Sorted on book title (not in series order)
There are never enough new crime fiction writers and/or novels in Australia every year (okay so I'm greedy!), but there are certainly never enough quite as good as STORM PEAK which is John A Flanagan's first crime fiction novel, and I'm certainly cheering for more.
STORM PEAK...Read more
Petra Woods is the director of the Sydney New Coastguard - a rescue service made possible by the financial support of her childhood friend and now boss of her family bank, Kirsten McKenzie. Both girls grew up on Sydney Harbour and the water and boats are in their blood. Kirsten has a...Read more
Something about STRAIGHT JACKET could make some readers a little uncomfortable. Not the serial killing aspect in this case - although the idea that there is a killer lurking in the bush that inserts itself into the Sydney suburbs isn't a welcome one. Certainly not a killer that sends...Read more
A few years ago I made a promise to myself to catch up on some of the back catalogue lurking around in darkened corners in this place.
Some months I get that right - other months I make a real hash of it and that's to my own detriment.
Although in an odd way,...Read more
The Le Fanu series from author Brian Stoddart is one of those extremely elegant combinations of mystery fiction and historical lesson that also provides entertainment for readers. There's even a bit of good old fashioned romance from the male point of view. In short, there's something for...Read more
STRATTON'S WAR is the first in an new planned series of crime novels featuring Ted Stratton, a Detective Inspector in the London police during the Second World War. This book includes a second protagonist - Diana Calthorp, young, socialite, not long and unhappily married and unexpected MI5...Read more
Another in a long line of amazing family saga novels out of New Zealand, THE STRENGTH OF EGGSHELLS is the debut novel of Kirsty Powell.
A tale of the women of three generations of one family, this novel is the story of discovery, understanding and acceptance.
In...Read more
STRING THEORY is the 2nd in the Guitar Store Mysteries, and the first I've read. Which I think might have been a bit of a mistake. This worked, in that it was fun, a bit silly, and a bit of giggle in places, although it did take me a while to figure out who was who and how it all fitted...Read more
In case you hadn't noticed there's a number of debut novels recently out of New Zealand, often written by authors with a policing or related background, many of them telegraphing potential for interesting things to come. THE STUDENT BODY is Serious Fraud Office investigator Simon Wyatt's...Read more
The Student is fast-paced, dry as dust, gritty Australian regional noir. Full Review at Newtown Review of Books.Read more
I happily went out earlier this week and bought a copy of Sucked In and it took me roughly one day to finish it - and that was an unfair delay - I could have sat down and read it in one sitting. Needless to say the 6th book in the Murray Whelan series (for which we've all been waiting an...Read more
SUFFER THE CHILDREN is the first book introducing DI Will Wagstaffe. A confession early on - I try not to read blurbs on books so the first few chapters referring alternatively to Wagstaffe and Staffe left me mildly confused, a feeling that came back to visit me on a few occasions...Read more
Winner of the 2009 Victorian Premier's Literary Award, SUFFICIENT GRACE is a difficult book to categorise.
Told from the viewpoint of young Ruth, it's a story about life and survival in a brutal climate, in a brutal, bleak, religious community.
Presented...Read more
THE LOST TAONGA and A SUITABLE TIME FOR VENGEANCE by Edmund Bohan were both entered in the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards, with THE LOST TAONGA making it onto the longlist. Both these books are from Bohan's Inspector O'Rorke series (six and seven respectively), historical crime fiction set in New...Read more
Crime fiction with a vampire as the central protagonist, set on the island of Malta. If this sounds like your ... err cuppa ... give it a try.
Jack Sant is a Knight of Malta, a sort of consultant detective keen to solve the country's worst cold cases, and a vampire....Read more
Mons Kallentoft is not making any bones about using the weather conditions as a feature in his books - MIDWINTER SACRIFICE, and now SUMMERTIME DEATH. Given that temperatures of 45º+ aren't exactly record breaking in these parts, it's a real testament to the way that this book is written...Read more
This is going to have to be another one of those reviews that comes with a disclaimer. I love Adrian McKinty's books. Although I will admit that it's always been the dark side, his flawed and controversial characters, and his noir stylings that I'd thought appealed particularly....Read more
Erik Winter is the youngest chief inspector in Sweden. He's quite the snappy dresser, an intuitive if slightly moody cop, consumed with his job and with his very pregnant girlfriend. When his father has a massive heart attack in Spain, he is pulled away from his job to spend a little time...Read more
When she discovers the mutilated body of the revivalist preacher and her brother, Viktor, laid out in ritualistic style, on the floor of The Source of All Our Strength church, Sanna turns to her old friend Rebecka Martinsson for support. Despite her demanding work schedule as a Tax lawyer...Read more
Anybody thinking the cover of this novel with it's bright pink girly styling, means it's going to be on the light and fluffy side, might want to invest in some brown paper, cover the thing, and read it anyway. THE SUNDAY GIRL is not fluffy, girly fiction, even if the opening salvo makes you...Read more
The first book in the Diane Rowe series, SURRENDER is part of a two book series (MY BROTHER'S KEEPER is out now), set in Wellington, New Zealand, featuring a private investigator scenario that makes a huge amount of sense.
Diane Rowe is an ex-cop and now missing person's expert...Read more
A debut novel, THE SURROGATE could be quite confrontational reading for many people. The image of unborn babies torn from their dead mother's bodies - dead themselves, or more shockingly possibly still alive is going to shock. Undoubtedly.
DI Phil Brennan, a loveless and...Read more
Set in Sydney, SURVEILLANCE is billed as a cyber-thriller about government spying and corporate underhanded behaviour. A timely and really interesting subject to be explored, this was picked up with much anticipation.
Perhaps the expectations were wrongly set, but SURVEILLANCE...Read more
Journalist Grace Marks needs a good story, but she has no idea how good a story she's unearthing when she starts out investigating a surge in suburban minor crime. I mean who would put that much organisation into a series of minor crimes. Maybe a security company CEO, a company that offers...Read more
The second in Dorothy Johnston's Sea-Change series, THE SWAN ISLAND CONNECTION sees local senior constable Chris Blackie and his deputy Anthea Merritt developing their working relationship into something with more understanding, trust and respect for each other. Which is partly why they end...Read more
Dom and Donald Tolen are identical twins - in looks but not personality. Whilst Dom craves the quiet life, Donald has pushed the boundaries a lot more. But now, separated from his wife and living, as an increasingly unwelcome guest, in his brother's apartment, Donald needs to get himself...Read more
Things that go bump in the night add to the suspense in this cautionary tale of young adult friendships.
Marketed as Young Adult, Sweet Damage is the second novel from Rebecca James delving into the nature of friendship and relationships in a way that...Read more
Bryan Brown is an actor synonymous in these parts with that sort of dry, pared back, quintessentially Aussie bloke character, much like the ones he's played in THE CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH and for those of die-hard local crime fiction fans, the much missed Cliff Hardy in THE EMPTY BEACH....Read more
On Anzac Day in 2008 an Aboriginal Elder from Warburton*, Western Australia was arrested for drink driving. Transported around 920 kilometres over two trips, in the back of a private security company van with no air-conditioning, he died in transit. An inquest later found that the guards...Read more
The novella, TAINTED BY FIRE, from New Zealand based author Sidney Mazza, definitely telegraphs promise of things to come. There's an excellent idea at the heart of this work - an ordinary family man, living an ordinary sort of a life suddenly has everything tipped on its head, and he's in...Read more