Disillusioned with his legal career, dumped by his fiancee and down in the dumps generally, Charlie Jardim is thrown a bone by his mentor Harlan Weir. It involves going to a small town which is divided between the people who have an abalone fishing licence, and those who don’t. There has been a murder and Charlie is to help prepare a witness for the prosecution. He finds Dauphin is a town where loyalties are long established, but fragile for all that. Les the publican at the pub, strangely called the Norman Woes takes Charlie under his wing, but the rest of the town regard the outsider with suspicion.
The murder occurred between abalone fishing competitors, both of whom were involved in going over the ‘quota’ for the product. As well as the illegal abalone trade, a spot of drug running had been muddying the waters, so to speak, and the money involved has been getting bigger and bigger.
Charlie’s witness is nervous, and has changed his testimony, making him a target of violence in the town. Charlie himself earns himself no favours amongst the townsfolk.
A lot of the book takes place in the court room, with a lot of courtroom procedure and evidence being explained which could flag, but doesn’t.The big character barristers you hear about it get an outing in the book, and their antics, along with those of the Judge are very entertaining. Charlie is a character to like, and I can see a sequel coming where he gets back on track with his career, or maybe not. Quota makes a welcome change from the police procedural crime novel with it’s country and court room settings and is a good choice for a crime fiction fan. Recommended. $30
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