Too Close to Home — Brian Smith

Roused from his bed in the middle of a cold July night, Senior Constable Fess Jordan stands in a nearby cobbled lane, one of those that make up the notorious network known as The Narrows, off Elgin Street, Carlton in Melbourne. The Narrows had seen more than its share of crime. More recently, the area had become known as Vendetta Country, the place where the back-street gangs feuded with bricks and bottles. Now it had sunk to a new level of depravity -- the site for the murder of an innocent young woman from a good family.