The Broken Shore

Shaken by a scrape with death, Detective Joe Cashin has been posted away from the big-city homicide squad to the quiet town on the South Australian coast where he grew up. Carrying physical scars and not a little guilt, he spends his time playing the country cop, walking his dogs, and thinking about how it all was before. But when a prominent local millionaire is attacked and left for dead in his own home, Cashin is thrust into what becomes a murder investigation. The evidence points to three boys from the nearby aboriginal community¿everyone seems to want to blame them. Cashin is unconvinced and soon begins to see the outlines of something far more terrible than a burglary gone wrong.

Winner of the Ned Kelly Award, Australia¿s major prize for crime fiction, The Broken Shore is a transfixing novel about a place, a family, politics, and power and the need to live decently in a world where so much is rotten.

GLOSSARY OF AUSTRALIAN TERMS

Abo: Abbreviation of ¿Aboriginal.¿ The usage is derogatory except in Aboriginal English.

Aggro: ¿Aggression¿ or ¿aggressive.¿ (Just takes two or three drinks, then he gets aggro. )

Ambo: An ambulance worker. (The following sentence is possible: Mate the last thing I need is an aggro Abo ambo.)

Bickie: A cookie. Abbreviation of biscuit.

Bloodhouse: A hotel known for its fights.

Blow-in: A term of scorn for a newcomer, particularly one who voices an opinion about local affairs or tries to change anything. (Bloody blow-in, what does he know about this town?)

Bludger: Once, a man living off a prostitute¿s earnings; now applied to anyone who shirks work, duty, or obligation. A dole bludger is someone who would rather live on unemployment benefits than take a job.

Bluey: A workman¿s hard-wearing cotton jacket. It can also be a blanket, a cattle dog, or a red-haired person.

Boong: A derogatory term for an Aboriginal person used by non-Aboriginals.

Brickie: Bricklayer.

Buckley¿s: To have Buckley¿s chance or Buckley¿s hope is to have very little or no prospect of success. The term probably derives from William Buckley, a convict who escaped and lived with an Aboriginal community.

Bundy: Bundaberg rum, named for the Queensland sugar town. It is often drunk with Coca-Cola (Bundy and Coke).

Burg: Burglary.

Chook: Chicken. It can also mean an older woman or a silly person.

Cleanskin: Once a term for unbranded animals, it now denotes someone with an unblemished record or an unskilled person or a wine sold without a brand name.

Cop it: To take the blame or accept responsibility. To cop it sweet is to take misfortune or blame in a resigned way.

Copshop: Police station.

Corrie iron: Corrugated galvanized iron sheet.

Dill: A stupid, silly or incompetent person.

Dob: To inform on someone, to blame or implicate him or her. Someone who dobs is a dobbler.

Fibro: Fibro-cement building material used for cheap housing, garages or shacks. Also used for a house made of fibro-cement. (Might live in a mansion now; six months ago, it was a fibro.)

Flannelshirt: A person from the country or the poorer outer suburbs who wears cheap cotton shirts, usually checked.

Footy: Australian rules football, the world¿s finest ball game, and the ball used. (Let¿s have a kick of the footy.)

On my hammer: Putting pressure on me.