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Touched By The Devil, Andy Shea and John Clarke04/10/2007 - 1:18pmInside the mind of the Australian psychopath - John Clarke as told to Andy Shea. Conversational style book about a decidedly non-conversational subject. This is an analysis of psychopathic behaviour with some briefly mentioned true cases as illustration. The style makes it rather an odd read as the subject matter seems to clash somewhat with the style. Interesting analysis of psycopaths, their methodology and possible thought processes.Read Review |
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A Certain Justice, P.D. James04/10/2007 - 12:51pmVenetia Aldridge QC, distinguished barrister, is found dead in her Middle Temple Chambers, stabbed once cleanly through the heart; sat in her chair; wearing a full wig covered in blood. She had recently successfully defended Garry Ashe, accused of killing his aunt, and has been horrified by the announcement that Ashe and her troublesome daughter Octavia plan to marry. The current Head of Middle Temple Chambers is about to retire and Venetia believed she had a right to the position, despite just a few scant weeks of seniority. She was planning big disruptive changes in ... Read Review |
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Final Curtain, Kjersti Scheen03/10/2007 - 5:48pmFINAL CURTAIN is the first of Kjersti Scheen's books to be translated into English and is also the first in a series of books feating ex-actress turned private investigator Margaret Moss. Margaret's had a go at quite a few things in her life and hasn't really been able to settle to anything much - being a PI at least means she is her own boss, and can quite comfortably do everything "Her Way". Living with her daughter Karen (she of the bright green hair and teenage passions), in an apartment in the same house as Margaret's elderly aunt, Margaret drives a beat old Renault ... Read Review |
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The Walker, Jane R Goodall03/10/2007 - 2:48pmJane Goodall's first book is The Walker, published originally in 2004 when it won the Ned Kelly for Best First Crime Novel. Jane is a Brit, now living in Sydney and The Walker is based in London. In 1967 a schoolgirl is the only witness to the killer, as they leave the train, having left behind an elderly woman's body, with her throat cut. Nell then moves to Australia with her parents, returning to London in 1971 as a University Student. She's been suffering panic attacks and required counselling ever since that day boarding the train. In 1971 ... Read Review |
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The Red Dahlia, Lynda La Plante03/10/2007 - 1:57pmWhen the body of a young woman is found on the banks of the River Thames, the injuries turn out to have an unsettling similarity to the unsolved, 1930's Los Angeles case of Elizabeth Short - known as The Black Dahlia. Detective Inspector Anna Travis is on the team investigating this horrible crime when Detective Chief Inspector James Langton is called in to take over from the original team leader. They have a prior working and private history and Travis is very hesitant and discomforted by the close presence of the volatile and erratic Langton. As the killer starts to ... Read Review |
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Shotgun City, Paul Anderson03/10/2007 - 1:32pmAnother true crime novel, based around Melbourne's Gangland Killings from long serving crime reporter on the Herald Sun. This one covers gangland killings in Melbourne from the original Painters and Dockers disputes back in the 1970's through to the brazen shooting of Lewis Moran in a Club in Brunswick Street in 2004. Straight forward depiction of a considerable number of killings, presented on a timeline that gives the reader a very clear picture of what was going on - well as much as anyone in the public knows what was going on.Read Review |
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The Art of Drowning, Frances Fyfield02/10/2007 - 4:56pmRachel Doe needs to sort out her life. She's had such a sheltered, cautious existence; an accountant, only daughter of very timid parents, the only really daring thing she has done in her life was to dob in her lover - a liar and thief. All she got for her efforts was suspicion and a greater sense of loneliness and isolation than she had ever had before. When Rachel meets Ivy she's totally captivated and they soon become involved in a very intense, platonic friendship which surprises everyone. Ivy is so different from Rachel, she was a real wild child - charismatic; a ... Read Review |
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The Perfect Suspect, Vincent Varjavandi02/10/2007 - 4:07pmThe author of THE PERFECT SUSPECT is a surgeon who, it would appear, has a strong interest in the welfare of children. Readers of this novel could probably be excused if they assume that the character of Tom is based on the author himself, although obviously, you'd hope without the tragic family background! Early in the novel, the medical background of our central character - Tom - and the death of his wife is rapidly established. Only a matter of weeks later, Tom returns to Australia and is shocked to find a delivery of black roses at his home - seemingly from the killer of his ... Read Review |
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Silence of the Grave, Arnaldur Indridason02/10/2007 - 4:06pmErlendur (who was first introduced to us in Tainted Blood (aka Jar City)) is called to the investigation of a skeleton, found in a shallow grave on an area that used to be open hills outside Reykjavik. When the skeleton was buried this was sparsely populated with a few summer chalets. Just to complicate matters the skeleton could also be from the time when there was a British and then American Army base in the area. It could be an Icelander who once got lost in the snow. The investigation is complicated by the age of the burial; the slow and painstaking excavation of it ... Read Review |
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Underbelly 9: More True Crime Stories, John Silvester and Andrew Rule02/10/2007 - 4:04pmThe UNDERBELLY series is a set of shortish books written by journalists Silvester and Rule covering various events in the criminal underworld of Victoria in particular. Underbelly 9 covers the shooting of Andrew Veniamin by Mick Gatto, and Gatto's subsequent trial and acquittal, the case of a serial stalker, abalone poachers, the death of a woman and her daughter at the hands of her husband and a number of other stories. All of these stories are told with Silvester and Rule's classic irreverant, tell it as we see it style.Read Review |
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Underbelly 6: True Crime Stories, John Silvester and Andrew Rule02/10/2007 - 3:56pmI'm overdosing on the Underbelly series a bit at the moment, using them as fillers between some hefty Crime Fiction tomes, and why not. In Underbelly 6 the authors take you thought the disappearance of a wife, mother and ex-TV game show model, a bit about the stitch up of the Mickelberg brothers, the slow poisoning death of a husband in Bendigo, the inexplicable death of a policeman and a range of other snippets. The tongue in cheek style of the authors just appeals.Read Review |
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The Brotherhoods, Arthur Veno02/10/2007 - 3:21pmThis book is sub-titled "Inside the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs" and it reads as written by somebody who has sort of got inside the Outlaw Motorcycle clubs but isn't really. The author is an academic who has made a reputation studying Outlaw Motorcyle Clubs and as an "official" observer of their activities. He has performed this role as "official" observer on a number of major motorcyle runs - reporting on both the bikies and police activities. Interesting as an observational report both from the point of view of the policing strategies used in various locations, and from the ... Read Review |
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Murder at the Fortnight, Steve J. Spears02/10/2007 - 2:51pmMURDER AT THE FORTNIGHT is set in the testing arena of the "theatre" and the arts. Showbiz commentator, Stella Pentangelli is returning from a bit of a "rest" as it's known in the trade, after a stella career as a showbusiness commentator and heavyweight. Inspector Ng is an investigator in the police, renowned for his different methods and for not paying the slightest bit of attention to all the whispering about his slightly bizarre methods. Steve J Spears is a renowned Australian playright, and in MURDER AT THE FORTNIGHT he's created a wonderfully eccentric, slightly ... Read Review |
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Sun and Shadow, Åke Edwardson02/10/2007 - 2:23pmErik Winter is the youngest chief inspector in Sweden. He's quite the snappy dresser, an intuitive if slightly moody cop, consumed with his job and with his very pregnant girlfriend. When his father has a massive heart attack in Spain, he is pulled away from his job to spend a little time with him before he dies. His time in Spain is very conflicted, a completely different culture and experience which his parents have embraced totally, away from his girlfriend and his job, he's lost and uncomfortable. When he returns, a particularly gruesome double murder, almost on his doorstep drags ... Read Review |
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Death in Dreamtime, S.H. Courtier02/10/2007 - 1:19pmDeath in Dreamtime was published by Wakefield Crime Classics in 1993. Originally published in 1959, S H Courtier is one of the classic crime fiction authors in Australia who is little known / commented on. Which is a pity. In Death in Dreamtime Jock Corless ends up at Ungimillia, home of The Alchera or Dream Time Land - a sort of "theme park" of Aboriginal mythology. He's travelled through to New South Wales in response to a very cryptic letter from his cousin who, as Jock arrives, is found dead on the road. Death in Dreamtime certainly reads like a novel ... Read Review |
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The Society Murders, Hilary Bonney02/10/2007 - 12:53pmWhy was Melbourne so fascinated by the Wales-King murders. For the longest time, reporters went absolutely berserk, almost stalking the family for pictures and quotations. From the time the Margaret Wales-King and her husband Paul King went missing, the rumour mill went into overdrive and every utterance of anyone even remotely connected with the case was plastered all over the pages of every newspaper in town. The reason I wanted to read this book is to see if Hilary Bonney answered this question, and ultimately, she asked the same question. As the author states in the ... Read Review |
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Colour Scheme, Ngaio Marsh02/10/2007 - 12:48pmI was prompted to re-read this after an absence of 3(cough) something years (good grief when did those years happen), by a discussion on 4 Mystery Addicts (the best online crime fiction discussion group that I've ever found). Colour Scheme is one of Ngaio Marsh's books actually set in her homeland of New Zealand and was, I think, originally released in 1953 or 1943. Despite the age of the book it still holds up pretty well. There's a lovely underlying sense of humour about it, a bit too much stuffed shirt middle class English twit in some of the characters maybe, but ... Read Review |
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No Suspicious Circumstances, The Mulgray Twins (review by sunniefromoz)02/10/2007 - 12:44pmWhen your protagonist is a member of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and her partner is a trained drug-sniffer cat (yes, I said cat), you know the book isn’t going to be heavy on the gritty realism. NO SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES is pure fluff so you do have to suspend disbelief to an extent. However, D.J. lurches from crisis to crisis, often endangering her life. Another day, another body. Yet one more attempt on her life. It all becomes extremely repetitious and predictable. As the suspects are killed off, there is no reason given for their deaths. We have no idea if ... Read Review |
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Punishment, Anne Holt02/10/2007 - 12:41pmPUNISHMENT is the first in a newly translated, extremely successful series in Europe, featuring academic and former FBI profiler Johanne Vik and Detective Inspector Adam Stubo of the Oslo police. When 9 year old Emilie goes missing her father is worried but not frantic. She'd done this once before just after her mother died. This time, they don't find her. When a little boy disappears and ultimately is returned to his parents; dead, no obvious cause of death, and a handwritten note: You Got What You Deserved; Oslo starts to worry. Police Superintendent Adam ... Read Review |
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Hidden, Katy Gardner02/10/2007 - 12:05pmMel Stenning has been a victim most of her life. Adopted by very conventional parents, she rebelled (but hated herself for doing it), getting into all sorts of situations and ultimately ending up in Australia, pregnant with no chance of having anything to do with her daughter Poppy's father. Returning to England she's a single mother, working for a living, finding it hard to cope, when she meets Simon. Never really convinced that Simon loves her, and constantly obsessed that he's remained involved with his last girlfriend Rosa, Mel is pregnant again. When Simon proposes, they marry ... Read Review |