Book Review

A Virtuous Lie, Christina O'Reilly

10/08/2023 - 2:09pm

The third novel featuring DSS Archie Baldrick and DC Ben Travers, A VIRTUOUS LIE follows on from INTO THE VOID and RETRIBUTION. This is a series that might be best read in order, which shouldn't be a trial for anyone new to it - the first two are tightly plotted, engaging and only 160 and 180ish pages long.

One of the main reasons for reading the series from the start is that Baldrick and Travers do have some major things going on in their personal lives, and whilst this outing does go back through their histories, and experiences, RETRIBUTION is possibly the entry that ... Read Review

Everything to Hide, K.V. Martins

08/08/2023 - 1:31pm

It's going to come as no surprise to any readers of EVERYTHING TO HIDE, that author K.V. Martins is a fan of historical crime fiction, in particular, the work of Dame Agatha Christie. It should also come as no surprise that she has a background in history and archaeology.

This is a novel set in 1933 Sydney, Australia, with a strong hat tip to some of the well known interests and themes of Christie, set within the world of Egyptology, wealthy families, tyrannical fathers, weekend house parties, and a locked room scenario. In this case Detective Senior Sergeant Harold ... Read Review

Winter Time, Laurence Fearnley

04/08/2023 - 3:47pm

Familial love, tension, friendship and interconnections are all part of Laurence Fearnley's novel WINTER TIME, set in New Zealand's MacKenzie Basin, a location which absolutely stars in this story. A place in which breath frosts, mists are all encompassing, peaks are starkly white, snow slopes glow silver-blue, and the lakes are black and dark.

It's the place that central character Roland returns to after the unexpected death of his brother, back to the landscape, the people, and the family home. Roland is alone in that cold house, with his thoughts and doubts for the ... Read Review

Blood in the Water, Gillian Galbraith

02/08/2023 - 3:26pm

Okay, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, what DO they put in the water supply in Scotland. Or maybe it's because of the notoriously dire weather - people are indoors and a percentage of them turn to writing. Don't know. But whatever it is, I hope they keep it up as there are some terrific books coming out of there.

BLOOD IN THE WATER is the first Alice Rice mystery - the second WHERE THE SHADOW FALLS is now also available. In this debút, there's an interesting character being formed. She's a little sketchy in some places in this book, but in compensation there is a ... Read Review

Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl, Fiona Britton

02/08/2023 - 11:11am

It's hard not to wonder what the line "Phyrne Fisher meets Underbelly in an arch, out-of-the-box debut historical crime caper" actually means. Turns out it's a bit the timeframe and environment, the character of Violet Kelly, and the situation she finds herself in.

Set in 1930's Sydney, Violet Kelly and her identical twin sister Iris were raised by nuns in an orphanage before breaking free in their own way, leading to a very different set of circumstances. Violet, who is the main character in this novel, actively chooses the life offered at Maison des Fleurs, in a way ... Read Review

Traced, Catherine Jinks

28/07/2023 - 12:36pm

Jane McDonald has been working as a contract tracer in Sydney's western suburbs, during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Contact tracers get used to working with a huge range of people and they expect to patiently work through all sorts of issues, making sure that everyone keeps themselves, and the community safe during this very unusual time. But it's hard not to get involved, and Jane is really concerned when a close contact of somebody with the virus is hysterical and terrified of what her fiance's reaction will be when it's revealed she's been in contact with her own cousin, who has now ... Read Review

Roseghetto, Kirsty Jagger

25/07/2023 - 12:42pm

Kirsty Jagger’s debut novel is a confronting story about growing up in the worst of circumstances, and how violence and poverty can happen to anyone. Full Review at Newtown Review of Books.Read Review

Mad, Bad and Dead, Sherryl Clark

24/07/2023 - 7:53pm

If you're new to the Judi Westerholme series, it's one of those featuring a slightly older, marginally wiser, female character who's in too deep and doing the two steps forward, one step dance that quite a few of us might recognise. It's a great series, with a believable, slightly manic central character that's keeping her head above water by sheer willpower and, some would say, the slightly delusional idea that she alone will just have to sort it out.

Which, to be fair, she's good at. In many ways. The series started out with TRUST ME, I'M DEAD, then DEAD AND GONE, and ... Read Review

The Wrong Woman, J.P. Pomare

05/07/2023 - 2:11pm

THE WRONG WOMAN is the first foray from J.P. Pomare overtly set in the US, and it was, for this reader, utterly seamless in its evocation of an American feeling small town. Helped a lot by the central character ex-cop, now Private Investigator Reid being from this particular community, and all too aware of the politics therein, the society and personal pressures and how they can lead to all sorts of problems for all sorts of people. 

The novel relies on a lot of complications on a lot of levels. Starting out with Reid himself, an ex-cop, now private investigator, back in ... Read Review

Four Dogs Missing, Rhys Gard

04/07/2023 - 6:22pm

You wouldn't think reading crime fiction would leave you with a taste for wine, but here we are. 

Set in the idyllic surrounds of the Mudgee (New South Wales) wine region, Oliver Wingfield has set himself up as a winemaker with a fine reputation for his wines, even if everyone talks about his reclusive nature and unorthodox techniques. He's a man with a complicated past, which is dragged kicking and screaming into the light after his estranged twin brother Theo suddenly arrives after a fifteen year period of no contact whatsoever, and is promptly murdered. Physically ... Read Review

The Yellow Dog, Georges Simenon

03/07/2023 - 3:35pm

The world is a pretty awful place at the moment and there's no way I will stomach listening to a book that casually talks about animal cruelty. So this was a DNF with extreme nope.Read Review

A Rake of His Own, A.J. Lancaster

01/07/2023 - 11:17am

From the Blurb: Marius Valstar doesn’t know which is worse: the dead body in his greenhouse or the naked fae prince on his desk.

The only rakes of interest to Marius are garden tools. Not fae princes. Certainly not the arrogant, selfish fae prince he has the misfortune to have a history with.

But when Prince Rakken turns up naked and bleeding in Marius’s college the same day a body appears in his greenhouse, scruples must take second place to solving a murder that could unravel the delicate balance between humans and fae.

Marius’ ... Read Review

A Disappearance in Fiji, Nilima Rao

20/06/2023 - 6:31pm

In the author's notes at the back of A DISAPPEARANCE IN FIJI, Nilima Rao provides background to the thinking behind this novel, including the structure of the Indian indentured servitude program, established by the British overseen, Indian government, coming into its own when slavery was abolished. Why am I not surprised that this was yet another example of utter bastardry, arranging for Indian workers, desperate to improve their lives however marginally, to be sent to places like Trinidad, Jamaica, and Mauritius on fixed period contracts with working and living conditions that were ... Read Review

Vanished, Nicole Morris

15/06/2023 - 4:54pm

In 2005 Nicole Morris founded the Australian Missing Persons register, an internet resource to help find missing people in Australia.

http://www.australianmissingpersonsregister.com/ (your browser may come up with a security alert because the site is missing the encryption layer).

A valuable part of that website is the FAQ - http://www.australianmissingpersonsregister.com/FAQ.htm which provides important information if you have ... Read Review

A Deadly Game, Laraine Stephens

05/06/2023 - 2:39pm

The third novel in the Reggie da Costa series, DEADLY GAME is set in 1920's Melbourne featuring the celebrated, well groomed crime reporter da Costa, and the brave, and very determined Ruby Rhodes.

da Costa has a habit of gathering beautiful woman in his life, with problems and complicated lives of their own. None of which stops da Costa looking upon a lot of them (except perhaps the one he should be looking towards) as potential love interests. Needless to say, this never quite works out as he'd hoped. A DEADLY GAME introduces him to Rhodes, a quiet, studious museum ... Read Review

Orphan Road, Andrew Nette

05/06/2023 - 2:27pm

The second Gary Chance novel, ORPHAN ROAD, sees Chance move his centre of activities to Victoria, all because of an old friend and former employer, the once notorious Melbourne social identity, Vera Leigh. Owner of a struggling S&M club being circled by property developers, knower of decidedly dodgy characters, it all starts with Chance and another contact of Leigh's in Byron, shaking down a peace and love cult front for a major drug smuggling ring. Which turns into another one of those jobs that could be described by the quote in the blurb:

The heist

... Read Review

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes, Rob Wilkins

22/05/2023 - 4:56pm

Took me a while to start reading this (published in 2022), mostly because this book, of all the books around Terry Pratchett, will mean knowing something personal about the man behind the genius. Written by Terry's long-time assistant, and very good friend, Rob Wilkins, this is an emotional (inspiring / hilarious and frequently brutally honest) walk through exactly that. At the heart of the writing genius was a gloriously grumpy, irascible, kind and funny human being, with a capacity for vision and thought that was utterly astounding.

Wilkins came into Terry's life as a ... Read Review

Naked Ambition, Robert Gott

09/05/2023 - 1:18pm

If you’ve ever wondered what a crime novel written by Noel Coward might be like, Naked Ambition could provide some clues.  Review at Newtown Review of BooksRead Review

The Signatory, Stuart Black

02/05/2023 - 2:41pm

THE SIGNATORY is a thriller set in and around an Australian advertising agency, leaving this reviewer wondering if there's an argument that crime fiction set in the corporate / business world is under-represented. On the face of it, perhaps an unlikely setting, but then again, there are more than reasons to think that there's villainy in day to day business, even if its not strictly illegal.

The story of THE SIGNATORY revolves around Sam Pride - who has just sold his start-up company to a US conglomerate for large piles of money. His life is looking good - young, married ... Read Review

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Fatal Isles, Wild Shores & Cruel Tides, Maria Adolfsson

28/04/2023 - 3:20pm

Having had the urge to try BorrowBox from our Library system recently, I happened upon the first three books in the Doggerland series by Maria Adolfsson - FATAL ISLES (2018), WILD SHORES (2019) and CRUEL TIDES (2020). It looks like there are three more books that haven't yet been translated into English. It's a series featuring Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby, and her (turns out fictional) native island of Doggerland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doggerland).

The opening book, FATAL ISLES, introduces Eiken ... Read Review

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