Karen Chisholm
Posting here is going to be restricted to reviews for a while. Site modifications underway.
Reviews Posted
In The Blink of An Eye, Jo Callaghan
Added to the Piles
Karen Chisholm
Another fortnight's worth of activity, where the highlights were getting to read The Chancellor, Liars and Woman Missing, getting hold of Best Served Cold, Prize Catch and When it Rains and Opal as well as the new to me Boney Creek and The Grapevine. Got a lot of very good reading to come up in other words.
Reviews Posted
Death of a Countess, Jenny Harrison #yeahnoir
Karen Chisholm
Highlights are the intentionally very slow savouring of Gunnawah (advance order it / you'll not be sorry), and reviewing Kill Yours, Kill Mine and Southern Aurora.
Reviews Posted
Shadow City, Natalie Conyer #auscrime
Karen Chisholm
Took a week off work so this is the last fortnight's worth of activity. Highlights were reviewing The Call & The Crag, whilst Gunnawah arriving was beyond exciting (fellow ex-twitterers - the author is the inimitable Ronni Salt).
Reviews Posted
The Kamogawa Food Detectives, Hisashi Kashiwai
The Body at Back Beach, K.J. Sweeney #yeahnoir
Karen Chisholm
Shortlists for the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards have been announced:
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: The Chancellor, Kati Marton / Find Us, Benjamin Stevenson
#amlistening: We Solve Murders, Richard Osman
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: Reservation for Murder, June Wright / Gunnawah, Ronni Salt / Don't Eat Me, Colin Cotterill / The Chancellor, Kati Marton
#amlistening:
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: The Woman Who Knew Too Little, Olivia Wearne #auscrime
#amlistening: A Line to Kill, Anthony Horowitz
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: Southern Aurora, Mark Brandi #f2fbookclub / Did I Ever Tell You This? Sam Neill #memoir
#amlistening: The Old Woman with the Knife, Gu Byeong-mo #audio
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: The Body at Back Beach, K.J. Sweeney #yeahnoir
#amlistening: The Old Woman with the Knife, Gu Byeong-mo #audio
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: The Body at The Back Beach, K.J. Sweeney #yeahnoir
#amlistening: Butter, Asako Yuzuki
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies, Catherine Mack
#amlistening: Dish, Rhys Nicholson
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: The Crag, Claire Sutherland
#amlistening: The Little Sparrow, Seishi Yokomizo (it's a long book!)
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: Death in a Lonely Place, Stig Abell
#amlistening: The Little Sparrow, Seishi Yokomizo
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: In the Blink of An Eye, Jo Callaghan (#ukcrime)
#amlistening: The Hunted, Gabriel Bergmoser (#auscrime)
Karen Chisholm
#amreading: The Chasm, Bronwyn Hall (#auscrime)
#amlistening: The Sentence is Death, Anthony Horowitz (#ukcrime)
Karen Chisholm
A full media kit for the short story, The Lonely Australian of the Asian Night is now available at the author's site: https://www.gpak.org/
Karen Chisholm
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)
Karen Chisholm
The highlights this week were many - reviewing Hitwoman's Guide and Double Jeopardy, and reading The Call (which is a really good debut) are top of the list.
Reviews Posted
The Hitwoman's Guide to Reducing Household Debt, Mark Mupotsa-Russell (#auscrime)
Double Jeopardy, Stef Harris (#yeahnoir)
Karen Chisholm
So the highlights of this week were adding No One Will Know by Rose Carlyle to the next up list, and finishing The Crag by Claire Sutherland which will be reviewed at Newtown Review of Books. I'm going to also have to get hold of The Beijing Conspiracy in something other than audio - liked the story but the narrator did not work for me. On the upside I'm enjoying Every Time I Go On Vacation, Somebody Dies much more than I thought I would.
Karen Chisholm
Highlights - getting my hands on 17 Years Later, and starting The Crag (which so far has nailed it's Victorian Rural setting AND gotten a good story off the ground).
Reviews Posted
Disaster Inc, Caimh McDonnell (#audio)
Expectant, Vanda Symon (#yeahnoir)
Added to the Piles
The Greater Good, Tim Ayliffe (#auscrime)
Yellowface, Rebecca F. Kuang
Karen Chisholm
Highlight this week was posting about Dice by Claire Baylis even if the book is very challenging, and I was really happy to start Death in a Lonely Place which is a new to me series.
Reviews Posted
Bunny, S.E. Tolsen (#yeahnoir)
I Will Miss You Tomorrow, Heine Bakkeid (#scandinoir)
Karen Chisholm
Highlights of this week included writing up all 4 reviews of 4 terrific books, and all those added to the piles are much anticipated. The read list was stellar, all in all a pretty damn good week.
Reviews Posted
The Caretaker, Gabriel Bergmoser (#auscrime / #yeahnoir)
She's A Killer, Kirsten McDougall (#yeahnoir)
Karen Chisholm
Highlights from last week were definitely getting to remember El Flamingo which was a really fun read, and getting my hands on the second Caius Beauchamp novel, which I basically read in two sittings, after powering through She's a Killer, before finding myself glued to The Hitwoman's Guide to Reducing Household Debt. I suspect not a lot of other things are going to happen this week.
Reviews Posted
Death of a Foreign Gentleman, Steven Carroll (#auscrime)
Karen Chisholm
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)
Karen Chisholm
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)
Karen Chisholm
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)
Karen Chisholm
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)
Karen Chisholm
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.
Karen Chisholm
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)
Karen Chisholm
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)
Karen Chisholm
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)
Karen Chisholm
Ever get to the point where you start to wonder if the "staying alive until I get this pile of unread books read" plan wasn't such a great idea. I'm there now, so compensating by at least trying to get the waiting for review list under some control.
Reviews Posted
The Quarry, Kim Hunt (#yeahnoir)
Karen Chisholm
Eurovision took up a lot of time and energy so I've been not posting much, although lots has been happening. Not just a lot of time devoted to sheer silly fun. Which we really needed as this drought (sorry / rainfall deficiency as they call it when it's in the regions out here ...) really takes hold.
Reviews Posted
One of Us is Missing, B.M. Carroll (#auscrime)
Karen Chisholm
So that catching up thing ... didn't happen. Stand by, you never know what will happen this week.
Reviews Posted
Added to the Piles
Return to Blood, Michael Bennett (#yeahnoir)
Read
The Water's Dead, Catherine Lea (#yeahnoir)
Crossing the Line, Nick McKenzie (#f2fbookclub)
Karen Chisholm
Started out thinking, right catching up to be done. Needless to say, not the most successful of good intentions. In my defence it's still dangerously dry in these parts which is slowing everything but the essentials to a crawl.
Reviews Posted
Sanctuary, Garry Disher (#auscrime)
It Takes a Town ... to solve a Murder, Aoife Clifford (#auscrime)
Karen Chisholm
Still slow but steady.
Reviews Posted
Sanctuary, Garry Disher (#auscrime)
Added to the Piles
His Favourite Graves, Paul Cleave (#yeahnoir)
Read
Currently Reading
Dead Man's Sins, Caimh McDonnell (audio) (Which I'm also listening to)
Karen Chisholm
The arrivals slowed down this week, as did just about everything else.
Reviews Posted
None but there are a few that are on the way (hopefully).
Added to the Piles
Dead Man's Sins, Caimh McDonnell (audio) (Which I'm also listening to
Read
Mami Suzuki: Private Eye, Simon Rowe (#yeahnoir)
Karen Chisholm
Another week in which more New Zealand (#yeahnoir) based crime fiction was included on the site. The final list of the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards entries is at at Ngaio Marsh Entrants. Then there were a few reviews and some books read.
Reviews Posted
The Mystery Writer, Sulari Gentill (#auscrime)
Karen Chisholm
A week in which rather a lot of New Zealand (#yeahnoir) based crime fiction arrived in these parts. I'm putting together a list of the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards entries at Ngaio Marsh Entrants - there's more to be added.
Karen Chisholm
On the upside no animals died this week. And a new 6.5 year old Aussie Terrier arrived so no publishable reviews, unless you want some observations of how much wee 3 ex-breeding / not house trained dog's can produce in a few days whilst territorial issues are resolved. (Lots...)
Reviews Posted
None
Added to the Piles
Karen Chisholm
Activity for the week ending 8th March in which the general all purpose clusterfuck that is our lives these days proceeded apace. One elderly alpaca died, we're looking down the barrel of a severe heatwave with fires still mouldering away nearby and there's no way I'm ever going to catch up ever again. Maybe.... on the upside, an inhouse library database is slowly starting to fall into place with the express purpose of trying to get my act together. Ha.
Karen Chisholm
Activity for the week ending 1st March, 2024 a week in which we sat waiting to see if the bushfire situation would finally get us. Apologies if you're waiting for anything from me.
Reviews Posted
I Am Behind You, John Ajvide Lindqvist
Karen Chisholm
Activity for the week ending 23rd February, 2024 in which things started well and then went to hell in a firestorm. Parts of Western Victoria are still under threat and this week's not looking great for many areas.
Reviews Posted
Karen Chisholm
Activity for the fortnight ending 16th February on AustCrime, a period in which it took quite a while to get into the mood again.
Reviews Posted
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
Added to the Piles
Gone, Glenna Thomson (AusCrime)
Lowitja: The Authorised Biography of Lowitja O'Donogue, Stuart Rintoul
Karen Chisholm
Activity for the week ending 2nd February on AustCrime
Reviews Posted
The Berlin Traitor, AW Hammond
Karen Chisholm
Activity for the week ending 26th January 2024 on AustCrimeFiction:
Reviews Posted
Mila and the Bone Man, Lauren Roche
Added to the Piles
Angels in the Moonlight, Caimh McDonnell
Karen Chisholm
Activity for the week ending 19th January 2024 on AustCrimeFiction:
Reviews Posted
Added to the Piles
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver (f2f Bookclub read)
Karen Chisholm
Activity for the week ending 12th January 2024 on AustCrimeFiction:
Reviews Posted
The Marlow Murder Club / Death Comes to Marlow, Robert Thorogood
Karen Chisholm
Activity for the week ending 5th January 2024 on AustCrimeFiction:
Reviews Posted
If That's What it Takes, Les Allen
Karen Chisholm
This year for Christmas I got much wanted plant milk maker and a dose of Covid....
We had planned on a bit of a break between Christmas 2023 and the New Year, which we got. Not quite as hoped though. Was going to spend what was probably going to be hot weather doing a final yearly review catch up and clearing the decks ready to be more organised in 2024 (HA!) but we got Covid over Christmas which on the upside meant quite a bit of reading got done. On the downside, sod all of anything else. Still coughing up a lung on a regular basis but let's start as we're hoping to go on.
Karen Chisholm
Late, as expected, but November in the reading stacks was made up of
Currently Reading
I just had to start The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes as soon as it lobbed. 10+ years waiting for it, and it is worth dropping everything.
The other book I've been dipping into is Sao Paulo Noir - a collection of short stories that has been lurking around here for years.
Karen Chisholm
Because everything's always all over the place, I thought maybe if I started a note of what I'm reading, and what's next up in the piles I might (MIGHT) have a small chance of keeping track. Ha.
Just Finished
#auscrime: The Drowning by Bryan Brown - first full novel from this actor turned writer. Review asap.
Karen Chisholm
History and humanity: 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists plunge readers into page-turning tales about who we are
The winners were announced in November, all of which are books WELL worth reading.
BEST NON-FICTION
WINNER: MISSING PERSONS by Steve Braunias (HarperCollins)