Historical

A Good Murder

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:20:52 +1000

ISBN 1920769250

Blurb from the book

A satire on life in small-town Australia, this clever murder mystery introduces William Power - actor, raconteur, and Shakespearean impresario. In 1942, with war raging in Europe and the Pacific, the Japanese army is on Australia's doorstep, and the small coastal Queensland town of Maryborough is on full alert. They are not, however, prepared for the arrival of a troupe of incompetent actors whose unjustifiably self-confident leader is determined to bring his daring production of Titus Andronicus to the rural barbarians. Unfortunately for Power, when a young woman goes missing and is found floating dead in the town's water supply, he becomes the prime suspect in her murder. With every misplaced step he takes, he becomes more and more embroiled in a series of crimes that baffle the police and horrify the locals.

Reviews / Chat about this book

Reviewers' Choice review http://www.reviewers-choice.com/good_murder.htm

How did you Feel about A Good Murder?

Submitted by Karen on Mon, 20/08/2007 - 11:13am.

Technorati Tags:

A Necessary Evil

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:20:52 +1000

ISBN 1741660408

Blurb from the book

'One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock...' The year was 1956 and the world was in the grip of rock 'n' roll. Sydney's youth flocked to the local dance halls and juvenile crime rocketed out of control. Teenage gangs like the Overlords ruled the streets, forcing the NSW Police Commissioner to form 33 Division, an elite group of tough plainclothes cops presided over by none other than George Arthur Everard, feared by the criminal world, and known to all as The Prince of Darlinghurst. Within a year the problem was solved and, as a reward, 33 Division was placed in charge of State Gaming and Vice. It was a licence to print money. Corrupted from within, the cops of the 'Dirty Tree', as the division became known, ruled the streets and the city and created the biggest crime syndicate Sydney had ever seen. A NECESSARY EVIL traces the lives of three generations of policemen, from George the uncompromising grandfather; to Harold, the weak, psychotic father; to Shayne, the new breed of cop. Three men living in the shadows of justice, inextricably bound by blood and the unique code of honour that rules them.

How Did you Feel About A Necessary Evil?

Submitted by Karen on Tue, 25/09/2007 - 12:43pm.

Technorati Tags:

A Thing of Blood

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:20:52 +1000

ISBN 1920769587

Blurb from the book

As Word War II drags on, failed Shakespearian actor and would-be private detective William Power Returns to Melbourne in disgrace after his disastrous brush with theatre and murder in Maryborough. Bloodied, broken but somehow unbowed, he arrives in a town struggling under war rationing and resentful of cocky American soldiers, and lands squarely in the bosom of his childhood home in Carlton - a home now dominated by his sister-in-law, the odious Darlene.

But even Will's contempt is tempered when, in the early hours of the morning Darlene is kidnapped, and Will finds his mother's kitchen splattered with blood and scattered with broken crockery.

Needing to escape the maternal home and the growing police investigation, Power rents a room in the spacious, Parkville home of wealthy, charismatic, and obsessively neat Paul Clutterbuck and is introduced to an underworld of bohemians, black marketeers and neanderthal henchmen. Will Power is fascinated - but before he can begin to enjoy his new home, a savage murder is discovered.

Just when modesty and good sense threaten to intervene, Will realises that only he can solve the murder, the mystery of his kidnapped sister-in-law, and save the nation from impending catastrophe.

Reviews / Chat about this book

Review of A Thing of Blood http://www.abc.net.au/widebay/stories/s1664712.htm

How did you Feel about A Thing of Blood?

Submitted by Karen on Mon, 20/08/2007 - 11:17am.

Technorati Tags:

Amongst the Dead

Karen — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 11:09:35 +1000

ISBN 9781921215247

Blurb from the book

Failed Shakesperean actor and would-be private investigator Will Power's unique detective skills are, once again, in demand. The Japanese army is rampaging through the islands of the South Pacific and Australia's front line of defence is a top-secret, crack division of men embedded deep in the tropical wilderness of northern Australia. But something is threatening their vital, covert mission: one of this elite corps is a murderer, preying on his comrades, one by one.

With a case too sensitive to be trusted to the police, military intelligence turn to the one man whose singular combination of abilities make him capable of infiltrating the clandestine military operation and rooting out the killer.

William Power goes into deep cover, posing as a cheap, vaudeville entertainer on tour to relive the troops. Enlisting the help of his brother, whose latent skills for female impersonation rise to the occasion, Will soon finds himself in the far-northern outback trying to raise the morale of a group of desperate young soldiers lying in wait for the arrival of Tojo's army - knowing all the while that one of them is the killer.

How did you Feel about Amongst the Dead?

Submitted by Karen on Mon, 20/08/2007 - 11:09am.

Technorati Tags:

Away with the Fairies

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:20:53 +1000

ISBN 9781865084893

Blurb from the book:

Exciting, gorgeous, adventurous and brave. That's Phryne Fisher, returning in her tenth crime mystery novel.

Phryne Fisher-dangerous, passionate, kind, clever, and seductive. She drinks cocktails, dances the tango, is the companion of wharfies, and is expert at conducting an elegant dalliance.

It's the 1920s in Melbourne and Phryne is asked to investigate the puzzling death of a famous author and illustrator of fairy stories. To do so, Phryne takes a job within the women's magazine that employed the victim and finds herself enmeshed in her colleagues' deceptions.

But while Phryne is learning the ins and outs of magazine publishing first hand, her personal life is thrown into chaos. Impatient for her lover Lin Chung's imminent return from a silk-buying expedition to China, she instead receives an unusual summons from Lin Chung's family followed by a series of mysterious assaults and warnings.

Reviews / Chat about this book

How did you feel about Away With the Fairies?

Submitted by helen on Mon, 17/09/2007 - 5:18pm.

Technorati Tags:

Berlin Cross, The

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:21:13 +1000

ISBN 1863255559

Blurb from the book

Down and out New York PI John Docker has a past he'd rather forget. So when he finds himself in Berlin in 1948, just after the Russians blockade the city in a move that ultimately sparks the Cold War, it's against his better judgment. Docker is there to track down some stolen treasure - the Cross of Christ, a legendary religious relic that was last in the hands of the Nazis and is now missing. Reluctantly he collaborates with British Military Policeman Captain Beauchamp, who is on the trail of the murderers of Nazi atomic scientist Friedrich Kessler, found tortured and dead in a bombed-out Berlin hotel. Jailed Nazi architect Albert Speer has agreed to give Beauchamp some information on Kessler's killers - and the atomic secrets they may have been after - in return for intelligence on the Cross. Against the backdrop of the Berlin airlift, Docker and Beauchamp race against the clock in a bid to recover the atomic secrets and the Cross.

THE BERLIN CROSS is an extraordinary debut crime thriller by a gifted author with a great future. Dark, witty, full of rich, authentic detail and with a cast of memorable characters, many from the history books, it keeps you guessing until the end.

How Did you Feel About The Berlin Cross?

Submitted by Karen on Tue, 11/09/2007 - 4:19pm.

Technorati Tags:

Blood and Circuses

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:20:55 +1000

ISBN 9781741145540

Blurb from the book:

Phryne Fisher goes to the circus for her sixth mystery. Stripped of her identity and wealth, it's only Phryne's keen wit and sharp thinking that will help her now.

Astute, suave and divine, Phryne Fisher moves at flashing pace through this thrilling sixth adventure.

The Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher is feeling dull. But is she bored enough to leave her identity, her home and family behind and join Farrell's Circus and Wild Beast Show? There have been strange things happening at the circus. And when Phryne is asked by her friends Samson the Strong Man, Alan the carousel operator and Doreen the Snake Woman to help them, curiosity gets the better of her.

Peeling off her wealth and privilege, Phryne takes a job as a trick horse-rider, wearing hand-me-down clothes and a new name. Someone seems determined to see the circus fail and Phryne must find out who that might be and why they want it badly enough to resort to poison, assault and murder.

Diving into the dangerous underworld of 1920s Melbourne and the wild, eccentric life under the big top, Phryne proves her courage and ingenuity yet again, aided only by her quick intelligence, an oddly attractive clown, and a stout and helpful bear.

Reviews / Chat about this book

How did you feel about Blood and Circuses?

Submitted by helen on Mon, 17/09/2007 - 5:22pm.

Technorati Tags:

Blood of Dreams

Karen — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:26:18 +1100

ISBN 978-0-670-07138-8

About the Book

Enter a world of seduction, fantasy and betrayal . . .

Venice, 1762. As Carnevale bursts across the city revellers take to the streets in masks and lavish costumes to lose themselves in pleasure. Yet while Venetians celebrate, a nightmare is about to unfold . . .

Laudomia Codussi, a beautiful young woman tormented by terrifying visions, takes a lover and is drawn into his dangerous obsession with opium. When a series of gruesome murders is revealed, Laudomia embarks on an urgent quest to unmask the killer. Until she can separate reality from fantasy, no one is safe – least of all herself. But in a city transformed by illusion, who can say what is real and what is not?

in the tradition of Anne Rice and Patrick Suskind, Blood of Dreams is a lush and intoxicating odyssey through the grand palaces, decadent salons and sinister alleyways of eighteenth-century Venice – a journey from which no one will emerge unscathed.

How Did you Feel About Blood of Dreams?

Submitted by Karen on Fri, 11/01/2008 - 2:26pm.

Technorati Tags:

Burke's Soldier

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:20:56 +1000

ISBN 01430000829

Blurb from the book

Melbourne, 1871: John King is dying far from the deserts he traversed with the legendary Burke and Wills.

Ten years on from that fateful expedition, King is finally ready to tell his story. The young Irishman had already endured the horrors of the Indian Mutiny when he signed on with the erratic Burke to explore a land he knew little about. As one of the advance group who pushed on to the Gulf of Carpentaria - only to be abandoned later by the rest of their party - King was with Wills as he penned his final letter, and at Burke's side when he died. Then he was alone, the sole survivor, though barely alive when rescued by Alfred Howitt.

But Howitt is a man who cannot let things be, and now he seems more inquisitor than saviour. He wants to know what King knows before it's too late . .

How did you feel about Burke's Soldier?

Submitted by Karen on Mon, 23/07/2007 - 2:13pm.

Technorati Tags:

Burnt City, The

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:21:13 +1000

ISBN 187663183X

Blurb from the book

Melbourne, 1893. Banks are crashing, businesses failing, the unemployed and starving marching in the streets. The aftermath of the greed and corruption of the 1880s is "an inferno of dishonesty and ruthlessness".

In this splendidly interconnecting novel, a combination of history and fiction, a bank liquidator seeks justice for the victims of the crash. He confronts official obstruction and blackmail. A department store is fighting for survival. A young woman with "the latest retailing experience" arrives from Lancashire. Love affairs flicker and flare. A rich cast, layer after layer of plots, arresting scenes, social documents, marvellously evoke the era. The embattled city broods in a sultry summer, a deadly autumn. This is the second book in Marshall Browne's historical trilogy, between The Gilded Cage and The Trumpeting Angel, both published by Duffy & Snellgrove.

How did you Feel about The Burnt City?

Submitted by Karen on Thu, 16/08/2007 - 6:00pm.

Technorati Tags: