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Arms for Adonis, Charlotte Jay25/01/2012 - 4:24pmI have been promising myself for a few years now to go back to some of the older classic Australian Crime Fiction books and reread them with a view to noting something about them on the website. Mostly because all of these books were read a long time before I started writing my own reviews, and I really need something to check my reactions against if I re-visit them again (which I'm inclined to do every now and then). Hence ARMS FOR ADONIS, which Wakefield Press published in 1994, with an excellent afterword by Peter Moss and Michael J Tolley. ARMS FOR ADONIS was first ... Read Review |
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Until Thy Wrath Be Past, Åsa Larsson24/01/2012 - 3:42pmOne of the most appealing aspects of the Rebecka Martinsson series from Asa Larsson has always been the strong sense of place and culture that the books seem to have as part of their DNA. The fourth book, UNTIL THY WRATH BE PAST, is no slouch in this department at all. The opening of the book is Wilma telling the story of the day that she and Simon died. Wilma's presence remains active within the book, encouraging Rebecka, slowly explaining her own story, drawing out the details. Her body, on the other hand isn't found for months after she dies. When it is, the ... Read Review |
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Beyond Fear, Jaye Ford23/01/2012 - 12:01pmBEYOND FEAR is journalist Jaye Ford's first book, billed as an adrenaline-pumped suspense thriller. Which, if you're reading it with that aim in mind it absolutely is. The book starts out with one of those scenes that just make you know something bad's going to happen. Something very bad. Four thirty-something women are heading off for a regular girls' weekend away, champagne in hand, towards a remote, recently renovated barn deep in isolated country Australia. Jodie, the main character of the book, is a woman with a secret from her best friends. So, when these woman are run off ... Read Review |
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The Dinosaur Feather, Sissel-Jo Gazan17/01/2012 - 3:08pmJanuary is often a very good reading month for some reason. That alone doesn't make a lot of sense - it's normally hot enough to melt the tin on the roof, which isn't conducive to concentration. Making THE DINOSAUR FEATHER look like a rather risky choice. At 535 pages it was way too big for any struggle with concentration, and after starting the book and finding myself deep in discussions on paleo-ornithology and not a lot of "crime action", I was feeling somewhat sceptical to say the least. Add to that a central character who is just a little inclined to be whingy, very prickly, ... Read Review |
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She's Never Coming Back, Hans Koppel10/01/2012 - 3:35pmIt didn't really come as much of a surprise that somebody has taken up the "girl in the cellar" storyline, although in SHE'S NEVER COMING BACK the victim is an adult woman, kidnapped on her way home from work, held in the cellar of the house opposite her own home. Talking about this book is going to be a balancing act, as without giving away too much, there was just so much about it that simply did not work, that actually worried me. Worried me to the point where I got my partner to sit down and read it as well, so that we were then able to discuss the concerns that, in ... Read Review |
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The Precipice, Virginia Duigan09/01/2012 - 5:02pmI suppose finding some sort of "pattern" in what you're reading, when you read a lot of books, is inevitable, but it always intrigues when I find that sort of co-incidence showing up. At the moment it's well-written unsympathetic, often off-putting characterisations. THE PRECIPICE has more than one of those in spades. Thea Farmer's voice is very realistic, the retired school principal, reclusive, difficult, with a small circle of carefully chosen people she interacts with; her only soft edges come from her relationship with her beloved, and rapidly aging, dog. ... Read Review |
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The Complaints, Ian Rankin09/01/2012 - 1:24pmThere is life after Rebus, even if it comes in a package of polar opposites. Rebus was an old school cop - murder squad, Malcolm Fox works for the cops who investigate other cops. Rebus was more than prepared to ignore rules, stretch boundaries and stomp rather resoundingly all over team work. Fox looks for just that sort of behaviour. Rebus was an unreformed grumpy drunk, Fox is a more carefully controlled man with a broken marriage, his drinking under control. They are both solitary men, although with Rebus there was something satisfied about his aloneness, Fox's comes with a ... Read Review |
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Murder and Redemption, Noel Mealy04/01/2012 - 3:02pm2011 was an interesting year in Australian Crime fiction with quite a few excellent debut books appearing. In 2012 we've started off with the release of MURDER AND REDEMPTION by Noel Mealey, another debut, another book set in outback Western Australia, and another book aiming for a quintessentially Australian voice and viewpoint. Blurbed as "moody and atmospheric" and "following in the traditions of both Peter Temple and Carl Hiaasen", somebody is setting the bar for MURDER AND REDEMPTION rather on the high side. As you'd expect from those comparisons the ... Read Review |
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Comeback, Peter Corris04/01/2012 - 1:17pmBefore everything comes across just a bit gushy, there was a point somewhere in the middle of the Cliff Hardy series where I seriously lost interest. Whilst there are some elements of the books that are always going to be the same, somehow the sameness became very obvious, there was something slightly flat about the storylines and, to this reader at least, nothing much engaged my interest. I never totally gave up reading the series, but most definitely didn't shove things aside as each new book arrived. And then, a few years ago, things changed. Around the time that ... Read Review |
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Bound, Vanda Symon31/12/2011 - 1:55pmDetective Sam Shephard is back, promoted (no longer a Detective Constable), working in the same squad as boyfriend Paul and still in head on confrontation with the boss, and slightly off centre confrontation with her mother. Which is particularly difficult as in BOUND Sam's much loved father is dying, just as the case of a brutal home invasion takes most of Sam's attention and energy. There are some absolute givens in the Sam Shephard series. There's going to be an opening to the book which should have the reader paying attention. Sam is going to be part energiser ... Read Review |
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Women Writers and Detectives in Nineteenth-Century Crime Fiction, Lucy Sussex20/12/2011 - 3:56pmRediscovery is exactly the word that needs to be applied to this small, but incredibly packed offering from renowned Senior Research Fellow Lucy Sussex. Sussex has to be one of the greatest proponents of the discovery and telling of the tales of the earliest female writers - having now bought Mary Fortune to light, she has turned her hand to exploring not just the origins, but much of the history of early Women Writers and Detectives. Proving once and for all that the crime genre was not just founded by a well-known group of men, many of the women in this book ( ... Read Review |
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Luther, The Calling, Neil Cross20/12/2011 - 3:18pmUpside, Neil Cross has written some fantastic recent books. Downside, LUTHER THE CALLING has a connection with a TV series which I've never seen. So interesting to see if a fabulous author has written a fabulous book, regardless of whatever's been going on over on the small screen. Especially as, I believe, this has been a reverse adaptation with the TV series coming before the book. The most important thing about any of this author's books is that, particularly as he has such a name as a scriptwriter, there's nothing filmic or screen treatment about the books. These ... Read Review |
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Defender of the Faith, Chris Allen20/12/2011 - 12:31pmIf, like me, you grew up on a diet of Len Deighton, Robert Ludlum and John Le Carre novels, there is a chance you're a bit of a fan of fast paced, military, espionage style novels. DEFENDER OF THE FAITH is a recent entry in the what is rapidly becoming a large pool of choice for Australian readers. Set within our geographical and political sphere, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH introduces readers to Alex Morgan, special forces operative, good bloke, and all round bit of a hero. The action in this book is really very realistic, and it's not difficult to believe highly informed ... Read Review |
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Scarlet Stilleto - The Second Cut16/12/2011 - 4:26pmAnother excellent selection of award winning short stories from the Sisters in Crime Australia's annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards. For the past 18 years the Australian Sisters in Crime have been awarding a range of prizes for short stories (the categories have shifted around over the years), and THE SECOND CUT is the (not all that surprisingly!) the second time that many of the prize winners have been compiled into a single volume and published. Again, you'll find an interesting combination of known and published authors, and new and upcoming (hopefully to be published) ... Read Review |
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The Courier's New Bicycle, Kim Westwood14/12/2011 - 3:29pmNot being one for speculative fiction, this isn't a book that I would have sought out, even with its cross-genre aspects. However, THE COURIER'S NEW BICYCLE was being talked about a lot and I'm not completely opposed to the occasional foray outside my comfort zone, so all in all the recommendations seemed like a good enough reason to try it out. It did take a little while to work out the style of the book. Westwood has developed a laid back, ironic, almost gentle sort of a style which initially doesn't quite seem to gel with many aspects of the story. It actually took ... Read Review |
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Dublin Dead, Gerard O'Donovan14/12/2011 - 12:22pmIt was rather pleasing to see DUBLIN DEAD, mostly because O'Donovan's first book, The Priest, actually managed to get me to rethink my "over serial killer" books stance. So no pressure on this one... at all. There is some reference back to The Priest in DUBLIN DEAD, which is unavoidable really given that both books feature journalist Siobhan Fallon and policeman DI Mike Mulcahy. If you've not read the earlier book, that shouldn't put you off completely, as there is some recapping of what happened, particularly to Siobhan. Whilst it should be enough to allow new readers ... Read Review |
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Scarlet Stiletto - The First Cut13/12/2011 - 4:23pmFor the past 18 years the Australian Sisters in Crime have been awarding a range of prizes for short stories (the categories have shifted around over the years), and THE FIRST CUT was the first time that many of the prize winners were compiled into a single volume and published. It's a worthwhile collection to read for the sake of the stories included, as well as to discover some "name" authors who have since gone on to get books published, or have felt that they got a real kickstart from the Scarlet Stiletto Awards. You'll find stories here from some authors you may ... Read Review |
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Murderer No More, Colleen Egan01/12/2011 - 3:35pmI've said it before, and I'll say it again. I have no idea how some authors can get themselves involved in a miscarriage of justice, see the case through to its conclusion, write an incisive and revealing book about the state of justice (particularly when it's in the state in which they continue to live), and not develop the odd twitch. Not, I'd hasten to add, have I had more than a few moments chat with Colleen Egan, but having now read this book I admire both her persistence and her stamina profoundly, and can remember no such twitch. Despite Egan's involvement in the ... Read Review |
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The End of Wasp Season, Denise Mina30/11/2011 - 1:02pmThe second in the Alex Morrow series, THE END OF THE WASP SEASON is a book that it would actually be possible to read before the earlier. The opening chapters of the book introduces the reader to the three women at the centre of this story - DS Alex Morrow, Kay Murray who worked for Sarah Erroll and Sarah herself, 24 years old, murdered in a house that she rarely used. Somehow, however, the focus of the book seems to be Lars Anderson, millionaire banker, disgraced financier, suicide hanging himself from a tree in the garden of his house. Father in a family that's about ... Read Review |
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The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes28/11/2011 - 12:31pmBlast. Bother. Damn. So many years sniffing at the thought of a Booker Prize Winner that would actually be a book that I'd even bother reading, let alone enjoy and in one fell swoop, THE SENSE OF AN ENDING has blown all that out of the water. Fortunately the scandal around "readability" would seem to mean that this is may simply be a blip on my record :) This is really fantastic story telling, slowly building a mystery, engaging the reader in the story of Tony, a sixtyish man looking back at his life and how events played out for his friends Adrian and Veronica, as ... Read Review |