I'm lying again - I picked this up over the long weekend, meant to blog post about it, got reading. Didn't put it down again until I'd finished it. Review on its way.
From the Blurb:
Emily Tempest. Small, black, snaky as a taipan's tooth: the woman least likely to pursue a career in policing.
Opening Lines:
I closed my eyes, felt the ragged harmonies flowing thorugh my head.
Emily Tempest is small, black, as snaky as a taipan's tooth and is the woman least likely ever to embark on a career in policing. But her old mate Superintendent Tom MacGillivray has persuaded her to sign on as the Aboriginal Community Police Officer for the outback (not to mention throwback) township of Bluebush.
Then Tom is hospitalised and Emily finds herself working for a new bloke instead: an east-coast ring-in, a martinet called Cockburn. Being allergic both to authority and to keeping her big mouth shut, Emily is immediately at odds with the new boss. And the death at the Green Swamp Well Roadhouse only complicates things. Cockburn thinks it's a simple case of two old drunks and a hammer. Emily's not convinced.