What We're Talking About

Another of those series that I really like, but am very behind with (now there's a surprise)!  In this one ... When MI5 officer Liz Carlyle arrives in Belfast, danger immediately follows - she quickly learns that the peace process in the provinces is precarious.

Technorati Tags: Present Danger What We're Talking About Stella Rimington United Kingdom Spy Thriller Belfast 2009 Liz Carlyle Quercus

Bunker by Andrea Maria Schenkel - Quercus Publishing Plc (2010), Hardcover, 224 pages [Our New Books - LibraryThing]

I can still vividly recall reading The Murder Farm by this author.  On the train on the way to the Melbourne Writers Festival - the first year they moved it to Fed Square so the last year we bothered with our yearly gathering and attendance.  If I hadn't been on the train with friends I'd have probably ended up out at whatever remote station was at the end of the final stage of that train's daily movements.  Couldn't put the book down, read it between MWF sessions and was just completely hooked.  Needless to say - anything by this author is still on my Get Immediately list.  Bunker is the third available in English now - the second book is Ice Cold.

Technorati Tags: Bunker What We're Talking About Andrea Maria Schenkel Germany Crime Fiction

The reading fairies are smiling on me from a height at the moment.  But with CROOKS LIKE US they have gone all out.  You just wouldn't expect to find a book classified as true crime that's moving, sad, funny, and just so absolutely fascinating that it's unputdownable.

From within the book:

Following procedure:

Special Photographs were first identified as a distinct series in 2004.  At that time they were distributed haphazardly thorughout the huge forensic collection in the loft at the Justice & Police Museum in Sydney.  In 2005 all the Special Photograph negatives were gathered together and put in numerical order - they start at number 1, cease in the low 2000s, with numerous gaps in between.

This is a book of photographs of people who came to the attention of the Sydney police in the early 20th century.  Some were identified and matched against their criminal records in the Police Gazette, some there are no explanations for.  Many are unknown names - that came and went in Police attention, there are other glimpses of names and faces that went on to become notorious criminals. 

It's utterly fascinating and completely absorbing.

Technorati Tags: Crooks Like Us What We're Talking About Australia Peter Doyle True Crime 2009 The Historic Houses Trust

Another fantastic short story collection that I've been on the lookout for.  The title "Crosstown Traffic" gives you a bit of a hint on the concept - this is a collection of stories from well known writers at the time (and many who have endured) that blur the genre lines.  Whilst there is crime at the heart of each of these stories, the settings and often the style are very much cross-genre.

Worth it for each of the stories, and for the introduction which explains the concept and expands on the reactions of the writers.

From the Blurb:

Twelve adventurous Australian writers respond to the challenge of creating a hybrid crime story.  Murder, mayhem and malice intercept with science fiction, fantasy, horror, western, fairy tale and romance writing to create an unholy miasma, the likes of which yoiu have never encountered before.

Technorati Tags: Crosstown Traffic What We're Talking About Australia Crime Fiction Short Stories 1993 Five Islands Press