Young offenders, criminal histories:

Ngaio Marsh Award longlist revealed

An extraordinary literary tag-team is among several tales inspired by historic events to be named today on an eclectic longlist for the 2019 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel.

There's a bunch of reviews in the unpublished queue here that have never been pushed live for a number of reasons - many of them boring admin problems, some of them because the book hasn't exactly been to this reviewers taste and, believe it or not, I don't always like posting negative reviews, especially if I've struggled to find a positive about the book. I'd hasten to add - these are in the minority / most of them are because I've been flat out and haven't had a chance to verify / check the review content.

Those books that you hear of one minute, read the next, and then see it has been snapped up by a film production company?

This is one of those.

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 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.