The Inheritance

The book cover for the audio version of The Inheritance by Gabriel Bergmoser includes the tagline 'She's running from the past ... and she's running for her life', as well as 'Bestselling author of The Hunted'. There's a quote at the top 'A heroine you can't look away from, pure thrills and wallop, wilder and gamer than your average Aussie noir - this is fierce storytelling.' Kyle Perry, bestselling author of The Bluffs

The image is of a hot, firey red and yellow cloudy sky over a view of a lit up city street crisscrossed with power and telephone lines.

The author of the bestselling The Hunted returns with another unmissable, white-knuckle, gritty urban suspense thriller: think Jack Reacher meets John Wick in a high-octane, high-speed chase on the dark streets of Melbourne.

A young woman is hiding out in a sleepy...Read more

Cherrywood

The book cover for Cherrywood by Jock Serong has two quotes on it 'Sublime and haunting' Toni Jordan and 'Beautiful' Tim Rogers.

The background of the image is beautifully fitted together, rounded off pieces of wood (like an edging of a frame or box). They are glowing slightly red with deep grain throughout. There's part of a barometer showing at the top with the needle just below change, on the way to fair.

In the centre there's another dial (? nautical image - might be a compass / doesn't look like one), with part of a watch face peaking out on the right. At the bottom there's a perpetual calendar dial with a red painted image that overlays the surrounding wood.

'One rainy Friday evening in the winter of 1993, a taxi swept through the streets of East Melbourne, on its way from the city to Richmond. That year was one of the few remaining when a great deal was known of the world, but not yet so much that the world had become over-known. Small gaps...Read more

Madame Brussels

The book cover of Madame Brussels by Barbara Minchinton with Philip Bentley has the tagline 'The life and times of Melbourne's most notorious woman' 

The image is of a woman in an elaborate period dress, leaning against the bottom of a stairway.

A must-read biography of an enigmatic personality who helped shape early Melbourne

Madame Brussels, the most legendary brothel keeper in nineteenth-century Melbourne, is still remembered and celebrated today. But until now, little has been known about Caroline Hodgson, the...Read more

Woman, Missing

The book cover for Woman, Missing by Sherryl Clark includes the tagline 'Will her first case be her last?' and the quote 'A pacy race against time that keeps you turning the page.' Vikki Petraitis, author of The Unbelieved

The image is of a stairwell with a window to the right tiles, and wooden steps to the left. There's a female figure running up the stairs, she's got blond hair trailing behind her, as is her skirt. She's taking a big step up the stairs and is only partly visible.

She's the one to turn to when you need saving. But first she has to save herself...

Lou Alcott is turning over a new leaf as a private investigator. Formerly police, she was forced to resign when she attacked a domestic violence perpetrator. She's always vowed to be...Read more

Dark City

The cover of Dark City by John Silvester shows a narrow alleyway with a brightly lit multi-level old building at the end. The alley is in deep shade. There's a male figure standing back to the view in the centre of the alley, the title of the book in large white lettering above him, the tagline 'True Stories of Crimes, Cock-ups, Crooks and Cops' in red lower down.

'Silvester is the doyen of Australian true crime. No one else comes close.' Nick McKenzie

From madmen to matriarchs, stooges to heroes, eye-watering bungles to sweet justice - strap yourself in for a masterclass in storytelling from Australia's most formidable crime...Read more

Make-Up For Murder

Image of the book cover for Make-Up For Murder, in which the same nun as the earlier covers is standing in front of another elaborate building, this time it's mauvish with a pale orange sky. Underneath her is a panel with a big old TV camera and lights, with somebody standing behind the side on view of the camera, a lot of makeup brushes and makeup towards the bottom left, and a woman's face, half visible, looking distressed.

Mother Paul, the incomparable nun-detective, is faced with her most perplexing case when a former pupil at her convent school is murdered at their annual reunion.As a schoolgirl Maisie Ryan was often bullied by her peers, but a decade later she’s a TV star, the glamorously...Read more

Faculty of Murder

Image of the book cover for Faculty of Murder. This time the nun is, again in full habit, with the cross around her neck and glasses on. She is standing in front of a building with a tower, and the sky is greenish whilst the building is brown. There's the stylised image of a girl with closed eyes and flowing hair in a greenish background at the bottom, looking for all the world like somebody who is floating.

Faculty of Murder is set at Brigid Moore Hall, a girls' hostel in the University of Melbourne, where "freshettes" are shocked by a new arrival, Judith Mornane, who announces that she intends to discover her sister's murderer. Her sister, Maureen, had mysteriously disappeared from the hostel...Read more

Reservation for Murder

The book cover for Reservation for Murder by June Wright - Mother Paul Investigates is made up of a drawing of a nun in full habit, with a cross around her neck. She is wearing glasses and standing between the outline of a convent type building and a wrought iron fence. There's a skull showing behind the fence. The sky is orange, the building teal green and the fence (and the nun's face) are also slightly orange. It's a caricature.

June Wright had already published three popular mysteries by the time she created her most memorable detective, the Reverend Mother Mary St Paul of the Cross. The kindly Mother Paul may seem vague and otherwordly, but little escapes her attention―she has a shrewd grasp of everything that’s...Read more

Naked City

The book cover of Naked City by John Silvester is made up of a city street slightly in darkness because of a bright glowing sun in the background. There are two figures in the middle, both of them are standing in the middle of tram tracks, wearing coats, and they are looking towards each other, hands touching ? maybe a handshake. 

The tagline is 'True Stories of Crimes, Cock-ups, Crooks & Cops'. The title of the book is in large red letters at the bottom, with the author's name under that. 

There are two quotes 'No journalist has done more to explain the world of crime, the justice system and the politics of Law and order' Australian Media Hall of Fame and 'He brings to life the characters of the good guys, the villains and the victims.' Graham Perkins, Australian Journalist of the Year Award

John Silvester has been reporting on crime from the cop stations, courthouses, back alleys and gangster mansions of Melbourne for forty years. His contact book is a who's who of both sides of criminal justice, and the shadowy worlds between. He is the trusted confidante of cops, criminals,...Read more

The Hitwoman's Guide to Reducing Household Debt

The book cover for The Hitwoman's Guide to Reducing Household Debt by Mark Mupotsa-Russell is brightly coloured with blue / green, reddish pink, and red "stripes" across the book angled slightly upwards towards the right. The title is spread across these stripes with the bottom, reddish area being the largest. It contains a tagline 'There's no such thing as an ex-killer' which is printed beside the shape of a black door with the image of a woman holding a knife standing in it. There's a shadow out from there towards the right, and the author's name immediately above the shadow. There are two thin black legs visible to the left of the bottom of the doorway and a puddle leaking out from there.

I met my husband on the same day I committed my very last murder. There's a joke in there somewhere, about ending two men's lives.'

Olivia Hodges used to do horrible things - back when she worked for a Spanish crime syndicate - but she fled that life and moved home to Australia...Read more

The Hunted

The book cover for the audio version of The Hunted by Gabriel Bergmoser includes the tagline 'Nowhere to run Nowhere to Hide'.

The image is of a hot, firey red and yellow cloudy sky with nothing but an electricity line running through it and a few birds flying around.

Where does the adventure end . . .
and the nightmare begin?

Frank owns a service station on a little-used highway. His granddaughter, Allie, is sent to stay with him for the summer, but they don't talk a lot.

Simon is a...Read more

Lies and Deception

The image of the book cover for Lies and Deception by Laraine Stephens includes the tagline ' a reggie da costa mystery '. The image is a wide red textured background with a tarot card in the centre - its got the title the Ten of Swords. There are ten gold and black and white swords sticking out of the back of a figure lying face down.

Lies + Deception = Murder

Melbourne 1925. Jasper Fitzalan Howard is found stabbed to death in his room at The Hotel Windsor. In a bizarre twist, he is clutching a tarot card, the Ten of Swords, in his right hand. Initially, the police identify him as a...Read more

Resurrection

The book cover for Resurrection by Roger Simpson includes the tagline 'Who Do You Trust When You Can't Trust Yourself'.

The image is of a woman, back to the viewer walking towards a male figure shrouded in a hoodie, hands in his pockets. It's foggy with the hint of streetlights turning the fog around him vaguely purple in colour, off to his left are the blue tones of a brightly lit forecourt. There's a note at the bottom 'A Jane Halifax Novel'

Jane Halifax is back in a twisted story of betrayal, where the formidable forensic psychiatrist will discover that the only person you can trust is yourself. A near-fatal car accident left Jane Halifax in a coma, and when she wakes, she has no idea who she is …

Initially...Read more

The Glasgow Smile

The book cover for Glasgow Smile by Chris Stuart includes the tagline 'The Award Wining Author of For Reasons of Their Own' at the top of a mostly white cover which has a brick wall textured background, blending down to a black banner at the bottom the has the title of the book displayed on it in white lettering. In the centre of the wall there's a painted set of lips, right red in colour, leading out towards the right where they go out of shape and end up a red slash with black stitches across it. There's a woman in black jeans and a short leather jacket standing in front of the lips she has white hair and her arms are hanging loosely by her sides. There's crime scene tape behind here that goes all the way across the image.

Inside every person you think you know, there is someone you dont know. Contemporary crime thriller set in the grimy tangled innercity laneways in Melbourne.

In a grimy graffiti covered recess a woman is found stabbed and strangled. "why would anyone want to kill her, she was...Read more

A Deadly Game

The image of the book cover for A Deadly Game by Laraine Stephens is a drawing of a man in silhouette, he's wearing a long coat, grey tie and hat on an angle. There's a  1940's style car behind him, and it is all laid out on a textured pale blue background.

A secret life exposed

Melbourne, 1925. Reggie da Costa, The Argus ’s celebrated crime reporter, takes a break from investigating gangland crime to assist Ruby Rhodes, whose identical twin sister has died in mysterious circumstances. Together, they investigate how Katherine...Read more

Transgression

The book cover for Transgression by Roger Simpson includes the taglines 'For Gruesome Murders / A Killer With No Motive / Only Jane Halifax Can Stop Them'.

The image is of a bridge heading towards a city skyline overshadowed by the figure of a woman with shoulder length blonde hair, wearing a dark coat. There's a hint of a satchel bag over her shoulder.

Based on the hugely successful Channel 9 drama series starring Rebecca Gibney as forensic psychologist Dr. Jane Halifax, whose criminal profiling, twenty years later, might be the only way to track down Australia's most dangerous serial killer yet. 

The first murder is brazen,...Read more

Deadly Intent

The image of the book cover for Deadly Intent by Laraine Stephens is a drawing of an art deco style 2 story terrace house with elaborate ironwork and a spiked fence. There's a white 1940's style car out the front.

It is October 1923. What looks like a routine report, on the heavy rains battering Melbourne, becomes another case of murder for The Argus’s celebrated crime reporter, Reggie da Costa, devotee of fashionable suits and flamboyant automobiles. A flooded basement hides a ghastly secret: the...Read more

For Reasons of their Own

The book cover of For Reasons of Their Own by Chris Stuart is made up of the image of an Australian passport towards the bottom, slightly tilted, with a large goldish coloured immigration stamp dated 2 May over the top of it. The backgrouind is blurred orange, with a couple of lines of faded crime scene tape across it.

Robbie Gray, a talented but troubled Detective Inspector stationed in Melbourne, who has fallen foul of police bureaucracy, is called to a investigate a dead body found in a rural wetland swamp. Under-resourced, with a corpse that cannot be identified and no apparent motive for the murder,...Read more

The Death Mask Murders

The image of the book cover for The Death Mask Murders by Laraine Stephens is a shot of some stone steps, from the bottom looking up past a wrought iron gate to a cloudy sky. The colour scheme is greys, dark and white.

Death is just a close shave away.

It is February 1918. Somewhere in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne, the Death Mask Murderer is lurking, engaged in a ritualistic killing spree: shaving the heads of young women, strangling them and creating a gruesome...Read more