All the Reviews

Still Waters, Camilla Noli

Normally I'd try to avoid doing this but I feel that I have to declare up front - I did not like this book.  Didn't enjoy it for one second - nothing in it was interesting, appealing or even remotely engaging.  So having said that, why?

One of the things that appeals to me least of anything in any books I read is blatant manipulation of a reader's emotional reactions - fortunately for me there's nothing in STILL WATERS that engendered any emotional reaction (other than boredom), so the manipulation could be seen for what it was.  We start with a mother, lovingly engaging ... Read Review

Nice Try, Shane Maloney

Australian author Shane Maloney wields the pen like no other writer imaginable, stripping each social veneer away in such a terribly effective fashion that we cringe as we recognize the creatures dwelling beneath.  The Murray Whelan novels, of which NICE TRY is number three, are bitingly funny in the best and worst of ways.  They pick, poke and eviscerate, yet manage to champion how we handled the past that has somehow thus carried us to our present.  Maloney sets his novels in the past, but only just, so that our memories are at least a little foggy about the finite details of the ... Read Review

The Big Score, Peter Corris

There are probably more, but immediate reactions on getting a book of short stories, is that there are precious few Crime Fiction short story collections by Australian authors around (I'm probably about to be proven totally wrong!).  But there's something very engaging about a good collection - engaging enough to make you find yourself volunteering to run the errands, wait outside for whatever or whoever - because it will give you a precious few minutes or so to read another of this collection.

Cliff finds himself named as a killer in the dying breathe of a victim; tracks ... Read Review

Double Shot, Anna Blundy

Faith is a newspaper woman - a war zone junkie; authority hating; vodka addicted; bad tempered; foul mouthed; loud; opinionated; single; with young baby; conflicted; tetchy; complicated newspaper woman with a history.  Part of that history is personal - she's got this distant boyfriend Eden.  Distant in their relationship - mostly because she keeps him that way, despite him being the father of her beloved baby Ben.  Distant because he's headed off to Tuscany to write "those" sorts of columns - in Faith's words I mean, if that isn't money for old rope I don't know what is. 'As the ... Read Review

Rome Burning, Sophia McDougall

ROME BURNING is the second in the ROMANITAS trilogy, based in a Roman Empire that still exists today.  This version of the Empire is a mix of the ancient traditions and stylings, alongside technology which bears some, limited, resemblance to current day.  The Earth is divided into different and very large nation states and the tension between these states continues to grow, following on, albeit 2 years later, from ROMANITAS - the first book in the trilogy.

This trilogy is a big and rather complicated undertaking for the reader to dive into (I think you'd definitely have ... Read Review

Open File, Peter Corris

I wondered where Peter Corris would take Cliff after the loss of his PI licence (which, it seems, he's unlikely to ever get back), but I didn't really expect it to be the 1970's.  Once you're back in that old case with a few well chosen "commentaries" Corris places you firmly in the 1970's very adeptly - from the opening observations of the Ananda Marga compensation case; the shock and concern that early AIDS cases raised; the death of Bob Trimboli and even the simple lack of mobile telephones, there's a clear sense of the time.

OPEN FILE takes you right back through that ... Read Review

The Dead Place, Stephen Booth

I like this series.  I like Diane Fry.  Why do I have to say that?  Well Diane Fry is one of those characters that divides opinions on most of the discussion lists I belong to - you either like her or you don't (much like Elle Pascoe in the Reginald Hill Dalziel and Pascoe novels).  Personally I hope that Diane Fry doesn't lose the mouth and the attitude, given what has been revealed about her in earlier books - she's perfectly entitled to be as grumpy as she damn well pleases.   And that's probably the only reason that you'd want to read Stephen Booth's series in order - there is an ... Read Review

The Pyjama Girl Mystery, Richard Evans

THE PYJAMA GIRL MYSTERY is less about resolving who killed her, and more about how the police investigation at the time proceeded.  The book lays out all of the circumstances around the location of the body; the steps taken to try to identify the body; and ultimately the trial and manslaughter verdict against Antonia Agostini.

The body had been ultimately identified as Agostini's wife - Linda.  But was that a valid identification (and I've got to say from the photos included I'd have to have my doubts), and did Agostini really kill his wife (whose body has never been ... Read Review

Shooting Star, Peter Temple

Frank Calder is a bit of a maverick.  Ex-cop / ex-soldier - current day "mediator".  He's the sort of bloke that gets called in to sticky situations where unusual solutions are required.  He's worked for the Carsons before.  When a crazed gunman took store staff hostage, Frank wandered into the situation to save the hostages.  Which he did.  Quietly, efficiently and unusually.  

So when Anne disappears on the way home from school and a ransom demand is received by the family, the Carsons again turn to Frank.  He wants them to call in the police, but they did that once ... Read Review