All the Reviews

Manic Streets of Perth is an anthology made up of 3 distinct novellas - Manic Streets of Perth, Looking for Sarah Jane Smith and To Dare A Future.

Each novella is a separate story in its own right, so I've commented on all 3 individually.

Manic Streets of Perth features intrepid, and idiot reporter Paul Lewis, but more importantly, Kim Jones, animal activist, some-time petrol station attendant, daughter, fighter and survivor. When a snake wielding bandit robs her father's petrol station, when Kim is working the till, her life starts to spiral just a little ... Read review

Meaghan Wallace is invited to one of the "must be at" social events in Sydney - a party at the very very rich Cavanagh household. When her escort (and boss) finally passes out, she stumbles across Damien, the very spoilt son of the family, arguing with other men in the same room as a bed, and a very young, dead Asian girl. Meaghan uses her phone camera to videotape the event, amazed at the famous faces she's encountering at this party, but is caught by Damien's friend Simon who smashes the phone and quietly removes Meaghan from the party. When Meaghan is found dead in her own ... Read review

I'll be honest - I was keen to read this book because of the similarity in timeframe for its writing to that of Fergus Hume's The Mystery of the Hansom Cab - and because of Shane Maloney's excellent introduction to the book comments that Adam's made no particularly literary claims for this novel, and possibly wrote it in an attempt to capitalise on Mr Hume's huge success.  Interestingly I liked the Hansom Cab book very much.  Even allowing for the differences in timeframes, languages and sensibilities, the story still held up well - the investigation felt reasonable and realistic and ... Read review

INSPECTOR IMANISHI INVESTIGATES is the first Japanese written crime / mystery book that I can remember reading for quite some time, and it must have worked as I've been tracking down other examples and other authors to try.

When an unidentified (and it soon appears) difficult to identify man is found under the rails of a Tokyo Station early one morning, he's been strangled and dumped on the rails - seemingly in an attempt to take away any further chance of identifying him when the first train of the morning ran over the corpse.  

I'll admit it - I found ... Read review

J R Carroll writes a really lively combination of gangster thriller crime fiction. Set in and around Melbourne there have been a few books which are a series - using the same characters and a lot that are standalone.

CHEATERS is one of the standalones thus far, or at least, this is the first / only time I've come across these characters and I've read a lot of J R Carroll's books.

CHEATERS is set, I think, sometime in the early 1990's - or at least in Melbourne when the temporary casino was in operation before the monolithic, vaguely prison like Crown Casino ... Read review

Australia's loss is America's gain. 

The Victorian Police sent Sophie Anderson on the FBI's International Program, a six week course at Quantico to refine her profiling skills. When the FBI discovered she had dual citizenship she was offered a profiling job with the FBI unit at Quantico. 

Sophie Anderson brings to the job psychic skills that she barely understands but that she recognises she has had all her life. Sophie specialises in serial killer profiling and is already, after only six months, establishing a reputation for herself. Sophie is assisting her ... Read review

BROKEN BODIES is a follow-up to the author's first book TRUST NOBODY so many of the characters and their back story come from that first novel.   Perhaps this is part of the reason why BROKEN BODIES was a bit of a slog to read, as many characters appear rapidly in quick succession in the early part of the book, talking the patois of the English gangster, talking about each other - dead or alive, it wasn't always easy to distinguish - as if the reader was acutely aware of who everyone was and what had happened in the past.  There was a little backfill as the story progressed but that ... Read review

The body of one of Venice's brightest young actors is found, crucified, his eyes gouged out and a line of verse carved into his chest.  His is just the first death as a shadowy group stalk the rulers of Venice and their supporters.  The murderer, known only as The Chimera, is the leader of this dangerous fanatical group - the Stiges or Firebirds - determined to kill one of the depraved, the gluttonous, the traitors to their cause - one for each of the nine Circles of Dante's Inferno.

The Doge of Venice turns to Pietro Viravolta, a dashing young adventurer, best friend of ... Read review

Shark Bait is the 3rd Syd Fish book (and sadly the last), which has been sitting in my shelves for years now, being carefully rationed because there are so few of them.  

Syd Fish is an ex-political minder, turned Private Investigator - there is a touch of the Murray Whelan's and Cliff Hardy's about him no doubt about that. These books are light-hearted, funny and quick little books - the mystery is not the strongest point, the point is the entertainment - and there are some great quotes in this book - this gem probably sums up the style of the book the best: ... Read review