Non-Fiction

Continent of Mystery

helen — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:10:22 +1000

ISBN: 0522846599

Blurb from the book:

Now, for the first time, Australian crime fiction's lurid and elusive past is exposed. Over nearly two hundred years, hundreds of authors and thousands of stories have created a unique national crime fiction.

No other country's writers are so likely to sympathise with the criminals, or find the police a thoroughly threatening presence. Stephen Knight's unique and sophisticated study shows that this fiction explores criminal disorder in distinctly national terms. The goldfields mystery, the Aboriginal detective, the glamorous lesbian cop and the post-modern puzzle all reveal distinctive aspects of Australianness.

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Submitted by helen on Sun, 14/10/2007 - 4:09pm.

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Crime Fiction, 1800-2000: Detection, Death, Diversity

helen — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:17:10 +1000

ISBN: 0333791797

Blurb from the book:

Stephen Knight's book is a full analytic survey of crime fiction from its origins in the nineteenth century to the most recent developments. Knight explains how and why the various forms of the genre evolved, explores major authors and movements, and argues that the genre as a whole has three parts: the early development of Detection, the growing emphasis on Death, and the modern celebration of Diversity. The best criticism is cited and the book provides full references and a helpful chronology, making this a highly-readable complete study of a popular and still relatively underexamined genre.

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Submitted by helen on Sun, 14/10/2007 - 4:16pm.

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Dead Man Running

sunniefromoz — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:49:54 +1000

ISBN: 9781741754636
Format: Pbk
RRP $35.00

They'll come after me. I really am a dead man running."The Australian Federal police have identified motorcycle gangs as the greatest organised crime threat in Australia - more potentially harmful to the community than any terrorist cell. This book tells the bloody story of the criminal involvement of the feared Bandidos gang - and how one man broke their code and turned informant.'We are the people our parents warned us about' is the motto of the Bandidos, one of the world's most feared outlaw motorcycle gangs. For 10 years, Steve Utah was a Bandidos insider, a trusted confidante of senior bike gang members along the east coast of Australia. He arranged the security of their clubhouses and electronic surveillance and counter surveillance. He 'cooked' ecstasy and ice for them. He witnessed meetings in which interstate and overseas drug and weapons smuggling was planned. Utah loved the wildness of the Bandido life and their contempt for the law, but as he was gradually goaded into increasingly serious crimes as a test of his loyalty to the gang, his life started to spiral out of control.He witnessed vicious beatings, helped dump corpses, took part in the theft of rocket launchers and machine guns.He saw men executed in front of him.It all became too much and, in an attempt to regain control of his life, Utah resorted to the unthinkable: he rolled over to the federal Police and told them all he knew about the Bandidos. He had intimate knowledge of every facet of their business in Australia and many aspects of their activities in North America. So trusted had he become that he could point Police to those complicit in three murders. He literally knew where the bodies were buried.This shocking, unflinching, tragic story is Steve Utah's confession. He knows he is a dead man running - that inevitably the Bandido code will be honoured and he will be silenced. But not before Utah gets his chance to wake Australians to the looming threat in their midst - the relentless

DONE LIKE A DINNER - Sandra Harvey & Jennifer Cooke

smik — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:46:56 +1000

face without a name: FINDING JANE DOE, the - Norm Lipson and Adam Walters

smik — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:39:59 +1000

How to Write Crime

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:21:02 +1000

ISBN 186373998X

Blurb from the book

This is a book outlining the various stages of writing a crime novel with different contributors providing a chapter / topic each.

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Submitted by Karen on Wed, 05/09/2007 - 11:07am.

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Prismatic

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:21:09 +1000

ISBN 9780734409683

Blurb from the book:

Outbreaks of irrationality and violence have Sydney in terror of a new plague, and time is running out on all fronts. Caught up in a whirlwind of examinations and autopsies, quarantine and riot control, history student, Jackie Cooper realises that if anyone is to be saved, she must get to the truth. But a city of madmen is trying to stop her?

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Submitted by helen on Mon, 17/09/2007 - 9:33pm.

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Private Dicks and Feisty Chicks

Karen — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:21:09 +1000

ISBN 1920731288

Blurb from the book:

Written in the first person through the eyes of a crime writer, this is a fresh exploration of the ideas and theories that underpin crime fiction. Cole uses many of the conventions of crime writing to examine the influence of politics and feminism on the development of crime fiction, with a focus on Australian crime novels.

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Submitted by helen on Thu, 06/09/2007 - 10:53pm.

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Scattered : The Inside Story of Ice in Australia

sunniefromoz — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:36:41 +1000

An act of violence while on crystal meth seems to burst boundaries; the perpetrator keeps on hitting and hitting, not knowing why, just going on beyond any purpose or restraint, repeating the action as mindlessly as playing cards or popping Sudafeds out of blister packs.Crystal methamphetamine. Crystal meth. Crystal. Ice. A drug that came out of nowhere and instantly turned things upside down: for users, their families, police, healthcare workers and victims of the random, hyper-violent crimes that are the mark of ice. Nearly 1 in 10 Australians have tried ice.

Scattered is the word coined by some users to describe the trance-like ferocity that can accompany an ice binge, escalating common crime to a terrifying level of violence. According to support workers on the front line, official statistics have yet to recognise that users have trebled over the last two years and hospital admissions for ice-related psychosis more than doubled.

Walkley award-winning journalist Malcolm Knox examines the ice problem in Australia from the points of view of users, dealers, police, lawyers, doctors, pharmacists and families affected by the drug.Each story he tells goes beyond the statistics and headlines to explore the human cost of ice and to consider its future in Australia.

'I don't know in the time I've been a policeman, which is 41 years, of a greater scourge on the community. The physical and mental manifestations of ice are absolutely horrific. It has the potential to destroy generations.' - Former NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney

Stephen Knight added

helen — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:59:11 +1000

I've added a page for Stephen Knight. Knight is mainly known for his collections of crime short stories in the 'Crimes for a Summer Christmas' series, but he has also written some non-fiction books on crime fiction.