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A satire on life in small-town Australia, this clever murder mystery introduces William Power—actor, raconteur, and Shakespearean impresario. In 1942, with war raging in Europe and the Pacific, the Japanese army is on Australia's doorstep, and the small coastal Queensland town of Maryborough is on full alert. They are not, however, prepared for the arrival of a troupe of incompetent actors whose unjustifiably self-confident leader is determined to bring his daring production of Titus Andronicus to the rural barbarians. Unfortunately for Power, when a young woman goes missing and is found floating dead in the town's water supply, he becomes the prime suspect in her murder. With every misplaced step he takes, he becomes more and more embroiled in a series of crimes that baffle the police and horrify the locals.

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

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About the author

Robert Gott

33 books59 followers
Robert Gott was born in the small Queensland town of Maryborough in 1957, and lives in Melbourne. He has published many books for children, and is also the creator of the newspaper cartoon The Adventures of Naked Man. He is also the author of the William Power trilogy of crime-caper novels set in 1940s Australia: Good Murder, A Thing of Blood, and Amongst the Dead.

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5 stars
21 (14%)
4 stars
65 (43%)
3 stars
48 (32%)
2 stars
16 (10%)
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Damo.
480 reviews74 followers
June 20, 2024
It's 1942 and the William Power Players have arrived in the small Queensland town of Maryborough where they plan to put on a production of Titus Andronicus. The William Power Players is a troupe of 8 with limited acting abilities and a variety of physical conditions that have prevented them from joining up to go to war. What these thespian wannabes lack in ability, they more than make up for with their belief in their ability and also their antagonism towards one another. Their disdain is even more obvious when it comes to their leader. But the poor regard by which his players hold him is soon to become the least of William Powers' problems.

In the short time that he is in town, William befriends a young local woman and accompanies her to the movies before seeing her home to her (slightly crazy) mother. After a bizarre evening in which he was screeched at by the mother and then witnessed an alarming fight between the young woman and her brother - a brawl, actually - he calls it a night and heads back to his hotel. The next time he sees the woman, her body is being recovered from a water tank after she was missing for a number of days. The obvious suspect is the new guy in town who was the last person seen with her, William Power.

Things would probably not have been so bad for Power if he didn't insist on trying to solve the murder himself. It's one thing to be accused of murder and be forced to proclaim your innocence convincingly, it's a totally different kettle of fish to race around a strange town in an effort to dig up evidence to prove someone else guilty in a bid to clear your name.

Yet, in a completely bumbling sort of way, this is what Power decides to do. It seems that no matter what move he decides to make he always manages to dig himself a little deeper into trouble. So when the first murder is followed by more deaths, the prime suspect is always going to be the stranger new in town and already a suspect in the first murder.

Adding more problems to William's mounting worries is the organization, rehearsal and promotion of the performance of Titus Andronicus. It becomes apparent that William Power is not the all-commanding thespian he would have people believe and, with his attention being taken by the events in town, he has all but lost what little respect he had from his fellow players.

Good Murder is a lively murder mystery that captures a terrific sense of the mood of the era in which it is set very convincingly. Told from the first person perspective of William Power, we are made to feel almost sympathetic to his plight. If you believe Will’s side of the story you get the impression that he is a with-it, calm individual who is able to survive any kind of adversity with cool aplomb. But the rest of the Maryborough locals and his fellow actors all see him as a jumped up selfish ponce.

Robert Gott constructs a neat murder and then effortlessly slots together a cunningly devised situation that points to only one man who must be the murderer. But surely it can't be. As annoyingly pedantic as he is, as annoyingly self-serving as he comes across, as stubbornly pig-headed to the point of stupidity as he seems, surely William Power, the small-time actor with flat feet can't be the killer. Can he?

Full of growing disbelief and righteous outrage, Power works with increasing despair to clear his name with the tone of the story frequently crossing from desperately serious to quietly humorous. But as funny as we the readers find it, you can tell that the outrage and determination factor is climbing and so are the chances that things are going to get worse for Power before they get better.

This is a very entertaining murder mystery with the distinguishing feature of being set in rural Australia during the Second World War. An unusual cast of supporting characters (as can often be found in small Australian towns) provide some amusing diversions, but it's William Power who steals the show. It just remains to be seen whether the show in question is Titus Andronicus.
Profile Image for Jenny.
2,353 reviews73 followers
November 28, 2019
Good Murder is book one in the William Power Mystery series by Robert Gott. William Power and his band of actors decided to take their production of Titus Andronicus to Maryborough, Queensland. However, on arrival in Maryborough, a young girl went missing, and William Power became prime suspect after the girl turns up dead. The readers of Good Murder will continue to follow the investigation into the death of the young girl to see what happens to William Power and his troupe of actors.

Good Murder is the second book I have read of Robert Gott, and I enjoy it. Incorporating satire in this book was well done by Robert Gott, and it made me laugh. I love Robert Gott portrayal of his characters and the way they interact with each other throughout this book. Good Murder was well written and researched by Robert Gott. The description of the settings of Good Murder excellently done by Robert Gott and compliment the plot fantastically.

The readers of Good Murder will learn about living in Australia in 1942 during the second World War. Also, the readers of Good Murder will understand the problems troupe of actors have in touring rural Queensland during the 1940s.

I recommend this book.
Profile Image for Emma Darcy.
527 reviews10 followers
March 24, 2019
Sometimes a truly unlikeable , unreliable narrator works really well. You need your secondary characters to be strong enough to be main characters in their own right- that's the idea after all. Your protagonist doesn't realise he's not the main character, that the others are, and that he's just getting in the way.

This was so much fun, really good red herrings. The best part about the final confrontation was Will's complete and utter confusion. The only let down was the stonefish.
Profile Image for Scribe Publications.
560 reviews98 followers
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June 5, 2018
No sooner than our weekend papers have started to pronounce a crisis of Oz Lit than along comes this absolute gem of a debut novel, a comic crime caper of the first order! Gott … has created a fully realised fictional world here that combines careful plotting with a fine sense of pace to deliver a completely satisfying read — and in William Power a most memorable comic creation! And as a wordsmith and stylist Gott has few equals I suspect …
Martin Shaw, Readings Newsletter

This is an intriguing, amusing and well-constructed parody whodunit debut.
Windsor Dobbin, Herald Sun

The storyline and characterisation make this a highly original piece of crime fiction … What I liked most about Good Murder was its language and humour … the dialogue is funny and pithy.
Ed Wright, Sydney Morning Herald

Elegantly rendered in a kind of high literary pastiche, Good Murder is a brilliant debut.
Graeme Blundell, Weekend Australian

Good Murder is ‘an absolutely hilarious read … Gott’s stellar accomplishment is his ability to sustain the tragically absurd voice of narrator Will Power … The results are brilliantly achieved and really really very funny … The author worked previously as a cartoonist, and that fine mental eye for caricature, humour and social observation shine through in this work that we can only hope is the first of many Will Power’s adventures.
Warren Hately, Fremantle Herald
Profile Image for Jayne.
1,213 reviews11 followers
December 18, 2022
3.5 stars

"The water tower in Maryborough sat on the corner of Adelaide and Anne Streets. It held one million gallons of water and, for two weeks in August 1942, it also held the body of a 24-year-old woman named Polly Drummond. Afterwards it was impossible not to be appalled by the realisation that each time we drank a cup of tea we were imbibing Polly Drummond, and that each time we took a bath we were splashing ourselves with Polly Drummond."

So opens this mystery set in 1940s country Australia. Revolving around the Power Players, a touring Shakespeare company, this mystery is a satire of small town country Australia with all the usual cast of characters. Will Power, the head of the Power Players, sees himself as an amateur sleuth. He is pompous, arrogant and deluded as to his own importance and crime solving abilities.
An interesting mystery, which I did not solve until the end.
Profile Image for Flex and Herds from Death of the Reader.
54 reviews12 followers
February 27, 2021
Good Murder, and I cannot beleive I am saying this, comes in at Fourth Place, for our 2020 recommendations this Review Season. If you followed Death of the Reader in 2020, you’ll know that this was a very contentious book for me (Flex) this year, but despite the hard time we initially gave Robert Gott for his creative reimagining of an infamous death in his hometown of Maryborough, the chaotic William Power finds himself just shy of a podium finish.

Good Murder follows the self-centred William Power as his troupe of actors, the Power Players, arrive in Maryboruough for a performance of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus to a town who are so disinterested that most of them presume that it’s the circus in town and pay it no more mind. All of a sudden William finds himself the town’s main act after local girl Polly Drummond is found dead in the town’s watertower the night after a flirtatious encounter between the two. With their recent fling drawing the suspicion of the police upon himself, William Power goes about trying to prove his own innocence and catastrophically fails when Polly’s brother comes plummeting from the sky during a flight with the local RAF, and then again when another crime is pinned to his bloody-red hands days later. Tensions are high, nobody trusts him, and still Will keeps stepping on rakes.

With an outrageous cast of characters, from the brilliant execution of the town’s police who just about rip themselves apart over whether or not to believe in William Power’s innocence, to the exhausted members of Power Players, the town is filled with motion as the mystery is veiled through Will’s inability to keep track of it all. Characters like Arthur, one of Will’s longest-running troupe members, go from bland background piece to highlights of the novel with brilliance thanks to a chaotic impromptu heist that is just one of the gutsy actions dotting the innumerable messes Will lands himself in.

The pacing of the story beats is excellent, as each new punishment for William Power comes moments after you’ve breathed relief after the last. It’d be a disservice to spoil any of them, as the timing with which Robert Gott sweeps the rug out from under you each time you expect a regular murder mystery trope to begin is excellent. One of the things that makes this book difficult to review is that so much of the joy comes in experiencing these moments, right from the start, as Will is taken through abrupt left turn, after abrupt left turn.

There seem to be two major camps in online reviews for this book - people who think this is really just a mess and you’d be much better off reading Simon Brett’s Charles Paris series, and people who get it. Herds fell in that last camp, and at his behest, I took a slow transition from the first over to his side. This book is not an easy read, and if you’re not into some of the near-potty humour Gott employs to show how foolish William Power is, you might find yourself wishing to put it down, like I did. Scenes of characters offering to shake their urine-soaked hands with Will, and Will’s own constant judgement of the women around him were really offputting, but I soldiered on and came out the other side a stronger reader.

There is no doubt that if you want ‘actor detective’, Simon Brett’s Charles Paris is both a better actor, detective, and person, though narrowly on that third one, but that would be to completely miss the best part of Robert Gott’s brilliance in making you groan through every moment of William’s staggering obliviousness to his own hubris. William Power is the universe’s punching bag, and he’d be glad to hear me say the world revolves around him. His unchanging stupidity is the constant around which Gott flagrantly tosses every wild event that the small town of Maryborough could contain, and even some that it could not. William Power goes through hell for your entertainment, and you do him a disservice by treating him like a serious detective. You will find yourself disbelieving the gall with which Robert Gott pieces together one of the most ridiculous final acts I’ve ever read in murder mystery, and screaming in agony at its conclusion. Even if you still, then, cannot fathom how expertly Robert Gott has toyed with your emotions, and still wish you could unread what you have read, then truly, Robert Gott has won, and you are defeated in this battle.

I only hope that in trusting me with this recommendation, you understand that I went through pain to come to this position. There’s every chance you’ll actually enjoy it right from the beginning as Herds did, and see the war on William Power’s tenacity for what it is, in which case, great! If not, and you find yourself wishing for it all to end, let go. Sometimes, we treat this genre way too seriously, and Robert Gott has done an excellent job at highlighting the absurdities of the genre without tying us down with the technical rigours of a deconstruction. This novel will reward you with its twists and turns even though on many levels it is far from perfect. Its premise is a challenge, and I think the divisiveness from reviewers actually shows how well it achieves those goals. This book will not be for everyone, but we highly recommend you find out by trying, and sticking with it the whole way through, because this book really is something special, no matter where you fall. For that, we award it fourth place this Review Season.

You can catch our full thoughts on Good Murder, frustration and all, on Death of the Reader's podcast. We also had the chance to have Robert Gott himself on twice, so thanks to Robert for joining us!
Profile Image for Denise.
258 reviews4 followers
April 1, 2018
Have to say I didn’t like our MC, Will, a very unlikeable character - so that’s put me off wanting to read any of the other ‘Will Power Fiascos’. I’d still like to read Robert Gott’s other pair - Holiday Murders & Port Fairy Murders - however. The story line of this one was fun albeit seen through Will’s rather jaundiced eye, so I’m not totally put off.
326 reviews1 follower
February 19, 2020
Robert Gott has done a great job of creating a very unlikeable, self absorbed main character. I don’t know if I want to spend any more time with him enough to read book 2.
Profile Image for Kate.
1,038 reviews18 followers
January 20, 2012
To be honest, I found the main character a little annoying, and the evil villain an unwelcome surprise. William is full of himself and smugly sure of his own superiority, and never really (truly) learns his lesson or grows as a character.
836 reviews
November 28, 2016
I found this book very different to his other Mystery series. There was humour in the writing of the early part of the book, that disappeared as the book continued. Interesting war time tale of murder and mayhem in out back Queensland.
Profile Image for Mel.
87 reviews
Read
September 12, 2025
William Power is an asshole.

(complimentary.)

As Will is the first-person narrator of this entire venture, there's no omnipotent authorial voice to inform us the reader that Will is an unpleasant, abrasive, thickheaded snob.

And worse, a snob with quite less reason than he thinks to be so snobbish.

The book invites you to enjoy his caustic remarks on those around him, but to recognise what sort of abrasive, churlish asshole that also makes you.

And then it proceeds to put Will into what reads in turn as a comedy of errors and a send-up of a pulpy noir mystery's convenient confluence of events.

If you appreciate said Shakespearian comedies and or paperback pulp while also recognising their inherent ridiculousness, Will's effusive - or is that effluent? - tone of voice is likely for you.
17 reviews
July 5, 2021
If you’re looking for a typical whodunnit, this ain’t it.
“Good Murder” is well written, for sure. But the lead character is annoyingly arrogant beyond belief, lacking any humility. I read through to the end only to see the mystery solved, not for any season of wanting to finish this one before I read the next one in the series (which I won’t be doing).
Not a fan of some of the crass & vulgar language throughout.
Profile Image for Steve Castley.
Author 6 books
May 7, 2018
Gott has his own style and not one that really appeals to me. I considered putting it aside in the first 100 pages, but by then was hooked and wanted to know who the murderer was. It was a pleasant enough read, but Got is not on my list of favourite authors.
Profile Image for Biggus.
533 reviews7 followers
January 30, 2018
Look elsewhere, this doesn't do it. It doesn't know what it is trying to be. Read Simon Brett's Charles Paris to see how it should be done.
2,101 reviews9 followers
December 30, 2019
having read #3 thought I would go back ...a little Constable Ploddish for me.
Profile Image for Tony Bertram.
452 reviews3 followers
July 29, 2025
Good fun till the end. It becomes a little silly as the inept narrator gets his comeuppance.
Profile Image for Micheal.
Author 1 book2 followers
February 9, 2022
Hahaha I loved this one, just my kind of thing. It's a comical murder mystery, bordering on noir, set in Maryborough, Queensland, in the middle of the War. William Power is a terrible actor, a terrible detective and a terrible person. And, fair warning, some people might and evidently don't appreciate a character as unlikable and smug as William Power. But don't worry; the supporting characters really make this though, the ones who can see how much of a dickhead Power is. In fact, Power is so confident in his delusions of granduer that it makes a character such as him even more believable . Except for the end, but who cares when Gott put his anti-hero through Hell to get him there.

This would make for a really good TV series, actually. I don't know why that hasn't happened.
Profile Image for Karen ⊰✿.
1,649 reviews
February 14, 2017
This started out well, with an interesting setting of small town Queensland during WWII. The main character is also different to our usual hero types in that he is pretty crass and everyone dislikes him.
As the book went on, it just became irritating and the murder mystery was stupid.
Best summed up as lots of potential, but lacking execution.
2.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews

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