Michael Brissenden is becoming one of Australia’s top crime writers, and “Smoke” is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. The basic outlines of the story are familiar—crooked cops, corrupt politicians, a small town full of secrets—but his smartly drawn characters and their complicated relationships, sharp dialogue and narrative concision elevate the novel.

Disgraced LAPD detective Alex Markov has only recently returned to her home town of Jasper in the California sierras when a savage wildfire rips through. In the aftermath, the body of a family friend is discovered in a shed, which her badged brethren are ready to designate an accidental death—until it’s revealed the victim was locked in from the outside.

Brissenden’s intricate story — dark, twisted and gripping — is packed with tension, and moves so fast its chapters disappear like — well, y’know— smoke. No doubt the transition from an Australian setting to an American landscape is designed to entice fresh eyes to his work, and I hope it does earn him a wider readership, because the guy is a maestro, every bit as good as our nation’s best. Sure-footed plotting, intriguing characters—it’s a simple combo, and a winning formula. Brissenden has cracked it.