Gunnawah, Ronni Salt
Ronni Salt’s debut is historical crime fiction at its best, with a strong sense of place and time and wonderful characters at its core. Full review at Newtown Review of Books...Read more
The Mother Paul Series, June Wright
My review of RESERVATION FOR MURDER, FACULTY OF MURDER and MAKE-UP FOR MURDER has been posted:
June Wright has faded from view, but in 1948 her novel Murder in the Telephone Exchange outstripped sales of Agatha Christie in...Read more
Cutler, David Whish-Wilson
CUTLER, the novel, features Paul Cutler, the former undercover operative, now working "off the books" in the dangerous and unpredictable world of investigator for hire. In this story he's tasked with finding the truth about the disappearance of an Australian marine scientist, whilst on a Taiwanese distant water fishing vessel, working in the incredibly murky and dodgy world of deep sea trawling and fisheries.Read more
The Chilling, Riley James
This was one of those fortuitous picks from the library (I know I should be attending to the visible from space TBR here, but something about this book appealed when I heard a whisper about it, and sometimes giving into a little bit of temptation is... good for morale). Anyway, I saw this...Read more
The Cryptic Clue, Amanda Hampson
For somebody who claims to prefer the darker end of the Crime Fiction spectrum, I've been thoroughly enjoying some cosies recently. Although I did originally try to "read" this one via the audio book, but that didn't work, so I switched to the printed form and found myself happily enjoying...Read more
Last One to Leave / Find Us, Benjamin Stevenson
Bit of explaining first - LAST ONE TO LEAVE and FIND US are available as stand-alone ebooks / novellas. They are also available together in printed form under the title FOOL ME TWICE. I read the two separate novellas, but...Read more
A Town Called Treachery, Mitch Jennings
There have been a number of Australian crime fiction books recently that are tackling the effects of poverty / deprivation / loss and family breakdown in small towns, on small boys in particular. A TOWN CALLED TREACHERY is following, successfully, in the footsteps of authors like Mark...Read more
The Woman Who Knew Too Little, Olivia Wearne
An historical mystery that mixes fact and fiction, THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE is set in Adelaide in late 1948. It's a story about female police officers built around the factual case of the Somerton Man, a notorious tale that has captured much speculation for many years until recently...Read more
Shadow City, Natalie Conyer
The second novel in the Schalk Lourens series, SHADOW CITY uses his home of South Africa as one location for the story, introducing a new character, Sergeant Jackie Rose to lead the action in Sydney. The story begins with the discovery of the body of a battered and tortured young woman in a...Read more
Unblessed, Roger Simpson
UNBLESSED is the latest in the Jane Halifax series of books, featuring the TV series character of the same name. A forensic psychologist, Halifax has worked with all sorts of criminal types - from serial to opportunistic killers, and in the last book, herself, when she suffers from sudden...Read more
The Hitwoman's Guide to Reducing Household Debt, Mark Mupotsa-Russell
You know the type - small time crims / druggies / fringe dwelling bikers who cause havoc. Only this time the violent robbery they've just committed gets a lot worse when they kill the very young daughter of a family who were just out on a bit of a day trip. Turns out the law catching up...Read more
The Hunted / The Inheritance, Gabriel Bergmoser
If you do what I did, and get these two books out of order, they will still work, but dear me, combined they tell one hell of a tale about a strong, resiliant young woman called Maggie.
A young woman who grew up in very difficult circumstances with a missing mother, and a...Read more
The Safe House, Cameron Ward
A psychological thriller with a hefty dose of more than willing suspension of disbelief, THE SAFE HOUSE is one of those bare knuckle roller-coaster rides of a reading experience that may lead to a loss of sleep and a strong desire to avoid anywhere in the bush during long hot summers....Read more
The Caretaker, Gabriel Bergmoser
Gabriel Bergmoser's one of those author's that is building a back catalogue of creepy, tense thrillers full of interesting psychological analysis and, frankly, disturbing scenarios. Which is exactly what you're given in THE CARETAKER.
Charlotte is on the run from a controlling...Read more
Death of a Foreign Gentleman, Steven Carroll
The first book in a planned series of post-war literary crime novels, DEATH OF A FOREIGN GENTLEMAN by Steven Carroll was released in April 2024. Not sure when the next one is due for release but I'll be standing by for it when it arrives.
Set in 1947, in Cambridge England,...Read more
Blood & Ink, Brett Adams
BLOOD & INK is a crime novel about a student that could be writing a crime novel. Or could be planning a range of murders. When his Literature professor Jack Griffen discovers five sheets of paper that the student, Hiero, has written, Jack's not sure which option it is. Until the first...Read more
Dark Arena, Jack Beaumont
Jack Beaumont is a pseudonym used by a former operative in the clandestine operations branch of the DGSE, the French Foreign secret service. He joined them after being an air force fighter pilot, flying special operations and intelligence missions. Needless to say there are a lot of...Read more
With Winter Comes Darkness, Robbi Neal
On paper this should have been right up my cobblestone alley, but I've been thinking about it for over a week now, trying to identify what didn't quite tick my personal boxes. And this is very much a personal reaction. As with all books, there will be lots of readers for which WITH WINTER...Read more
Broken Bay, Margaret Hickey
Mark Ariti is back in the third novel in this series, and for the first time, the setting moves from the bush to the seaside. On a short "break" away in the small fishing town of Broken Bay, on South Australia's Limestone Coast, he seems to be approaching it as less holiday, more purgatory...Read more
Chasing the Dragon, Mark Wightman
The second DI Maximo Betancourt novel, set in 1940's Singapore, CHASING THE DRAGON continues his story in close follow on from the earlier novel - WAKING THE TIGER. This novel could work as a standalone, but as with anything where the focus is on a main character, it's probably best to read...Read more
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...Read more
The Fall Between, Darcy Tindale
THE FALL BETWEEN is the debut novel from Darcy Tindale, set in the Muswellbrook area, located in the NSW Upper Hunter Valley. The story features Detective Rebecca Giles, who, after some time in the police force, has returned to her home town in no small part because her father, an ex-cop...Read more
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...Read more
Death Holds the Key, Alexander Thorpe
When I read the first novel from Alexander Thorpe (DEATH LEAVES THE STATION) I hadn't quite twigged to the extent that future novels would be based around the itinerant friar figure - but it's now titled the "Itinerant Mendicant" series, and it really makes a lot of sense. He's a...Read more
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...Read more
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...Read more
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...Read more
Bone Lands, Pip Fioretti
In 1911, Augustus (Gus) Hawkins is a mounted trooper in rural New South Wales. A veteran of the Boer war he's a complex man with a severe case of PTSD and a bad dose of long-standing longing for Flora Kirkbride, eldest of four children of a local "landed gentry" family. Until the night he...Read more
Bone Lands
'Isn't it your job to stop people being murdered?'
1911, on a winter's night in arid New South Wales wool country, mounted trooper Augustus Hawkins discovers the bodies of three young people. They are scions of the richest family in the district, savagely murdered on a...Read more
Dragon's Eye
A husband and father is betrayed, a son chases a ghost through the decades, a Russian arms dealer wants his hands on a priceless ruby, a young woman disappears with the keys to the mystery, and a female insurgent fights for her life. The Past and the Present are on a collision course....Read more