It’s coming up to Christmas in Canberra, and young Tammy is not looking forward to the long summer holidays. She’s certain the time will drag, and even begs her teacher for a vacation project but instead is told to go and enjoy herself for a few weeks. In response, Tammy pinches a book about the life cycle of ants from school.
That act teaches us two things about this geeky child; she’ll always go her own way, and is not averse to a bit of stealing when it suits her. Both facts will come into play as The Grapevine progresses.
Tammy is 12, about to move up to secondary school, and is at that awkward cusp between childhood and adolescence. She has few friends, and to while away the long summer break of 1979, she sets up an ‘ant behavioural studies centre’ and assiduously watches the insects, noting down salient details of their lives in her ever-present notebook. Around her, life in Warrah Place, the close where she lives with her parents, goes on – and it’s funny how closely they chime with the ants.
Nothing interesting ever happens in Warrah Place. That is… until a severed foot is discovered in the woods nearby. It belongs to 19-year-old Antonio Marietti, an Italian who recently moved to the close with his parents and soon became the focus of Tammy’s shy attention. He was even nice to her on occasion, and that’s enough to set this fledgling Miss Marple on a quest. Using her ant studies as cover, she decides to find Antonio’s killer.
Through Tammy’s eyes, we see the other residents of Warrah Place. The book even has a useful map, showing where each of them lives – which comes in useful, as this book has quite a cast of characters! The problem with Tammy’s take on life is that it is through the innocent lens of a child – and what she deduces from her carefully curated clues (and sneakily obtained items of interest) are a little wide of the mark, which puts we readers front and centre in solving the crime ourselves.
This is Kate Kemp’s crime fiction debut, and she creates an authentic sense of community, along all the hidden layers, secrets and downright lies that come with the territory. She may be new to this game, but Kemp is an author who shows skill and assurance in her plotting and characterisation, and the more the pages turn, the more we realise that everyone living here has something they’d rather not reveal.
Meanwhile, Tammy has had a new friend foisted upon her in the shape of eight-year-old Colin, son of newly pregnant neighbour Naomi, who is using her condition as an excuse to keep out of everyone’s way. Suspicious? Maybe, but it gives us the chance to meet a young boy who delights in wearing borrowed dresses and tagging along with Tammy as she continues her so-called ant research/actual snooping. They make a fantastic, if mis-matched, pairing and I particularly enjoyed their scenes together.
So, who killed Antonio? Ah, that’d be telling and there are no spoilers here. Instead, settle back and follow a compelling narrative that weaves together the suppositions of an impressionable young girl and fleeting glimpses of what has actually been going on in Warrah Place over the past few months. Prepare for shocks, surprises, laughs and the odd tear – plus a sense of loss when the final page has been turned, because The Grapevine is one of those books that gets under the skin and stays there. It was rightly listed in CFL’s list of Most Wanted Books of 2025 – I can’t wait to see what this author comes up with next.
Another youngster on the periphery of a murder investigation features in Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney.
Phoenix
Print/Kindle/iBook
£7.99
CFL Rating: 5 Stars
