The Brothers, S.D. Hinton
SD Hinton’s debut novel uses the structure of a thriller to explore myriad responses to trauma. Full review at Newtown Review of Books.Read more
Sorted on book title (not in series order)
#AusCrime
Bruny, Heather Rose
A comment often made about BRUNY is that readers going in did not know it was going to be such a political read. BRUNY is one of those works that very effectively puts the frighteners on for many fronts; climate change, politics, foreign investment, cultural divides – swing the proverbial...Read more
Bruny, Heather Rose
BRUNY is a book which unfortunately (stupidly) sat in the reading piles here for, it turns out, way too long. Luckily our F2F bookclub was scheduled to read it last month, and I've never been so pleased that something was jolted out of stasis and into the current pile. It was, quite simply...Read more
The Brush Off, Shane Maloney
The things a ministerial assistant must do. Murray Whelan's exact job title and the details of his expected duties have never been fully explained but they certainly call for a deft kind of versatility in adapting to all possible situations a Labor party man might find himself inserted into...Read more
The Build Up, Phillip Gwynne
Nailing my colours firmly to the aerial of the ute, I love a book that evokes a place and a people strongly. THE BUILD UP is set in and around Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory. A bit of a frontier town - they have a habit of referring to other states as "the shoe wearing states...Read more
The Burden of Lies, Richard Beasley
Second book in the Peter Tanner series, THE BURDEN OF LIES follows on from CYANIDE GAMES, which it might be worth reading first. There's a lot of framework construction in the first book that will help with understanding Tanner, his family, his work life and some of the ways that all...Read more
Burn Patterns, Ron Elliott
Partly a story around Iris Foster, partly a story around arson, BURN PATTERNS puts a complicated woman at the heart of a story about complicated offenders. Known as "The Fire Lady" Foster is a psychologist with a messy past that she's tried to put behind her. Until mid consultation with...Read more
Burning Mountain, Darcy Tindale
Following on from the excellent debut THE FALL BETWEEN, author Darcy Tindale's BURNING MOUNTAIN shows absolutely no sign of the dreaded "second novel syndrome". The action here is as believable, and relevant to the place as in the earlier...Read more
The Campers, Maryrose Cuskelly
The first line of the blurb for THE CAMPERS describes it as "An engrossing and provocative exploration of privilege, hypocrisy and justice... " which is about as perfect a description as you'd ever want. This is discomforting, confusing, and confronting reading, a story that is...Read more
Can You Keep a Secret?, Caroline Overington
Commencing a blurb with a question implies that somewhere along the line the book will provide an answer. In the case of CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? "Why do some people decide to get married when everyone around them would seem to agree that marriage, at least for the two people in question is a...Read more
The Cane, Maryrose Cuskelly
Maryrose Cuskelly's novel seems to have taken Arthur Conan Doyle’s maxim to heart: ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ Full Review at: ...Read more
Canticle Creek, Adrian Hyland
It's been way. too. long. since the last Emily Tempest novel from Adrian Hyland was published. Been way too long since anything from Adrian Hyland was published, so I will admit to some serious stack reshuffling when CANTICLE CREEK arrived. Not a shred of disappointment about the decision...Read more
The Canvas Killings, Elise Janes
THE CANVAS KILLINGS is the debut novel written by Elise Janes, the pseudonym for writing combo Elise Wackett and Jane Abbott. It's a fast-paced, sometimes gruesome story set in past and present Australia.
The Past: 30 years ago renowned artist James Montague Ballantyne was...Read more
Capable of Murder, Brian Kavanagh
My Rating: Choccies, coffee, sparkling shiraz, book in hand, comfy chair late on a Sunday afternoon in the fading sun read.
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A young Australian girl's elderly english great-aunt leaves everything to her after she dies in her home, seemingly from an accidental...Read more
The Carbuncle Clue
It is the summer of 1894. The Garry Street murder is the talk of London, and no one is more baffled than Gerald Conway, in whose library the dead man's body was discovered, stabbed. The only clue to the man's identity seems to be the gold bangle containing a small carbuncle, worn on the...Read more
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The Caretaker, Gabriel Bergmoser
Gabriel Bergmoser's one of those author's that is building a back catalogue of creepy, tense thrillers full of interesting psychological analysis and, frankly, disturbing scenarios. Which is exactly what you're given in THE CARETAKER.
Charlotte is on the run from a controlling...Read more
Case Reopened, edited by Stuart Cope and Julie Ogden
This book was on my Quest List for such a long time until I finally managed to track down a copy (and was subsequently somewhat startled to find it listed on Fishpond NZ!). The reason it hit the Quest List was the premise sounded so fascinating - take a bunch of real life cases, give them...Read more
The Case of the Bullets at the Ballet, C.S. Boag
THE CASE OF THE BULLETS AT THE BALLET is book number 4 in the Mr Rainbow series, which I reread recently. Because you do. Think of these as good, fun, spare moment fillers and you've got it in one.
My review of the full series was originally posted at...Read more
The Case of the Cock Robin Killer, C.S. Boag
Number 5 in the Rainbow series, and THE CASE OF THE COCK ROBIN KILLER might be blue about lots of things, but it won't make you blue to read it. In fact you'll probably find yourself snorting with laughter, or at least rolling your eyes as the puns fly left, right and centre.
...Read more
The Case of the Death of a Ladies' Man, C.S. Boag
Many years ago I went through one of those reader phases where I deliberately sought out weird titles just because there's nothing better than a quest. (Okay well any excuse to haunt bookshops and secondhand shops...) So THE CASE OF THE DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN appealed if for no other reason...Read more
Catch Us The Foxes, Nicola West
Before starting out, this review is going to contain possible SPOILERS. I'm finding it almost impossible to talk about CATCH US THE FOXES without them.
Flagged as Twin Peaks meets The Dry, this is also described as a deliciously dark and twisted...Read more
Cedar Valley, Holly Throsby
“On a normal morning, a lone police car would be parked out the front of the station, waiting for something illegal to happen.”
Cedar Valley, Holly Throsby’s second novel, begins with the arrival of two strangers on the first day of summer in 1993. One, Benny Miller,...Read more
The Celtic Dagger, Jill Paterson
Dialogue. It's something I'm increasingly aware of, as it should be part of the way that an author can show (as opposed to tell) the reader what the characters are seeing, thinking, considering, experiencing. Combine really good dialogue with a feasible plot and an author can transport...Read more
A Certain Malice, Felicity Young (aka Flashpoint)
Before WA based author Felicity Young commenced her extremely good Dr Dody McCleland series, she published a series of police procedural novels one of which built around the central character of Sergeant Cam Fraser in it. FLASHPOINT, originally out in 2005, has recently been re-released in...Read more
Chain of Evidence, Garry Disher
When 10 year old Katie Blasko goes missing, Ellen Destry is in charge of the case. Katie's from one of the local Estates – a poor, run-down area full of dysfunctional families, violence and drugs. Nearly everybody on the investigation team is pretty sure that Katie's disappearance is yet...Read more
Chasing the Ace, Nicholas J. Johnson
"The Honest Conman" (aka Nicholas J Johnson) used to do a warning segment on scams and frauds on ABC Local Radio, but it was a pleasant surprise to find he'd written a heist / scam novel. Needless to say his debut novel, CHASING THE ACE, reads like the author knows a lot about the subject...Read more
Chasing the Dragon, Mark Wightman
The second DI Maximo Betancourt novel, set in 1940's Singapore, CHASING THE DRAGON continues his story in close follow on from the earlier novel - WAKING THE TIGER. This novel could work as a standalone, but as with anything where the focus is on a main character, it's probably best to read...Read more
Cheaters, J.R. Carroll
J R Carroll writes a really lively combination of gangster thriller crime fiction. Set in and around Melbourne there have been a few books which are a series - using the same characters and a lot that are standalone.
CHEATERS is one of the standalones thus far, or at least,...Read more
Chelsea Mansions, Barry Maitland
With any long term series, it's not surprising to see an author rejigging the relationships just a little, bringing in new perspectives or adjusting the expectations. CHELSEA MANSIONS is the ninth Brock and Kolla book from Barry Maitland, and in the last book there were hints that there is...Read more