Nice cover, nice title, set in Melbourne in 1930 at the time of the Depression, and the fear of a Polio epidemic which wrought havoc in many countries before the vaccine was introduced.

I probably should have liked it more than I did but using children as amateur detectives did not really grab me. I did like Jude, the father, who was a real detective but we spent much more time with 13 year old Morris, his cousin Flo and friend Sam. I am the odd one out here as most people are giving it four or five stars. I thought it was a good book but not a great one.

There is plenty of Australian historical rural crime fiction around at the moment. So much so, that it might be possible to identify an even more niche subgenre – historical rural crime fiction narrated in whole or in part by children or teenagers. The best known is probably Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones but other recent examples include Greg Woodland’s The Night Whistler and Maryrose Cuskelly’s The Cane. Sean Wilson’s debut Gemini Falls is narrated by a teenager, with all of the positives and negatives that come with that narrative decision, but sets itself apart in this sub-sub genre with its setting – rural Victoria during the Great Depression.
Thirteen year-old Morris Turner overhears his detective father Jude taking a phonecall about a murder of a teenage girl. Soon both Morris and his sister Lottie are accompanying Jude to his old home town of Gemini where he has been sent to investigate. The three stay on the family farm, now run by Jude’s brother. Morris finds his teenage cousin is an armchair detective and the two decide to investigate the murder themselves. They, of course, make wild assumptions and get themselves in trouble while the real investigation goes on in the background.
The interest here is not so much in the murder mystery or the naïve investigation run by the teenagers, but rather the time and place that Wilson evokes. The Depression had caused widespread unemployment and forced many out of their homes. Gemini is a small mining town where work is scarce and the young are looking for a way out, it has a camp of itinerants who are suspected of everything purely due to their poverty. And it does not take much for local politicians to stir up sentiment against the outsiders who are just looking for a place to sleep and enough to eat.
There is a strain of tragedy running through Gemini Falls, including the reason why Jude left in the first place. The action set during a tough time for the people and the country as a whole and the resolution of the investigation piles on more tragedy rather than any particular enlightenment. Despite this, Wilson manages to lighten the tone through Morris’s narrative voice - his optimism, loyalty to friends and family and fascination with the stars.

….....to tell you the truth I am a little lost for words to describe this book in order to do it justice. Despite the topic and other issues touched on, this was a story that was colorful and as beautiful in it's harshness as the small outback mining town in which it is set. I could hear the tones of Atticus Finch in Jude Turner as he imparted his knowledge of the stars and other wisdom to Morris. The 1930's depression setting evoked the black and white movie images of people dressed in smart neat attire or the braces and rolled up sleeves of the working class or those in the shanty towns.

The story is told by 13 year old Morris as he, along with his cousin Flo and her best friend Sam, set out to solve the murder case of Catherine Fletcher on their own. Afforded the luxury of the freedom of the era, the three intrepid detectives roam the town and surrounds searching for clues. Through their innocent eyes we get to know the many characters in the town of Gemini.

This story has been written in a style that ignites the imagination with the evocative descriptions of the landscape, the town and the people who live in and around Gemini. It is elegant, wise and polite reflecting the calm, controlled behavior of the people at a time where manners were in constant use. The author is also a playwright, which shows in the language that calls out to spoken aloud and reads with just as much pulchritude. I feel somewhat wiser on reading this book. Tales of the origins of the constellations were interwoven into the story and served to highlight important ideas in a way that further piqued the imagination. This also brought together the idea of the City and rural experience being shared, though miles apart in location.

I could waffle on and on about this book and how truly moving and elegantly beautiful it was to read. But I will just say, this is a book you should read. It has the Outback crime, historical fiction appeal, but it also a superb literary work. It is not all obnoxious or pretentious and I feel truly privileged to have been permitted to read this book prior to release.

Thirteen year old Morris Turner and his big sister Lottie lived with their father, Jude, a detective in Melbourne. It was 1930 and things were tight. When Jude heard of a young woman being murdered in his old home town of Gemini, he was asked to investigate. And with polio cases on the rise, Jude took the small family of three and headed to Gemini, never realising how their lives would change. They stayed in the small cottage beside the big house on the property Jude had lived with his parents and sibling. As the days turned into weeks, and Jude headed to town to work on the case, the children were left to their own devices. Roaming the town with their cousin Flo and her friend Sam, Morris and Lottie took in the countryside, enjoying the waterhole, and Gemini Falls a little out of town.

Flo saw herself as a detective, so the three younger children set to solving the murder. But danger came in many forms, and the camp outside town with the down-and-out people living there was one such place. Would the murder be solved? Mysteries, secrets and more rippled through the little town of Gemini...

Gemini Falls is the debut novel by Aussie author Sean Wilson and I enjoyed it. The more I read, the more it reminded me of another debut I read recently, set in Queensland
- Conviction. Told in the voice of thirteen year old Morris, his fears and anxiety ramped up on occasion. The death of his mother when he was very small impacted his life in a way he (and his father) hadn't realised. I remember many small towns like Gemini from when I was young - there are a lot of them spread across the dry, dusty landscape of Australia. Recommended.

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

Gemini Falls by Sean Wilson is an exciting debut novel. The story is set in the 1930s in Melbourne and rural Australia with the emergence of The Great Depression with massive unemployment and the frightening spread of polio epidemic, with vivid descriptions of both, giving an historical perspective of what it felt like and how many were struggling.

Following a murder of a young girl, Catherine Fletcher, in Gemini which is the home town of Melbourne based Detective Jude Turner, he is assigned to investigate the murder. So just prior to the end of the school year Jude decides to take is son Morris and sixteen year old daughter Lottie back to Gemini with him.

Morris and his family stay with his cousin Flo and Aunt Beth and Uncle Jimmy in the family rural property. Flo loves reading crime stories and persuades Morris and her friend Sam to undertake an investigation into the murder. The story is told through the eyes of thirteen year old Morris Turner which makes it an intriguing and unusual detective story that breaks a pattern of other recent novels of detectives going to small country towns to solve crimes/murders.

Gemini is a small country town where everyone knows everyone and for the most part everyone knows about everyone. Despite that there are lots of secrets that emerge - Why did Jude and his deceased wife leave Gemini? Why is Jude’s brother Jimmy so antagonistic towards Jude? Who killed Catherine Fletcher?

Well written and interestingly presented through the eyes of thirteen year old Morris with some very unexpected developments.

Highly recommended read.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from Affirm Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Interesting debut novel.
Written from the point of view from a 13 year old boy Morris. Morris, his sister Lottie and their dad Jude who is a detective live in the suburb of Hawthorn, Melbourne.
There is a murder in a small town called Gemini, Jude’s hometown and he has to go back to Gemini and investigate the murder.
Morris and his cousin Flo, along with her friend Sam, are trying to figure out who the murderer is.
I like the way it is written from Morris’s point of view, his interactions with everyone and the way the 3 kids just take off anywhere, anytime.
1930 would of been a hard time to live in, with the Great Depression and the onset of Polio. Really enjoyed. Recommended for anyone who loves historical stories.

Gemini Falls is a great debut novel from Sean Wilson. Set in 1930s Victoria, it is told from the perspective of 13 year old Morris. Morris teams up with his cousin and her friend to solve the mystery of "whodunnit". Along the way we also learn of Morris's family history as well as the challenges faced during the depression era. Well written at a steady pace, Gemini Falls is an enjoyable read.

Set in 1930 during the Great Depression, Gemini Falls by Sean Wilson is his debut crime mystery novel. It opens with Morris overhearing his police detective father’s telephone call. Jude Turner is sent to his former hometown despite having left under dubious circumstances, to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. Morris and his sister Lottie are forced to spend the summer in a strange place, having never been to Gemini Falls and unaware they had relatives in the town. With its evocative narrative, it is a coming-of-age family saga, that captures a small town at breaking point amidst the sweeping historical era of the Great Depression. An unfolding gem of a tale with a delightfully gentle narrative and subtle tale, with a four and a half star read rating. With thanks to Affirm Press and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

Set near Melbourne in country Victoria Australia during the Great Depression, and at the outbreak of the terrible and highly infectious Polio disease.
People are afraid to let their kids stray too far or mingle too closely with others for fear of them catching polio, they’ve seen close up evidence of its terrible effects on children.

Jude Turner is a detective and a single parent to thirteen year old Morris and his older sister Lottie.
When a young woman’s murdered body has been discovered at a coal mining site in the remote country town of Gemini, Jude Turner is assigned to the case.
Gemini is Jude’s old home town, the town he left behind many years ago. A town that still holds memories and grudges, and family. A town whose people he knows well.

With the fear of the spread of polio cases rapidly rising in the city, Jude decides to pack his things and take his two kids with him to live in Gemini while he investigates the murder. They can stay with his estranged family there in his old home.
Once settled there young Morris quickly makes friends with his cousin Flo who is a budding young investigator bent on solving mysteries.
With her young friend Sam, the son of the town mayor, Flo leads the investigation and the three kids make a pact to solve the murder case themselves.

Signs of the depression are everywhere with people doing it tough and the only real work available is at the coal mines where men toil hard for little return and jobs are held onto tightly.
With not enough work to go around, many families have become destitute and are living rough on the outskirts of the town, where roughly built camps of people living in commune style are growing daily.
Desperate for food and work, they are forced to beg for any scraps or donations from townspeople which has placed them in a position where they are frowned upon by many.
When word of the murdered girl gets around it is here that people’s accusations are automatically directed, and tempers start to rise.

A bit like Enid Blyton for grown ups, with detective Jude busy interviewing people around town as the three kids set about conducting their own investigations.. bent on solving the mystery first.
This was a solid murder mystery story which kept me interested to the end.
My only criticism is a particular bugbear of mine where otherwise good Australian writing is unnecessarily infused with snippets of “American speak”…I find it very off putting.

4⭐️s

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing my copy to read and review.

Gahhh, this book! Slowly, slowly I dove in and then I was hooked! Perhaps reminiscent of time I spent living in Central West NSW and my own lived experience of country towns and the secrets they keep, I was enthralled. It’s rare that I find myself thinking about when I can get back to “my book” during the day but this is how this one played out. Beautifully written and a great twist that I did not see coming. So much appreciation to #netgalley and #affirmpress for the ARC. Sean this was a joy to read, bravo.

Gemini Falls is a slow burn of a story told from the perspective of 13-yr-old Morris Turner.
Set in the 1930s depression era, you get a real feel for the lifestyle of both city and country folk, their fears, and their frustrations, as the town (and Morris and his mates) try to solve the murder.
A great coming of age story mixed in with a whodunnit.

Some of the writing is quite beautiful, other times very simple, all times enjoyable.
It’s hailed as the next Jasper Jones, but it reminded me also of Taking Tom Murray Home, another fantastic book set in Australia, also seen through young eyes.

Thank you Netgalley and Affirm Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Gemini Falls is a murder mystery set in a small Australian town, Gemini. A young woman is murdered and Jude, a detective from Melbourne who is originally from Gemini, heads to his hometown with his children Morris and Lottie to solve the case. Morris and his cousin Flo and new friend Sam set out to find the killer.

The story tells what it was like to live in a small Australian town, where everyone knows everyone during the Great Depression. You really feel what it's like in the town, poverty and an outside camp for people doing it tough. It was a little slow at times but picked up and I was keen to know who the killer was. Family secrets were divulged. I liked the relationship between Morris and his new friends. Flo was a headstrong young girl and Sam added good value.

This was a really captivating story and
I was so caught up in this book. Cant believe this is the authors first book. Definitely will be following Sean Wilson for more.

An engrossing historical murder mystery set in country Victoria in the 1930s, Gemini Falls by Sean Wilson holds the reader's interest to the last page.
The narrator is thirteen year old Morris Turner son of a Melbourne policeman who lives in a close-knit community with his father and sister, Lottie.
The choice of narrator is an interesting one, but Wilson keeps command of the young boy's voice and perspective throughout.
A late night phone call alerts the father to a murder, that of Catherine Fletcher, in his home town of Gemini and soon the family are packing up and heading off to Gemini and the family farm. Morris is puzzled by the reasons his parents left Gemini and the suspicion with which his father is treated by some townsfolk and his family.
While Jude Turner gets on with solving the case, Morris and his young cousin Flo and her friend Sam, the Mayor's son, embark on their own detective work, leading to scenes reminiscent of Blyton adventures.
There are distractions to solving the case caused by the presence of unemployed in a camp outside the mining town. As the Depression bites deeper, resentments between the townsfolk and campers build.
The town of Gemini and its surrounds, including the night sky, are beautifully realised and the period well researched.
The night sky is an important factor in the story providing an interest to Jude and his family and a philosophical basis to their lives.
The denouement is an exciting finish, and Morris and Lottie return to Melbourne much changed.
While an engrossing book for an adult reader, I would also recommend this book as Young Adult Fiction.

A great debut! Loved the old-world charm of Australia in the 1930s and the small town mystery. A little slow in places but the writing held up and kept me reading.

I'm not a fan of who-dunnit's. I hate them in fact. But this - this was eminently readable; mostly because it's written by an Aussie and set in Australia.

Poor little Morris Turner, son of a detective, gets dragged off to a small country mining town where his father grew up, so his father can investigate the murder of a young woman there. Morris "comes of age" after meeting new friends (and relatives he never knew existed) and they decide to solve this case themselves. Bit of a grim pastime if you ask me.

Sean Wilson sets the scene beautifully with his accurate and vivid descriptions of life during The Great Depression. It's easy to forget how tough things were during those times, let alone the fact that there was a Polio epidemic. Wilson also imparts a great feeling for the Australian bush, and the small town life. I can almost smell the stale beer odour of the typical pub! I found parts of the book to be slow and drawn-out and felt the story could have been shortened somewhat, but that might just be me. I'm a "get to the point already" type of bloke. The ending was a surprise - well written and nicely rounded off.

Quite the enjoyable book and worth 4 stars. My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Affirm Press for this advanced copy in return for my honest review.

‘The night Catherine Fletcher died, Capricornus was high in the northern sky.’

Melbourne, 1930. Thirteen-year-old Morris Turner lives with his widowed father, Jude a police detective, and his older sister Lottie. The Great Depression is taking hold, and cases of polio are on the increase. When a young woman is murdered in Jude’s hometown of Gemini, he is assigned to investigate. Who killed Catherine Fletcher and why? Jude left Gemini a long time ago, and his return is reluctant. He takes Lottie and Morris with him.

Jude and his family will stay on the family farm managed by Jude’s brother Jimmy. Morris and Lottie meet their Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Beth and cousin Flo. Flo sees herself as a detective and she and Morris, together with Flo’s friend Sam, start their own investigations.

‘The way I figure it, a murder is like a star system forming. People get pulled into orbit around it.’

While there is no clear suspect for the murders, the small community is quick to blame those camped outside the town. Morris is convinced that there is more to the case, and he and his new friends soon discover that there are many secrets in Gemini. Their investigations lead them into danger, but also unmask the murderer.

‘There’s more than one story in the stars.’

What an accomplished debut novel this is! An intriguing story, well-developed characters and a haunting backstory made it difficult to put this book down.

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

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Thirteen year old Morris Turner is 13 and, since the death of his mother when he was young, lives with his detective father Jude and his older sister Charlotte (Lottie) in Melbourne. It’s early summer in 1930 with the great depression is making life tough for many people and now the polio epidemic has struck and parents are fearful about letting their children play with others. When Jude is asked to investigate the murder of a young woman in his home town of Gemini Falls, he decides with the end of the school year not far away, to take Morris and Lottie with him to stay with his brother Jimmy and family on the old family farm. There Morris meets his cousin Flo, a fan of crime fiction, who ropes Morris and her friend Sam, the mayor’s son, into carrying out their own investigation into the murder.

As well as being a well written murder mystery set in a small Australian town, it is a coming of age story for Morris and Flo and an examination of a family where secrets and envy simmer just beneath the surface. Both the description and fell of the small town where everyone knows everyone (but maybe not all their secrets), the farm and the landscape are very evocative. The children are the stars of the novel, feisty, tomboy Flo, Sam the mayor’s son who wants to escape his parents’ expectations of him in public, and Morris, a sensitive boy who wants to know more about what happened to his mother. With Morris as narrator, we see the world from a child’s point of view, as well as situations he might not quite understand or read the wrong way. There are some heavy issues dealt with in the novel such as mental health, bigotry, domestic abuse and rape but presenting the investigation from the children’s point of view lightens the tone and makes it an engaging read.

Morris and Lottie’s father, Jude, is a detective in Melbourne during the Great Depression. Morris is twelve and Lottie sixteen. One day their lives are uprooted when Jude is called upon to solve a murder in his old home town of Gemini Falls in country Victoria, meaning that the entire family must move there for however long it takes to find the killer.
They stay with Jude’s brother James and his wife Beth, and daughter Flo. Morris, Flo and the mayor’s son Sam team up as amateur detectives trying to solve the mystery. Lottie finds the local teenage boys a more attractive proposition.
The writing is evocative and I could easily visualise the small town life where everybody knows everyone else’s business. With polio running rife and unemployment and poverty high, there are plenty of tensions to add to the atmosphere.
I enjoyed it right up until the end where unfortunately the author decided to moralise instead of letting the reader come to their own conclusions from the narrative. This led me to reduce my score from four stars to three.

What an amazing debut. I loved the writing style and was involved from the very first page.
'There's something I can't take my eyes off. I look away and my eyes wander back, fish following the bait' is an example of the beautifully descriptive prose sprinkled amongst the pages of this book.
A murder mystery told from the perspective of 13 year old Morris, who moves back to Gemini Falls with his sister Lottie and detective father to investigate a murder.
There are many mysteries here, why his father and mother left the town and moved to Melbourne, why his Uncle Jimmy is resentful and how polio is spread among children, and who committed the murder?
Set during the depression you can taste and smell the bush, the city, the mine. With a deft inclusion of astrology and star gazing thrown in this is a truly evocative book.