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Follow the Leader, Mel Sherratt20/02/2015 - 2:46pmThe second book in the DS Allie Shenton series, FOLLOW THE LEADER is not impeded in any way by not having read the earlier novel. Whilst many fans of crime fiction will take one look at the blurb and groan "not another serial killer", this one deserves a second look. This serial killer kind of makes sense - in a decidedly uncomfortable manner. In another possibly groan inducing moment, readers will also find themselves spending time in the head of this killer. A viewpoint that's used here to illuminate the killings, their circumstances, and more importantly, ... Read Review |
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Sweet One, Peter Docker18/02/2015 - 12:20pmOn Anzac Day in 2008 an Aboriginal Elder from Warburton*, Western Australia was arrested for drink driving. Transported around 920 kilometres over two trips, in the back of a private security company van with no air-conditioning, he died in transit. An inquest later found that the guards accompanying him, the private company, and the State Government contributed to this gentleman's death. The State's response and delays in compensation payments were as reprehensible as everyone's behaviour in the first place. Using similar events as the subject matter of SWEET ONE does ... Read Review |
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Riding in Cars with Girls, Evangeline Jennings17/02/2015 - 11:53amIt's a such a simple idea when you think of it, take a standard noir setting, with added muscle cars, old cars, fast cars and gorgeous cars, and replace the male characters with female ones. It makes enormous sense to me, especially as I grew up in a country town where girls driving hotted up cars, and hanging around hotted up cars was pretty common. Granted there was a bit of dating of boys driving hotted up cars as well - but really we could have just had all those cars to ourselves. Evangeline Jennings does a good job of building up her dark and dangerous settings and ... Read Review |
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The 45% Hangover, Stuart MacBride13/02/2015 - 5:06pmA perfectly formed piece of glorious over the topness featuring Logan McRae, DCI Steel and the recent Scottish independence referendum. Which of course isn't going to bode well. I mean it's part of the world that gave us Whisky. And people who drink whisky. When they are happy, sad, or stressed. All of which DCI Steel manages to be during the lead up to, and the night of the count. Not that McRae particularly cares. As usual he's just trying to get a shift under his belt, and maybe find a missing 'No' campaigner. Which, well, it ends hilariously. And vaguely disturbingly ... Read Review |
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The Agatha Christie Book Club, C.A. Larmer12/02/2015 - 2:05pmWritten for fans of cosy styled, more light-hearted mystery stories, THE AGATHA CHRISTIE BOOK CLUB will ring many bells in any readers who are also dedicated Agatha Christie readers. Set in Sydney, the ACBC is formed by Alicia Finlay when she finally has to throw in the towel on a more formal (aka stuffy) literature based book club (personal note - if you TRIED to hold off the wine and cheese at our book club meetings you'd be laughed out the door!). Those dedicated fans of Agatha Christie will recognise many of the scenarios, clues and hints dotted throughout this ... Read Review |
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King of the Road, Nigel Bartlett11/02/2015 - 2:05pmKING OF THE ROAD is Sydney based author Nigel Bartlett's debut novel. Gritty, complicated and fast-paced it takes the reader into the uncomfortable world of abduction of young boys and paedophile rings. From the moment that young Andrew disappears from David Kingsgrove's home there's a sinking sense of despair. Firstly because of the police's obsession with Kingsgrove as the only suspect, and secondly because a young boy going missing like that instantly makes you think the absolute worse. With only one friend prepared to believe in him, Kingsgrove is in a no win position ... Read Review |
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The Life I Left Behind, Colette McBeth04/02/2015 - 12:58pmTHE LIFE I LEFT BEHIND is the second novel from London based author Colette McBeth, her first being PRECIOUS THING. Both in the form of psychological thriller, part of the increasingly common "domestic noir" category, they are however standalone books. The story here is told using a combination of viewpoints from three main characters. Melody Pieterson is a survivor, brutally attacked and left for dead, she lives in personal imprisonment, whilst her attacker has just been released from jail. The aftermath of the attack has seen her lose her confidence, her social life and ... Read Review |
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The Mister Rainbow series03/02/2015 - 2:19pmThis gloriously retro private eye series is purely for fun. Crime fiction tends, in the main, to take itself very seriously. Murder after all, isn’t a laughing matter, and the exploration of who did what to whom sometimes demands the playing of a very straight bat. That’s not to say that there aren’t excellent examples of comic crime fiction, many of which, for some reason, include a rather hefty hat-tip to the classic, early PI-style novels. The use of that scenario does mean that the author can move away from the sort of gallows humour that characters ... Read Review |
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Olmec Obiturary, L.J.M. Owen17/01/2015 - 1:05pmCosy mysteries are so far from my comfort zone we could be classified as sworn enemies. Which is not to say that some haven’t worked for this particular reader. But to be fair, those that have worked normally deploy a sly, dry sense of humour, a huge dollop of self-awareness and preferably have a hefty dose of tongue in cheek. It also doesn’t hurt to have a strong plot buried in the ancillary bits and pieces that seem to be part of the cosier side of the genre. In the OLMEC OBITUARY there is a lot of ancillary - be it family background (harmonious racial blending with a ... Read Review |
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Elizabeth is Missing, Emma Healey13/01/2015 - 11:02amReading a lot of crime fiction can sometimes get a little groundhog day"ish". Not so when a book like ELIZABETH IS MISSING comes along. Not only is the styling of this mystery very unusual, the central character is outstanding and different. Maud is an eighty-two-year old independent woman, living in her own home, slowly losing her memory. Devastatingly she sometimes knows she's losing touch with reality, she certainly knows enough to recognise that the notes that are liberally dotted throughout her home, in her pockets and her bag are an important aide-memoire. ... Read Review |
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Crucifixion Creek, Barry Maitland06/01/2015 - 2:39pmBarry Maitland's Brock & Kolla series is notable for, amongst many things, the way that he always takes a location in London and builds it into the story, almost as another character. In the first of the Harry Belltree trilogy, CRUCIFIXION CREEK, set in Sydney, there is a similar approach, this time with a location of notorious reputation. Crucifixion Creek is the scene of a massacre of Aboriginal people by early colony British marines. Extending that history into the current day, Harry Belltree is the son of Sydney's first Aboriginal Judge, and a veteran special forces soldier ... Read Review |
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The Missing and the Dead, Stuart MacBride05/01/2015 - 5:09pmSure Logan McRae's now an Acting Detective Inspector, in uniform. In the backend of nowhere, with a good team working with him, especially when you realise the number of cows they have to chase off roads. His girlfriend has improved a little, she's now in a care home, still uncommunicative, her nursing being paid for by McRae which is creating certain "problems" in his personal lifestyle. To make matters worse, his role in a high profile arrest causes a court case to collapse which brings the higher-ups down on his head and everything he does, says or has is questioned. Except for the ... Read Review |
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Bent, James Morton & Susanna Lobez01/12/2014 - 2:53pmJames Morton and Susanna Lobez have written a number of Australian true crime books together now, many of which are in anecdotal format. Whilst BENT tends towards that style again, it is considerably more detailed and employs a much clearer narrative connection than many of the earlier books this reviewer has read. As a result of this, it's a much stronger, considerably more informative read than originally expected. Even when you realise that there's been an extensive culture of corruption throughout not just the Police in Australia since First Fleet Days, BENT really ... Read Review |
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Bad Blood, Casey Kelleher26/11/2014 - 5:18pmQuite a few crime fiction books use the life and crimes of a Gangster type as their central premise, with a sideline of the impact that has on family and friends. BAD BLOOD looks at this scenario with the affected firmly at the centre of the action. Starting out with a series of chapters that introduce a central character or scenario, readers will need to pay attention. As they will to the prologue which looks at the past of central character Harry Woods and his young, pregnant wife. In the present time, Harry's much loved wife is dead, his children grown and the family ... Read Review |
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Self's Punishment, Bernhard Schlink17/11/2014 - 12:25pmFrom the blurb, you can probably work out that this isn't a noir styled book. A lot of the attraction comes from the eccentricity of both Gerhard Self, and the style of storytelling, which is often slightly arch and funny. Which is rather unexpected given that Self is a widowed private detective, and ex-Nazi prosecutor. He is also the brother-in-law of the man who runs a major chemical company, part of the reason he's called in to help when the company falls victim to a computer hacker with his own sense of the bizarre. A clash of troublemakers if you like. ... Read Review |
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Prisoner of Night and Fog, Anne Blankman13/11/2014 - 4:03pmUp front, I've always struggled with fiction that uses fact as the entire basis for a made-up story. I'm twitchy about the possibility (albeit possibly unintentionally) of reinventing history. PRISONER OF NIGHT AND FOG is therefore built on a particularly challenging premise - that the central character in this book, Gretchen Müller, is a protégé of Adolf Hilter. Needless to say it came as no surprise to find that Müller's loyalty to her "Uncle", the party and all is undermined when she meets a fearless and "handsome" (couldn't he at least have been average looking...) ... Read Review |
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The Wings of the Sphinx, Andrea Camilleri12/11/2014 - 11:55amThe 11th Montalbano book this is a series that I'm tragically reading out of order, behind the publication dates and sadly not often enough. Of course fans know about the food, and the scenery, and the grumpiness of Montalbano. Combine that with the vague lunacy of the members of the rest of the police force he has to work with and there's a sense of affection about these books. Which stands out markedly against the relationships that Montalbano has with everyone including his on/off/distant/what exactly is their relationship girlfriend Livia. ... Read Review |
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The Morutau Affair, Vernon M. Baker11/11/2014 - 2:51pmSteamy is right – and not just the weather. THE MORUTAU AFFAIR was not what I was expecting. Ostensibly about the death of a plantation owner, it's a story made up of current action and flashbacks to the time that he and his wife, met, married and from there, the lead-up to his death. Obviously, given the time and the place, there's a lot of racial interactions which are uncomfortable reading nowadays, but there's nothing about any of it that feels out of place, or gratuitous. There is, however some very complicated sexual shenanigan's going on. We're not ... Read Review |
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Challenge, Paul Daley06/11/2014 - 1:56pmIn an interview from the Sydney Morning Herald with author Paul Daley, he describes the character of Daniel Slattery from CHALLENGE as :
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Mistress, Matthew Benns & Terry Smyth05/11/2014 - 2:53pmI probably should have known better, but I admit the final line of the blurb caught my eye "And it explains the one lie that binds them all – sex." I was wondering what it was that made these sorts of liaison's "public property". And I still don't know. So much salacious gossip, some of it repeated directly from the tabloid newspapers (if the story I test googled is any indication), with no analysis, no explanation and ... well nothing much really except a sneaking suspicion of a bit of "nudge nudge wink wink". Which makes it very hard to even recommend this as I suspect ... Read Review |