The Station Sergeant

When unpopular farmer, Stoop Taylor, is found dead in a field, Station Sergeant John Barlow has a feeling his comfortable life is about to be turned upside down. Battling local hoodlums, the Dunlops, who are stealing cattle to order, and seeking a traumatised German soldier at large, Barlow finds his personal problems have multiplied as well. His schizophrenic wife turns violent, his daughter is growing up too fast, and the new District Inspector wants him demoted and transferred. To top it all off he has fallen in love with another woman. The Station Sergeant – One man, one mission: to protect those he loves and find the killer in his community. REVIEWS The character is a joy and if McAllister does not bring us more of his adventures the crime genre will be a poorer place for it. - Sunday Times Mr. McAllister is a superb storyteller whose prose is lean and realistic, a breath of fresh air in a world of bloated crime thrillers. He has brought to life an era long forgotten, and for that we should be truly grateful. Powerful. – New York Journal of Books McAllister movingly explores how the distractions of personal life and the secret knowledge of unspoken shared history shape investigations, and how even the most conservative must deal with change. – Publishers weekly, Oct 2013