Clem has fled north after the people of the Victorian town of Katinga have become aware of her past, after she brought its footy team to a premiership. She has ended up house/dog sitting in the coastal Queensland village of Piama.

There she meets up with a close family friend Helen who is working to save the white-throated turtle from extinction and its habitat from being destroyed by a mining company. Helen asks Clem to give legal advice to the conservation society and would like her to be more active and front-line.

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 and tries to work out who has been interested in getting rid of Helen. There are several candidates including some people who have been contributing financially to the cause.

Clem is also under pressure to say she will return to Katinga for the footy season, but she has other irons in the fire.

I didn't enjoy this novel as much as the first in the series, but Clem Jones is certainly a strong and interesting character. ( )

Here I was thinking Alan Carter’s Nick Chester was going to be the most pig-headed and stubborn crime lead I’d read all year, but Sarah Thornton has gone and trumped him on that score with her White Throat leading lady.

Clementine Jones is a woman who goes with her gut, much like J M Green’s Stella Hardy, and she would give Emma Viskic’s Caleb Zelic a run for his money when it comes to being reckless with her own safety, and at times the law. These qualities make her an easy person to befriend yet tough to care for, but most importantly for us, a thrilling lead for a contemporary crime thriller.

Thornton skillfully draws on this location’s inherent beauty, relative isolation and tropical climate to evoke tension and suspense, and the region’s prevailing demography influences Clem’s cunning investigative approach. Continue reading >> https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2020/12/white-throat-sarah-thornton-review.... ( )

Sarah Thornton’s second crime novel featuring Clementine Jones, is as compulsive reading as her first, Lapse.

Having fled Katinga in the wake of her past being discovered, Clem is house sitting in the small coastal town of Piama, Queensland, while she considers her next move. As restless as ever, she involves herself in a local conservation effort to save the endangered White Throated Snapping Turtle at the urging of the leader, and old family friend, Helen Westley. When Helen’s body is discovered at the base of a cliff, Clem refuses to accept the police’s conclusion that her death was the result of suicide, and sets out to prove Helen was murdered because of her activities opposing the local Port development project.

In searching for whomever is responsible for Helen’s murder, Clem uses her legal skills to ferret out the most likely subjects, and then uses less than legal means to dig deeper. There is plenty of suspense and action as Clem confronts her potential suspects, and Thornton provides intriguing twists and turns as Clem uncovers a mess of deception, corruption, and betrayal.

Clementine is a complex character, irrevocably scarred from causing the death of a woman in a drink driving accident, she is intent on punishing herself and has a tendency to behave recklessly. In White Throat she is determined to avenge Helen’s murder, no matter the risk to herself, and refuses to acknowledge the concern of those who care for her, namely Torrens, and Rowan.

While Rowan attempts to stay in touch with Clem via the telephone, Torrens, one of the young footballers Clem coached while in Katinga, makes a physical appearance in White Throat. He needs a place to lay low after receiving an unorthodox inheritance, but trouble follows him, adding another layer of threat to the story. I really like the friendship between Clem and Torrens, though that’s at risk here when Clem finally admits she doesn’t plan to return to Katinga.

While White Throat could be read as a stand alone, I recommend you don’t miss out on the experience of also reading Lapse, as both are well crafted, exciting, and entertaining reads. I’m already looking forward to the next. ( )