Blood Moon (novel)

Blood Moon is a 2009 crime novel by the Australian author Garry Disher.

This was the fifth in the author's Peninsula Crime series of novels.

Synopsis
"Schoolies" week is about to begin on the Mornington Peninsula as a lunar eclipse approaches promising that the local police will be kept busy keeping the non-locals under control. Meanwhile, Inspector Hal Challis and Sergeant Ellen Destry are investigating the bashing of Lachlan Roe, chaplain at Landseer School. And then a member of the local council's planning staff is murdered.

Critical reception
In Australian Book Review reviewer Tony Smith noted :"Garry Disher is a prolific author who lacks due recognition. Like all good crime authors, Disher ensures that the plots in the Challis novels proceed at a credible pace. He has the ability to reveal evidence incrementally so that the reader does not feel patronised by detectives who seem too obtuse or too clever...In Disher's hands, the crime novel is multi-layered. In Blood Moon there is suspense, and there are mysteries to be solved, but the novel's unique strength arises in Disher's cast of characters and the convincing way that he handles their imperfections. Without any trace of intrusiveness or didacticism, Disher uses an intricate web of relationships to expose hypocrisy and question popular notions of justice...Because Disher does not write to a formula and enjoys his literary work, Blood Moon gives the reader a rare sense of satisfaction."

A reviewer for Publishers Weekly wasn't so impressed with the resolution of the novel: "Disher has a gift for terse description (e.g., Challis's boss 'wore the look of a man who'd been adored but only by his mother and long ago'). While the deus ex machina solution to the official's murder may disappoint some, the personal interactions among Challis and his colleagues will quickly engage even newcomers."

Publishing history
After its initial publication in Australia by Text Publishing in 2009, it was reprinted by Soho Press in USA in 2010. The novel was also translated into German in 2012.