a book that you will enjoy reading, not just for the vivid settings, or the complexity of the plot, but the characters will keep you wanting to know more.
Publisher’s blurb
From the intriguing Echo Lake, Rose McHugh, curious historian-turned-detective, returns to solve her next compelling mystery in the moody Southern Highlands.
A missing violinist. A rising flood. A race against time. Intrigue, music and danger collide in Whisky Valley.
After nearly being murdered last year, Rose McHugh battles anxiety as she uses her investigative skills to find her son’s best friend, a famous violinist who is missing along with his priceless violin.
As floodwaters rise, Rose uncovers secrets and lies among the missing man’s fellow musicians, as well as their patron and her enigmatic psychologist husband.
But when a body is found, can Rose shield her son from suspicion?