2024 Best Novel longlist

The longlist for the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel is out. It's an interesting mix of familiar and fresh names: 

•     DICE by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)

•     THE CARETAKER by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)

•     RITUAL OF FIRE by DV Bishop (Macmillan)

•     BIRNAM WOOD by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

Another week where some reviews were written, and some excellent books read. The highlights were definitely getting hold of the second in the Caius Beauchamp series - The In Crowd and even though it's the wrong way to describe it - The Settlement by Jock Serong is seering, beautiful, distressing and confronting, 

Reviews Posted

The Queen of Poisons, Robert Thorogood (#ukcrime / library)

A bit of catching up happened last week and nobody is more surprised than me. Broken Bay and Dark Arena were definitely standout reads, and the one I'm reading at the moment - The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell so shouldn't be working for me and I cannot put the darn thing down.

Reviews Posted

Broken Bay, Margaret Hickey (#auscrime)

With Winter Comes Darkness, Robbie Neal (#auscrime)

Highlights of this week were definitely The Dead of Winter, Lies and Deception and remembering the other two recently reviewed - Chasing the Dragon and The Ritual of Fire.

Reviews Posted

Lies and Deception, Laraine Stephens (#auscrime)

Chasing the Dragon, Mark Wightman (#yeahnoir)

Reading done, couple of books reviewed (which were both good), and many added to the piles.

Reviews Posted

Death Holds the Key, Alexander Thorpe (#auscrime)

The Fall Between, Darcy Tindale (#auscrime)

Added to the Piles

The Dead of Winter, Stuart MacBride (#audio)

It's been "yet another week" in these parts - we're now dealing with a very ill goat. You might think we're not very good at this animal thing, but alas they, like us, are aging (most of them arrived at the farm at around the same time as us), and it's a brutally cold, dry spell at the moment so supplementary feeding, managing bedding needs, and what's become such a complicated medication and supplement schedule that we now have a project plan to keep track of it all has been required. Anyway, long way of saying, some reviews are still outstanding.

Stuff happened, not enough but things have a habit of getting in the way of things.

Reviews Posted

Limberlost, Robbie Arnott (library / f2f bookclub)

The Woman on the Island, Ann Cleeves (Vera Stanhope #9.5) (#library)

Going Zero, Andrew McCarten (#yeahnoir)

Slowly, ever so slowly, getting my act together again. It's been cold here and we've finally had a little bit of rain so things feel slightly less on edge. Which is probably helping. Reviews were done, books were added to the piles and books were read.

Reviews Posted

Hope, Rosie Batty (library)

Murder by Candlelight, Faith Martin (library)

It's been another week with another death in the beloved animal family and stuff just doesn't seem to happen with the enthusiasm that it once did. Got some reading done but very little productive screen time as in posting reviews. Will dust off the piles of notes and get going again asap.

Reviews Posted

None

Added to the Piles

Hope, Rosie Batty (library)

The One and Only Dolly Jamieson (library / audio)

The Devil Stone, Caro Ramsay (library / audio)

Mrs Sidhu's Dead and Scone, Suk Pannu (library / audio)