Therese Taylor

This novel is partly a work of crime fiction and partly a story about class. Zeynab Gamieldien — the inaugural winner of the 2022 Westwords–Ultimo Prize and whose work has also been shortlisted for the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction — is adroit in showing the mirroring of racial stereotyping, disadvantage and the prosecution of crime in Sydney. Learned Behaviours describes Sydney vividly but with a circumspect vagueness.

The initial drama is unleashed when Clementine is instructed by her father to read an inscription during the unwrapping of a mummy. The mummy turns out to have a grotesque form—it is an individual body with two heads. There is also a perfectly preserved amulet carved from red jasper, a stone once believed to be synonymous with the blood of Isis. Driscoll unwinds the story with more sensitivity than the Victorians who gaped at ancient Egyptian corpses.

Tim Ayliffe was recently interviewed by Catherine du Peloux Menagé, Director of the BAD Sydney Crime Writing Festival. This event was held as part of the author talks programme at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts. Ayliffe presented his recently published novel, The Wrong Man. Abbey’s Bookshop had a stall, where members of the audience were able to buy copies for the author to sign. The Wrong Man is part of a series, but can easily be read on its own.