Being from Melbourne, I really enjoyed the setting of Brunswick Street and it reminded me of what Brunswick Street used to be. Found the characters really interesting and had complex background stories which gave the book great depth.

The winner of the inaugural ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Prize, Brunswick Street Blues is an entertaining crime fiction debut from Sally Bothroyd.

Though she’d rather be behind the bar at the Phoenix, when the Brunswick Street pub owned for forty years by her adoptive father, Baz, is subject to a barrage of anonymous complaints, Brick Brown gets a job in the PR department of Melbourne’s Yarra City Council in hopes of identifying the complainant. Sneaking into the archive room after hours in search of paperwork that might give her answers, Brick is horrified to find the body of the Mayor, Dickie Ruffhead (which explains the bad smell that has permeated the council offices). She can’t admit to the break-in so Brick decides to leave an anonymous message on her boss’s voicemail, but when the Mayor’s death is announced, she’s puzzled by reports that Dickie was found at home, the victim of a heart attack.

Connecting the cover-up to rumours of corruption involving the Development Consent Committee, a theory that seems to be supported by the sudden interest of respected investigative journalist, Mitch Mitchell, in council business, Brick wonders if it may be related to the attacks on Baz’s bar. She’d discuss it with Baz except he’s closed the Phoenix and left behind only a brief voice message, claiming he is in need of a few days break. Digging around with some help from Sue, a writer for the neighbourhood paper, results in Brick repeatedly crossing paths with Mitch Mitchell, but it’s not until she stops him being bundled into the boot of a black Mercedes by a couple of thugs that he’s willing to share information.

Brick and Mitch quickly realise that the corruption isn’t confined to a deal between a property development company and select Yarra City councillors but extends into higher levels of government, and someone is willing to kill to protect their secrets. The action and suspense ramps up as the pair uncover missing documents, suspicious deaths, hidden tunnels, identity theft, long repressed memories all while enduring attempts on their lives. There’s quite a lot going on with the plot, perhaps a little too much, throwing off the pace at times, but I really enjoyed how it all came together at the end, and much of the humour too.

In her mid-to-late twenties (I think), Brick is a likeable character. Abandoned as a baby, she lived in several foster homes before being (not-quite-legally) adopted by Baz as a young child, with several secrets exposed over the course of the book that reveal more about her early childhood. Her unconventional background and skills come in handy, as does her eclectic group of friends and acquaintances that includes a paranoid record store owner, an IT specialist, a parking inspector, a former councillor, and Brick’s newly returned roommate, a doctor who has been working in Somalia. Inevitably there is the development of romance between Brick and Mitch, but it’s not intrusive.

While it has its flaws, I liked a lot of elements of the plot, many of the characters and the balance of humour, suspense and action. If Brunswick Street Blues is intended to introduce a series then Bothroyd has laid a decent foundation to build on.

*****
FYI Publisher: The formatting on the ARC was really awful!

An entertaining first book from author Sally Bothroyd, Brunswick Street Blues combines two story threads, one involving the disappearance of heroine Brick Brown’s Uncle Baz, and the other involving Brick’s discovery of Mayor Dickie Ruffhead dead in the archives of the council building where she works. Journalist Mitch Mitchell becomes involved and reluctantly allows Brick to work with him as he investigates the murder and tries to write the story his father died writing. This book takes plenty of tongue-in-cheek digs at councils generally and at some members of the media, which helps to ensure that things are kept light. The mysteries Brick finds herself investigating get a bit convoluted at times and there are spots in the book where the pace slows right down to a plod but overall this is an entertaining read.

2.5★s

Brick Brown, once foster child, and then adopted by Uncle Baz, had worked most of her life in the bar of her uncle’s much-loved Blues venue. Her day job was to do the PR work for the city council. But when she found a dead body – that of the mayor – in the archives, where she wasn’t meant to be, Brick quickly left the area without reporting the find. The anonymous report to the council of the smell permeating the offices might work…

Uncle Baz’s pub, The Phoenix on Brunswick Street, had long been home to Brick, and Uncle Baz lived in an apartment upstairs. When Baz went missing, Brick checked his apartment but couldn’t see anything missing except his guitar. So where was he? Her searching uncovered corruption and crime, blackmail and more. But would she find Baz? And would she stay safe?

Unfortunately, Brunswick Street Blues, debut novel by Aussie author Sally Bothroyd, felt stiff and stilted and not easy to read. The characters had no depth and were mostly unlikeable, plus the book wasn’t helped by the atrocious formatting of the ARC I was reading (as noted by other reviewers) with CONFIDENTIAL READING MATERIAL, spread across almost every page in block, bolded writing. The publisher has definitely done the author a disservice as it was difficult to concentrate throughout the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

THE ANTI-THEFT FORMATTING OF THIS ADVANCE COPY IS EXTREMELY DISTRACTING FROM THE STORY.
3.5★s
Brunswick Street Blues is the first novel by Australian author, Sally Bothroyd. Bar tender and sometimes jill-of-several-trades, Brick Brown has taken a job in the PR department of Yarra City Council because she’s concerned about her Uncle Baz’s pub, the Phoenix on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. She’s trying to subtly uncover the source of complaints to council that threaten the continuation of pub’s licence.

But sneaking up to the archives after hours nets her no information, just the dead body of the Mayor, Dickie Ruffhead. (So that’s what that smell is!) The PR department puts a different spin on his death, and some other weird things are going on, including that renowned war correspondent, Mitch Mitchell turns up at a council meeting, seeming very interested in a certain development. He remains tight-lipped when questioned, however.

When Baz shuts the pub and disappears, Brick isn’t too worried at first. But when he remains AWOL, she becomes concerned, and starts asking questions. When she spots Mitchell hanging around the Phoenix and the record shop next door, stalking him seems like a good idea and works in his favour when she foils a kidnap attempt.

From there the plot gets quite convoluted, involving a shady developer in cahoots with the Victorian Premier, the dodgy sale of a former convent, a number of hit-and-run accidents, a fall from a roof that might not be, aliases and false identities, adoptions, a hidden tunnel, look-alikes, missing documents, repressed memories, blackmail and corrupt councillors. The pace of the story is a little uneven, sometimes dragging, sometimes rushing headlong into action, and borders, at times, on slapstick.

Some of Brick’s choices defy logic, and most of the characters don’t have a lot of depth, but it’s conceivable that this could be the first of a series with more detail emerging later. In which case the quirky team will likely consist of a barmaid/council employee, a musical publican, an investigative reporter, a handy young IT whizz, a doctor, another journalist/mum and a paranoid record retailer.

It is to be hoped that the terrible formatting associated with the anti-theft measures evident on EVERY page is corrected in the final copy because it is extremely distracting, making the advance copy a less-than-pleasant read. Nonetheless, a creditable debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harlequin Australia.

As several other people have already commented the copy received from the publisher via Netgalley was extremely difficult to read. I persisted and tried not to let it affect my opinion of the book but it was difficult to do so.

Brunswick Street Blues is set in Melbourne and tells the story of Brick Brown who is supposed to have been found as a baby in Brick Lane, hence her unusual name. A rather convoluted tale of corruption in Melbourne political figures takes place with references to iconic events such as Melbourne Cup Day.

I felt the author was trying too hard at times to be clever and many of the characters she presented were unlikeable. There was a pretty good story in there and there were moments when I enjoyed the narrative but in the end there were too many coincidences and too many people who were supposed to be trendy or fashionably outrageous but were actually a bit gross.

With the proper formatting it is probably an okay read but not really my cup of tea.

‘This wasn’t the first time I’d encountered a dead body.’

Meet Brick Brown. Brick, who works as a bartender in her Uncle Baz’s Phoenix pub in Fitzroy, hates her day job in the public relations department of an inner-city Melbourne council. But she needs the money and is also keen to try to find out more about the noise complaints which threaten to close her uncle’s pub. And then, in the archive department, she discovers the dead body of the mayor. How can Brick report the body without admitting she was in the archives? Simple. Lodge a complaint about the smell.

Shortly afterwards, Brick’s uncle Baz goes missing. Where is Uncle Baz? When she visits his apartment above the Phoenix, Brick discovers that nothing is missing except his guitar.

A meeting of Council attracts an investigative journalist, Mitch Mitchell. Mitch and Brick soon join forces, and discover some dangerous links between the Melbourne underworld, property developers and corrupt politicians. Can Brick find the truth she is looking for, and her Uncle Baz?

Ms Bothroyd takes us into inner-city Melbourne, into a council so hidebound by process and procedure that only the parking inspectors seem to be effective. And Brick herself is an interesting character: a foster child with limited memory of her life before being adopted by Uncle Baz. Her quest to find her uncle and the threats to the Phoenix lead Brick (and Mitch) into a dangerous world and take Brick into the past.

It took me a while to get into this story. I enjoyed the humour and rolled my eyes a couple of times at the descriptions of an inept council but then I became caught up in Brick’s search for her own past, and for her Uncle Baz.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia HQ for providing me with a free electronic copy of this
book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

A cheeky tale of murder, missing persons and Australian larrikinism in the vibe of Les Norton - set in 2007 in Fitzroy. A very funny novel from the perspective of Brick Brown, barmaid and council worker, living the inner city hipster life of my generation while trying to stay out of trouble and solve the mystery of her uncle Baz's whereabouts

Contains hilarious (ly true) depictions of Melbourne city council's, the Melbourne Cup, underworld crime and AFL footballers

Brick Brown is a foundling, abandoned as a baby in Brick Lane (hence her name - really?). She remembers having a wonderful foster mother who disappeared and then being adopted by the man she calls Uncle Baz. He owns the Phoenix pub where Brick has always helped out after school and during holidays. Now she has a job in the PR department of the local council, she still helps out at the pub in her spare time. The pub is a popular Blues venue, often with impromptu jam sessions at all hours.

When Baz disappears, Brick isn't too worried at first as he often takes off for a day or two but as the days go by she becomes more concerned and tries to track him down. She also uses her job at the council to look into rumours that a property developer is after the Phoenix and the pub next door and that someone on the council is involved. Then there's the body she found when she broke into the council archives - the one that mysteriously disappeared afterwards. Investigative journalist Mitch Mitchell has also got the scent of some shady dealings at the council so it's not long before their paths cross.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I liked the premise very much, but I felt the novel was trying too hard to be light and funny and the plot wasn't particularly novel or interesting. The characters were mostly pretty flat, and the work-avoiding, inept council staff felt too stereotyped, with Brick's confidant, Brucie and Bernie the traffic inspector, the only ones who felt real. However, as a debut novel introducing Brick as a sleuth, there is potential to develop this into a series.

Brunswick Street Blues is the story of Brick Brown, a foster child who had been passed around from foster family to foster family, until she found her adoptive family with her beloved father Uncle Baz.

Baz runs the Phoenix pub in Brunswick where Brick has worked most of her life as a barmaid. Brick has recently found herself a day job working for the local council in their PR department. Whilst at work at the Council, Brick discovers a dead body in the archive department, the deceased is the local town Mayor. Everything around this discovery is quite mysterious.

Shortly after this discovery Brick's Uncle Baz, goes missing, she goes to his apartment above the pub and nothing is missing apart from his guitar.

Brick takes it upon herself to find her Uncle Baz, and stumbles upon some dirty property developers and politicians that are involved in Melbourne's underworld of crime.

The story is a little slow, but it really heats up towards the end, there are a couple of parts where I was truly fearing for Brick's safety.

Thankyou to Netgalley, Harlequin Australia and Sally Bothroydfor this advanced copy in return for my honest review. I rate this novel 3 stars.