Melbourne 1928. A raging storm sweeps the beach at Brighton, toppling one of the bathing boxes and revealing the graves of J. Arnold Witherspoon, a successful businessman, and his wife, Hope. Crime reporter Reggie da Costa, devotee of fashionable suits and stylish automobiles, uncovers an intriguing mystery: How can the Witherspoons be controlling their financial affairs and property holdings from abroad if they are lying dead under the sand? Complicating matters, a respected shipping company owner, while attempting to rob a bank, turns the gun on himself. Is there a connection between these bizarre deaths? Can Reggie uncover the truth?
The Bathing Box Murders is the sixth in the Reggie da Costa Mysteries.
The Bathing Box Murders, Laraine Stephens
Fans of historical crime fiction have hopefully caught onto the Reggie Da Costa series by Melbourne based author Laraine Stephens by now. Particularly readers who like a bit of dash, humour, romance and intrigue, served up with a great sense of time and place, and impeccable male fashion. Reggie Da Costa, crime reporter, happily recently married, faithful son, fast car lover and intrepid investigator is the sort of person that's easy to spend time with, as is his brother-in-law and colleague Dusty, and his beloved wife, and helpmate in many things investigative Ruby.
In this outing, it's Melbourne in 1928, and a raging storm has toppled a bathing box on Brighton beach, revealing the graves of two people - eventually identified as successful businessman, the reclusive J. Arnold Witherspoon and his wife Hope. The bodies had been there for quite a while before the storm, which begs the question that Reggie would really like to answer - how was Witherspoon controlling his extensive financial and property affairs, supposedly from overseas, whilst he had been lying dead under a bathing box the whole time. Which puts Reggie directly into contact with an ethically questionable solicitor, and another very odd death - the suicide whilst robbing a bank, of a respected shipping company owner.
Reggie, with Dusty's assistance at work, and Ruby's at home and in social circles, has to unpick a very messy web of intrigue that goes from big business to organised crime, and deep into the world of Melbourne's darkest secrets.
These stories do include quite a bit of the personal interactions between Reggie and his extended family, their new house, with his mother now living in the granny flat there, and the little things that come from starting out married life. All that balances well against a plot that gallops along at a good pace, with a central cast of characters and sense of place that are confidently executed. This is one of those series that can be stepped into at just about any point, but starting at the beginning will give the reader a much stronger idea of the backstory to Reggie, Ruby and Dusty, and, in particular how a young man, the son of a ne'er-do-well father, and a devoted, but very much inclined to pick the wrong man every single time mother, became a dashing investigative reporter, and loving husband. Along the way, there have been investigations that have woven their way through all echelons of Melbourne society from the time, and into some difficult spots for Reggie and his brother and sister companions.
An excellent entry in the Reggie Da Costa series, The Bathing Box Murders has an intriguing plot, delivered with a great sense of historical place, time, and men's fashion. Beware though, you may find yourself looking more closely at the beautiful bathing boxes that still line many of Port Phillip Bay's beaches.