Sorted on book title (not in series order)
Normally I'd try to avoid doing this but I feel that I have to declare up front - I did not like this book. Didn't enjoy it for one second - nothing in it was interesting, appealing or even remotely engaging. So having said that, why?
One of the things that appeals to me...Read more
A stay-at-home mother of two small children is feeling trapped in her life. As a successful career woman she was used to being in control, but now she feels that control slipping away. The demands of caring for her children leave her constantly exhausted. She resents the attention her...Read more
After years away from his hometown of Melbourne, Luke Harris is back on track. All he wants is a normal job, his own house and a dog.
But Luke is a man with a past, where life was anything but peaceful and his skills ran to the dark side. A past not easily forgotten – or forgiven...Read more
It seems, to this reader at least, that there are a couple of main "types" of crime fiction these days. The new, unusual, clever idea stuff that breaks new ground and the tried and tested world of old ground. The problem with the old ground version is that it's sometimes very easy to sound...Read more
This is an earlier book from J.R. Carroll (although later books are thin on the ground now as well), set in Melbourne, where the discovery of eight bodies in the scrub at Kinglake is only part of what is happening. This book revolves around the man in charge of that investigation - Kerry...Read more
STONE TOWN by Margaret Hickey follows the story of the central character introduced in her (very good) debut novel CUTTERS END. Senior Sergeant Mark Ariti's moved from the South Australian outback back to his home town of Booralama. Since the death of his mother, he's living on his own in...Read more
In a conversation with a well known author of Australian Rural/Regional crime fiction on twitter recently, we talked about the differences between "rural noir" and "rural crime". She clarified the difference between rural crime fiction and rural noir fiction for me perfectly - a projection...Read more
Romantic Suspense and I do not get on so my viewpoint is probably somewhat skewed. I also cheerfully admit to a particularly strong allergy to anything at all that gets all "she's nothing without a man" or "women donning high heels to run through the bush to escape the bad guy". Which I'm...Read more
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
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
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
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
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
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
Fremantle Press have just released the third DSS Stevie Hooper book by WA based writer Felicity Young, TAKE OUT, following on from HARUM SCARUM and AN EASEFUL DEATH.
Starting off with a prologue that is obviously telegraphing something awful in the future of Mai, a young Asian...Read more
It is particularly gratifying to see a recent increase in historical crime fiction with capable and independent female central characters, with good working relationships with the men who support them. Not only does this give authors the opportunity to expand on the period in which they are...Read more
Small towns, big secrets, inter-generational trauma, unquestioned deaths, fractured families, kids moving away and never returning, all the sorts of things that sound so very familiar to many of us who grew up in rural Australia from more recent history, back, unfortunately, for generations...Read more
THE TEA LADIES by Amanda Hampson is one of those interesting sort of novels that tippy toes a line between its cosy(ish) setting and some considerably more ruthless plot lines with a deftness that made for a really enjoyable reading experience.
Set in Sydney in 1965 in the...Read more
Disclaimer's First: I was one of the publisher's minions, and whilst I don't always participate in considering possible submissions, in this case I was fortunate enough to read an early draft - and well did a bit of barracking.
So think of this as less of a review and more a...Read more
This is the end – for now – of the Ella Marconi series by Australian thriller writer Katherine Howell.
In 2007 paramedic Katherine Howell caused quite a stir in crime-fiction fan circles with the release of her debut novel Frantic. Detective Ella...Read more
The forty-first Cliff Hardy book came out earlier this year. That Empty Feeling is classic Cliff Hardy - stripped down, hardboiled, quintessentially Australian-noir ticking all the required boxes - pace, twists, turns, sex, violence and pitch-perfect dialogue. This time around, the...Read more