Book Review: The Coves
The Coves David Whish-Wilson Fremantle Press, 2018 David Whish-Wilson is a respected name in Australian Crime Fiction, and his trio of novels Line of Sight, Zero at the Bone and Old Scores shine a light on the possibilities of a seedy Perth underbelly in times of recent memory. In his fourth novel, The Coves , just recently published by Fremantle Press, he takes a slightly different angle with a foray into the genre of historical crime. The Coves is the story of twelve year old Samuel Bellamy, who makes his way to San Francisco aboard a ship full of convicts during 1849 with the intention of finding his mother, whom he believes to be among the Australians living there. Drawing from the historical record, Whish Wilson vividly recreates the 'Australian quarter' of San Francisco, a town run by the Sydney Coves, or the Sydney Ducks as they were sometimes called. The novel is peopled with murderers, drunks, prostitutes and scoundrels, and all...