Nominated as a young adult novel, COOPER BARTHOLOMEW IS DEAD is one that's readable for that age group and those of us for whom "young" is but a vague memory.
Whilst there is a death at the centre of this book, in many ways it is less of a crime mystery than one about the...Read more
KINGDOM OF THE STRONG is the fourth Darian Richards novel from screenwriter, producer and novelist Tony Cavanaugh. Readers of the past novels will be aware of the background of Richards. A high ranking cop in Victoria for many years, he has a darker side, with a history of ensuring justice...Read more
It’s no longer surprising that certain “scenarios” seem to be duplicated in a rush of books - and amnesia and/or dementia causing memory loss is the one that has been showing up a lot recently.
BREATHE AND RELEASE is by New Zealand based Katherine Hayton, and in this case, the...Read more
The fourth book in the Nell Forrest series, DASTARDLY DEEDS sees heroine Nell on a much needed holiday cruise around the Mediterranean. Except it seems that everyone has decided to go with her - her mother and her partner, her ex-husband and his new partner, her sister, a couple of...Read more
Ultra-gritty describes the 1930's Stockholm that Harry Kvist occupies, as well as Kvist himself. To say nothing of the people that he mixes with. It's a beautifully evoked world of dark and despair, littered with violent sexual encounters, drinking, and oddly, an unexpected love affair of...Read more
The combination of cars and girls makes absolute sense to me. Include them in a series of noir styled, dark and pointed short stories, and CARS & GIRLS from the Pankhurst Collective was both unexpected and an absolute pleasure to read.
Whilst the central theme of cars and...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
Gary Kemble's first book SKIN DEEP was shortlisted for the 2016 Ned Kelly Award for a very good reason. It was a hands on, in your face, blood, guts and glory paranormal crime mashup with a quintessentially Australian bloke central character that worked incredibly well. So well that a...Read more
BLOOD IN THE COTSWOLD is an entry in the (somewhat unimaginatively named, it has to be said) Cotswold Series from British author Rebecca Tope.
Central character Thea Osborne and her dog Hepzie house-sit. They do this quite a bit, and in this book they are in the quiet little...Read more
It's taken an age to get this review to the point where it can be published, because it's it's been so hard to clearly identify what about SAIGON DARK really worked for this reader, and why there were some niggling doubts remaining.
A seemingly straight-forward story where Lily,...Read more
Digging into the parental guilt that is heaped upon all new parents, HUSH LITTLE BABY is that needling little voice in your head telling you that you're not doing it right, and that someone else could probably do it better. Sally's character alternates between maternal confidence and...Read more
The Student is fast-paced, dry as dust, gritty Australian regional noir. Full Review at Newtown Review of Books....Read more
Finn Bell presents as a surprisingly pragmatic creature for all the challenges he is required to face in his every day existence. Laconically hilarious plus unnervingly calm in a tight spot, is our Finn. This is the strength of DEAD LEMONS, as the humour is presented shockingly side by...Read more
Back when we were all a quite a bit younger Carolyn Morwood had a couple of books out featuring Melbourne based, female, professional cricketer Marlo Shaw (AN UNCERTAIN DEATH and A SIMPLE DEATH). She followed that up more recently with the Eleanor Jones series, set around the time of World...Read more
ABSOLUTE PROOF is a rare thing in these parts - a "did not finish". Try as I might to get into this whopping big thriller, it's just too much of a slog. (For the record I'm not a fan of Dan Brown's books either so there is a distinct possibility that this one was never destined to work for...Read more
• TRILOGY - Three of British-Australian author Fergus Hume's mysteries are in this Kindle book: The Crowned Skull & The Silent House & The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
The Crowned Skull
A classic murder mystery involving the occult. Sir Hannibal Trevick, a...Read more
It always amazes me, how Paul Cleave can start out with a scenario that somehow seems quite normal and "expected" and then make it all go very very good weird, and you don't even notice that it's happening until you finish the book, turn all the lights back on the in house and take a big...Read more
GUN STREET GIRL is the fourth book to feature Irish cop Sean Duffy. The Duffy series, has been winning plaudits, praise and awards in all corners of the world and hugely deserved they have all been, which meant fans of both the writer and the earlier three books (...Read more
The Cleaner is Christchurch, New Zealand based Paul Cleave's debut novel. Set in Christchurch where at one point Joe, the central character, muses that the biggest crime in Christchurch City - apart from the fashion and the Old English Architecture, glue-sniffing, too much greenery, bad...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
The second in the Harry Kvist series, DOWN FOR THE COUNT follows CLINCH, with the third book, SLUGGER, now available in Australia as well. Think deepest darkest dirtiest noir, of the hardest possible bitten variety, and this series fits the definition perfectly. Add longing for love, and a...Read more
The blurb for LAST SEEN LEAVING outlines a particularly interesting concept - high-flying, New York District Attorney, with a happy personal life is struck down by a viral eye infection which renders her blind. Now running a small, suburb based law practice, her ex-fiancée is reported...Read more
INSPECTOR ANDERS AND THE PRAGUE DOSSIER is a very bittersweet book, published after author Marshall Browne's death (the book was being edited at the time that Browne died). The fourth Inspector Anders novel, it brings to an end an unsung gem of a series of Australian Crime Fiction books....Read more
Every now and then we meet a literary villain who is both villain and victim. Meet Bella, a young woman who does not take kindly to being sidelined or left behind. You might recognize her. Someone who once worked in your office. Someone who once dated one of your friends. Someone you’d...Read more
Anybody new to the Flaxborough Chronicles by British writer Colin Watson might not be aware of the author's body of work. Born in 1920, dying in 1983, Watson wrote twelve Flaxborough novels in total, renowned for their dry comic styling, set in the small fictional town of Flaxborough,...Read more
It is difficult to read of women’s lives being micromanaged by their domestic captors to the point of scheduled toilet breaks, and of young children being raised entirely behind closed doors. These are hard novels to take on. If you are reading this because you have heard Dear Child...Read more
Every now and then a book sneaks into my reading pile that absolutely and utterly defies this reader's ability to describe it, the affect it had, and the experience of reading it. A NEW NAME FOR THE COLOUR BLUE was simply amazing. Beautiful, moving, haunting, fragile and deceptive: actually...Read more
Mirror twins are identical twins, with some opposing physical features, so when they are facing each other they can appear as mirrored reflections. Birthmarks can be on opposite sides, cowlicks may run clockwise on one twin and counterclockwise on the other, and so on. In some extreme cases...Read more
A crime debut from New Zealand author Christina O'Reilly, INTO THE VOID is a short novel with considerable promise. Introducing DSS John (Archie) Baldrick, DC Ben Travers and the rest of their investigation team whilst presenting the reader with a well crafted plot all in 158 pages is quite...Read more
Jack Furey is 100 years old, in a nursing home, and not a happy man. In the introduction to FUREY'S WAR it quickly becomes apparent that Jack is his own man, not somebody to be trifled with, and definitely not somebody to underestimate, even after a devastating stroke. Inside his head, Jack...Read more