Sydney South Police District

The Sydney South Police District enters the novel through the work of its homicide investigators: an inquiry into Charlotte Lolles’s murder that turns on what Iska Peller saw and did at a mountain hut. The interview, led by homicide chief Neil McCormack, also exposes a tension between pursuing a potentially relevant disclosure and the inconvenience of investigating someone associated with the police.

Homicide Investigation

The district’s homicide chief, Neil McCormack, questions Iska Peller about Charlotte Lolles’s murder. Peller has come directly from her publishing job and did not approach the police on her own. McCormack initially expects a short interview, but her last answer changes its direction: she explains that, after the events at the hut, she had a brief encounter with a man she regarded as an idiot and had not thought the episode connected to Charlotte’s murder.

Peller says she had not mentioned it because nobody had asked, and because she saw no connection to the murder. McCormack recognizes the logic of her explanation. Her account nevertheless gives him a reason to reconsider the interview and ask her to start again from the beginning.

Internal Discomfort and Competing Priorities

McCormack would rather not pursue the disclosure. He anticipates trouble, inconvenience, and additional work if the person involved has the word police in his professional title. The scene does not establish what action the district ultimately takes on this matter, but it makes the reluctance itself part of the institution’s portrayal: the inquiry encounters not only a witness’s incomplete account but also the prospect of scrutiny involving someone connected to policing.

His personal plans sharpen that hesitation. McCormack has arranged to sail with his son at Watson Bay, where their boat is moored, and the sunlight on Port Jackson, the lingering bushfire smoke over Manly, and the warm northerly wind all make the outing seem close at hand. When Peller’s answer complicates the case, however, he sets aside his hope of finishing quickly and returns to the beginning of her account.

Connection to Harry Hole

The Sydney South Police District’s earlier connection to Harry Hole gives the interview a wider investigative context. McCormack had liked Hole and remembered him as having done good work while assisting the district with a major clown-murder case. He now worries that the Norwegian investigator, who sounded tired during their telephone conversation, may be losing his footing again. This recollection places the district within a history of cooperation with Hole while contrasting his earlier effective work with McCormack’s present concern about his condition.