First newsletter for 2026. As anticipated January was a nightmare of fire weather, stinking heat, dust storms, kilometres walked checking on everyone and everything, no rain and did I mention heat.... Amazed we got anything done really other than slogging it out trying to keep the burnable trash in the house yards to a minimum and animals and birds alive. But here we are. Sort of upright.
I'm sending this out in two parts as I suspect it's a bit too long for the newsletter delivery system so other regions additions to follow in the next instalment.
Reviews
Got quite a few reviews into place this month, with a lot more hidden until their official publication date. Of them let's just say keep an eye out for No Good Deed by Katherine Kovacic, The Shark by Emma Styles, The Gambler by J.P. Pomare, Finders Keepers by Natalie Barelli and Shellybanks, Louise Milligan.
Of the reviews published Last Rites by Ozzy Osbourne was a funny and emotional read for this lifelong fan.
Back on the Crime Fiction front and starting out with the locals, Franz Josef by Alan Carter was another sterling outing in this series, as was The Redline by Adrian Hyland. A couple of debut offerings were The Canvas Killings, Elise Janes, a dark and sometimes gruesome undertaking with a past and present timeline and The Mall by Michael Armstrong is for those interested in high finance / high stakes real estate and the life of an inner city go getter.
From other places My Inner Child Wants to Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse made me snort with laughter on occasions, but alas Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan was a bit of a disappointment with a really disjointed narrative that resulted in a rare DNF.
Just Finished Pile
Just finished Shellybanks by Louise Milligan, When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole by Geoff Parkes and No One Was Supposed to Die At this Wedding by Catherine Mack.
Current Reading Pile
This pile is (as of last night) made up of Dirt Trap by Michael Burge, Old Games by Fiona Hardy, What You Don't Know by Sandi Wallace and Redbelly Crossing by Candice Fox.
Recent Arrivals / Upcoming Releases (Australia / NZ)
RELEASE DATE 1/2/1985 (acquired after the announcement of the death of Jean, prompted by one of the many tributes published to her).
Jean Bedford has a considerable talent for taking us beneath the surface of the everyday appearances and bold fronts women construct for themselves. She writes of women trapped, women ostracized, women on the edge of madness, women alone with their guilt and aimlessness and fear - but always she writes with warmth and a lovely simplicity that echoes on in the mind for a long time.
RELEASE DATE 10/11/2007
Jamie wants to be the real thing. From the roots of her dyed blonde hair... There are a lot of things Jamie hates about her life: her dark hair, her dad's Stone Age Charter of Curfew Rights, her real name - Jamilah Towfeek.
RELEASE DATE 23/7/2019
Although there are 22 separate Arab nationalities representing an enormous variety of cultural backgrounds and experiences, the portrayal of Arabs in Australia tends to range from homogenising (at best) to racist pop-culture caricatures.
RELEASE DATE 22/2/2022
Poet Omar Sakr's debut novel is a fierce and fantastic force that illuminates the bonds that bind families together as well as what can break them.
RELEASE DATE 1/7/2025
Joy is a gifted archer, a retired Olympian and a former stuntwoman on a cult Japanese tokusatsu show. Raised by a feckless grifter, her home is Bodkins Point. For 150 years, this small town has hosted an annual ultra-violent medieval festival called ‘Agincourt’. During the festival, Bodkins Point transforms – assuming a parallel identity that plays tug-of-war with the way its townsfolk live for the rest of the year.
RELEASE DATE 29/7/2025
Through new investigations and first-hand accounts, Conspiracy Nation takes readers to the rallies, homes, courtrooms, secret chat rooms and $2000 Byron Bay luxury retreats where Australia’s conspiracy theories spread.
RELEASE DATE 13/11/2025
When Nurse Mary is offered a contract to work in Milingimbi, one of the most beautiful islands in the Top End of Australia, she can’t believe her luck. Leaving behind the peaceful green fields of Ireland, her adventure takes her to the rugged red dirt, forests, beaches and saltwater crocodiles in the Outback. Little does she know, there are many challenges occurring behind the scenes, including missing persons, murders, drugs and dreadful encounters with dangerous native animals, leaving her and her colleague Amanda shocked at what they see each day.
RELEASE DATE 6/1/2026
It’s a beautiful day to be alive, Bill Dickerson thought, seconds before he tumbled from the viaduct onto the jagged rocks below . . . His awful death made national news. But still, one year on, Bill’s widow Carol has received no explanation about what happened. Was it suicide? An accident? Maybe murder? So Carol hires lawyer Ryan Bradley in her fight for justice. Ryan has just returned to the remote town of Nashville after ten years away, so he’s in no position to turn down work.
RELEASE DATE: 31/01/2026
Brothel madam Destiny Purcell controlled half the city's vice trade—until someone executed her on a golf course in the rain. The police blame a junkie. Case closed.
RELEASE DATE 3/2/2026
A race against time for justice at the edge of the world. When a desperate young man arrives on an isolated Scottish isle, the locals view him with suspicion. But Niko is there for a reason – he’s running for his life, pursued by those who want him silenced for what he has seen in the Balkan War. His neighbour is a recluse known to the villagers as ‘Slow Fergus’. As the two men circle each other, Australian war crimes investigator Anita Costello races against sinister forces to locate her key witness.
RELEASE DATE 1/3/2026
Devon, 1929. Members of the Pedhurst and de Reve families gather to hear unpopular matriarch Julia Pedhurst (née de Reve) read from her late husband’s will. One of the houseguests is fighter pilot Fred Willets, now an inspector in the Kalgoorlie Gold Squad, who has come to the UK as a beneficiary of the will. When Aunt Julia dies before the reading, and another death follows soon after, everybody in the manor house is a possible suspect. It is up to Willets, assisted by the bright young pharmacist Prudence Meadows, to crack this whodunnit.Read more