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Let's talk about the local books that I was lucky enough to read this year.

There have been some fabulous ones around - both as new releases, and I did some serious catching up on some books that have been lurking on Mt TBR for way too long.  There have been a few though, that really stuck in the memory.

There's nothing like starting a year off on a high and D-E-D Dead! and Sensitive New Age Spy by Geoff McGeachin.  These books are fabulous, very Australian, very funny, romp style charging around in the life of a spy and knower of good coffee - Alby Murdoch.  (Don't forget there is a competition on to win copies of both of these books at the moment!)

Fans of historical novels might find Blood of Dreams by Susan Parisi which is set in 1762 Venice something to look out for - this is an unusual setting for an Australian based author undoubtedly.

For people who like something with a more gothic, almost horror styling The Darkness Within by Jason Nahrung dragged me way outside my comfort zone, and I loved it.

From across the pond another excellent entry in Natural History by Neil Cross.  

I then went on a bit of a catch up and read Head Shot by Jarad Henry as Blood Sunset was on it's way.  Love the sense of place and the sense of the weather and environment that Jarad builds into these books - along with what is obviously a very well informed understanding of the local police scene.

Dorothy Johnston has a different take on crime fiction in Australia - setting her books Sandra Mahoney series in Canberra and having many of the crimes being fraud or similar.  This year I did a little catching up on her series and read The Trojan Dog.

I then had a very happy time returning to an older Peter Temple book - Shooting Star.  This edition was a re-release by Text and so I was particularly interested to see what it would be like to re-read it.  It was just as good as the first time around.

Time for a little True Crime then - The Pyjama Girl Mystery by Richard Evans is a book that takes you back to a true murder mystery from 1934.  Really fascinating.

 

But that was the first 3 months of the year and this post is starting to get a bit long, I'll continue the rest of the year next week.

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Submitted by Karen on Mon, 15/12/2008 - 07:15 pm