#AusCrime

What is evident early on to Martin is that the events as reported by a colleague at the time of the shootings are not marrying up with the recollections being related to him now in the present day. For such a remote community, the loss of five of its men was a huge blow and has wrought huge...Read more

And every favour has its price

Paid not in coin

But in flesh

Slice by slice

Sometimes a favourite novel by a much loved author isn’t their best, welcome to my latest Summer Favourites review, Peter...Read more

FRONT PAGE NEWS is the debut novel from former Australian journalist Katie Rowney. From the lighter, intended as humour side of crime fiction, cadet journalist Stacey McCallaghan has her first job in the small country town of Toomey working on the local newspaper. Struggling with the grind...Read more

Australians who grew up during the era in which Riptides is set may recognize a heck of a lot of their own experiences; the long road trips on rubbish roads, the relentless heat, Bali (even as it was back then), perhaps even turning on the TV at Christmas time to news of the devastation...Read more

If, like this reader, you're a bit twitchy about "legal" crime fiction, then PRIVATE PROSECUTION could be just the book for you. As the blurb puts it:

"This is a pacy, darkly comic whodunnit with a twist - Andrew knows who did it but the clock is ticking and he

...Read more

Not so long ago, you couldn't move for serial killer novels, and a lot of readers (including this one) were over them. Since then the "popularity" does seem to have waned, and there's a marked tendency to make that those that do show up - very good indeed. As it was with BLACK RIVER which...Read more

You have to give it to the publishing gods, once they find a location or concept that appeals to readers, they stick with it like sweaty thighs to a vinyl car seat. Outback Noir is something that's been ticking away in Australia for quite a while now, with settings from the red, dry...Read more

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

Following on from the excellent debut THE FALL BETWEEN, author Darcy Tindale's BURNING MOUNTAIN shows absolutely no sign of the dreaded "second novel syndrome". The action here is as believable, and relevant to the place as in the earlier...Read more

Collins Street Whores starts off very evocatively (for me at least) with a powerful motorbike being ridden along the Dandenong Tourist Road - a hop skip and a jump from our front door.  Unfortunately for me, the interest in the story waned pretty soon after that.  Overall the plot is fairly...Read more

If you were young, suddenly single again, and feeling a bit lost and unsure - what would you do if you were offered money to tell a harmless little lie?  If you were camping out at a friend's house after the break up of a relationship that had been just cruising along anyway, what would you...Read more

“Write what you know” aspiring writers are often told. Katherine Howell has done that to good effect. She worked as a paramedic for many years and her detailed knowledge of both the job and the physical and emotional toll it takes are vividly portrayed. COLD JUSTICE is Katherine’s third...Read more

There's increasing signs of "write what you know" in Australian crime fiction, so it's probably not at all surprising that well known QC, and media commentator Stuart Littlemore has followed exactly that path.  Although, to be honest, I'm not sure I agree 100% with labelling HARRY CURRY:...Read more

It is possible that the reader of a lot of mystery fiction could come to BAY OF FIRES with a predisposition to like it very much. It's an unusual twist on what is, frequently, a rather formulaic style. More importantly, it's a lot more about the people involved in a community than the...Read more