Paul Thomas: The Empty Bed

By GORDON McLAUCHLAN

The simple demand of crime fiction is that it be fast-paced, well-plotted and hang you up in suspense - in a word, entertaining. Characters must not meander through their inner selves for too long, if at all, but must briskly shape up to the intrigue and mayhem of the world outside.

It's not as easy as it sounds. In fact, no New Zealander has been good enough to get an international readership in this genre since Ngaio Marsh stopped writing 25 years ago. And before her? Well, no one really.

Which makes Paul Thomas a remarkable phenomenon in New Zealand writing. Though he was born in England and lived in Australia during the 90s, he has spent most of his life here and is back again. He can write crime fiction - very well, as he demonstrates with his fifth novel.

The hero/narrator of The Empty Bed, teacher Nick Souter, is married to Anne, who is both beautiful and successful as the high-earning proprietor of a Sydney public relations consultancy. Seems a bit of a mismatch to the casual observer.

Certainly her family thinks so, and you get the feeling early on that Nick thinks she's a bit too good for him too.

He finds a love note to her signed by "J". Should be easy to sort that out - except that just about every man they know together, and some she knows through her business, is a Joe or a Jeremy or a Jordie.

Anne admits to a brief and meaningless liaison and urges Nick to forgive her. Trouble is, paranoia has nested in his mind and, as he begins to suspect her of infidelity on a grand scale, she kicks him out.

Anne is found dead and "who done the adultery?" becomes "who done the murder?".

Experienced whodunit readers should spot the villain fairly early, using the tried and so often true technique of ignoring the most likely suspects. But on the way to this conclusion, one is lured down many an interesting and entertaining cul-de-sac.

Thomas writes with genuine pace and the story is peopled by some we learn to like and some we learn to hate.

So, yes, the story-telling is very professional.

Oh, but another requirement for the modern crime novel is sardonic wit, either from a character or the narrator. Here, Thomas only just gets a pass mark.

HarperCollins

$31.95