DOWNES, Michael
ISBN 978-1-923214-87-3
PAPERBACK
The Introspective Detective
Unravelling the murder requires him to confront his own past and future
INTROSPECTIVE. characterised by the examination of one’s own thoughts and feelings: thoughtfully reflective: too often considered a sign of weakness when it should be an indication of strength.
A man found murdered on the last Melbourne Metro train to Hurstbridge. Detective Inspector Robin Lazelle, a thirty-year homicide veteran, leads the investigation.
Lazelle has grown up in a dysfunctional family and for the whole of his life has a voided crowds and noises and is more at home in solitude. He is not in any way gregarious. At the same time, he is admired by his colleagues and considered almost indispensable because of his amazing skills as a detective. He may not be a ‘people person’, but he certainly can find the ‘bad guy’.
This difficult case with its twists and turns challenges Lazelle and his team. For the man himself, now near retirement, it causes him to reexamine his life, his future, and his feelings about himself and for others.
The murder investigation, the unusual weapon, and the person involved, many within the medical fraternity at St. Bart’s Hospital, uncovers more victims than only the deceased. It is full of intrigue, emotional abuse and sexual impropriety that affects the livers of the people involved, both among the investigators and the investigated.
From the Author
Although this is an intriguing murder mystery, I wrote this book about the man… the introspective detective. His story is the focus.
It deals with many issues that many men near retirement or having already retired might identify with. It is a reflection about life and living when we get older. In this case, the detective, Robin Lazelle, has many issues because of his past childhood, the death of a sister when he was just a teenager, becoming a very good detective and learning to get on as best he could with other people.
I guess when you are an author in your eighties, a lot of what you write is from personally knowing people in such positions and having experienced many feelings yourself. The work is pure fiction, but personal feelings obviously influence an author when writing a book.
Michael Downes
