AustCrimeFiction - All Blogs

First paragraph:

I started off doing this one by one - got the first one documented and since then have been absymal in keeping up - so without further ado - the ENTIRE list:

Carnival of the Criminal Minds is still rolling along, even though I've been very remiss in mentioning that the most recent stop is over at the BookBitch's blog:

http://bookbitch.blogspot.com/

Swan on over for another great entry.

Not Crime Fiction, but the release of David Hicks over the Christmas break prompted me to move this book up the unread pile.  We purchased it after seeing a session at MWF in which Leigh Sales participated - her discussion of the book intrigued us considerably.  If you're interested at all in the background of the treatment and case against David Hicks this is an excellently written book.  It provides a narrative form of non-fiction which makes it extremely readable whilst providing great insight into the events leading up to his arrest as well as, what can possibly ever hope to be gleaned,

Adam has posted a few reviews tonight including two for books that he's EXTREMELY enthusiastic about.

Brasyl by Ian McDonald
 

and

Overnight the Guardian have published a story on Terry Pratchett's health that's ... well ... in Terry's own words "An Embuggerance".  A rare form of ealy onset Alzheimer's but Mr Pratchett is careful to point out - he's not dead yet.

But an Embuggerance is absolutely right. 

http://materialwitness.typepad.com/material_witness/2007/12/carnival-of-...

The carnival has swanned over to the UK this time round with a great combination of Christmas and Crime (now there's a subject for a blog - "Christmas is a Crime - discuss")

Early Christmas present for me - Redback by Lindy Cameron:

Blurb from the book:  On an otherwise tranquil Pacific Island resort, ex-army Commander Bryn Gideon and the crack Australian Redback Retrieval Team stage a high-level rescue bid to recover hostages captured by Rebels.  Thousands of miles away, American journalist Scott Dreher is researching computer wargames, and finds a pirated copy that reveals shady arms dealings and disturbing hints of connections between government agencies and known terrorists.

This week there's been quite a flurry of discussion around - from "The Death of the Book" to somewhat less excited analysis of the future for electronic book readers, triggered mostly, by Amazon's release of their device, called, for some incomprehensible reason the Kindle.

Mary Saums has picked up the Carnival of the Criminal Minds across at Femmes Fatales this week.   In typical grand style, Mary points us to the fabulous and fantastic that has crossed her crime fiction path recently.  Wander over and follow the Carnival - it's proving to be a fantastic way of keeping up with the goings on.

A quick glance at Katherine's website shows that Panic has been renamed The Darkest Hour - and there's a bit more info on the book, so we've updated our listings here.

Yesterday we spent a very happy hour or so in the company of a lot of other people in the beautiful old Baptist Church in Collins Street in Melbourne, listening to Shane Maloney and Ian Rankin chat.

The session was organised by local bookstore Readers Feast, as part of their new Crime and Justice Festival - which Ian Rankin is the International Patron for.  This sounds like a fascinating and very exciting idea for a festival - combing crime fiction and issues of social justice.

The R.D. Wingfield version of Frost that is (not the cold white stuff on the ground), I recently started to "flick read" HARD FROST for an upcoming discussion one of my two favourite online reading groups - 4MA (4_Mystery_Addicts).

Sigh

SIIIIGGGHHHHH

Sigh

On holidays this week (or at least himself is, although having your head stuck in a fire prevention system making sure it's all working for a week might not be some people's idea of a holiday....) but one of the bonuses is that over the weekend I read EXIT MUSIC.

There's something profoundly, fundamentally, deep down inside satisfying about a convergence of events that indicate a change of season.  First there's the baby Kookaburra's sort of wobbling their way up and down the branches of the big ghost gum at the end of the house; then you realise that the King Parrots are calling each other from the trees on either side of the garden - and you get a sneaking suspicion that some of those King Parrots look younger than others - so the babies have hatched.  The apple trees flower and leaf, the Yucca re-emerges from the ground and the self-sown tomato s

Last night's First Tuesday Bookclub on the ABC discussed On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler - keep an eye on their website:  http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/ because you'll be able to watch the espisode online as soon as it's posted.

Next month they are looking at Ruth Rendell's Not In the Flesh.

Over the weekend I felt like a brief break from review books and my gaze was drawn to UNDER THE SNOW by Kerstin Ekman.   I confess to having struggled to get started with BLACKWATER - probably one of her more well known books for reasons I'm not too sure about.  I've started BLACKWATER and put it down a few times, but UNDER THE SNOW didn't present me with that challenge (not that I've given up on BLACKWATER - I think I just need to concentrate more).

Peter Ralph has a new book out with Melbourne Books - The CEO.  Labelled as a Business Thriller, it was reviewed recently on Boomerang Books.

I've added details on Kathryn Fox's third novel, Skin and Bone, which has just been published.  This book is not part of the Anya Chrichton series, but features Kate Farrer, the detective from Malicious Intent.

Fox, on her website has said that Anya will be back in the next book, but that she also has lots of plot ideas for other lead characters, some of whom appeared in Malicious Intent.

We've sort of been busy for the last few days - the day job can sometimes be such an imposition on the fun and games that you'd prefer to be doing.   Things are a bit quiet on the reading front as well, although I've started Dorothy Johnston's Eden and my current position on it can be summed up thus:  Wow.

Very sad news from The Age today - Steve J Spears died yesterday - 16th October.  He was 56 years old.  Amongst an enormous body of other work, Steve wrote 3 crime fiction books in the Stella Pentangeli and Investigator Ng series.  Arty, elaborate, and totally unrealistic, they are 3 light-hearted, funny and highly entertaining.

Peter Corris has another Cliff Hardy outing Appeal Denied.  Out and about as of June this year (I'm behind as usual) and available via Allen & Unwin's website (for overseas interest). 

All I can say is I'm ignorning the ominous rumblings: 

"Dirty dealings, corrupt cops, computer geeks and a final showdown at an exclusive Sydney beach - is this Cliff Hardy's last adventure?"

and looking forward to another outing with our own resident Lone Dingo, Hard Case,  PI - Cliff Hardy.

Barbara has now posted a "schedule" for the Carnival at:  http://crimecarnival.wordpress.com/when-is-it-happening/

Next up will be The Western Banker by Joe Barrett.

The author is a litigation specialist in the City of London dealing with International Trade, financing and shipping.  Currently he is on a sabbatical planning his PhD on the World Trade Organisation.  His next novel is to be based on the exploitation of the environmental agenda by big business.

The blurb from "The Western Banker" is:

Helen Fitzgerald has a first book out with Allen & Unwin (released in September) - Dead Lovely.

According to her bio Helen was born in Country Victoria, and now lives in Glasgow Scotland.  If anybody's tried her book - let us know what it's like.

Great to see Mike Ponder's name popup on Random House's website with his new book The Windsor Conspiracy.  

You might also want to have a look at Mike's website - just for a stroll through his art works which are really interesting. http://www.mikeponder.com/

Big Shots by Adam Shand(link is external) - tags: True Crime [Our New Books - LibraryThing(link is external)]

Neil Cross's Natural History just showed up for review which provided me a) with a book I'm looking forward to reading and b) with a bio on the author that added a few things I hadn't been aware of.  Spooks is one of those fabulous British TV dramas, where the pace is taut and the storylines just realistic enough to make you go hmmmmmm.  And Neil Cross, who lives in New Zealand is one of the writers on the upcoming 6th Series of Spooks.

The perfect suspect by Vincent Varjavandi(link is external) - Double Bay, N.S.W.: Longueville Media, 2006. 367 p. ; 23 cm.
tags: Crime [Our New Books - LibraryThing(link is external)]

First Tuesday Book Club for October 

The ABC have pushed this program out onto the internet quite well and it is possible to download a video file in either MP4 or WMV format. The most recent four episodes are available on their site as of today.

Subtitled EEEKKKKK - it's my turn....

The marvellous Barbara Fister came up with the idea of the Carnival of the Criminal Minds, which will be a strolling / wandering / juggling roll call of bloggers who, in turn, will point out some items of interest to our joint readership.   It's going to be great fun so I hope you'll subscribe and follow along with everyone.

The 10.30 from Marseille by Sebastien Japrisot(link is external) - Souvenir (1964), Unknown Binding, 181 pages
tags: Crime [Our New Books - LibraryThing(link is external)]

By pure chance I picked up two books by this author recently because, well I guess the titles appealed but the blurbs sounded intriguing.

The people at Bitter Lemon Press are really evil 

They send me these seemingly innocuous little messages with notes about books and suddenly I've got cravings.  Surely this is just addict encouragement.  Anyway - this arrived in my email box this morning and now I can feel that desperate sweat breaking out:

The Sinner

by Petra Hammesfahr

The Bethlehem Murders: A Novel (Omar Yussef Mystery Series) by Matt Rees(link is external) - Atlantic Books (2007), Hardcover
tags: Crime [Our New Books - LibraryThing(link is external)]

Maigret and the Idle Burglar (Penguin Red Classics) by Georges Simenon(link is external) - Penguin Books Ltd (2007), Paperback, 144 pages
tags: Crime [Our New Books - LibraryThing(link is external)]

The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas(link is external) - Canongate Books Ltd (2007), Paperback
tags: Crime [Our New Books - LibraryThing(link is external)]

Bewrite Books have recently released Brian's 3rd novel - Bloody Ham - http://www.austcrimefiction.org/node/2991

For lovers of the traditional English style of cosy novel - this time with an Australian central protaganist - all of Brian's books should be of great interest to you.  If you've been lucky enough to read Bloody Ham - let us know what you thought.

Well I guess if Phryne Fisher can do it ( http://www.phrynefisher.com/(link is external) ) then Simone can too! 

http://www.simonekirsch.com.au/(link is external)

Wander over and find out all you ever wanted to know about Simone and were always vaguely worried she'd tell you.

Tower of Silence by Sarah Rayne(link is external) - Pocket Books (2004), Paperback, 491 pages
tags: Crime [Our New Books - LibraryThing(link is external)]

Torch by Lin Anderson(link is external) - Hodder Paperback (2007), Paperback, 240 pages
tags: Crime [Our New Books - LibraryThing(link is external)]

Well for us, 2007 MWF finished about lunchtime today, after our final session with Michael Robotham, Adrian Hyland and Alexander McCall-Smith.

Today was to be Kerrie and Bob's last day at the festival - they were returning to Adelaide in the morning, so combine that with the very late night before after the Ned Kelly awards and it was a slightly bedraggled group that staggered in for the 10.30am Panel - Unconditional Love.

Friday was a BIIIGGG day at the festival for us.

We started off at the dreaded 10.30am again - next year I swear I'll be resisting this getting up at sparrow's behaviour!

Anyway - A Touch of Class was first with Malcolm Knox, Deborah Robertson (Australian authors) and John Ajvide Lindqvist - where they talked about the influence of class in society and how it was portrayed in their books - very interesting comparisons between their three books.

New authors 101 - or how to get through a writers festival without sobbing in a corner!

Or one I'd rush out and buy - Behavioural Tips for Fans at Festivals (how not to frighten the poor bugger half to death).

----

As was the case in 2006, the Ned Kelly's were distributed as part of ongoing events at the MWF - in the Festival Tent, chaired by the FABULOUS Jane Clifton.

I'm posting this blog nearly a week after the event - so you'll have to excuse me if some of the details are a little blurred - there were a lot of drinks between then and now.

Anyway - the night started off with a debate as is the wont of these nights - the topic for this year was (according to the table notes) "That in crime fiction, the crime itself is rarely the most important thing".

This year's 10th Annual Ned Kelly awards were incorporated as part of the Melbourne Writer's Festival main programme.

Yeah - no longer part of the fringe festival :) :) :)

The Awards were held in the Festival Club Marquee at the Malthouse in South Melbourne on the 30th August.

It was a warm and balmy night......

As long as you don't take them too seriously.

Monday of MWF week was, however, spent reading, drinking tea, talking, reading, blogging, reading and generally slothing around.  We needed it after a very hectic weekend.

Tuesday was, however, part "work" in that we went food shopping (oh and book shopping) and tonight we're off to the local Pub Trivia Night - so it was sort of rest sort of work.

We'll upload the next pile of books in the photo album soon:  http://www.austcrimefiction.org/image

We had a quiet day today (well quiet is a relative thing, you know that) Got up late.  Coffee-d, sat around and read for a bit.  Got dressed then went to Springvale, an Eastern suburb of Melbourne with a large Vietnamese population. We had lunch at a Vietnamese cafe.  Pho.  (A Vietnamese soup).  Karen and Adam did some grocery shopping and then it was on to a used bookstore in Belgrave.

MY ACQUISITIONS :

The Flaxborough Crab -  Colin Watson

Hopjoy was Here - Colin Watson

Tuesday - day 4 of being woken by a small bouncing puppy!  Jedda is totally delightful - but wakes much earlier and more energetically than I do.

Well the first weekend of our 2007 MWF celebrations has been and gone and we have started again with a bang - or at the very least some desperately sore feet from strolling and sore ribs from laughing.

Well here I am.  Eating, drinking and reading - 3 of my favourite things.   Festivities officially kicked off on Friday afternoon when Karen, Adam, Helen and I hooked up with Kerrie, Bob, Karen's neighbour, Fiona and Brian Kavanagh for the Chocolate Walking Tour.  It's amazing how much you can justify prodigious over-indulgence in chocolate by telling each other that walking very short distances will negate the weight-gaining potential of pigging out.  Then home to work on curing Helen's long-running cold with most excellent Margueritas with lime juice.

After rising before sparrow's, and a 90 minute flight, I arrived in Melbourne early on Friday morning.  Leaving my luggage with Karen's neighbour at his office in the city, I fortified myself with coffee, and proceeded to wander the streets of Melbourne while I waited for Sunnie to arrive on the train from Karen's country property.  In my meanderings I somehow found myself in Kill City bookshop, and left an hour or so later with Sunnie ...

One of the big bonuses of this year's MWF is the free events that are popping up at the venue.  Yesterday we were lucky enough to be hanging around in the Festival Club when Rory Ellis appeared.

http://www.roryellis.com/new/home.html

One of the aims that we had for this year's Melbourne Writers Festival was to emulate the tradition that 4MA members have of an opening dinner.  We decided to have ours on the first Saturday of the festival and we were keen to find a venue that had something a little different about it.  We finally settled on trying Tjanabi - a newish restaurant on the edges of Federation Square - not that far from the Malthouse Theatre.  Interestingly enough, next year the Festival will be moving to Federation Square.