CUTLER, the novel, features Paul Cutler, the former undercover operative, now working "off the books" in the dangerous and unpredictable world of investigator for hire. In this story he's tasked with finding the truth about the disappearance of an Australian marine scientist, whilst on a Taiwanese distant water fishing vessel, working in the incredibly murky and dodgy world of deep sea trawling and fisheries.Read more
This review is ridiculously and embarrassingly overdue. The notes for it have been sitting in my queue for way too long, especially as I have always been sorely tempted to gobble read anything by this author as soon as I can get my hands on it. He's one of those authors that knows how to...Read more
DYING LIGHT is the follow-up book to the much talked about and acclaimed COLD GRANITE and it maintains the high standard that the first book in the series reached.
It is summer in Aberdeen, the sun is shining and it is not raining anywhere near as much as it does in winter....Read more
FINAL CURTAIN is the first of Kjersti Scheen's books to be translated into English and is also the first in a series of books feating ex-actress turned private investigator Margaret Moss.
Margaret's had a go at quite a few things in her life and hasn't really been able to...Read more
Jack's life has certainly been a roller-coaster - there are liberal hints throughout the book of a somewhat less than spotless background and there's a pared down, minimalist sort of a private life. But his bookshop is something that is his, and he obviously knows a bit about the business...Read more
The latest "it" in crime fiction can be pretty common. Sometimes it's a plot elements, sometimes it's locations for books, sometimes it's the home location of the author themselves. The "it" thing I'm coming across a lot at the moment is books set in Africa. Not that you could possibly...Read more
In his foreword to this fantastic collection Mark Billingham points out so many of the mysteries behind the decline of the short story. In these days of short periods of available quiet time for reading, it does seem strange that fewer and fewer short story collections seem to be published...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
A DISSECTION OF MURDER is the first in a series of books from Western Australian author Felicity Young. Set in London at the turn of the twentieth Century, featuring Dr Dody McCleland, the first female autopsy surgeon, the action in this book takes place in the midst of the Suffragette...Read more
I got confused which is nothing, absolutely nothing, new. But one night, for some reason, I plucked THE INNER CIRCLE by Mari Jungstedt from the stacks, and started reading. Then I got quite convinced I'd already read the book. So I went to check and found UNSEEN, which I then re-read,...Read more
It’s not really surprising that Stuart Littlemore, well-known legal counsel, would attempt Australia’s answer to Rumpole of the Bailey in a series based on cases where the Defence (in the guise of Harry Curry) rides to victory on the back of some cunning goings-on in the trial courts of NSW...Read more
The second Lexie Rogers book from ex-cop Karen M Davis, it's interesting to note that we've now got a couple of female ex-cops from similar areas writing police procedural style books, although to this reader's eye, completely different sensibilities.
Given that this is the...Read more
June Wright is one of the early writers who forged a way for the current vibrant Australian crime fiction scene. Reviewed at Newtown Review of BooksRead more
The central premise of RUNNING TOWARDS DANGER is a fascinating idea. What would you do if the flatmate that you knew very little about, and saw even less of, is suddenly gunned down in front of you, and the investigation into his death starts to reveal some very worrying facts about his...Read more
What a little gem AMPLIFY turned out to be. A debut novel from journalist Mark Hollands, introducing musical impresario Billy Lime and his world of sex, drugs and rock and roll.
So much potential for cliché so very nicely dodged here. The women are not all sex objects or...Read more
Cass Tuplin has returned in second book DEAD MEN DON'T ORDER FLAKE. Proprietor of the recently rebuilt Rusty Bore Takeway, she's a fish, chip and dim sim dispenser extraordinaire with a sideline in private enquiries. Which means she's one of those slightly nosy women who can find out stuff...Read more
A DONATION OF MURDER is book number five in this excellent historical series from WA based author Felicity Young. Built around the central characters of Forensic surgeon Dody McCleland and her love interest Chief Inspector Matthew Pike, there are some important historical aspects to these...Read more
There's something deliciously intriguing about the idea that a top spy could lose a briefcase, which, rather than chock full of official secrets and classified documents, instead contains three mince pies, two fruit pies, the NZ Listener, a Penthouse magazine, and unfortunately a diary...Read more
AN ISOLATED INCIDENT is one of those books I've been trying to read for a ridiculously long time now, so being able to finally get to it in the context of our f2f bookclub gathering was an added bonus.
This is such a fascinating book, one that worked particularly well for our...Read more
THE THREE DEATHS OF MAGDALENE LYNTON is the first in a new series from New Zealand author Katherine Hayton, followed by THE SECOND STAGE OF GRIEF and THE ONLY SECRET SHE KEEPS. The last of these, THE ONLY SECRET SHE KEEPS, has been long listed in the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards which will come...Read more
My return to series in the car is currently alternating between Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and all of Christopher Brookmyre's early work. Both of them are an utter joy to listen to, and a potential threat to life and limb.
Car journeys here are, by necessity, long....Read more
A murder in the quiet English village of Chippingholt is only the first in a series of trials that will shape the lives of Brenda Scarse and her lover Harold Burton. Who is the mysterious stranger, so closely resembling Brenda's father, who was seen near the scene of the crime? And why does...Read more
Bitter Wash Road is the latest police procedural from Garry Disher. Introducing a new protagonist, and set in the isolated South Australian wheatbelt, this is a book that delves deep into corruption, influence and power. Full review at ...Read more
A debut novel set in a small Australian town, The Dark Lake is a police procedural with a hefty dose of romantic tension. Reviewed at ...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 third and final instalment in the Raymond Electromatic, I ONLY KILLED HIM ONCE sees robot detective, turned gun for hire, in the fight of his "life".
"Life" requires a bit of wiggle room here as Raymond Electromatic is a robotic detective / hitman with a 24 hour long memory...Read more
A comment often made about BRUNY is that readers going in did not know it was going to be such a political read. BRUNY is one of those works that very effectively puts the frighteners on for many fronts; climate change, politics, foreign investment, cultural divides – swing the proverbial...Read more
Good idea at the heart of this novel from NZ author Jennifer Barraclough. Hilda is a reclusive, single woman, living in a ramshackle cottage on the North Kent marshes with her rescue cats. Her father has recently died, and her brother Dunstan is struggling with that death, the breakdown of...Read more
The author of GIRL FROM THE TREE HOUSE, Gudrun Frerichs, worked for 25 years as a psychotherapist specialising in trauma. She's now written this astounding book, a fictional and moving account of Elizabeth, a thirty-two year old woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Elizabeth has...Read more