All the Reviews

Ritual of Fire, D.V. Bishop

Third in the Cesare Aldo series from D.V. Bishop, RITUAL OF FIRE is set in a time of change for Aldo, his colleagues and his personal life. He's been sent to the Tuscan countryside, hunting thieves and fugitives whilst Florence battles a heatwave, drought and what turns out to be a series of violent murders of rich merchants. Luckily there is a connection between these merchants and the town that Aldo is exiled in, with one of the deaths occuring locally, giving him more than enough reason to insert himself back into Florence and the ongoing investigation. Which is just as well ... Read Review

Lies and Deception, Laraine Stephens

The 4th novel in the Reggie da Costa series, LIES AND DECEPTION is a nicely twisty tale of the just desserts served up to a serial conman and his accomplices by a determined crime reporter and his ... accomplices.

If you're new to this lovely series, set in the early 1920's in Melbourne, Reggie da Costa is the lead crime reporter for The Argus newspaper. He's a very debonair chap, possessed of a very stylish wardrobe, a particularly standout motor vehicle, a recently acquired and, as far as he can see, unexpected and utterly beguiling love interest, and a keen, almost ... Read Review

Death Leaves the Station, Alexander Thorpe

There's a really nice interpretation of classic golden age mystery styling at the heart of this lovely little novel set in the early white settlement period of rural, remote Western Australia.

Cleverly balanced between the personal story of Ana, the adopted daughter of the owners of Halfwell Station, and the search for a murder victim whose body she came across in the bush, late at night when reportedly star gazing, there's a lot of intrigue going on here. It's not just the nameless friar who appears at the Station at the time that Ana reports (to the friar initially and ... Read Review

The Company of Rats, Sulari Gentill

Over at: The State Library of NSW, there's a delightful little short story, IN THE COMPANY OF RATS, by Sulari Gentill featuring a very young version of her redoubtable character Rowly Sinclair, who even at the tender age of 14 was a trial to his family, with all the makings of the kind, generous and decent man he'd become, with an eye for an investigation even then.

The story was originally published in Openbook in 2021 ... Read Review

Mrs Sidhu's Dead and Scone, Suk Pannu

We first came across this character in the TV Series, MRS SIDHU INVESTIGATES starring Meera Syal who is just perfect as the caterer, and amateur eponymous sleuth at the centre of a surprising number of food adjacent (but not necessarily caused by) deaths. (Seems they all stem from a radio series). So finding the audio version of the first of a series of novels by Suk Pannu was a rather happy event, coinciding as it did with a bit of a period craving more amusing listening.

On the cosier side, this is lighter in style, but with depth and some interesting insight underlying ... Read Review

Going Zero, Anthony McCarten

Technology based thrillers like GOING ZERO can, sometimes, make this reader wary. Very wary, as the "tech" is often so far off course it endangers teeth and the book's ability to stay in one piece. Not so in GOING ZERO - the tech here might be a tad ropey in places, but the application was so believable, and the potential outcome so engaging, I was happy to let it roll along at, it has to be said, a clipping pace.

Basically the idea is that there's a big, high-tech company, run by one of those wunderkind tech bro types - Cy Baxter, although in the background there's a ... Read Review

The Tea Ladies, Amanda Hampson

THE TEA LADIES by Amanda Hampson is one of those interesting sort of novels that tippy toes a line between its cosy(ish) setting and some considerably more ruthless plot lines with a deftness that made for a really enjoyable reading experience. 

Set in Sydney in 1965 in the world of rag trade factories, tea ladies Hazel, Betty, Merl and Irene find themselves taking on the role of accidental sleuths partly because wrongs must be righted, partly because there's a young woman they believe might be in danger (sisters and all that...), and partly because, it has to be said, ... Read Review

Resurrection, Roger Simpson

The second novel, spinning off from the excellent TV series, Halifax f.p., RESURRECTION is definitely an unusual crime fiction novel, which would work well as a starting point if you've not read the earlier book - TRANSGRESSION.

Unusual for a number of reasons, the first being the viewpoint is that of a concussed, and struggling Jane Halifax. A formidable and supremely professional forensic psychiatrist, a near-fatal car crash left her in a coma, then, on wakening, unable to remember much of anything, including who she is, or those closest to her are. A classic wake into ... Read Review

Black Widow, Christopher Brookmyre

BLACK WIDOW is the 7th Jack Parlabane story, which I did read before WANT YOU GONE, but the review is going up out of order, just because (well actually I was working my way through a list from the bottom up so that's worked well....)

Anyway, this book is the story of surgeon Diana Jager and husband Peter Elphinstone, her outing as the writer of a deeply unpopular blog about life in a sexist, bullying workplace, and his supposed death, six months after they married, when his car left a road and plunged into a river.

She's disgraced, widowed, and there are a ... Read Review