Sorted on book title (not in series order)
BRUNY is a book which unfortunately (stupidly) sat in the reading piles here for, it turns out, way too long. Luckily our F2F bookclub was scheduled to read it last month, and I've never been so pleased that something was jolted out of stasis and into the current pile. It was, quite simply...Read more
The things a ministerial assistant must do. Murray Whelan's exact job title and the details of his expected duties have never been fully explained but they certainly call for a deft kind of versatility in adapting to all possible situations a Labor party man might find himself inserted into...Read more
Nailing my colours firmly to the aerial of the ute, I love a book that evokes a place and a people strongly. THE BUILD UP is set in and around Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory. A bit of a frontier town - they have a habit of referring to other states as "the shoe wearing states...Read more
Second book in the Peter Tanner series, THE BURDEN OF LIES follows on from CYANIDE GAMES, which it might be worth reading first. There's a lot of framework construction in the first book that will help with understanding Tanner, his family, his work life and some of the ways that all...Read more
Partly a story around Iris Foster, partly a story around arson, BURN PATTERNS puts a complicated woman at the heart of a story about complicated offenders. Known as "The Fire Lady" Foster is a psychologist with a messy past that she's tried to put behind her. Until mid consultation with...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
The first line of the blurb for THE CAMPERS describes it as "An engrossing and provocative exploration of privilege, hypocrisy and justice... " which is about as perfect a description as you'd ever want. This is discomforting, confusing, and confronting reading, a story that is...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
Maryrose Cuskelly's novel seems to have taken Arthur Conan Doyle’s maxim to heart: ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ Full Review at: ...Read more
It's been way. too. long. since the last Emily Tempest novel from Adrian Hyland was published. Been way too long since anything from Adrian Hyland was published, so I will admit to some serious stack reshuffling when CANTICLE CREEK arrived. Not a shred of disappointment about the decision...Read more
My Rating: Choccies, coffee, sparkling shiraz, book in hand, comfy chair late on a Sunday afternoon in the fading sun read.
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A young Australian girl's elderly english great-aunt leaves everything to her after she dies in her home, seemingly from an accidental...Read more
This early work by Fergus Hume was originally published in 1926 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Caravan Mystery' is a great crime novel by this classic fiction writer.Read more
It is the summer of 1894. The Garry Street murder is the talk of London, and no one is more baffled than Gerald Conway, in whose library the dead man's body was discovered, stabbed. The only clue to the man's identity seems to be the gold bangle containing a small carbuncle, worn on the...Read more
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
This book was on my Quest List for such a long time until I finally managed to track down a copy (and was subsequently somewhat startled to find it listed on Fishpond NZ!). The reason it hit the Quest List was the premise sounded so fascinating - take a bunch of real life cases, give them...Read more
THE CASE OF THE BULLETS AT THE BALLET is book number 4 in the Mr Rainbow series, which I reread recently. Because you do. Think of these as good, fun, spare moment fillers and you've got it in one.
My review of the full series was originally posted at...Read more
Number 5 in the Rainbow series, and THE CASE OF THE COCK ROBIN KILLER might be blue about lots of things, but it won't make you blue to read it. In fact you'll probably find yourself snorting with laughter, or at least rolling your eyes as the puns fly left, right and centre.
...Read more
Many years ago I went through one of those reader phases where I deliberately sought out weird titles just because there's nothing better than a quest. (Okay well any excuse to haunt bookshops and secondhand shops...) So THE CASE OF THE DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN appealed if for no other reason...Read more
Before starting out, this review is going to contain possible SPOILERS. I'm finding it almost impossible to talk about CATCH US THE FOXES without them.
Flagged as Twin Peaks meets The Dry, this is also described as a deliciously dark and twisted...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
Dialogue. It's something I'm increasingly aware of, as it should be part of the way that an author can show (as opposed to tell) the reader what the characters are seeing, thinking, considering, experiencing. Combine really good dialogue with a feasible plot and an author can transport...Read more
Before WA based author Felicity Young commenced her extremely good Dr Dody McCleland series, she published a series of police procedural novels one of which built around the central character of Sergeant Cam Fraser in it. FLASHPOINT, originally out in 2005, has recently been re-released in...Read more
When 10 year old Katie Blasko goes missing, Ellen Destry is in charge of the case. Katie's from one of the local Estates – a poor, run-down area full of dysfunctional families, violence and drugs. Nearly everybody on the investigation team is pretty sure that Katie's disappearance is yet...Read more
"The Honest Conman" (aka Nicholas J Johnson) used to do a warning segment on scams and frauds on ABC Local Radio, but it was a pleasant surprise to find he'd written a heist / scam novel. Needless to say his debut novel, CHASING THE ACE, reads like the author knows a lot about the subject...Read more
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
J R Carroll writes a really lively combination of gangster thriller crime fiction. Set in and around Melbourne there have been a few books which are a series - using the same characters and a lot that are standalone.
CHEATERS is one of the standalones thus far, or at least,...Read more
With any long term series, it's not surprising to see an author rejigging the relationships just a little, bringing in new perspectives or adjusting the expectations. CHELSEA MANSIONS is the ninth Brock and Kolla book from Barry Maitland, and in the last book there were hints that there is...Read more
CHERRY PIE is the third book in the Simone Kirsch series, which takes a slightly darker, more edgy direction than the first two.
Working to raise the cash for the gadgetry needed to start her own Private Investigator business, Simone is sidetracked by a desperate phone message...Read more
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 combination of science fiction and thriller works particularly well in THE CHIMERA VECTOR - an action packed, roller-coaster of a ride from local writer Nathan M. Farrugia.
Although action packed doesn't quite do justice to the level of no prisoner's taken, hard fought...Read more