Updates - Week Ending 26th July

Who killed Martin Friedrich? From award-winning writer Steven Carroll comes the first book in a series of post-war literary crime novels featuring Detective Sergeant Stephen Minter, with shades of The Third Man and Brighton Rock.

Cambridge, UK, 1947. Martin Friedrich, a German philosopher who is in Cambridge to give a series of lectures, is cycling through an intersection on his way to give a lecture when a speeding car runs through him and kills him. A grisly death for one of the finest minds of the age.

Shortly afterwards, Detective Sergeant Stephen Minter, an Austrian-born, cockney Jew, whose parents were interned during the war as enemy aliens, stands over the body of Friedrich contemplating the age-old question - who did it? Because Friedrich might be one of the finest minds of his age, but he's also problematic. A brilliant philosopher whose lectures attracted students from all over Europe before the war and is regarded as the founder of modern existentialism, Friedrich was also, in the 1930s, a member of the Nazi Party.

As Stephen is soon to discover, there is no shortage of suspects. Friedrich -arrogant, a womaniser dedicated solely to his own work over anything or anybody else - was hated by almost everybody, even those who loved him. Is there any sense to his death - a logic to the sequence of events that led to it - or was his death just a case of rotten, random luck?

Has the universe spoken, and, in this sense, should Friedrich be pleased with the nature of his death as it is, after all, confirmation of his life's observations on our indifferent, random universe? Or are there more sinister factors at work? From one of Australia's finest, critically-acclaimed writers, The Death of an Existentialist is a playful mixture of detective story, farce and literary fiction that examines the quite serious question of how to live a meaningful life in an indifferent, random, post-god world.

With no role in sight and nothing to lose, actor Lou Galloway leaves Los Angeles and heads to Mexico to drown his sorrows in cheap mezcal. But, after a round too many, he soon ends up at a grandiose wedding in the mansion of internationally wanted crime lord, Diego Flores, where Lou is mistaken for a rogue assassin known simply as El Flamingo. Before he can escape, he meets Maria-Carla, an enigmatic beauty with incredible perfume, and he inconveniently falls in love at first sight. When it becomes too late to turn back, Lou is swept into the dangerous world of Latin-American espionage, embarking on a journey that will take him from the desert fiestas of Mexico to the jungle-clad salsa bars of Colombia. To survive, Lou is forced to do the one thing he swore he would never do again-act.

However, as Lou assumes the identity of El Flamingo, he realizes that this may be what he was searching for all along. Maybe this was fate? Maybe this will be the role of his life!

Is Cassidy Turpin a crooked cop?

When Tomcat’s secret crush is arrested for murdering a co-worker, Ella and Tom only have 24 hours to clear Cassidy’s name before she is shipped off to the notorious Nottingham prison.

But with Tomcat determined to call the shots, will the cat save the day or trip up Ella’s every step?

Ella Charming is a suspended Fairy Godmother . Tom April was a rookie henchman working for the wicked queen until a magical accident turned him into a cat. Together they solve crime in the frozen fairy-tale kingdom of Wyld Enchantment Woods.

Retired spy. Trained killing machine. Pacifist.

Retired MI6 spy Mason Nash moved to a sleepy English town so he could leave his former violent life behind.

He soon learns that past transgressions have a way of catching up with you.

When hired killers invade his peaceful new existence Nash is forced to fall back on his old ways to find out who sent assassins after him and why.

What he uncovers sends him on a globetrotting quest involving old friends, a new clandestine spy agency and a world-wide conspiracy where no one is quite who they seem.

Nash finds out how hard it is to adhere to non-violent ways when everyone is trying to kill you.
 

A young woman is hiding out in a sleepy North Queensland tourist town, trying to stay under the radar, when she stumbles across a dangerous drug cartel. Anyone else might back away shaking their head, pretend they hadn't seen anything, keep quiet, even though people are getting hurt. But Maggie is no ordinary girl. She's got skills, as well as plenty of secrets to keep, burdens to carry - and anger to burn.

When circumstances mean that she has to get out of town - fast - she heads towards Melbourne, where she just might find the answers that she needs - answers about her family and who she really is. With a bent cop for a dubious ally, the police tracking her and furious bikers on her trail, Maggie is in deep trouble. She's only got her ingenuity and wits on her side - and a determination not to inherit the sins of her father.

Some people are in
On the last Saturday in August, politicos and socialites trade tidbits of gossip and sips of Pimm's under the tasteful bunting of a Richmond garden party. They'd never guess that the police are just a stone's throw away, pulling a body out of the river Thames.

Some people wish they were
The drowning appears to be a tragic accident - until Detective Caius Beauchamp gets an unexpected tip. The victim, it seems, had enemies in high places. Did being on the wrong side of them get her killed?

Either way, being out is absolute murder