All the Reviews

The first in a projected series named for crime reporter Reggie da Costa, THE DEATH MASK MURDERS is set in 1918 in Melbourne, where a wild storm comes out of nowhere, battering Brighton, forcing two strangers - would be artist, country girl, and companion Emma Hart (who was mildly injured by a falling tree in the storm) and shell-shocked returned serviceman Max Rushforth (who rescues her) to take shelter in the cellar of a derelict mansion, where they discover three death masks, and the lair of a previously unidentified serial killer.

Stepping back a bit from the summary ... Read review

The start of what one selfishly hopes is a long series, THE LONG GAME, introduces readers to Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer. She's back at work after a traumatic incident, working with her old homicide partner Charlie, accompanied by her service dog, the gorgeous Harry, who helps her handle the flashbacks from her past, to say nothing of providing more than a few intuitive emotional clues in her current investigation.

With barely a chance to dust off the desk, Zoe and Charlie are assigned to an odd death - a local surfer, good sort of a bloke - estranged from his wife, ... Read review

If you're going to be a business lawyer dragged into criminal matters by an old school friend who gets himself into a heap of trouble, then the mean streets you walk somehow seem considerably more exotic when they are the laneways, byways and desert tracks of Gibraltar and Tangiers.

SHADOW OF THE ROCK is the first Spike Sanguinetti novel from UK author Thomas Mogford. An old-fashioned hard-boiled style thriller, this book is not short of a lot of running around, some lurking, a lot of our hero lost in a strange new world, a love interest, some unexpected threats, a big ... Read review

Before we get started here, a bit of housekeeping. Because the covers on the versions of the 4 books in the Madeleine Brooks series I received caused a bit of confusion on my part, the order is:

DEATH IN COLD WATERS
DEATH AT CHERRY TREE MANOR
DEATH AT VALLEY VIEW COTTAGE
DEATH IN LACHMORE WOOD

Reading this series in order, Madeleine Brooks goes from being a married Senior Probation Officer with a pain in the rear boss, a teenage daughter, and an ungrateful husband who turns out to be a philandering bastard into the bargain; to a ... Read review

DEAD AND GONE is the 2nd in the Judi Westerholme series, following on from TRUST ME, I'M DEAD. There are some events in the earlier book that would be useful to know about before starting this one, although it's not absolutely vital - there should be enough context to keep you moving forward with what's a really good plot, peopled by very real characters.

When I reviewed the first book I did say:

"There's a good, clever, plot at the heart of everything, and pace is never sacrificed to personal or character development. There's menace aplenty and it's a real ... Read review

THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING MINISTERS is the first in an intended series JUST PIE MYSTERIES by Gina Poekeleen (a pseudonym I believe).

Straight out of the cosy manual, it's one of those arch, comically styled female investigator types of novel full of aside comments, and decidedly unflattering portraits of a couple of kidnapped politicians (you'd be tempted to nod in agreement here but I probably should say they're not all bad, or so I'm told).

The plot is kind of cute, with the kidnappers using cryptic photos of Wellington landmarks as clues for our junior ... Read review

THE LEWIS PASS is the second book in the Dylan Harper series - the first being THE FORGOTTEN LANDS (I believe aka DEAD GROUND but that needs confirmation - they sound like the same book but it could be a rewrite). Anyway, it's an interesting little series, although it's probably one that would be best read from the start especially given the premise of this one hangs 100% on the happenings in the earlier book.

As the blurb puts it:

"On his last case, Dylan Harper strayed too close to a secret government operation and needed to be silenced. For three years, ... Read review

Set in 1960s small town New Zealand, BUSH SICK LAND is a story that sets itself so firmly in time and place that it's uncomfortable. A time when racism, homophobia and gender stereotypes were not just rife, they kind of felt like they are being celebrated. Back when radio and vinyl records ruled, when men worked, suppressed all their emotions, fixed stuff, got drunk and lashed out; women cooked, cleaned, dealt with a lot of externally imposed limitations and dodged a lot; and kids did as they were expected to do, and never questioned anything or anyone.

Somewhere in the ... Read review

Adeline yearns for family, but for many years, since the death of her parents when she was a teenager, the closest she's gotten is her assistance dog, Coco. Adeline can also see ghosts. She has seen them all her life, off to the side as she goes about her days, never interacting, but always there. So you can imagine how shocked she is when a ghost speaks to her in the supermarket. And then a particularly malevolent one attacks here in her own home. Adeline also suffers severe epileptic seizures and her reactions to things around her, and people's reactions to her are often tempered by ... Read review