From an opening scene that's equal parts scary and hilarious, Australian author Garry Disher yanked me right into Under the Cold Bright Lights and made me stay. I was a willing hostage, and it had everything to do with Alan Auhl.

Every day, he's faced with "Oi, Retread!" and "Don't forget your Zimmer frame," but it doesn't matter to him. The Job matters to him. Figuring out what happened, bringing justice to each case. All he wants to do is right wrongs. He lives in three-story "Chateau Auhl" with his daughter, his ex-wife, Cynthia the cat, his tenants, and a motley tide of waifs and strays that ebbs and flows depending on their needs. Young Claire Pascal has the popular opinion of Alan Auhl until she starts getting partnered up with him, and the development of their relationship is another strong element in this book.

Disher has a turn of phrase that I enjoy. Reading things like "...she was as ugly as a hatful of arseholes" or (describing his boss) "Hers was a face that could stare down a cavalry division" not only provoke vivid mental images but they also add needed levity to a very serious tale. Under the Cold Bright Lights is a nicely mixed bag of cases. Sometimes you know whodunit, sometimes you don't, but you always get the pleasure of watching how Auhl handles each one. Alan knows what evil can show itself under the glare of cold, bright lights, and he is not afraid.

All he's ever wanted to do is to right wrongs.

Read this book and savor it. It's a good'un that should not be missed.

Under The Cold Bright Lights is a stand-alone crime novel by Australian author, Garry Disher. Five years retired, ex-homicide cop Alan Auhl is back on the job. But this time, he’s an Acting Sergeant in the Cold Case and Missing Persons Squad. At fifty-five, he’s the oldest member of the squad, attracting the nickname Retread, but he’s not really bothered by digs and insults from the younger cops.

What does bother him is the unsolved case he caught the tail of, before he left the job: farmer John Elphick, found near his ute with fatal head injuries. Even in his retirement, John’s daughters rang him annually to see if there was any progress in the case. Now, he’s in exactly the right spot to follow it up. But before he gets a chance to do more than retrieve the old case files, his boss, Helen Colfax sends him out to Pearcedale, where a skeleton had been found under a concrete slab. A young male, murdered and concealed post 2008. Could he have been a tenant on the property?

In between those investigations, Auhl’s attention is caught by the antics of a one Dr Alec Neill. This man, whose second wife died in somewhat suspicious circumstances when Auhl was still in Homicide, now claims his third wife poisoned the second wife as well as his current girlfriend, and fears for his own life. Auhl was unconvinced at the time that the first wife’s death was natural and believes Dr Neill is a serial killer.

Auhl’s home scene can also be a little distracting: Chateau Auhl is a haven for waifs and strays, visiting professors, his own student daughter, his ex-wife (when she is in town), a cheated-on colleague and a battered wife seeking refuge for herself and her ten-year-old daughter. Auhl takes a supportive role with the latter pair who nervously accept his help. Is he getting too involved, though?

Disher is a master of the Australian crime novel. His settings (inner city Melbourne, Geelong, country Victoria) are well conveyed, and his characters are easily believable. There’s plenty of fine detective work, as well as an abundance of dry wit and clever banter between the characters. All four story lines have credible plots, some of which feature twists and red herrings, and venture into the territory of fundamentalist religions, paedophiles and domestic abuse.

Acting Sergeant Alan Auhl is difficult not to like, although his strong sense of justice and his resignation about the impotence of the legal system sometimes leads him to act beyond the its limits. Even though Disher’s website calls this a stand-alone crime novel, readers are bound to want more of Alan Auhl, so maybe he’ll be the start of a new series (fingers crossed). Excellent Aussie crime fiction.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Soho Press

Alan Auhl puzzled me. For most of Under the Cold Bright Lights, by Garry Disher, Auhl is a very good man. He shelters women and children escaping from abusive partners in his home. He works doggedly on cold cases in and around Victoria, Australia. He even has a good relationship with his ex-wife. Hell, this novel is bookended with Auhl going on down on women and worrying that he hadn’t shaved closely enough. But Auhl commits criminal acts in this crowded, busy book that still have me re-evaluating just how “good” Auhl actually is. Can a detective turn vigilante and still be considered a good person?

There are a lot of plots and sub-plots in Under the Cold Bright Lights. In the opening chapters Auhl’s docket fills up. There is a cold case featuring a dead rancher, whose daughters call Auhl once a year to ask for updates. Then there is a male skeleton found underneath a cement slab on property with a tangled history. And then there is a custody battle over a girl who is staying with her mother in Auhl’s house; the girl’s father is a terrible man. Oh, and there’s another terrible man who might be a Bluebeard and a cult. This really is a busy book, almost like short stories told in parallel with each other.

I was enjoying this novel, for the most part, until the moment with Auhl starts crossing ethical lines. On the one hand, Auhl and the women involved in his cases and the women he shelters are caught in impossible situations. Either they’re trapped by their circumstances; they don’t have the money and wherewithal to escape. In the case of the custody dispute, the father has the money to hire a good lawyer. The mother is so broken down and afraid that she fails to make a good impression on the court—who believe that any father is better than none. When the mother panics at the thought that the father might get more time with their daughter, she runs and makes everything worse (legally speaking). The law can’t or won’t deliver justice in this case or in the case of the possible Bluebeard. But taking action against these mean would mean that Auhl becomes a criminal himself, no matter how much we might sympathize with him. What bothered me is that I actually would have been okay with Auhl’s vigilantism if it weren’t for the fact that it seemed out of character. His criminal acts struck me as more startling than anything else.

Readers looking for a mystery in a far-off setting and/or mysteries involving breakthroughs in cold cases might like this book. Also, readers looking for a (mostly) good guy protagonist might also enjoy Under the Cold Bright Lights. I think this book was weak in terms of character development, but the investigations were pretty good.

Garry Disher writes several popular Australian crime series. Under the Cold Bright Lights, however, is a standalone featuring cold case detective Alan Auhl, which is sure to appeal to fans of Jane Harper or Ian Rankin.

I loved Alan Auhl as a character; he was gruff and smart and kind, and the way Disher weaves together 3 separate cold cases and complicated things going on in Auhl's personal life make for an addicting read.