The Ink Stain

The Monsarrat Series, Book 4

Monsarrat and Mrs Mulrooney are sent to Sydney to investigate corruption that may go right to the top - the office of the Governor of NSW.

Henry Hallward, editor of the Sydney Chronicle, is a thorn in the side of the colonial administration. Hallward has been imprisoned several times for criminal libel and continues to edit his newspaper while incarcerated. This time, he’s in jail awaiting trial for suggesting that there have been some criminal financial dealings involving the CEO of the Australian Agricultural Company, a consortium of British landowners, some resident in the colony, some not, to whom the British government was giving a million acres of Australian land to develop. He has told friends that he has damaging information on someone close to the new Governor, which will shortly be revealed. First, though, he has to face court.

As he is being taken from Sydney jail to the courthouse, a shot is heard from a nearby building, and he falls dead to the ground. Monsarrat and Mrs Mulrooney are sent to Sydney, officially to assist in the investigation, unofficially to discover what they can about the story Hallward was working on....

©2019 Tom & Meg Keneally (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd