Just finished 'Tell Me Why' and wow, it's like someone injected caffeine straight into my reading veins. Georgie Harvey isn't your typical detective—she's a copywriter with a nose for trouble that would put bloodhounds to shame. The way she bulldozes through this mystery had me both cheering and yelling 'Girl, NO!' at the pages.
That scene where she's digging through old murder files while eating Vegemite toast? Pure chaotic energy. And Constable Franklin with his 'by-the-book-but-not-really' attitude creates this delicious tension every time their paths cross. The Aussie slang had me googling terms like 'ute' at 2am, but it added such authentic flavor.
What really got me was how the quiet country setting slowly unravels into this web of poison pen letters and cold case murders. One minute you're reading about quaint tea shops, the next—BAM—someone's kidnapping babies. Wallace doesn't just write scenes, she builds entire worlds you can smell (eucalyptus and gunpowder, apparently).
Fair warning: it's got all the gritty realism of true crime—blood, swearing, and morally gray characters. But that's what makes it feel alive. When Georgie delivers her iconic 'hit the bitch switch' line during the climax? Chills. Actual chills. Already downloading Book 2.