Finding the Bones by Natalie Conyer is a suspenseful, crime thriller inspired by actual people and events in Sydney’s Kings Cross in the ’70s and ’80s.
In Sydney in the 1980s, Belle Fitzgerald is young, rich and spirited. She has bought and lives in a terraced house in King’s Cross. When she hears that developers have been buying up property and plan to knock down the terrace houses in her street and evict the working-class tenants, she forms a protest group to stop the development. Belle has a secret boyfriend; she is having a passionate affair with Sergeant Stanton Rose, who may or may not be a corrupt police officer.
The Cross at that time was notorious for corrupt cops and politicians, organised crime, drugs and prostitution. And, Belle is reported missing.
Jump to Sydney today, and Belle Fitzgerald’s bones have been discovered. Jackie Rose, inspired by her father, is a homicide detective in Kings Cross and is now in charge of the cold case. A recent TV documentary on Belle’s disappearance has created a lot of public interest.
Jackie’s father is Stanton Rose, now retired and celebrated for his undercover work in the area. It is hoped the case will be solved quickly and not create bad press for the current police department.
Jackie has some personal issues she is dealing with. Her mother left her and her father when Jackie was only seven, but she throws herself into a thorough investigation.
Unfortunately, she discovers evidence implicating her father. Jackie is forced to make a difficult choice between her family and her career, possibly saying goodbye to any chance of future promotion.
Can she trust the man who raised her? She has so many unanswered questions and finds many secrets and lies. As Jackie puts all the pieces of the puzzle together, you wonder which path she will choose and who really is Belle’s killer.
The book is a compelling read of family dynamics, choices, love, betrayal and suspense.
The history and the atmosphere of Belle’s King’s Cross is fascinating, portrayed in a way that you feel as if you are there. At the end of the book, Natalie has listed sites and books for you to explore if you are interested in that era.
The main characters, Belle and Jackie, are strong women, both leaders of their times. There are a lot of supporting characters, all playing a part.
The book is easy to follow with alternate chapters in the past and then in the present.
Thoroughly recommend this book. A slow and steady who-done-it mystery with lots of clues and potential suspects that keep you page turning and guessing to the end, and then there is even more!
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Finding the Bones by Natalie Conyer. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
What a great read! Finding the Bones is a gripping crime thriller set across two timelines—1980s Kings Cross, when underworld gangs ruled the streets, and present day Sydney.
The story follows the life and disappearance of Belle Fitzgerald in the 1980s, and the later investigation when her remains are discovered. Homicide detective Jackie Rose leads the present day case, with an added complication: her father, Stanton Rose, a highly decorated former undercover officer from the Kings Cross era, is brought in as a consultant.
What unfolds is a compelling cold case that opens a Pandora’s box of secrets. Police corruption was rife in the 1980s, and while Jackie deeply admires her father’s career, it becomes clear there are things he isn’t telling her.
The novel weaves together family secrets, love, loyalty, and betrayal against the backdrop of a dark shadowy environment. I especially loved the depiction of inner Sydney and Kings Cross in the 1980s—it adds an authenticity that really brings the story to life.
A compelling read, especially if you enjoy character driven crime with strong Australian settings.
What an tense, enthralling story, so well written, the characters were so well fleshed-out.
Sydney in the 80’s in particular the Cross sounded like a dog eat dog world of crime and vice, with a very fine line delineating the two worlds.
I loved Jackie and the complex fractured father daughter relationship, and Belle and her go get em attitude, and her equally complex parallel relationship with her dad.
The dual timeline added to the suspense, and highlighted the level of corruption spanning decades, and that nothing was off limits.
A real who-done-it, which had me second guessing, and chopping and changing who I thought the culprit was every couple of chapters.
I was very pleased to read that Jackie is introduced to the readers in Shadow City, and I look forward to reading Natalie’s earlier book soon.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for the offer to review Finding The Bones by Natalie Conyer.
A cold case is at the heart of this book. Jackie Rose is the daughter of an respected Detective and now she is in a similar role her Father was in at work. The body of Belle Fitzgerald is found after many generations and Jackie’s Dad was heavily immersed in the case originally. Jackie examines Belle’s last days where she finds secrets and evidence of corruption. It makes her uncomfortable to think that her Father was involved in the case after that. Jackie’s investigation finds vague clues and tests allegiance and reveals a harsh reality.
It shows Kings Cross in the 1980’s and consequences of decisions she makes. I really enjoyed this book and it is what I would class as a page turner. I would recommend this book to everyone.
Finding the Bones is the first book of Natalie Conyer’s that I have read and what a page turning read it was! I believe her previous books feature homicide Detective Jackie Rose as well, but it is a standalone book.
When bones are found they are instantly thought to be missing person Belle Fitzgerald who got on the wrong side of the fugitives in charge of Kings Cross back in the 1980s.
Jackie is tasked to solve the case, a very public case but as she digs she realises there is more than meets the eye and her family are directly involved.
Flitting between current times and back to Belles time at the Cross I was hooked right from the start. The characters were engaging and added strength to the story keeping it interesting and making a strong storyline.
Jackie’s delmas about what to do, who to protect keep you guessing, the personal storylines also add interest to the book and are obviously setting the story up for a follow on book.
The ending wasn’t quite what I expected but it is in keeping with a cold case I guess in that you never quite know exactly what happened.
Thank you Beauty and Lace and Echo Publishing for the copy to read and review I’ll definitely keep my eye open for more of Natalie’s books!
Finding the Bones by Natalie Conyer had me hooked from the start. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Belle Fitzgerald goes missing from Kings Cross in the 1980’s A time when The Cross was the heart of Sydney’s underworld ,filled with crime lords, their servants and corrupt police. Belle finds herself under the watchful eyes of these crime lords when she hears they are planning on knocking down and developing her street. She also finds herself in a passionate affair with supposedly undercover cop Stanton Rose. Belle’s disappearance is assumed to be linked to organised crime., yet it becomes one of the nations great mysteries.
That is until present day Sydney when Belle’s remains are found and the cold case is handed to Homicide detective Jackie Rose to investigate. Jackie is the daughter of Stanton Rose. What Jackie uncovers as she investigates threatens to upend her life and all she has ever known. She is faced with the dilemma of loyalty to her father or loyalty to her career.
Told with the use of duel timelines we see both Belle’s 1980’s world and the present day investigation into her disappearance and murder, which cleverly adds dimension and suspense to the story. Belle and Jackie are both well written, complex characters, Both lead you to the answer of what happened to Belle, although you may not pick who and what until the end. This is not a fast paced who done it. The story unfolds gradually and it is often what is left unsaid that builds the suspense creating a real page turner.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Echo Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this great book.