Allen & Unwin, Australia 2026
Cover design Christa Moffitt, Christabella Designs
Cover images Jaroslaw Blaminsky/Trevillion Images; Shutterstock
Commercial litigation lawyer Ruth Dawson is beset both professionally and personally in Bad Neighbours, a twisty tale of greed, property and betrayal.
She’s a carry-over heroine from books 1 and 2, and brings with her some baggage, including a propensity to be in the vicinity of murder victims. This leads to her falling under suspicion from the police when deaths occur in in her Art Deco apartment block in Potts Point. But it seems that this is the least of her problems.
Ruth is now working for a major Sydney law firm and her high profile client Crack (Caroline) brings the prestige and money of big banking. The sniff of a Royal Commission due to problems arising from a shonky affordable property development project has Ruth’s boss very eager for a slice of the action.
Meanwhile back in Potts Point in The Lumen, a young homeless man, Ben, is found dead in the enclosed garden. Questions swirl about who let him take up residence there, who he is and why he is hanging about that particular building. Very soon, a connection is revealed – his late father was former resident and his apartment is being leased as an AirBnB. This is in turn gives rise to further puzzling about why Ben is homeless and penniless.
Ruth, being a justice warrior, refuses to let the matter slip, and in the course of her investigations we meet the diverse members of The Lumen community, a set of residents with little in common other than their place of abode.
The Lumen is a delightful microcosm of society, deftly drawn by the author with wit and perspicacity as they butt heads with one another in the difficult circumstances they find themselves in – not just a dead homeless person but a swathe of financial pressures partly brought on by the penthouse residents Anthony Dean (accountant) and his influencer wife Silver.
Ruth’s investigations, carried out with the help of her two junior colleagues Sybil and Geri, lead her into a decidedly murky world of property fraud. To reveal many plot details is impossible without spoiling the story, as secrets are meted out for the reader with great caution.
Suffice it to say that all roads do lead to nefarious deeds, and the ruthlessness of big banking, big law and big property all come under a sharply critical lens. The inequality of our society emerges strongly as the author’s primary concern.
This is a complex story which delves into the real world of law rather than the glamourised version we often see in popular fiction on screen. The picture is by no means pretty.
The greatest pleasure for me in this book is the author’s canny observation of human behaviour evidenced in her Lumen residents – the officious lady chair Stella who tries to wield her power by policing keys (she didn’t count on Ruth), the former artiste Zara, the elderly gentlemen couple Humphrey and Laurence, the tech bro Lucas and his dog Mavis and the odious Anthony and wife Silver with her investment collection of handbags and jewels – insurance against the time when she is no longer as physically desirable. It runes out she can pivot very quickly when the situation demands.
Despite fire alarms going off willy nilly and Ruth’s attempts to look after the poo disposal of the much-neglected Mavis, the story never becomes a French farce. It is a dark and dense study of human nature and Australian society, but told with humour and a wealth of industry knowledge.
As an aside – I’d love to see more of Ruth and to find out how she resolves both her love-Iife with the often absent Charlie and her family role with her son Jack. And will she stay on at the law firm which has asked so much of her? Questions for another time – or not as the author may not go there in her next book.
Thank you to Allen & Unwin for my review copy and to Joanna for an interesting conversation about the reality of big law firms and about the nefarious deeds unfurled in this book centred on property and social inequality.