Scrublands, Chris Hammer

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

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The Lost Man, Jane Harper

I'm going to start this review in an odd way, by declaring that I didn't like Jane Harper's second book FORCE OF NATURE as much as I had been expecting to. Initially I thought this was because it read like an idea that Aaron Falk had been hammered into it later on, weakening the plot,...Read more

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Crossing The Lines, Sulari Gentill

"In the beginning she was a thought so unformed that he was aware only of something which once was not."

Edward McGinnity is a successful novelist who wants to write a novel about a crime writer. His character’s name is Madeleine d’Leon, a writer of the popular period crime...Read more

Greenlight, Benjamin Stevenson

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

Devil's Lair. Sarah Barrie

Bit of housekeeping first because I got myself a little confused early on here. DEVIL'S LAIR is a standalone novel from prolific Australian author Sarah Barrie, sharing some location similarities with an earlier novel - BLOODTREE RIVER. Sarah's past books seem to lean towards the romance...Read more

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The Sisters, Dervla McTiernan

Flagged as a prequel to McTiernan's acclaimed THE RUIN, THE SISTERS is an audible only novella, set 10 years before the first Cormack Reilly book THE RUIN, which was followed by THE SCHOLAR. McTiernan's two series books have met with considerable acclaim in all parts, and THE SISTERS is...Read more

The Safe Place, Anna Downes

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

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Fromage, Sally Scott

I have no idea how this happens, but here I was, reading FROMAGE by Sally Scott, and I suddenly realised... shoes again. Another heroine on the "slightly ditzy side" that's obsessed with shoes. It's so not my comfort zone, although I was looking for something on the lighter, silly side, and...Read more

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Criminals, James O'Loghlin

Into the crime fiction reader's life something different should lob more often. CRIMINALS is not only different, it's brilliantly different.

Well known ABC presenter James O'Loghlin has taken his inspiration for this novel from his time as a criminal lawyer, and told the tale...Read more

Transgression, Roger Simpson

Having been a fan of the Halifax TV Series, starring Rebecca Gibney as Dr Jane Halifax, this book was greeted with considerable excitement. The author, Roger Simpson, is an award-winning screen writer, creating both the telemovie series of Halifax f.p. (which ran from 1994 to 2001) and its...Read more

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Four Dogs Missing, Rhys Gard

You wouldn't think reading crime fiction would leave you with a taste for wine, but here we are. 

Set in the idyllic surrounds of the Mudgee (New South Wales) wine region, Oliver Wingfield has set himself up as a winemaker with a fine reputation for his wines, even if everyone...Read more

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The Good Dog, Simon Rowell

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

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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

The Grapevine, Kate Kemp

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

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Nemesis, Patricia Wolf

The 4th book now in the DS Lucas Walker series, those who are new to it might need a tiny bit of background. Walker is with the Australian Federal Police, but it was on his personal home territory, in outback Australia where he first met Barbara (in book one to be precise), when she heads...Read more

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Collins Street Whores, Peter Ralph

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

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City of Animals, Alan Mills

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

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Done Deal, Tony Berry

I wanted to read this book for a few reasons - for a start it's set in my home town, in and around the suburb of Richmond.  Okay I have a passing knowledge only of Richmond having spent an inglorious 6 months or so around that area many many many many years ago and nothing much since then...Read more

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Crooked, Camilla Nelson

It's interesting that Camilla Nelson's first book (Perverse Acts) is a political satire, because CROOKED, her second book, is a crime novel with a distinctly political background.  Set in 1960's Sydney, the book, whilst fictional, involves a number of well-known political identities by name...Read more

The Black Russian, Lenny Bartulin

Having really enjoyed the first Jack Susko book, A DEADLY BUSINESS, it was music to my ears to find that the second book was on its way.  THE BLACK RUSSIAN sees not just the return of Jack - but the return of all of Jack's problems - financial and personal.

In THE BLACK RUSSIAN...Read more

Chelsea Mansions, Barry Maitland

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

Death and the Spanish Lady, Carolyn Morwood

DEATH AND THE SPANISH LADY is the first book from Carolyn Morwood for quite a while, and that, if for no other reason was enough to create some interest in these parts.  Set in the period immediately following World War 1, in Melbourne, during the Spanish 'Flu epidemic of 1919, the book...Read more

The Dunbar Case, Peter Corris

I'm really not sure how Peter Corris, or Cliff Hardy manage to keep up the pace, but I'm very very relieved they do, as the New Year tradition of a new Cliff Hardy book, a couch and the Test Cricket on the radio has become rather important over the last few years.

One of the...Read more

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Drive By, Michael Duffy

DRIVE BY is fiction although readers may find themselves having to work hard to remember that. From the opening voice of Jabber (John) Habib to the build up of mayhem on the streets of Sydney, obviously comparisons are being drawn between Melbourne's Underbelly Underworld wars and the...Read more

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8 Hours to Die, J.R. Carroll

"Carroll is the Australian writer who has most fully and consistently approached the dark and alienated world of Americans like James Ellory and Andrew Vachss..." Continent of Mystery, Stephen Knight (MUP, 1997).

Sometime in the early 2000's,...Read more

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Crucifixion Creek, Barry Maitland

Barry Maitland's Brock & Kolla series is notable for, amongst many things, the way that he always takes a location in London and builds it into the story, almost as another character. In the first of the Harry Belltree trilogy, CRUCIFIXION CREEK, set in Sydney, there is a similar...Read more

Eden, Candice Fox

Right from the commencement of HADES, the first Archer / Bennett book by Candice Fox, it was obvious that this was a series to be watched. Dark, confrontational, emotional and compelling, that book started a journey into the consequences of human damage, and EDEN picks that up, twists it...Read more

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