All the Reviews

Into the Darklands and Beyond, Nigel Latta

Nigel Latta did a session at the Crime & Justice Festival earlier this year, that to be brutally honest, we all ended up attending more by good luck than our own good judgement (the session we'd booked was cancelled) so we switched.  I can't remember the last time I felt so lucky to switch to a session about subject matter that so isn't something you want to think about.  Not only does Nigel Latta make you think - he makes you laugh - he makes you squirm uncomfortably - he makes you just a bit weepy at points.  Mostly he makes you glad that there are people like him doing the ... Read Review

As Darkness Falls, Bronwyn Parry

A difficult setting, and a difficult task for the debut novelist.  Bronwyn Parry does a fine job with bringing a small Australian bush town to life and this is the great strength of the read.  You can taste the dust in the air and truly really picture everyone talking out the sides of their mouths (so thus to avoid the blowflies).  Where it would be a stretch is in calling this a  a crime novel, or even one of romantic suspense as there is no real mystery to solve or any pretense in constructing one.   As a developing relationship drama it serves very well, and will draw the reader in ... Read Review

The Murder Farm, Andrea Maria Schenkel

THE MURDER FARM was one of the books that I purposely read as I was seeing the author at a Melbourne Writers Festival session.  I actually picked it up to take on the train in with me - a journey of just on an hour in total.  I can't remember the last time I was tempted to stay on the train and keep reading because a book was so good, but this book definitely tempted me to do so.

Based on true events, but with a different timeframe and a resolution (the true crime remains unsolved), THE MURDER FARM covers the brutal killing of an entire family.  The family live on a small ... Read Review

The Final Murder, Anne Holt

Adam Stubo and Johanne Vik are a couple that met in an earlier book in this series by Scandinavian writer Anne Holt.  Vik is a profiler with a prickly nature, and a complicated past.  Stubo is a Police Superintendent with a gentler, kinder nature and a tragic background.  Vik is hard to develop a personal liking for, Stubo's much easier.  In THE FINAL MURDER their personal partnership has progressed a long way - the leave that Stubo is called back from is his paternity leave - Johanne has just given birth to their daughter.  Stubo and Vik live together with her daughter from a first ... Read Review

The Build Up, Phillip Gwynne

Nailing my colours firmly to the aerial of the ute, I love a book that evokes a place and a people strongly.  THE BUILD UP is set in and around Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory.  A bit of a frontier town - they have a habit of referring to other states as "the shoe wearing states".  Darwin's always been just that bit different from the rest of Australia - it's tropical, it's closer to Asia than to most other Australian capital cities, and it used to be a town where cultures intermingled comfortably (probably still is - it's been a long time between visits).

Dusty' ... Read Review

Blood From Stone, Frances Fyfield

BLOOD FROM STONE was recently announced as the winner of the 2008 Duncan Lawrie Dagger, presented by the Crime Writers' Association in the UK.  Reading a prize-winning novel for review always presents a slightly different set of questions to answer - the obvious one being why did it win?  Frances Fyfield is the author of around 17 previous novels incidentally.

BLOOD FROM STONE is essentially the story of Marianne Shearer; successful criminal barrister and defence counsel; wealthy and supposedly extremely self-assured - Marianne is not a conventionally attractive woman, ... Read Review

The Prophet Murders, Mehmet Murat Somer

THE PROPHET MURDERS is the first of six 'Hop-Ciki-Yaya' thrillers translated into English - written by engineer, banker and now management consultant Mehmet Murat Somer.  The book introduces the reader to a central protagonist who is nothing, if not slightly unexpected.  Our unnamed hero/heroine is referred to as abla throughout the book which means big sister (thanks to the handy little glossary included at the back of the book).  He/she is a well-known identity in the transvestite sub-culture in Turkey. The reason for the dual references to this character is that he/she is ... Read Review

Open File, Peter Corris (review by sunniefromoz)

Cliff Hardy is cleaning out his office after losing his Private Investigator's licence. He comes across a folder with the paperwork for a missing person's case going back to 1988, Australia's Bi-centennial year.

OPEN FILE is a look back at how Cliff did his job twenty years ago. It is remarkable to note just how much technology has changed our lives in the twenty years since that landmark year in Australia's history. It was an era before the common use of mobile phones - when you could still find a public phone booth and put a coin in the slot. There was no internet to ... Read Review

Bright Air, Barry Maitland

Maitland has taken a break from his popular Brock and Kolla series with the release of BRIGHT AIR.  It opens with Josh, having recently returned to Sydney after working in London, still mourning the death of his girlfriend Luce, they had both been members of the University climbing club.  Luce had fallen to her death off the rugged coast of Lord Howe Island, her body never found, other members of the climbing team on the same trip had said she was climbing on her own and had simply disappeared.  Josh is not only mourning her loss, but feeling profoundly guilty because of what happened ... Read Review