This is the second time I have reviewed one of Rex Burns' stories about Constable Smith, a half-Aborigine cop in the wilderness of Western Australia. Smith is a classic type of character; being neither all one thing or the other, he is doomed to be an outsider everywhere, and makes an excellent guide to both worlds for the reader.
In this case there are not two cultures involved, but three. Two Japanese tourists chartered a boat to take them out for a day of scuba diving three miles from shore. The hard-drinking captain insists they never came back up. His mate, an aborigine has jumped ship and disappeared. Smith uses his knowledge of Aboriginal culture to find the truth, which is rooted in a bit of Australian history that was certainly new to me.
Good story.
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