Still knee deep in books I'm really looking forward to, having dusted off some great ones recently.
#JustFinished
Into the Flames by James Delargy
#CurrentlyReading
The Big Steal by Caimh McDonnell (audio)
#NextUp
The Crack by Michelle Stephens
The Rising by Whitney Fitzsimmons
The Writers' Room by James O'Loghlin
Point Danger by Michael Wilding
Red River Road by Anna Downes (after a massive nudge from somebody whose opinions I value)
A Man Called Box by Tina Clough
The Writers Retreat by Victoria Brownlee
The Birds Began to Sing by Jeffrey Buchanan
Devil Mountain by Inessa Jackson
The Informant by Christine Gregory
Into the Flames
A town under fire. A detective with something to prove. A killer hiding in plain sight.
The small town of Rislake in the picturesque Blue Mountains is about to be engulfed by a major bushfire.
The order has been given for the residents to clear out.
But a last sweep uncovers one person is Tracey Hilmeyer, wife of one of the firefighters tackling the blaze.
Detective Kennard is in town to help with crowd control, but instead he finds himself driving straight towards the inferno to look for Tracey at the Hilmeyer home.
When he gets there, he finds her dead at the bottom of the stairs, and it’s clear she was murdered.
With the evacuation almost complete there is barely enough time to save the living never mind the dead.
But Detective Kennard has something to prove and cannot let this one go.
Can he solve her murder before the crime scene, and the entire town turns to ash?
Into the Flames, James Delargy
I probably should have stopped reading this book when the author started on about tyres bursting, pumpers and spigots, and the most unlikely command and control environment for a major bushfire I've ever heard of. I definitely should have thrown it in when he started on about donning bunker gear and the use of PASS devices (the first being structural firefighting gear in Australia, the later being non-existent here). Went so far as to check with a friend who has a mate in the higher-ups of the RFS in NSW, where she used to be a firefighter as well - and well it's all utter and complete rubbish. Nobody's going to be sprinting around in the bush in breathing apparatus and structural PPE in the middle of a raging bushfire. Nobody's going to be wandering around on a fireground, "borrowing" equipment willy nilly, and arguing the point with fire commanders about everything, and nobody is sitting in a command centre tracking individual firefighters. Let's not get into where the hell the water supply for a pumper to protect a crime scene that was unburnt for ages for something that seemed to be in imminent danger, multiple times, was coming from...
Anyway, pressed on, fiction after all, and it's a story of a city cop with PTSD who has been transferred to the bush after what seemed like a not very good reason, but then they all have PTSD these days don't they, and who am I to say what makes higher ups send city cops to the bush every time they screw up. I mean who needs non-screwed-up cops in the bush where they are working pretty well solo, and never know quite what's going to get chucked at them. Including the slowest moving, dramatic, going to kill everything in its path bushfire emergency that seems oddly determined to cut a murder investigation a lot of slack.
I shouldn't have pressed on. I really really REALLY tried with this one, but it's one of those books that I ended up reading until the end to really get a snit on. And in that it worked a treat - high dudgeon by the end of it. Enough to get a mate to check with her mate about what I knew was absolutely wrong about the bushfire fighting scenarios, then checked with my CFA Captain husband about some of the procedural elements, and we both rolled our eyes, swore a bit under our collective breaths and hoped like hell nobody believes that this is even vaguely indicative of a real bushfire emergency. Or a murder investigation for that matter which seemed to made up of red herrings that were stinking high without the heat, and leaps of assumption that could win High Jump Medals.
Gone Guru
Gone Guru is a cosy mystery that punctures the writing bubble with a sharp pen and an even sharper look at an industry often accused of peddling unrealistic dreams.
Noni Barlow is broke, jet-lagged and alone in New York with nothing but a dream and a manuscript.
When her idol Joyce Carol Oates tells her that Born Again memoirs are so 'last year', Noni's big break starts to feel like a big mistake.
To add to the general weirdness, she meets her new flatmate only once before he vanishes into thin air - and that's even before Noni discovers he is a transcendental meditation guru with a massive following, and a million-dollar trust fund.
Aided by an octogenarian social worker, and the sarcastic daughter of her Puerto Rican landlady, Noni finds herself deep in the case of the disappearing guru.
Is this the new plot line she needs to save her writing career?
Donkey Drop
It's 1999. Joel likes suburban life just fine: dole cheques rolling in, hanging out with his best mate, and the future comfortably on hold.
That is, until he lands a job at a smash repair shop.
Under the wing of a charismatic car thief, he learns panel beating, discovers pride in his work, and enters a world of responsibility, risk, and unspoken rules.
When a reckless decision involving a stolen car goes wrong, Joel is left with guilt he can’t outrun.
As pressure from work and the people he has begun to care about closes in, he is forced to confront the cost of loyalty and the uneasy truth about the person he is becoming.
Donkey Drop is a gritty Australian coming-of-age novel about friendship, consequences, and the choices that stay with us long after they’re made.
Penitent
A holy confession. A string of ritual killings. An impossible choice.
When Father Tom Morgan hears the confession of a murderer, he is faced with an impossible dilemma: whether to violate the sacred seal of confession and betray his vows, remain silent while the killing continues and risk innocent lives ... or take justice into his own hands at the cost of his faith and conscience.
Meanwhile, Detective Atalia Reid is hunting a killer who ritually stages the bodies of his victims. As she finds more clues that seem to implicate Tom's parish, her suspicion of the troubled priest intensifies, leading her to believe he is concealing a dangerous secret.
Driven by mistrust and a mounting sense of dread, Tom and Atalia are drawn into a deadly contest between faith and justice. With each new murder, Tom's silence becomes harder to justify.
Penitent is a morally charged thriller about guilt, conscience and the impossible choice between a sacred duty and saving a life.
The Numbers
F1RST Y0U SEE THEM. THEN YOU D15APPEAR.
It started with the numbers. Spray-painted in red on street signs, outside homes and train stations.
Then came the messages. At random, thousands upon thousands of complete strangers received a text on their phones: 10 15 is coming. It wasn't a clue - it was a warning.
Last night, the first twelve were taken from their homes. No ransom, no note, just the numbers scrawled on their bedroom walls.
Discovering who - or what - is behind the kidnappings, and what the numbers could mean, quickly becomes paramount, as the entire country waits on high alert for news of their fate. Anyone could be responsible, and anyone could be next.
One thing is clear - this is only the beginning.
The Crack
Sometimes, the truth will cost you everything
A sleepy coastal town. An unsolved disappearance. A sister who can't forget.
Ren Holbrook was a teenager on a family holiday when her younger sister, Daisy, vanished from Crackerly Bay. With few leads, the case quickly went cold, leaving heartbreak in its wake.
But Ren has always known who killed Daisy. So when another girl goes missing from the same place eighteen years later, she knows Arthur Bicknell's murderous habits have resurfaced.
But Ren is facing uncomfortable questions of her own in relation to her mother's death. This might be her last chance to expose the killer for the monster he is and finally force Arthur Bicknell to pay for the things he has done.
As old secrets and new lies collide, a desperate Ren is forced to ask herself, what lines is she prepared to cross to get her revenge?
The Switch
The final Jack Harris mystery from the author of The Beacon and The Sunbaker. A grandmother vanishes from her own coffin, replaced by a stranger.
The third and final instalment in the entrancing Byron Bay-set series featuring newspaper editor Jack Harris and his lawyer-turned-partner Caitlin O'Shaughnessy.
Lisa Delaney is not having a good day. She has flown to Byron Bay to attend the funeral of her beloved grandmother, Mildred, but is running late and just manages to make it on time. After the service has finished, she asks for a chance to say her final goodbyes to the woman who raised her like a mother. But when the coffin is opened, Lisa is shocked and horrified to find that it is not actually Mildred in the coffin. The body is of a man – someone that nobody seems to recognise.
When the police make slow progress identifying the mystery man and no progress at all finding the missing Mildred, Jack Harris, journalist at the local newspaper in Byron Bay, becomes intrigued by the story, especially since the unidentified man was wearing a T-shirt from one of his favourite bands from the 80s. He decides to start his own investigation into the man's identity and to locate the missing Mildred. When another person goes missing and heavily armed gang land figures from interstate appear on the scene, the pressure begins to escalate.
Can Jack find the missing Mildred and work out how and why a mystery man was placed in her coffin before others find themselves in harm's way?
Another page-turning murder mystery full of humour by the author of The Beacon and The Sunbaker.
The Rising
In a town scarred by floodwaters, the past refuses to stay buried.
When a catastrophic flood rips through the rural town of Birradurra, a shocking cold case is discovered. Unearthed from the mud are the skeletal remains of a baby.
Shaken by this and haunted by her traumatic past, journalist Bec Carter is consumed with getting justice for the victim.
But when her friend Harry who vowed to help with the investigation vanishes in violent circumstances, authorities look to Bec for answers.
Now the prime suspect in Harry’s disappearance, Bec must fight to clear her name and uncover the facts before another flood hits.
But nothing is straightforward, and someone will do anything to keep the past from resurfacing.
Twisty, atmospheric and utterly gripping, The Rising is a heart-stopping thriller where every secret comes with a cost — and some truths are better left hidden.
Nothing Personal
Theft. Extortion. Dinner with Dad.
Lola McKenzie never wanted to steal from her dodgy boss.
But she also never wanted to be stuck in a dead-end job, paying off her dad’s debts.
So when she sees a bag of cash sitting around unattended at work, she figures it’s time to make life a little easier. Only, the next day her boss is missing, presumed dead – and it won’t take a genius to figure out Lola is involved.
Turns out that Lola’s pinched more than a bag of cash … nestled at the bottom of the bag was a USB drive that could be either a curse or an opportunity.
Lola doesn’t know what’s on it, only that it’s important enough for the local cops and the local crooks to come looking for it.
Is it a magnet for trouble? Or her ticket out of the hard life? All she has to do is figure out a way to sell it to the highest bidder without revealing her identity.
Should be easy, right?
Cold River
Deep in the mountains, secrets grow deadly . . .
Detective Constable Sally White knows how easily hikers can go missing in Victoria’s high country. But there’s something about the disappearance of Louis Taylor, a young man lost up Mount Viking, that’s not sitting right with her.
Louis was an aspiring journalist, researching the illegal tobacco trade – also known as chop chop – that was once so prevalent in the area. And the last person he interviewed before his hike has just met a gruesome end . . .
But with no other leads, and with the search winding down, Sally is forced to accept the young man died in a tragic accident.
Until she learns of another missing person case that bears striking similarities. Astrid Marlowe, a young lawyer, vanished in the same mountains two years before.
Were Louis and Astrid simply unlucky hikers lost in the treacherous terrain? Or did they both stumble into something – or someone – they shouldn’t?
Middle Rage
Myf Warhurst thought she was nailing middle age. Then, thanks to some unexpected curveballs, life shook things up. Myf's usually breezy, sunny demeanour went AWOL, replaced with a quiet, seething fury bubbling deep within that threatened to burst out at any moment. No-one had warned her about this.
In this revealing memoir, Myf gets deeply personal about her own experience that left her irrevocably changed, and the impact it has had on her mind, her body and sense of self. Empowered by a newfound clarity, she shines a light on some of the glaring injustices, absurdities, cruelties and ridiculous gender expectations in our modern world. She calls bullshit on those in charge, and those who think they are, who uphold the archaic structures holding women back.
In sharing her hard-won knowledge and claiming her own power, Myf encourages women to stop putting themselves last.
MIDDLE RAGE is an unflinchingly honest manifesto. It is a powerful, relatable book for any woman shaking their fist at the constraints of age, womanhood, relationships and expectations in today's world, and for the men who love those fist-shaking women. There's no doubt, there is nothing so illuminating as the volcanic rage of a Gen X woman.
This is not the book Myf intended to write. It is the book she had to write.
The Writers' Room
Seven writers. One murder. Whose story do you believe?
Clara Newsome was twenty-two when she died. A prodigiously talented writer, she'd seemed destined to take the literary world by storm.
Twenty years later, her four best friends have done rather well for themselves. Now successful screenwriters and producers, they've finally decided to adapt Clara's only novel into a television series, recruiting Clara's son Xavier to help. A creative retreat in a remote mansion in the NSW Southern Highlands, ten days of brainstorming, and a story that's been waiting two decades to be told. What could possibly go wrong?
Quite a lot, as it turns out. Because housekeeper Barb Young has just found a body at the bottom of a nearby cliff.
The police are happy to call it an accident, but Barb is not the sort of woman who settles for a convenient explanation. As she starts asking questions nobody wants to answer, she discovers that everyone in the writers' room has something to hide. And that the real story of Clara's death might not be the one they've all been telling.
James O'Loghlin's twisty, suspenseful and darkly humorous crime novel follows unlikely amateur detective Barb Young - who readers first met in Liars - on a new adventure, as she sets about solving a mysterious death with charm, stealth and the world's most disarming interrogation technique.
Red River Road
On the Coral Coast of Western Australia, solo traveller Katy is on a mission to find her free-spirited sister, Phoebe, who disappeared along the same route a year ago. But as she drives her campervan further into the wild north, Katy realises she's not as alone as she'd first believed. Soon she is pulled into a complicated web of secrets, lies, myths and stories that force her to question everything she thought she knew about her sister.
In this nerve-shredding outback thriller, our obsessions with freedom and beauty collide with our fear of what lies in the wilderness, and the truth behind Phoebe's disappearance proves stranger and darker than Katy could ever have guessed...
A Man Called Box
Sam thought the worst part of living alone was the loneliness. She was wrong.
When a hunted man arrives on her doorstep late one night and asks for sanctuary, she agrees to hide him and to not call the police. The mention of a cabal of corruption is enough to convince her to do what he asks.
A decision based on compassion, which will soon change her life, force her to abandon everything and flee to avoid being killed.
But hiding and leading a lonely, anonymous life locks Sam into a situation she cannot resolve.
Thomas, searching for his long lost sister, finds a fugitive living alone in the mountains. Two stubborn people surrounded by danger and distrust, in a situation where one misstep will get them killed.
Who can you turn to if even police can’t be trusted? And who is the man called Box?
A Divine Fury
Florence. Autumn, 1539.
Cesare Aldo was once an officer for the city’s most feared criminal court. Following a period of exile, he is back – but demoted to night patrol, when only the drunk and the dangerous roam the streets.
Chasing a suspect in the rain, Aldo discovers a horrifying scene beneath Michelangelo’s statue of David. Lifeless eyes gaze from the face of a man whose body has been posed as if crucified. It’s clear the killer had religious motives.
When more bodies appear, Aldo believes an unholy murderer is stalking the citizens of Florence. Watching. Hunting. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike again . . .
The Writers Retreat
A wickedly twisty and atmospheric thriller set at a writers' retreat in the South of France, The Writers Retreat is Knives Out meets Anna Downes’ The Safe Place from an exciting new voice in the thriller/mystery space.
Welcome to The Writers Retreat – a creative haven for writers to hone their plotlines and sharpen their characters while soaking up the Provençal atmosphere. But this year’s retreat offers something different, as real-life blurs with fiction, and suspense isn't contained to the page.
Kat Hale is a bestselling Australian author crumbling under the pressure of writing her second novel. On a whim, she has fled to a writers retreat in the South of France run by internationally acclaimed author Helen Thorne. What Kat hopes will be two blissfully uninterrupted weeks to focus on her writing in anonymity quickly turns into something more sinister, when Kat begins to suspect that Helen isn't quite as perfect as everyone seems to believe.
Will Kat’s drive to uncover the truth about Helen be any match for Helen’s desire to hold onto her career, her reputation and her writing retreat, or is Kat at risk of falling victim to a more dangerous climax?
The Birds Began to Sing
In the harbour city of New Plymouth in the 1960s there’s a fizz of seedy sexuality beneath a veneer of respectability. Godfrey’s world is the Balmoral Hotel his parents own, where visiting sailors drink and local fringe-dwellers congregate.
When Reggie, the openly gay barman, goes missing Godfrey senses something sinister. There’s a prevailing attitude of inevitability. Godfrey doesn’t get it, but he’s hungry to understand. Guided by his daytime-television and pulp-fiction detective heroes and a very active imagination, he attempts to solve the mystery—in the process stumbling into his own sexual adventures and discovering a new-found power in a perplexing adult world.
Out on the Ice
One brief but tragic moment out on a frozen Reykjavík lake changes Sóley’s life forever. Now, looking back on the last twenty-three years of her life, she attempts to make sense of it all. The tears, the pain and the lives lost along the way.
No one ever told her bringing up a son all on her own would be easy but not in her wildest dreams did she imagine it might be so hard.
Together Jakob and her have walked alone through the worst that Iceland could throw at them and now she’s here to tell you her tale.
Lit
What would you do if someone you knew came back from the dead?
Gin is an architect on the brink. LIT, the Auckland-based practice she shares with her girlfriend, Clary, has been precarious since their third partner – Clary’s ex, Billy – disappeared, presumed dead.
Now, several years later, LIT’s financial problems and Gin’s personal debts are snowballing. Clary – emotionally fragile since the disappearance – is growing increasingly remote and elusive. When Gin begins to be haunted by glimpses of Billy, she blames stress and guilt. But could he be back, threatening to expose the past?
Trapped in a web of secrecy and betrayal, Gin’s downward spiral gathers force as she begins to suspect her paranoia hides an even more shocking truth – one that will send her whole life up in flames.
This stunning debut literary-suspense novel from award-winning writer Anna Woods explores the insidious charm of those who gaslight us, and examines the blurry line between love and control.
Devil Mountain
A wickedly dark police procedural with a hint of the supernatural, this crime novel is Dinuka McKenzie meets The Bluffs.
When Detective Sergeant Anastasia Brown is sent to investigate a grizzly murder in a small NSW town, she welcomes the chance to run from heartbreak and humiliation. But she quickly discovers that this is no ordinary murder. A popular doctor's body has been found on the mountain, chained and burned, with arcane symbols carved into the soles of his feet - and the boy who found him swears he saw a ghost lingering in the trees.
Is this a clever killer with a flair for the macabre? Or the work of an elusive Wiccan coven that worships on the mountain? Or, even stranger, are the local murmurs of the mountain being haunted more than just folklore??
As the investigation grows ever murkier, Ana realises that everyone in town has a secret… and some are deadly.
The Informant
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing ...
The town of Hopeville is thrown into chaos when the body of Silas Ziccone, president of the notorious bikie gang the Outcasts,is found next to his abandoned car on a dirt road. Evidence suggests Silas was not alone when he was murdered, but there are no witnesses and the locals aren’t talking. When Silas’s son Anton steps into his role determined to get revenge on those responsible police fear an all-out bikie war.
Journalist Lars Nilsson is writing a book on outlaw motorcycle clubs and is sent by his former editor to cover the story. Police warn Lars to stay away, but undeterred he pursues a lead that takes him into the centre of the gang rivalry.
With debts to pay and a teenage son to raise alone, all Silas’s girlfriend Ashley wants is to escape to Western Australia and start afresh but Anton is keeping her close. There’s one person who may be able to help her get out but when your whole life’s a lie, how do you know who’s telling the truth?
The Informant is a simmering crime thriller that gives a window into the world of outlaw motorcycle gangs, organised crime and police corruption that will keep readers gripped until the heart-stopping end.
Point Danger
Plant is resting on his lantana farm in the Valley of the Weed, bored and happily idle. Until Fullalove comes to stay and sniffs out a string of potential conspiracies. The well-stocked second-hand bookshop that doesn't list its books on-line. The on-line progressive journal of correct opinion, Mad, Bad and Dangerous. The sexsational novelist Mandy Mittelnacht. And Shameless Seamus, the dodgy journalist and his no less dodgy editor, Gilbert Osbourne.
The Big Steal
Heads You Lose …
Phil Nellis is missing, which is bad – but nowhere near as bad as the reason he had to disappear. His dearly departed uncle double-crossed some truly heinous individuals who have some very specific ideas about how to exact their revenge. Fifty-two hours is an unreasonably short amount of time to be given to steal Ireland’s greatest national treasure, but then again, having a bomb strapped around your neck is an unreasonable form of motivation.
Phil and Paul have no choice but to attempt to carry out the crime of the century against the clock, and Brigit must try to keep her head when all about are in danger of losing theirs.
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