Quota

Charlie Jardim has just trashed his legal career in a spectacular courtroom meltdown, and his girlfriend has finally left him. So when a charitable colleague slings him a prosecution brief that will take him to the remote coastal town of Dauphin, Charlie reluctantly agrees that the sea air might be good for him.

The case is a murder. The victim was involved in the illegal abalone trade and the even more illegal drug trade. and the witnesses aren't talking.

And as Dauphin closes ranks around him, Charlie is about to find his interest in the law powerfully reignited.

Jock Serong lives and works on the far southwest coast of Victoria. He is a practising lawyer and features writer, and is the editor of "Great Ocean Quarterly." He is married with four children, who in turn are raising a black dog, a rabbit and an unknown number of guinea pigs. "Quota" is his first novel.