Pamela Scott

Creek Publishing

RRP: $22.95 PB 134pp

The action in “What the Left Hand Knew” takes place in Riot Creek, a small town in a small Tasmanian valley where “only a couple of winding roads link it to the rest of the world.” Life had move at an orderly and well-structured pace for generations. However, it’s not long before we are given our first shiver, an ominous presentiments, and the indication that for country folk, entirely used to one minute adoring the “gambolling lambs” and “handsome steers” - and the next week eating them - there are “so many shades of murder”. But in following the fascinating minutiae of both the purposeful and the purposeless meanderings of the ladies of the Riot Creek Garden Club, our heightened senses are somewhat lulled. Much of this book’s fascination lies in the carefully observed and cleverly depicted manners and mannerisms of this small community. The author brings her characters to life with realistic dialogue ad in the so true-to-life was they deal with the big issues with coping with the humdrum business of everyday life - even when life and limb are at risk! Was it women’s intuition that made Myrna conscious of “real evil, as if it generated and electric field” and eventually “called her suspicions to this group of women that she knew so well”. Typically, she and her confidantes discussed and planned at length. Typically, then their menfolk became involved, “a grimness (settled) about jaws and chins...and they all went out into the hellish heat” resolved on immediate action.

About the Author
Pamela Scott has come to writing rather late in life but says, “I thought I would like to give it a go”. What the Left Hand Knew has been on the boil for a number of years, and Scott says, “It was looking at the bush that gave me the idea”. She lives in the Huon area but is adamant Riot Creek is not the Huon. Significantly, she belongs to a gardening club but “It’s not the same gardening club!” Writers adapt their own life experiences however, - “you take a little bit here and there and it becomes an amalgam”, admits Scott - so local readers shouldn’t be surprised if a vaguely familiar note sounds from time to time.
“A black tale nestled inside a comedy of middle-aged manners” says the back cover blurb. “Better put the kettle on” - and enjoy a good read.