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The Price of an Orphan
When an orphan on an outback cattle station claims to have witnessed a murder, Stuart and Kay Heath remind him of the boy who cried wolf. Then Johnnie is about to be sent back to an orphanage when he and Kay are invited on a camping trip--a special treat or a cunning trap?
- GenresMystery
190 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 5, 2010
Patricia Carlon's books are all very good, but rather distressing. Of the three books of hers that I've read so far, the reader usually knows who the murderer is, and it's a cat and mouse game or some sort of struggle for the main characters to defeat the murderer, and all the other characters are sort circling around not really realizing anything's wrong. They're very suspenseful, claustrophobic, and generally, for me anyway, disturbing.
December 13, 2017
Carlon has a great personal story. I highly recommend reading her obit from the Sydney Morning Herald in full at http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/0...
From the SMH --- Patricia Carlon lived just long enough to see her crime thrillers revived in Australia, 40 years after she wrote them. This reclusive and rather secretive author died recently at the age of 75, knowing that her work - more appreciated overseas than in her home country - would live on beyond her.
Some of her mystery was dispelled immediately after her death. A sister and five nephews and nieces, unknown to those who dealt with her professionally, emerged in Melbourne. They revealed that Carlon, who lived self-sufficiently alone in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bexley, had been profoundly deaf since she was 11. This came as a surprise to everyone else who knew "Miss Carlon", from her long-time London agent and her publishers in Melbourne and New York, to the woman who handled her money at the local bank every Friday.
Knowledge of her deafness shines new light on the 14 crime novels Carlon first released in Britain between 1961 and 1970, which recently found new life in the United States and are being published in Australia.
Her American publisher, Laura Hruska, of Soho Press, said, "Her handicap made her an 'outsider', an observer, which all good writers certainly are." Text's Michael Heyward said, "It's so astounding a fact about a writer that once you know it you can't read her fiction in the same way. She tells stories about children who are unable to make adults understand what's going on and her narratives create portraits of claustrophobic environments that pertain to what we now know about her."
From the SMH --- Patricia Carlon lived just long enough to see her crime thrillers revived in Australia, 40 years after she wrote them. This reclusive and rather secretive author died recently at the age of 75, knowing that her work - more appreciated overseas than in her home country - would live on beyond her.
Some of her mystery was dispelled immediately after her death. A sister and five nephews and nieces, unknown to those who dealt with her professionally, emerged in Melbourne. They revealed that Carlon, who lived self-sufficiently alone in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bexley, had been profoundly deaf since she was 11. This came as a surprise to everyone else who knew "Miss Carlon", from her long-time London agent and her publishers in Melbourne and New York, to the woman who handled her money at the local bank every Friday.
Knowledge of her deafness shines new light on the 14 crime novels Carlon first released in Britain between 1961 and 1970, which recently found new life in the United States and are being published in Australia.
Her American publisher, Laura Hruska, of Soho Press, said, "Her handicap made her an 'outsider', an observer, which all good writers certainly are." Text's Michael Heyward said, "It's so astounding a fact about a writer that once you know it you can't read her fiction in the same way. She tells stories about children who are unable to make adults understand what's going on and her narratives create portraits of claustrophobic environments that pertain to what we now know about her."
July 2, 2018
A story about a boy living in a foster home, with behavioural problems who sees a murder happen. I loved it.
September 14, 2024
I enjoyed the book. Suspenseful
June 9, 2025
I just couldn't get into Patricia Carlton's writing rhythm. I think it was too passive. The plot was okay but it was largely left unresolved.
October 15, 2012
The master at the Australian mystery is Arthur Upfield who is good in setting the atmosphere of the Outback so I picked this up looking for some of the same flavor as it is noted that Carlon places the story in the country. It is Noir which is okay, but there is not any character development, adequate descriptives of the remoteness in which the plot is set or for that matter much of a storyline. The author chose a great location for a novel but failed, I feel that my time has been wasted so if one wants to try Patricia Carlon maybe start elsewhere.
January 25, 2013
The story revolves around Johnnie, an obnoxious little boy who frequently tells lies, and Kay, his foster mother. Setting is Australia. Johnnie sees a woman murdered but his foster parents do not believe him because of all his other lies. Unfortunately the killer realizes Johnnie saw the murder and has proof hidden away (license plates of the murdered woman's car) so the killer takes Johnnie and Kay into the bush to try to make Johnnie tell where the plates are hidden. Moderately suspenseful but often repetitive.
August 5, 2009
Carlon is the master of Aussie suspense.
January 29, 2016
Pretty strange
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews