BOOK CLUB

THE SHIFTING LANDSCAPE

Katherine Kovacic, Echo, $29.99

Fraud, theft and murder exists in the Melbourne art world. Even so, Kovacic’s amateur sleuth, Alex Clayton, did not expect to find two out of three in the first 24 hours when she was summoned to Victoria’s Western District to inspect and value a magnificent collection of pastoral paintings. Kovacic started out as a vet and moved on to art history. Her research looks at the human/ animal bond through the eyes of artists. Although rural art plays a big role in the plot of her new novel, the wolfhound Hogarth features on almost every page. Endearing though he is, maybe in the next Clayton mystery he could be less of a scene-stealer.

Kovacic captures a combination of arrogance and bloody mindedness among