Dead Again, Sandi Wallace

DEAD AGAIN is the second novel in the Georgie Harvey and John Franklin series. Harvey is a Melbourne based journalist and Franklin a Daylesford based cop, and whilst it's not absolutely necessary that you've read the first book - TELL ME WHY, it would help a lot to understand why there is a...Read more

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Pancake Money, Finn Bell

 Finn Bell made quite an impact on the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards with two shortlistings - his first novel DEAD LEMONS in Best First Novel, and PANCAKE MONEY in Best Crime Novel. Grouped together as The Far South Series, these aren't series books as such, so you can read them in...Read more

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Did You See Melody?, Sophie Hannah

There’s both highs and dips with this novel.  Some of the dialogue is quite fun and the main character Cara is comically harried with all that is going on in her life.  We’ve all been there.  Mother and teen daughter relationships based on sarcasm are very relatable, as is the faux...Read more

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Headland, Ged Gillmore

The good news is I'm so far behind with this review, that the second book in the series is out now. Which means you've got a new series to follow on your hands!

As the blurb puts it: "Bill Murdoch's doing just fine, thanks for not asking. He's dealing drugs for a professional...Read more

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Forgotten, Nicole Trope

Everyone is saying this is one for fans of Jodi Picoult, which probably explains a lot of my reaction, because I'm not much of a fan of Picoult's books. I also suspect I may have overdosed on domestic noir of the "harried mother / useless father / tedious kids" variety. For that reason this...Read more

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Just Play Along, Megan Daymond

JUST PLAY ALONG is Megan Daymond's debut novel, and she's taken on quite confrontational subject matter. A double date that turns into a snuff film, with one of the girls fighting back and killing one of the attackers in the struggle to survive. From there things go from bad to worse as...Read more

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A Coin of Edward VII

The Morley family--a husband, his wife and her three children from a former marriage, one young ward, and a governess. Add in Giles Ware, a young man who was engaged by a family agreement to the young ward, and the fact that he's in love with the governess, and you have the start of a...Read more

Blind Eye, Stuart MacBride

DI Steele deserves her own fan club.  It would have to be a club where swearing, drinking, smoking and fiddling with your bra strap were perfectly acceptable behaviours of course.  You've also got a ready made slogan as fans of the wonderful Logan McRae series from Scottish author Stuart...Read more

55, James Delargy

Rural noir is a thing at the moment, which means some stellar entries in the category, and some not so good ones. Makes opening each new novel and settling in for the experience a bit of rollercoaster ride. So did 55 live up to the hype? Well yes, yes it did....Read more

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I Only Killed Him Once, Adam Christopher

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

Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Gary Bell

Didn’t know you were in the mood for a legal thriller?  Legal thrillers can be terrific reading sorbets when you are longing for a bit of law and order in your crime fiction reading. BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT fits the bill in spades.

Elliot Rook always knew that one of the...Read more

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Drowning City, Ben Atkins

Set in Depression era America, DROWNING CITY is set on one night when life, business and the future explodes in Fontana's face. A bootlegger by trade, it's a business that has a limited lifespan with political mumblings about getting rid of Prohibition. Meaning what money there is to be...Read more

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Cassie Clark - Outlaw, Brian Falkner

Another Young Adult novel, this time with less messaging and more just flat out thrills and spills, CASSIE CLARK: OUTLAW features the daughter of the Speaker of the House, a senior congressman, who has disappeared, supposedly run off with a journalist. Cassie's recovering from a bike crash...Read more

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Agent Running in the Field, John John le Carré

I listened to this via Audible, largely because I was rather intrigued by the idea of the author as the narrator. Which overall was an interesting way to listen to a book, although I will admit, it did take a while to get used to the very dead-pan presentation style.

The book...Read more

Shepherd, Catherine Jinks

In essence a chase novel, Shepherd is also a confidently pitched work about something just a little different. There’s not a lot written that is set in this time, being the settler years of Australia, so that alone is something of a literary hook and grab for a young reader to pick up this...Read more

The Shifting Landscape, Katherine Kovacic

The third book in the Alex Clayton Art Mystery series sees a shift of setting to the Western District of Victoria and one of those big pastoral leases that were such a part of the landscape down there. The title of the novel "The Shifting Landscape" is quite cleverly pitched referring as it...Read more

Not Bad People, Brandy Scott

New Years Eve often involves some reflection, some celebration, and some odd goings on. For Aimee, Melinda and Lou, starting out their celebration with an illegal Chinese lantern ceremony. Filling each lantern with their own resolution, the women light them and they lift off, after which...Read more

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Doom Creek, Alan Carter

In this current political climate, the rise of the ugly, radicalised individual is all too real, and the reflection of this in quiet, idyllic New Zealand somehow more shocking. Drafted originally before the appalling Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, Alan Carter has chosen to (in his...Read more

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Nancy Business, R.W.R. McDonald

I'm not sure it's expected to be reading a crime fiction novel, and go from laughing out loud (waking everyone in the nearby vicinity) to sniffling. Or to find yourself going from immersed in a tricky and clever plot, to worrying yourself into an early grave over the possibility of the...Read more

The Orchard Murders, Robert Gott

The fourth book in Robert Gott’s ‘Murders’ series frees its cast from the constraints of the newly formed Homicide Squad and plunges them straight into a baffling case that threatens many of their number. Full review at...Read more

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Shooting Messengers, Kevin Berry

A most unexpected combination of noir and comic/cartoonish stylings, SHOOTING MESSENGERS is the opening salvo in a series tagged as Quake City Investigations. Launching pretty well straight into the action, readers are introduced to two main investigating characters - PI Danny Ashford and...Read more

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Beyond the Tree House, Gudrun Frerichs

The second book in the Women of Our Time series, and follow up to the outstanding GIRL FROM THE TREE HOUSE, BEYOND THE TREE HOUSE again features Elizabeth and a number of her multiple personalities. Elizabeth has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) and for more on how she survives with...Read more

The Girl She Was Before, Jess Kitching

Nat now lives a picture perfect life - an artist, an instagram influencer, she has a husband, a baby and staff. She's also back living in the same place she grew up, friends with some of the girls at school who bullied and tormented her when they were younger, seemingly living the perfect...Read more

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Ghost Child, Caroline Overington

Short commentary as this was read for our face to face bookclub meeting yesterday. Lovers of this book will be pleased to know I was very much in the minority because I really did not like this book. Partially that's because of some stereotypical coincidences between the characters in this...Read more

Deadly Intent, Laraine Stephens

The second in the Reggie da Costa Mystery series from local author Laraine Stephens, DEADLY INTENT is set in Melbourne, in October 1923.

In this outing, heavy rains have battered Melbourne, and local crime reporter Reggie da Costa finds himself at the centre of a story when he...Read more

The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman

Ended up listening to this as an audiobook after mildly panicking that the third in the series was about to lob, and I was still struggling to get to this debut on the teetering unread pile. Glad I did.

Fans of this style of novel will be well aware of the buzz around THE...Read more

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Before You Knew My Name, Jacqueline Bublitz

In 2022 Jacqueline Bublitz's novel BEFORE YOU KNEW MY NAME won both the Best Novel and Best First Novel categories of the Ngaio Marsh awards. It was the first time this had occurred since the award was established in 2010, and there are some really good reasons for that.

There'...Read more

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