White Throat is the second book in Sarah Thornton's excellent Clementine Jones series. Clem is house-sitting on Queensland's beautiful and peaceful Great Sandy Straits ,mostly populated by retirees, with 2 dogs for company, what could possibly go wrong?
Readers of Lapse,the first book in the series, will know that Clem attracts trouble like a dog attracts Fleas and she's soon rocked by the discovery of an old family friend being found dead in a local quarry. The Police say it's suicide,Clem thinks differently and her life,once again,becomes very complicated as she stirs up a Hornet's Nest as she pursues her own investigation. Trouble literally knocks on her door in the form of Torrens, the man mountain wrecking machine who's the star of the small town Aussie Rules footy team that she managed in "Lapse", and between them they manage to cause more than a little trouble in paradise.
What ensues is an entertaining and involving tale of political corruption, car chases,not one but 2 Hit men, environmentalism, murder ,mayhem .........and Turtles that can breathe through their rear ends,which as far as I know is a first in a Thriller novel.
I'm not sure where Clementine Jones goes from here, she burns more bridges than the most ardent Venetian arsonist in this book .
A worthy follow up to Lapse,this one can be read as a standalone but you'll get more from it if you have the previous episode.

White Throat – the second book in the Clementine Jones series. Clementine Jones, a disgraced lawyer, becomes a dog-sitter on the beach overlooking the Great Sandy Straits in Australia so she can hide from her former life. While “in hiding” her friend Helen is found dead. The authorities conclude suicide – but Clem is not sure, and she decides to investigate. Between attempting to save an endangered fresh-water turtle, to protesting possible development of land close to the turtle sanctuary, to negotiating a possible return to her former career and lifestyle, Clem is a woman of today. Smart, intuitive, fearless, and determined to find the truth. This is a book filled with topical issues and a female protagonist that will not disappoint.
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White Throat is the second book in the Clementine Jones series by Australian author and former lawyer, Sarah Thornton. Unable to face the town of Katinga once the uncomfortable facts of her past become known, lawyer/football coach Clementine Jones flees to the coastal Queensland village of Piama.

Her boredom with dog-sitting in an idyllic little fibro shanty on the beach leads to a bit of behind-the-scenes legal work and lobbying for the local conservation group, Wildlife Association of Great Sandy Straits, coincidentally run by a close family friend, Helen Westley. The object of their campaign is the multi-national mining company proposing a port development that will require dredging of the tidal flats, destroying the habitat of the endangered white-throated snapping turtle, a biological wonder— a cloacal ventilating turtle. Auntie Helen wants her to take a more prominent role, but Clem prefers to stay under the radar.

Then Helen’s body is found at the base of a fifteen-metre cliff in the local quarry; the police rule suicide, but Clem is certain that Helen has been murdered. The motive surely involves the port proposal, so Clem reasons that opponents of the WAGSS campaign are suspects, and the only way to assess their guilt will be to take on Helen’s role and interview them.

Clem finds herself soliciting for funds and planning next steps with volunteers in the campaign in between checking out the mine’s representatives, the mayor (who sees the jobs likely to be generated by the mine as votes), and the representative of a group of residents, stung by a financial scam and so desperate to sell their properties at the inflated prices the mining company will offer.

Distractions from her covert investigations are the arrival of one of the Katinga football team (an ex-con seeking a place to lie low), calls from a Katinga lover, a puzzling irregularity in Helen’s will and, despite her ruined reputation, a few job offers.

As Clem tries to pressure police to actually investigate Helen’s death, she also does a girly act for the unconsciously patriarchal, collects mud samples from tyres, is pressured to return to her footy coaching role, plants listening devices, and makes unlawful entries, all while unaware of a watcher (or two).

Before Clem has discovered what really happened to Helen, she has fished from a tinny, engaged in a spot of blackmail, impersonated a criminal lawyer, been pissed upon, indulged in phone sex, pretended to be corruptible, watched turtles hatch, and made promises she has no intention of keeping, There is gunplay, but Clem’s weapons are a green plastic water-pistol and a spear-gun.

Instalment two of Clementine Jones is certainly topical: Thornton easily evokes her setting and the mindset of the locals; if Clem’s tendency to underestimate the degree of difficulty of task she sets herself, or overestimate her abilities, that just adds entertainment value in the lead-up to a very exciting climax. Often darkly funny, this is excellent Australian crime fiction.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Text Publishing.