There must be a group of readers out there that are a sucker for a fabulous book title (or it could be a group of one) but HOW I BECAME THE MR BIG OF PEOPLE SMUGGLING is one of those eye-catching titles that luckily coincides with a terrific story.
We've all done it, or dreamed...Read more
Living in an area that's got more than it's fair share of talented artists, there's something strangely appealing about crime fiction set in the art world. (I'm not implying anything about the people that live here, nor their likelihood of becoming victims and/or perpetrators). But it's a...Read more
“On a normal morning, a lone police car would be parked out the front of the station, waiting for something illegal to happen.”
Cedar Valley, Holly Throsby’s second novel, begins with the arrival of two strangers on the first day of summer in 1993. One, Benny Miller,...Read more
A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN introduces Rowland Sinclair to fans of Australian historical crime fiction. Set in 1930's Sydney and Yass, A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN takes a reader into a world where the affects of the Great Depression are being felt, and the tension between the Proto-Fascists and...Read more
This second novel in the DS Cormac O’Reilly series cements Irish-born, Australian-resident Dervla McTiernan as one of the up and coming stars of crime fiction in both countries. ... ...Read more
Remember the good old days of thriller fiction, with bad guys that were easy to pick and the good guys plentiful on the ground. Even the lone wolf types seem to inhabit a lot of corners, on a lot of dark streets, in a lot of mean places. Nowadays thriller fiction is reflecting the current...Read more
The London life of a young actor can be one of flopped auditions, money scrounging, crummy rentals and the occasional spot of couch surfing. Emily Proudman has just lost her day job as well as her agent, so at this point is absolutely open to all opportunities that could save her from yet...Read more
A spy thriller that's slightly different from the run of the mill "one man to save the world", there is much to like about THE FRENCHMAN.
For a start this is obviously a book written by an author who knows the reality of life as an intelligence service agent all too well. The...Read more
CROCODILE TEARS takes Philip 'Cato' Kwong a long way away from his origins in the Stock Squad in the middle of nowhere. Instead, in this final novel in the series, we start out with Kwong investigating the death of a retiree found hacked to pieces in suburban Perth, ending up in Timor-Leste...Read more
Mark Tedeschi AM QC was, until 2019, the Senior Crown Prosecutor, and the head of Chambers of the Crown Prosecutors for New South Wales. He's now a private barrister, but in 35 years with Crown Prosecution he has prosecuted many high-profile trials in Australia, some of which have involved...Read more
Will confess to being more than a bit pleased when WILD CARD, the second DS Zoe Mayer (and her service dog Harry) novel arrived. The initial outing - THE LONG GAME - had all the hallmarks of a long, and good series in the making, and the follow-up does nothing to dispel that belief....Read more
It's hard not to wonder what the line "Phyrne Fisher meets Underbelly in an arch, out-of-the-box debut historical crime caper" actually means. Turns out it's a bit the timeframe and environment, the character of Violet Kelly, and the situation she finds herself in.
Set in 1930'...Read more
A disgraced son of a powerful Australian media tycoon, the traumatised daughter of a small town newspaper editor, coincidentally owned by the aforementioned tycoon. One is sent to "learn the ropes of journalism" / ie been kicked down the line, the other is in town after something sent her...Read more
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
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 standalone from the author of the well-known Gemma Woodstock series, THE HOUSEMATE is a story told in two timelines. Back to nine years ago when three housemates were sharing a property, one of them is killed, one goes missing, one is accused of murder. The current timeline sees...Read more
CITY OF ANIMALS is set in Sydney, in and around the Royal Prince Albert Zoo, which actually doesn't exist but bears a striking resemblance physically to the real Taronga Zoo. Let's hope that the resemblance ends there.
New zoo director, Dr James Rivers is struggling with his...Read more
Cliff's back - Lazarus with a quadruple bypass no less. He's resigned to never getting his licence back and his agency is now in the hands of his daughter Megan and her PI boyfriend. He still misses Lily, and he's still driving "a" trusty Falcon, and he's no longer so pressed for money...Read more
I don't know - maybe it's because the book is set in a small country town struggling to survive (and I live 20 kilometres or so out of just such a town), or maybe it was the line on the opening page "He had the sort of body normally achieved by eating plankton.", but I was particularly...Read more
Whilst it's not particularly unusual to have a flawed central protagonist, unapologetic ones are less common. Add being female, and that makes IN HER BLOOD's Catherine Berlin a rather rare beast, and a very welcome one.
Set in London after the Global Financial meltdown, Berlin...Read more
The second in a series set in London and a debut legal thriller show some of the exciting variety of Australian crime fiction on offer. Review at: ...Read more
Set in 1920's India, A MADRAS MIASMA takes place in an India that is looking towards independence from the British. With a strong sense of place, culture and time built in, this is debut crime fiction with potential.
The central character, Superintendent Le Fanu is a complex...Read more
Commencing a blurb with a question implies that somewhere along the line the book will provide an answer. In the case of CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? "Why do some people decide to get married when everyone around them would seem to agree that marriage, at least for the two people in question is a...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
THRILL CITY has arrived. The fourth Simone Kirsch book from Australian writer Leigh Redhead has been much anticipated by fans of this fantastic, Melbourne-based, stripper turned Private Investigator series.
Mind you, it's not just Simone that I was pleased to see back, but Chloe...Read more
As Australian as a dingy, and dead set likely to get himself into bother, Lachie Munro is a good bloke. Sure he's an abalone poacher, but only to pay off a lapse of concentration gambling debt. And sure he and his best mate Dave don't report the giant heroin haul they find when they are out...Read more
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
Dr Ellis is enjoying a quiet evening with his journalist friend Cass, when their mysterious neighbour, Mrs Moxton, bursts in upon them with startling news - her husband has been murdered! Rushing to the scene, the two men discover Mr Moxton, stabbed in the back, the only clue to his...Read more
Emily Tempest, drawn back to Central Australia and to the place she grew up, Moonlight Downs, instantly feels at peace with the Warlpuju people. Here are her best friend Hazel and Hazel's father Lincoln Flinders, a much respected tribal elder. The Warlpuju have always been her mob and...Read more
Book two in the Bill Murdoch series, CLASS ACT follows up almost immediately from the action in the first outing, HEADLAND. This series, now up to three novels with the release of BASE NATURE in 2018, is well worth getting into.
Set in small-town, seaside New South Wales, based...Read more