The matter of Melbourne during the 19th century was marvellously inspirational for its writers, and remains so a century later.
Histories continue to be written, and first-hand observations reprinted.
Now, down these heritage streets, mean and gracious, comes Marshall Browne, in the third of a trilogy of historical novels. The Trumpeting Angel and its predecessors are, as Browne recently stated, the result of his personal fascination with Melbourne's 1880s-90s. Unable to find any modern popular fiction about these interesting times, he set out to write his own. In this exercise he nods, generically, towards his other books, which have been thrillers, and the Ned Kelly award-winning detective novel, The Wooden Leg of Inspector Anders . In The Trumpeting Angel he catches Melbourne with one foot in the 19th century and the other in the 20th.