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The Cold Cold Ground, Adrian McKinty18/02/2019 - 4:04pmTHE COLD COLD GROUND arrived announcing the beginning of a new series, with a new character by Adrian McKinty and I was intrigued... and worried. It's been stinking hot in these parts, so I'm already sleep deprived. I wasn't sure I could cope with another all night reading session. So I got cunning, and started the book early in the day. And ended up with an all day reading session. Simply could ... not ... put ... the thing down. THE COLD COLD GROUND is therefore obviously another outstanding book from this outstanding writer. It is, however, a rather ... Read Review |
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The Cleaner, Paul Cleave18/02/2019 - 3:55pmThe Cleaner is Christchurch, New Zealand based Paul Cleave's debut novel. Set in Christchurch where at one point Joe, the central character, muses that the biggest crime in Christchurch City - apart from the fashion and the Old English Architecture, glue-sniffing, too much greenery, bad driving, bad parking, lack of parking, wandering pedestrians, expensive shops, the winter smog, the summer smog, kids riding skateboards on footpaths, kids riding bikes on footpaths, old guys yelling Bible passages at anybody passing by, stupid policemen, stupid laws, too many drunks, too few shops, ... Read Review |
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The Nowhere Child, Christian White18/02/2019 - 2:15pmIn Melbourne, 30 year old photography teacher Kim Leamy is approached by a stranger who shows her a photo of a young girl, with deep blue eyes and a mop of shaggy black hair. 28 years ago two-year-old Sammy Went disappeared from her family home in Manson, Kentucky in the US. No trace of her was ever found but there was always the thought that she was abducted - not killed as originally feared. This stranger believes that Kim is Sammy, and THE NOWHERE CHILD is the story of what happened to Sammy Went, what it did to her family, and what the accusation will now do to Kim Leamy, her much ... Read Review |
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The Port Fairy Murders, Robert Gott18/02/2019 - 1:44pmThe first book, THE HOLIDAY MURDERS marked a change in series, but not style, for author Robert Gott. Much of this author's crime fiction writing has concentrated on historical time periods, in particular around the second world war. This reader was very impressed with the first book. It introduced a range of new characters in the newly formed Homicide department of Victoria Police, from Inspector Titus Lambert (and his wife), Detective Joe Sable and Constable Helen Lord. Events from that book physically and mentally scar Joe Sable, scars that he carries forward, along ... Read Review |
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The Holiday Murders, Robert Gott18/02/2019 - 1:43pmThis title was reviewed for the Newtown Review of Books(link is external) This novel of murder and military intelligence in wartime Melbourne is inspired by history. While The Holiday Murders isn’t, sadly, a new William Powell book, Robert Gott has delivered another masterful crime novel steeped in Australia’s past. For the full review: ... Read Review |
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The Writing on the Wall, Gunnar Staalesen18/02/2019 - 12:44pmOriginally published in Norway in 1995, Gunnar Staalesen's The Writing on The Wall is set in Bergen Norway in the early '90s. Private Eye Varg Veum returns from the funeral of his ex-wife's most recent husband to find the distressed mother of missing 16 year old girl Torild waiting to see him. Around the same time Bergen is buzzing with rumours about the death of Judge Brandt after he is found dead in a hotel room wearing flimsy female underwear. Veum starts digging into the last known sightings and movements of Torild and her few friends - all of which seem to centre ... Read Review |
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The Killing Hour, Paul Cleave18/02/2019 - 11:13amTHE KILLING HOUR is Cleave's second book - a totally new direction from THE CLEANER, his first book released (at least in Australia) last year. And what a direction it takes. Our "hero" Charlie doesn't know what he's done. His clothes are covered in blood, there is a bump on his forehead and there are news reports that two women have been brutally murdered. Charlie knows that Cyris killed them, but nobody else knows that Cyris exists and, let's face it, Charlie's not really sure he does either. He can't think straight as long as the two victims come back to talk to ... Read Review |
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Trust No One, Paul Cleave17/02/2019 - 5:39pmFor reasons that escape me, Paul Cleave doesn't seem to have the profile, or the world-wide awareness that he absolutely and utterly deserves. He's one of those authors that consistently turns out something different, something that is designed to challenge the reader, and always something that's absolutely impossible to put down. With TRUST NO ONE he's come up with an absolutely stunning plot: an author of crime fiction, with early onset Alzheimer's who has now been moved to a nursing home, somehow connected to an ongoing series of murders. As the blurb puts it: ... Read Review |
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The Serpent's Sting, Robert Gott17/02/2019 - 4:29pmWilliam Power has been "resting" for a long time now, so his re-emergence in THE SERPENT'S STING is a relief for all concerned. For those that haven't read the first three books in this series (GOOD MURDER, A THING OF BLOOD and AMONGST THE DEAD), Shane Maloney described Power thus:
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And Fire Came Down, Emma Viskic16/02/2019 - 8:55pm“…last night’s dreams had slipped into waking hours again, plucking at his thoughts with their blood-stained fingers.” With her first novel, Resurrection Bay, Emma Viskic not only announced herself as a novelist to watch she also created a lead character in Caleb Zelic who you hoped could be sustained through a series of novels. That hope does however place a weight of expectation on subsequent novels and when I sat down to read And Fire Came Down, the second Caleb Zelic novel, I wondered if it would carry that expectation? I certainly think it does, and ... Read Review |
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Five Minutes Alone, Paul Cleave15/02/2019 - 5:28pmThe 4th Theodore Tate novel, FIVE MINUTES ALONE sees author Paul Cleave continuing to pull together connections from many of his previous novels - this series and the Christchurch Carver books. Must admit some of these connections, and the continuation in these books fascinate this reader. But then I've been amazed, fascinated, confronted, discomforted and flat out frightened by most of them. The FIVE MINUTES ALONE of the title is a reference to that oft-quoted reaction of loved ones, and victims of, violent offenders. It's a hard sentiment to argue with - five minutes ... Read Review |
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In The Morning I'll be Gone, Adrian McKinty15/02/2019 - 5:01pmThe structure of trilogies must have some appeal for McKinty, not just because he has previous form. From the outside you can see that it could be quite a challenge to build a character's life and explore events in a proscribed number of books. And then it's over. For this reader it's a very bitter sweet experience. Especially when, from book number one, this series cemented itself as a big part of January's expectations. Part of the appeal is obviously the central character Sean Duffy. An outsider in his own country and his own community, it's that viewpoint that makes ... Read Review |
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Only the Dead, Ben Sanders15/02/2019 - 4:49pmONLY THE DEAD is the third Sean Devereaux novel from NZ author Ben Sanders, but only the second I've read. Back in 2012, reading the second book, BY ANY MEANS, it was obvious then that Sanders is an author who likes to work with pace, and complexity. The plots in both these books are built on swirling / shifting sands, making sure that the reader is never exactly sure of anything. Add to that a strong reliance on a noir style, taking a central protagonist, putting them through all sorts of physical challenges, and keeping them dancing that line between good and bad, right and wrong ... Read Review |
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Joe Victim, Paul Cleave15/02/2019 - 3:57pmIn 2006 THE CLEANER was released and the opportunity to review it provided this reader with a life-long obsession with Paul Cleave's books (and a sneaking suspicion he was trying to scare me half to death!) In my review at that time I said:
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The Drowned Boy, Karin Fossum15/02/2019 - 12:33pmThe 11th Inspector Sejer novel from Karin Fossum, specialising again in the why of a crime. Why in this instance is a series of very big questions. Why did a young toddler end up dead in a pond near his house? Why did nobody think that secure fencing would be necessary for any child that age so close to water? Why is it particularly noteworthy that Tommy is a healthy boy, who happens to have Down's Syndrome? Why is his mother behaving so weirdly, and more to the point is she a spoilt princess or a bit odd? Why do Sejer and Skarre think there's something odd about this death and what ... Read Review |
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The Dark Lake, Sarah Bailey15/02/2019 - 12:28pmA debut novel set in a small Australian town, The Dark Lake is a police procedural with a hefty dose of romantic tension. Reviewed at Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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Rain Dogs, Adrian McKinty15/02/2019 - 11:25amReaders of Adrian McKinty's Sean Duffy series (of which this is book 5), might be excused for wondering if he's more than a little fascinated by locked room scenarios. The use of that scenario in 2014's IN THE MORNING I'LL BE GONE is referred back to directly in RAIN DOGS. There's a larger scale setting here with an entire castle, but the mystery relies heavily again on the concept of a victim and no way for a murderer to have gotten in or out of the scene of the crime. The coincidence of two locked room cases in one investigative career is almost more than Duffy can swallow, and ... Read Review |
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Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly, Adrian McKinty15/02/2019 - 11:21amPart history lesson, part social exploration, the Sean Duffy series from Irish-Australian writer Adrian McKinty is required crime fiction reading. Reviewed at: Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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Gun Street Girl, Adrian McKinty15/02/2019 - 11:12amGUN STREET GIRL is the fourth book to feature Irish cop Sean Duffy. The Duffy series, has been winning plaudits, praise and awards in all corners of the world and hugely deserved they have all been, which meant fans of both the writer and the earlier three books (THE COLD, COLD GROUND, I HEAR THE SIRENS IN THE STREET and IN THE MORNING I'LL BE GONE) ... Read Review |
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Points and Lines, Seicho Matsumoto14/02/2019 - 5:11pmThis has been a book that's been in the back of my mind as a "must read" for a long time. It combines that most fascinating (to me) of components of crime fiction - a mystery and an insight into life and the thinking of another culture - one that's totally different to my own. Whilst a lot of "authority" want the death of the young couple to just be written down to "Love suicide", Detective Torigai is not so sure. Kenichi Sayama has that dining car receipt in his wallet, it's from the last train journey witnesses say he boarded with Otoki. Yet the receipt only mentions a meal for ... Read Review |