For the last few months there's been a lot of hammering, sawing and scaffolding lying about the place as a whole new AustCrimeFiction release has been bullied and cajoled into place.

Along the way I've attempted to catch up with missing books / updated covers / new authors / new bios / new odds and ends but have undoubtedly missed something. If you happen to notice any updates that should have occurred then drop me a line via the Contact page (https://www.austcrimefiction.org/contact) and I'll attempt to catch up... again.

I'm actually half way through this extremely promising piece of writing.

From the Blurb:

Jessica James had the perfect life. She had a good job, supportive friends, and her husband Geoff and her son Jack both adored her. Everything changed the moment she found out she was having another child. 

Lots and lots of noise about this one.

From the Blurb:

For the past two weeks, seventeen-year-old Kate Bennet has lived against her will in an isolated cabin in a remote beach town--brought there by a mysterious man named Bill. Part captor, part benefactor, Bill calls her Evie and tells her he's hiding her to protect her. That she did something terrible one night back home in Melbourne--something so unspeakable that he had no choice but to take her away. The trouble is, Kate can't remember the night in question.

Australian independent booksellers, members of Leading Edge Books, are thrilled to announce their Shortlist for the Indie Book Awards 2019, for the best Australian books published in 2018!

Established in 2008, the Indie Book Awards recognise and celebrate this country’s incredible talent and the role independent booksellers play in supporting and nurturing Australian writing.

Who will win in each category in 2019?

Who will take out the overall ‘2019 Book of the Year’ Award?!

Without further ado, here is the Shortlist for the 2019 Indie Book Awards:

L. A. Larkin, acclaimed thriller author, will introduce Harry’s Quest, the new novel from A. B. Patterson

L. A. Larkin is an internationally acclaimed British-Australian thriller writer of several outstanding novels, including The Genesis Flaw, Thirst, and Devour. Her thrillers have drawn many excellent reviews and award nominations.

Given how long it took me to get the spelling of reminiscences right, I think I'm still in holiday mode. Or a lousy speller. We took a few weeks off over Christmas and New Year and actually took the time off - very little was done on computers, tablets and smartphones. We nearly melted in a couple of early season heatwaves that just reinforce the idea that we're all going to hell in an incinerator ... where was I oh yeah, 2018 Reading Reminiscences. There were some very good books around in 2018 and this is less recommendation and more a meander around in the ones I really enjoyed.

A nice comic styled novella just because.

From the Blurb:

A rookie spy. Europe on a knife edge. A distinct lack of coffee.

Eva Destruction is back in her first ever assignment. Straight out of the MI6 academy, Eva is on the trail of a supposedly dead fellow agent. It’s a nothing assignment given to a rookie, but when suicide bombers hit a NATO conference the mission is kicked into high gear. Eva chases a carnage of gunfire and explosions across Europe in search of the mysterious shadowy organization, ‘The Tempest’. 

Second in the Rory James series from Bendigo based author Colin King.

From the Blurb:

When a Melbourne couple in witness protection are found assassinated in their bed, zoology student Josh Marshall recognises the address. He quickly realises he had inadvertently been an unseen witness to a bent cop divulging the couple's location to the hitman ... and he has the hard evidence to prove it.

VOX is one of those books that we've heard that is frightening for only being a couple of steps away from our current reality.  Modern life is a horror story.

Full review to come!

THE BLURB:

Silence can be deafening.

Jean McClellan spends her time in almost complete silence, limited to just one hundred words a day. Any more, and a thousand volts of electricity will course through her veins.

Now the new government is in power, everything has changed. But only if you’re a woman.