Book review: Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins

Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins is lawyer Ruth Dawson’s third rodeo. I didn’t realise that when I started reading and it wasn’t until there’s reference to her ‘reputation’ and later, the presence of a police officer known to Ruth, that I thought to look through my site and Goodreads to check. Sure enough I first met Ruth in The Bluff*.

It’s interesting this isn’t billed as part of a series like Ruth Dawson #3 or anything, although I guess it means it won’t put off those who haven’t read The Bluff and / or How To Kill A Client. And this book is easily read as a standalone. The events here are a little too close to home for Ruth as a homeless man is found dead in the grounds of an apartment building she’s just moved into.

About this book

Ruth Dawson finds her perfect living space in an art deco building in Potts Point, The Lumen. The apartment boasts parquetry floor, a wall of books, the Harbour Bridge visible from her sofa and a twenty-minute walk to her office in the city.

It's perfect until Ben, the homeless guy, dies under the corrugated iron lean-to in the garden where he lived.

The residents of The Lumen do little to hide their relief.

They can cease their half-hearted attempts to find an acceptable solution to what they called 'the Ben problem', and return to more important whether Lucas in the basement flat can keep his dog Mavis; how it is that Lucas can afford to live there; and how it is that the banker who owns the whole of the top floor spent the owner's corporation funds to restore the glass-domed roof, but took for himself the light from the sun and the stars.

They're not happy when Ruth Dawson brings Detective Sharon Messer in. Ben was poisoned. Methanol. And one of the residents was involved.

My thoughts

This opens as Ruth (and colleague Geri) welcome a junior lawyer, Sybil, a to the firm. She’s worried Geri and Sybil are worlds (and decades) apart so she’s not quite sure how her team will gel, but their growing camaraderie was one of my favourite parts of the novel.

We learn Ruth has just sold her North Shore house, expecting to move in with partner Charlie, but he’s taken a sabbatical in England and, as a result, she’s on the hunt for a place. Sybil, who’s sharing an apartment at the historic The Lumen, tells Ruth there’s an apartment for sale. Ruth’s smitten on-sight and buys in.

I’m not sure if Jenkins introduces us to all of the residents of The Lumen but we meet quite a few and given their penchant for ‘homeowner meetings’ we meet them often. Ruth learns that one of the residents has given a young homeless man (Ben) a key to the garden, allowing him to camp there (much to the chagrin of several owners). Ben, she’s told lived in an apartment there with his father before he died, but received nothing from his father’s estate.

There are a few threads here. Ben’s found dead, so the police are investigating. Ticking along in the background is a case Ruth is working for a friend relating to property development and involving a royal commission investigation. And then there’s The Lumen residents’ anger at the penthouse owners who have re-installed a dome at the top of the building. It would provide stunning light for everyone below but a supposedly temporary floor of the penthouse is discovered to be permanent, blocking the benefits of the dome to everyone else below. Naturally the homeowners corporation call on their new resident (and commercial lawyer, Ruth) to take action against the penthouse owners which results in a clash of her professional and private lives and jeopardises her career.

I’m usually less of a fan of mysteries involving white collar crime, and though that’s kinda at the heart here, two murders in the building add to the intrigue. As Charlie puts it:

‘That’s the trouble with sharing a property with randoms,’ he said. ‘It’s a community you suddenly belong to.’ p 128

I’m finding Ruth to be a very likeable narrator and also very real. I can’t recall which support characters featured in The Bluff and my review is of no help, but I also liked the role Ruth’s colleagues, Geri and Sybil play, as well as that of Ruth’s university student son, Jack as well as Charlie and suspect we’ll see them all again.

Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins will be published by Allen & Unwin in early August 2026.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.

*I belatedly discovered Ruth also featured in Jenkins’s first book, How To Kill A Client, which I have not read.