Sorted on book title (not in series order)
Set in 1951, Indochina, TOO FAR FROM ANTIBES is the story of Jean-Luc Guéry and his quest to find the truth behind his brother Oliver's murder. An avid reader of detective fiction, Guéry has a very firm picture of how investigations should proceed, although the likelihood of him being able...Read more
It couldn't ever be said that the loss of his Private Investigator's licence has slowed Cliff Hardy down. In TORN APART, the death of his look-alike cousin in Cliff's house, an arrest for importing illegal drugs, a trip to Ireland, a gathering of Irish Traveller descendants, a brush with...Read more
1973, from art school to shared housing in run-down Leeds, and Jude (aka Toto) is a chaotic, wild child, living a reckless, slightly crazy life, thoroughly enjoying her youth, blissfully unconnected with the news of random attacks on woman that keep showing up on the news.
What...Read more
There have been a number of Australian crime fiction books recently that are tackling the effects of poverty / deprivation / loss and family breakdown in small towns, on small boys in particular. A TOWN CALLED TREACHERY is following, successfully, in the footsteps of authors like Mark...Read more
Jane McDonald has been working as a contract tracer in Sydney's western suburbs, during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Contact tracers get used to working with a huge range of people and they expect to patiently work through all sorts of issues, making sure that everyone keeps themselves, and the...Read more
There are a precious few Paddy Richardson books tucked within the stacks of unread novels around here - sort of like secreted Easter eggs, to be unearthed and devoured when required. Needing something that would be reliably good recently, TRACES OF RED was just the thing as Paddy Richardson...Read more
THE TRAIN RIDER is book three featuring Darian Richards - ex-cop, now vigilante walking a very fine line between right and wrong. He's also a violent, psychotic killer magnet.
In this case, THE TRAIN RIDER is the name of the book and the serial rapist and killer who Richards...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
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
Living on the edge of the Pyrenees (the ones in Victoria, Australia), surrounded as we are by wineries and winemakers, it's was a rather interesting experience to find myself reading TREACHERY IN BORDEAUX which is steeped in wine-making tradition, methodology, and a dash of intrigue....Read more
The media release that came with John Byron's debut thriller opens with the following:
"Meticulously researched, hugely ambitious and superbly crafted THE TRIBUTE is the most original thriller of 2021 and heralds John Byron as a formidable new player in
...Read more
I think it's only fair that I warn you to stand by for some slightly enthusiastic reviews. I've had one of those outstanding periods of reading where there have just been some fabulous books and TRICK OF THE DARK is one of them.
In this book of masterful storytelling by Val...Read more
Tabitha Darling is the daughter of a recently demised, much missed police superintendent and his wife, a recently moved to Queensland, much missed cook for the local police station. She's trying to run her own dessert destination café in the centre of Hobart, but no matter how hard she...Read more
Set in Wellington New Zealand, Jennifer Mortimer's book TRILEMMA brings her main character - Linnet Mere to a new city in search of lost family connections and love.
Setting this character up with a completely new start gives Mortimer a chance to put her narrator at a loss on...Read more
It's always interesting to see what might get a writer's thinking process started, and from the MM Rochford's bio it seems it's a love of reading crime and thrillers, and opera. Knowing that, the victim in this debut novel makes sense. It's also good to see an author having a go at a PI in...Read more
Brilliantly constructed for the upper age range of YA readers, A TRIO OF SOPHIES reads like a perfect tale for teenagers - female and male. Engaging and cleverly plotted, there's a depth to the characterisations and the manner in which some very current day issues are explored....Read more
THE TROIKA DOLLS is the first novel from new Australian Writer Miranda Darling, and it's a really really interesting debut for a number of reasons.
Stevie Duveen is (according to the blurb) "A new kind of heroine for a new kind of world". To be honest I'm not sure I know what...Read more
A bit of housekeeping up front. A TROPICAL CURE is the second book from John Hollenkamp to feature cab driver Darren Mangan, following on from STEALTH. That to be honest, I really should have read first up because it took some serious concentrating to figure out what was going on here....Read more
Shortlisted for the 2018 CWA Debut Daggar, TRUST ME, I'M DEAD, is the first crime novel from New Zealand born, Australian resident writer Sherryl Clark, best known for her children's writing, although I understand there's now a sequel to this novel planned for this year. Any possible sequel...Read more
For reasons that escape me, Paul Cleave doesn't seem to have the profile, or the world-wide awareness that he absolutely and utterly deserves. He's one of those authors that consistently turns out something different, something that is designed to challenge the reader, and always something...Read more
Interesting premise this. Take a devastating hit, albeit targeted, in the name of radical environmentalism to engineer a change for the good of the planet. Use sleeper agents who have worked their way into positions of influence and power over many years. Make it even more devastating by...Read more
1945 - World War 2 is over, and TRUTH DARE KILL is another book set in a post-war period that I've read recently. Set in London, this is the story of Danny McRae, an ex-policeman who has returned from the war after being captured by the Germans, incurring a severe head injury in the...Read more
In THE TRUTH WILL OUT, author Jane Isaac has created the beginnings of a classic British police procedural series. At the heart of the book is DCI Helen Lavery, a cop leading a team of murder investigators. She's a widow with two teenage sons, living in a shared caring arrangement with her...Read more
TRUTH by Peter Temple is probably the most keenly anticipated novel in this house for many years. Let's get the verdict out of the way right up front so there's absolutely no doubt - it did not disappoint. Not in any way.
TRUTH has been "billed" as the follow up to the...Read more
TUNNEL VISION is the follow up novel to PERFECT CRIMINALS which unleashed Danny Clay and his neighbour, friend, sidekick, he would / if she would romantic interest, Zan on the world. Danny's an ex-army sapper, now scriptwriter, veteran of many battles - in war and peace. Zan's the daughter...Read more
Alan Turing develops a machine he calls Nautilus that can send messages back in time. He uses it to fix a disastrous D-Day that threatens to lengthen the war and see Hitler triumph. Seeing the power and potential, he decides that it can only be entrusted to family. For Alan this means his...Read more
The opening salvo in a new detective series based around Jake Shaw, TURNING POINT is set in the US, written by a Kiwi author and published by a New Caledonian based company. Which unlikely series of events has come together to create a multi-threaded thriller styled novel with some very...Read more
Back in the 1970's there was discussion, debate and disagreement about the likelihood of Croatian extremists operating in Australia, and whether or not there was any involvement by the Communist Yugoslavian Government. Tony Jones, ABC Journalist and Q&A host apparently raised this topic...Read more
The second novel in the Constable Sammi Willis series, THE TWISTED KNOT, has Sammi returning to work after a close shave with death in the first novel (which you don't have to have read to get this one, but it wouldn't hurt).
Life back at work isn't easy though, and she's...Read more
It’s not only the guilty who have something to hide.
When charity worker Cate and website designer Rory, a married couple in their thirties, return from their European holiday, they make a nightmare discovery. Their credit cards...Read more