A fine krimie by an Australian writer, this and his other books too long out of print. This one was originally published in London as ‘Gently dust the corpse.’ Why it was changed from ‘Gently’ to ‘Softly’ is anyone’s guess.
It offers the classic setup of an group people isolated from the outside world with tensions among them, in this case at Tyson’s Bend on the Old(est) Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney near Mildura in the 1950s. The tensions spring from a missing lottery ticket worth £100,000. So far so ordinary.
Tyson’s Bend has a petrol pump, a general store, a pub, a school, and perhaps a population of 200.
What sets this work apart is the additional character of the dust storm that cuts cuts off Tyson’s Bend from the outside world, making driving impossible and bringing down telephone wires. While most of the townfolk shelter at home about a dozen take refuge in the pub where, thanks to a generator, the beer remains cold. These people are the syndicate that bought the lottery ticket which has won, but before they can collect the dust storm hits, hits hard, and keeps hitting.
The wind howls and cracks, the dust is invidious and insidious, getting through every crack, slit, hole, and into everything from eyes to drinks. It just goes on and on, shaking the roof, ripping doors open, cracking windows, overturning cars, blowing detritus with force, making a walk from one house to another as dangerous and difficult as such a walk in an Antarctic winter. Even in the pub, dust swirls in the air and coats and re-coats every surface. Makeshift face masks and dark glasses are essential to venturing outside and they add to the mystery.
The dust of the Red Centre
The dust clogs and carpets everything from eye brows to clothing. There is no escape and no relief from it. It is like a bombardment without end. The setting is marvellous and far more dramatic than comparable efforts by the dean of Australian krimie writers, Arthur Upfield. The storm is a malevolent force even greater than the murderer within the ranks, and far more destructive.
A dust storms envelops Melbourne
The characters are well defined; The nervous school teacher, the bullying policeman and his subdued wife, the simple store owner whose clever wife runs most things in town, the barman who plays the clown, the jackaroo who keeps to himself, and the two city lawyers who are trapped there. It seems one member of the syndicate is determined to murder the other members to get the lottery ticket!
I learned a new word ‘bombilation’ (p. 180) which is very old and means to buzz. Here it refers to the incessant noise of the storm.
S. H. Courtier, school teacher by day
I read several other of Sidney Courtier’s books in the 1970s and liked them. There a great many others, though out of print, and so not easy to come by. There is a good entry for Sidney Hobson COURTIER at AustcrimeFiction.org