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Death in Hellfire, Deryn Lake12/08/2016 - 4:26pmI've never been one much for historicals, so I was mildly surprised by how much I enjoyed DEATH IN HELLFIRE. Asked by the blind beak himself, Sir John Fielding, John Rawlings launches himself into the investigation of the notorious Hellfire Club. Worried by the sketchy artifice he has developed to disguise himself, concerned about the rumours of debauchery but more worried about the sinister aspects of the same club, he travels to the home of Sir Francis Dashwood and inveigles himself into the family circle. His disguise, and position within the household is complicated ... Read Review |
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The Big Score, Peter Corris10/08/2016 - 4:34pmThere 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 a ... Read Review |
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Slash and Burn, Colin Cotterill10/08/2016 - 3:27pmThe Dr Siri series has probably got to the stage where new readers will have that odd feeling - you know the one - when you walk into a theme party with no idea what the theme is. Or who most of the people at the bar are.... For fans of the series, there's absolutely nothing unexpected about SLASH AND BURN. It's perfectly understandable that Dr Siri, along with his wife, his nurse and his morgue attendant would all end up somewhere up country looking for a MIA American helicopter pilot. It's no surprise whatsoever that the Laotian team with them includes some of his oldest ... Read Review |
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The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak07/08/2016 - 7:36pmRead for f2f bookclub meeting - just couldn't get into it. Everytime there was a glimmer of a story showing up it disappeared. I think, all in all, if I want Death's point of view I'll stick with Terry Pratchett.Read Review |
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The Case of the Bullets at the Ballet, C.S. Boag07/08/2016 - 3:48pmTHE CASE OF THE BULLETS AT THE BALLET is book number 4 in the Mr Rainbow series, which I reread recently. Because you do. Think of these as good, fun, spare moment fillers and you've got it in one. My review of the full series was originally posted at Newtown Review of Books, duplicated here now as well.Read Review |
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Wonderful Tonight, Pattie Boyd07/08/2016 - 2:59pmIf you had asked me what I was expecting before I picked up this auto-biography, I doubt I could have told you. Maybe a bit about what it was like, really like, to be within the inner circle of the Beatles. A feeling for the how it was in the beautiful, swinging, mad, crazy 60s "it" crowds. Perhaps some sex, drugs and rock and roll, maybe even a little gossip. Written by the muse of two of the most famous musicians around I was hoping to see what it was about this woman that influenced / engendered that reaction in men who - well let's be frank - could probably have had any woman they ... Read Review |
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A Killing Frost, R.D. Wingfield07/08/2016 - 1:42pmConfession up front - I don't read these books for their plots, their scenarios or even in an attempt to find the flaws in the procedural elements. I read them because I love Frost, Mullet, George Toolan, Ernie Trigg and the ever changing assortment of DS's that come and go in Frost's world. I love Denton, (wouldn't want to live there - the constant crime waves would do your head in after a while), but really, the point of the Frost books for me, at least, is more about time with old friends than it is necessarily about strong police procedurals. I guess I should also admit ... Read Review |
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Ghost Money, Andrew Nette07/08/2016 - 1:27pmStart out reading GHOST MONEY and you're quickly immersed in a tight, tough, noir story set mostly in Cambodia. But don't be surprised if at some point, you also find yourself right smack bang in the middle of a history lesson and a subtle exploration of racial politics. Knowing a little of Nette's interest in pulp fiction, I confess that the taut, noir stylings of GHOST MONEY didn't come as any surprise whatsoever, so for this reader, what was most rewarding about the book was the unexpected complexity of the central character, Max Quinlan. As well as one hell of a plot ... Read Review |
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Dark City Blue, Luke Preston06/08/2016 - 3:49pmSometimes you just have to start off a book review with a bunch of warnings - so let's get the public service announcements out of the road now. Don't read DARK CITY BLUE if: a) you're going to need sleep in the immediate future; Ignore the warnings if you're looking for something that is action-packed, violent, sparse, and tense with a serious ... Read Review |
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The Case of the Missing Servant, Tarquin Hall05/08/2016 - 4:48pmTwo initial observations - book covers, especially for some reason, I've noticed, when the books are Sub-Continent or Asian based, can't be trusted; and we need a new genre - something along the lines of Food Crime Porn. The latter for the sort of books that describe food that would make you care less about the surrounding crime wave - something THE CASE OF THE MISSING SERVANT specialises in. The earlier comment because something odd seems to be going on - Shamini Flint's books aren't strictly cosy but the covers are, whereas the covers for the paperbacks of this series don't exactly ... Read Review |
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Manly Murders - A Mother Without A Child, Gunilla Haglundh04/08/2016 - 4:10pmA local author whose work I admire very much has a bit of a mantra I've heard her recite on many occasions. Show, don't tell. Show don't tell. On one level you know, immediately, what she means, but it's not often I've seen a book that demonstrates the opposite of that mantra quite as strongly as A MOTHER WITHOUT A CHILD. Set in Manly, Haglundh has a great eye for the place. Perhaps that comes about as an incomer to the society. She sees and writes about the places in this book with an eye for detail that's illuminating. There's also an interesting plot as the ... Read Review |
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Arresting Incarceration, Don Weatherburn30/07/2016 - 5:07pmA very detailed, academic analysis of the issue of Indigenous incarceration, ARRESTING INCARCERATION: PATHWAYS OUT OF INDIGENOUS IMPRISONMENT is sobering, difficult, and confronting reading. And it's hard not to feel like a bit of a fraud in discussing it - not being of the community or of any academic expertise. So looking at the book as an interested and sympathetic observer, the level of statistics quoted, the breadth of the issue, and the length of time in which it has continued to be a major area of concern is embarrassing. A simple comparison figure to give you an ... Read Review |
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13-Point Plan For a Perfect Murder, David Owen29/07/2016 - 1:20pmPufferfish is one of my all time favourite Australian Crime Fiction identities. He's taciturn, reticent and often recalcitrant. He's frequently obtuse, often slightly grumpy, addicted to strong espresso and liquorice all-sorts and finally, he's back. No matter how many of these books are written, it's always going to be way too long between visits with DI Franz Heineken, his offsiders Rafe and Faye and the brief glimpses of glorious Tasmanian locations. In order to get this series readers will need to love dry, wicked humour with a dose of tongue firmly placed in cheek. ... Read Review |
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Below the Styx, Michael Meehan27/07/2016 - 3:44pmI've been wracking my brains trying to come up with a concise, reasoned analysis of this book but I can't. I even thought I'd wait until after yesterday's f2f bookclub to see if anybody was able to come up with anything that would give me an insight into how the book may have worked for somebody, but I still can't. Perhaps it's a short story that got carried away, perhaps it is, as one person theorised, research for a degree that somehow got a publishing contract. The voice of the main character may have been aiming for twit, but ended up coming across ... Read Review |
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Aztec City of Spies, Simon Levack27/07/2016 - 3:38pmCITY OF SPIES is the third book in the Aztec series set in Mexico in 1517. Tetzcoco is the second largest city of the Aztec realm, a bustling town full of poets, artists, merchants and commerce. It is also the centre of a fight for the Aztec throne and its streets are full of spies and assassins stalking each other and killing violently. Yaotl is an ex-priest, now slave, who finds himself in Tetzcoco being sold for sacrifice by his master Lord Feathered-In-Black. He is rescued when bought by his old lover Tiger Lily, in town on a mission of her own. Yaotl then finds himself ... Read Review |
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The Couple Next Door, Shari Lapena26/07/2016 - 3:25pmWhat pulls the reader in hook, line and sinker into this “domestic noir” is that all the fraught scenarios we read of in THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR are only a couple of shaky steps off the normal path of married domesticity, walked by most of us every day. This makes the events in this fast moving book even more frightening to consider; it is only one mother’s group discussion away from our own possible realities. The book does stumble occasionally with poor construction, notably in the scenes between married couple Anne and Marco. Lots of meaningful looks here with little ... Read Review |
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Out of the Ice, Ann Turner26/07/2016 - 1:29pmTwo Australian thriller writers have each set their latest novels amid the beauty and danger of Antarctica. Antarctica is one of the planet’s last great wilderness areas – for some, a place ripe for plundering, for others, an area that must be protected. Ann Turner’s Out of the Ice uses the point of view of environmentalist Laura Alvarado to reveal both the wonder and the threats within this amazing landscape:
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Dead Cat Bounce, Peter Cotton / The Dying Beach, Angela Savage26/07/2016 - 1:20pmTwo recent Australian crime novels – a PI mystery set in Thailand and a police procedural in Canberra – give a strong sense of place. The Dying Beach is the third Jayne Keeney book from Angela Savage, following on closely from Behind the Night Bazaar and The Half-Child. The series is set in various parts of Thailand, a country Private Investigator Keeney, originally from Melbourne, loves and feels a strong affinity for. She speaks the language, mostly understands the sensitivities of the local people, and lives and works ... Read Review |
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Devour, L.A. Larkin26/07/2016 - 12:09pmLA Larkin’s Devour features investigative journalist Olivia Wolfe’s world of big stories, hair’s-breadth escapes from danger and fearless reporting on the worst of human excesses. Newtown Review of BooksRead Review |
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Black Ice, Leah Giarratano22/07/2016 - 5:03pmLeah Giarratano, forensic psychologist, crime fiction writer and consummate storyteller has just released her third novel - BLACK ICE. As with both of the earlier books, Giarratano takes the reader deep into a specific world of crime and criminal behaviour, the theme in BLACK ICE is illegal drugs. Readers of the two earlier books will know about DS Jill Jackson, a survivor of child sexual abuse, she has fought her way back from despair and continues, ever so gradually, to get control of her life and to deal with the memories of what happened to her. BLACK ICE adds another ... Read Review |