2008

An Irresistible Temptation: The true story of Jane New and a colonial scandal

sunniefromoz — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:21:43 +1000

In 1829 at the Supreme Court in Sydney, the bewitching Jane New was sentenced to death. Her crime: shoplifting a bolt of printed French silk. But was she guilty? Many had their doubts.

Although a legal technicality soon quashed Jane's sentence, the autocratic Governor Ralph Darling refused to set her free. Like bees to the honey pot, the gentlemen of Sydney swarmed to Jane's defence including barrister and political agitator William Charles Wentworth and Supreme Court Registrar John Stephen Jr, who were both vigorous and manipulative in their appeals to set her free.

An Irresistible Temptation is set against the backdrop of a particularly divisive period in colonial New South Wales. Not only did the scandal titillate Sydney and its legal and political ramifications push the colony to the brink of a constitutional crisis, but it contributed to the savagery of Governor Darling's public vilification and bestowed upon Jane New a place in the annals of Australian colonial history.

Compelling and fast-paced, An Irresistible Temptation is a meticulously researched history that takes us from the court docks of industrialising England, to Tasmania's raw penal settlement, the rough-house world of Sydney's Rocks and eventually back to the rarefied atmosphere of Britain' House of Commons.

Breaking the Bank: An extraordinary colonial robbery

sunniefromoz — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:17:41 +1000

It was the largest bank robbery in Australian history. On Sunday 14 September 1828, thieves tunnelled through a sewage drain into the vault of Sydney's Bank of Australia and stole 14 000 in notes and cash - the equivalent of $20 million in today's currency. This audacious group of convicts not only defied the weekly exhortation 'thou shalt not steal!', they targeted the bank owned by the colony's self-anointed nobility.

Delighted at this affront to their betters, Sydney's largely criminal and ex-criminal population did all they could to undermine the authorities' attempts to catch the robbers and retrieve the spoils. While the desperate bank directors offered increasingly large rewards and the government officers cast longing looks at the gallows, the robbers continued to elude detection. Then one day ...

With a rich cast of characters who refused to abase themselves to the establishment, this meticulously researched and fast-paced history tells the story of the daring Bank of Australia robbery and of the scheming robbers, greedy receivers and unfortunate suspects whose lives were irrevocably changed by this outrageous crime.

A Cure for all Diseases

sunniefromoz — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:01:26 +1000

AFFAIR OF THE MUTILATED MINK, THE - James Anderson

Karen — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:34:30 +1100

ANGELS UNAWARE

sunniefromoz — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:16:16 +1100

Cover Image

Author

Mike Ripley

Publisher

Allison and Busby

Copyright

2008

ISBN

9780749080839

No of Pages

398

Price

Book Synopsis

Roy Angel is a Private Investigator. He is the token male at an all female agency. His wife, a successful fashion designer, has recently given birth to their first child.. But there’s a fly in Angel’s blissful ointment. The Agency is insisting he is not entitled to extended paternity leave and his mother has descended upon them to “help” with the baby. Angel’s mum is a bit eccentric. She’s a hippy with a penchant for trouble and has the maternal instincts of a doorknob. Angel takes on the job of searching for a missing script writer. The bank financing the film is getting jumpy because the final draft of the script is past due and the writer hasn’t been seen in nearly two weeks. The investigation takes Angel out of his comfort zone of London into the wilds of Yorkshire. He is aided by fellow PI Ossie Oesterlein, a very large man with an even larger appetite, who lives at home with his mum and is into line dancing in a big way. So just how does a search for a missing man end in a murder hunt with Angel staring down the barrel of a loaded gun contemplating his own death? And what does a Polish porn star have to do with it?The story is told from Angel’s perspective. As the narrator, Angel’s voice is highly amusing; particularly the banter between himself and Ossie. These two are about an unlikely a pair as you’ll ever come across. His wife’s increasing exasperation and annoyance at Angel’s extended absence from the martial home is also very entertaining, as is his mother’s antics. The author, Mike Ripley, deftly changes both the tempo and mood of the plot as what begins as a routine missing person case and a jaunt to the north becomes a matter of life and death for Angel. ANGELS UNAWARE is a light-hearted detective yarn with a somewhat dark centre. I was surprised to learn that ANGELS UNAWARE is the fifteenth in the Angel series. I must look out for more. Mike Ripley’s Roy Angel has slipped under my radar until now. Don’t let it slip under yours.

Book Review

AS DARKNESS FALLS - Bronwyn Parry

voyagersaus — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:36:05 +1000

Beautiful Place to Die, A

Karen — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:17:15 +1100

ISBN 978-1-4050-3877-5

Blurb from the Book

In 1950s South Africa, the colour of a killer's skin matters more than justice.

When Captain Willem Pretorius, an Afrikaner police officer, is brutually murdered in the tiny backwater of Jacob's Rest, Detective Emmanuel Cooper is sent to investigate.

The local Afrikaners and the dead man's prominent family view Cooper, an 'English', South African, with suspicion. Soon, the powerful police Security Branch take over the investigaiton.

How Did you Feel About A Beautiful Place to Die?

Submitted by Karen on Mon, 24/11/2008 - 12:16pm.

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BLOOD FROM STONE - Frances Fyfield

Karen — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:40:46 +1000

Blood Sunset

Karen — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:28:43 +1100

ISBN 9781741754209

Blurb from the Book

When the sun lowers itself into the bay and leaves the sky over St Kilda a dark crimson, it's beautiful and threatening at the same time. But the tourists don't see it that way. They only see the pretty colours and the calm water, the restaurants and the palm trees. They don't see the stabbings and the fights, the brawls and the rapes ...

When a young runaway is found dead in St Kilda one morning, a syringe hanging out of his arm, no one is terribly shocked. A known junkie, the kid's criminal record was as long as the Scenic Railway. Even local detective Rubens McCauley is quick to conclude Dallas Boyd died of an accidental overdose.

But anomalies in the boy's death - and the haunting memory of a childhood friend - continue to nag at McCauley. Unable to shake his unease, he fights to revive the investigation. Case re-opened, he soon finds himself enmeshed in a secret network of paedophiles, child abusers and underage prostitutes.

Forced to look evil in the eye, McCauley must conquer his own demons as he battles to find justice for a young boy he never met but has come to know intimately in death ...

How Did you Feel About Blood Sunset?

Submitted by Karen on Sun, 02/03/2008 - 4:23pm.

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BLOOD SUNSET - Jarad Henry

Karen — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:19:09 +1000