Sorted on book title (not in series order)
There were so many reasons I wanted to love GET POOR SLOW. The concept of the most hated book reviewer in Australia being the only suspect in a murder, right down to the belly full of bourbon and the curdled dreams of literary greatness sounds like great fun. And I did so like the opening...Read more
Carter's first novel featuring Cato (obvious connection for the nickname) Kwong, PRIME CUT, had him exiled to the Stock Squad in the back blocks of regional WA, doing penance. GETTING WARMER has him back in Perth, just as things weather-wise and crime-wise start to heat up. Starting out...Read more
Short commentary as this was read for our face to face bookclub meeting yesterday. Lovers of this book will be pleased to know I was very much in the minority because I really did not like this book. Partially that's because of some stereotypical coincidences between the characters in this...Read more
Steeped in the smells and sounds of Sydney’s Chinatown, weighted by the sinister atmosphere of a private world of terrible crimes,Ghost Girls is a remarkable debut novel.
The combination of plot, character and setting in Ghost Girls is perfectly balanced, and...Read more
Start out reading GHOST MONEY and you're quickly immersed in a tight, tough, noir story set mostly in Cambodia. But don't be surprised if at some point, you also find yourself right smack bang in the middle of a history lesson and a subtle exploration of racial politics.
Knowing...Read more
THE GHOST OF WATERLOO is the second Nicodemus Dunne book, set in 1800's Sydney in the earliest days of the Colony. Reading the first in the series - DEATH AND THE RUNNING PATTERER will give you the complete background to Dunne - how he came to Sydney, how he came to be earning his way as a...Read more
GHOSTLINES won the 2007 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript, before being published by Scribe in 2008. It's the author's first novel, the tale of a profoundly flawed hero - journalist Philip Trudeau, a very driven man. Unfortunately a lot of that drive is self-...Read more
There's some disquiet about the place these days over the use of "Girl" in titles of books. We all know where it comes from and the marketing decisions that seem to be feeding it. Suffice to say it's a trend that makes me (an old old woman) a bit squeamish. Especially as neither Julie or...Read more
Sulari Gentill’s award-winning historical crime series is written with verve and spirit, the fiction woven seamlessly into actual events of the time.
Review of Give the Devil His Due, and the entire Rowland Sinclair series at ...Read more
The second novel from Irish born, Australian resident Chris Flynn, THE GLASS KINGDOM is one of those books that you're either going to get, or be horribly confused by.
Set in the weird and wild world of travelling carnivals, there's nothing whatsoever normal and straight about...Read more
When local Crime and True Crime Author Lindy Cameron decided to re-release GOLDEN RELIC as an ebook I was very very pleased (DISCLAIMER - I did the conversion of the manuscript into the ePUB file). I remember the story of STOLEN PROPERTY (as it was originally titled) when it was released...Read more
Espionage thrillers these days frequently put "the terrorists" in the old black hat role - the starring role the spies from the Soviet Union and the like used to occupy. The Terrorists in these incarnations can come from anywhere - they could be Russian (mafia or not), they can frequently...Read more
When Candice Fox opened up GONE BY MIDNIGHT with a missing child and a sick goose I wasn't sure if I could go on. I mean a missing child is one thing, but a sick, possibly life-threateningly ill goose felt like one blow too many. (Don't @ me - they are both fictional and I'm very fond of my...Read more
THE GOOD DOG is the third novel featuring DS Zoe Mayer and her service dog Harry. The background to why Mayer has Harry, and some of the back story about why a new partner is working with her is in both of the previous books, and touched on enough here to give new readers some hints as to...Read more
Set in the UK, GOOD GIRL, BAD GIRL presents us with two female victims of crime; one murdered, another who was subjected to terrible abuse as a child and is soon to be released from the British social welfare system. Robotham fans will be forgiven for thinking same same,...Read more
Set mostly in the Western suburbs of Melbourne, JM Green’s Good Money introduces Stella Hardy. A social worker by vocation, Hardy is the sort of laksa-loving, inner-city woman who fits into the role of accidental detective with considerable aplomb. She moves through the suburbs on...Read more
Small town living in 1990's Australia is big in GOODWOOD, which is interesting as this is a slow burning, confined, seemingly "small" story in the life of 17 year old Jean. She lives in Goodwood, a small town, near a bigger town, with her mother, near her grandparents, surrounded by people...Read more
Sydney Bauer’s first book, UNDERTOW was a fast paced thriller and GOSPEL is promoted in the same way. It doesn’t seem to have quite the same pace and I think it suffers for that. The first couple of chapters introduce a so many characters that I found it confusing for quite a while. ...Read more
A slow burner novel, THE GRAPEVINE is the tale of a murder from the perspective of its fallout in a small suburban community in Canberra, in 1979.
It's also a breathtakingly clever takedown of much of what remains flat out stupid - xenophobia, racism, homophobia, misogyny, and...Read more
There are a stack of books lurking in a corner in my lounge room that are from little / basically unknown Australian authors and I've been promising to catch up on my reading of them to myself for ages now. GRAPHIC was my most recent read from that pile and I'm really pleased I finally got...Read more
In THE GREAT DIVIDE, L.J.M. Owen has set what seems to be the first of an intended new series in the atmospheric location of a small Tasmanian town with plenty of past secrets just waiting to come back to haunt new and old residents alike.
Atmosphere is the word when it comes to...Read more
Book 4 and we're now probably at the point that A GREATER GOD will require some effort to catch up if you're new to the Chris Le Fanu series. Set in early 20th century India, around the tensions leading to Indian Independence from Britain, Chris Le Fanu is a member of the English police...Read more
GREENLIGHT works extremely well as an audio title as the conspiratorial way it has been written lends itself beautifully to that platform of intimacy. In our ears it’s all quietly confessed secrets and the discovery of lies as we move around with producer Jack Quick in the shadows of a...Read more
There's a something about GREENLIGHT that feels like a non-too-subtle dig at the commercialisation of true crime. There's always been a sub-set of true crime writing that's been about the crims, their exploits, personalities and too big to be believable criminal histories. Ranging from...Read more
The 40th book in the Cliff Hardy series, GUN CONTROL takes on a very current issue in the style that we've all come to expect from Peter Corris. It's worth taking a moment to consider that 40 book history. When Cliff Hardy first made an appearance on the Australian landscape (THE DYING...Read more
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
GUNSHINE STATE has been compared to Garry Disher's Wyatt series for a very good reason. The anti-hero characterisation here is as crisp and clear as you'd want, with Gary Chance the sort of loner survivor that has stepped straight from the pages of classic noir into the bright lights and...Read more
GUNSHOT ROAD is the second Emily Tempest novel from Australian author Adrian Hyland. Set in the outback of Australia, GUNSHOT ROAD has one of those magnificently authentic Australian voices that you just know comes from an author who knows his place, and his characters very very well....Read more
Sometimes you have to wonder who on earth comes up with the claims on blurbs - but this one "HADES is the debut of a stunning new talent in crime fiction" is so apt the temptation is to call it quits here for this review.
Hades Archer run a junkyard, and desposes of more than...Read more
I shouldn't read this sort of book. It's nearly impossible to make any observations that are measured and considered because there's so much sets my teeth on edge about the entire scenario I can't tell if it's a good version thereof or not.... Alas this was an extremely rare DNF.Read more