These posts seem to have become less of a #currentlyreading post and more of an extended wishlist / highlights / example of just how much restacking goes on around here. What I would not give for an attention span and a fortnight of nothing else to be done!
#JustFinished
Last Days of the Lotus by AC Edwards
We Chase Shadows by Richard Osman (audio)
#CurrentlyReading
Near Death in Venice by Jonathan Biggins
#NextUp
Into the Flames by James Delargy
The Writers' Room by James O'Loghlin
Red River Road by Anna Downes (after a massive nudge from somebody whose opinions I value)
A Man Called Box by Tina Clough
The Writers Retreat by Victoria Brownlee
The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney
The Birds Began to Sing by Jeffrey Buchanan
Devil Mountain by Inessa Jackson
The Informant by Christine Gregory
The Rising by Whitney Fitzsimmons
Something He Did
In the gridlocked heart of Melbourne, a split-second of road rage changes everything. For one driver, the crash is a bizarre stroke of luck that sets their life on an upward trajectory they never thought possible. For the other, it is the first domino to fall in a terrifying downward spiral.
Detective Sergeant Claudia Russo doesn't care about the insurance claims—she’s focussed on the search for a missing eighteen-year-old girl. But the girl’s father, a man defined by entitlement and influence, is playing a dangerous game. He’s more afraid of his own double life being exposed than he is of his daughter never coming home. Claudia has secrets too: she’s grieving a tragic loss of her own and losing control of an on-the-job romance that threatens to unravel everything she has worked so hard for.
As all their fates become more entwined, the lesson must be learned: Be kind. Or suffer the consequences.
Something He Did, SK Lynch
Readers of SK Lynch's first novel, SOMETHING HE DID, might like to know a couple of things first up. She is working on a sequel, important as you're going to have questions, so many questions, at the end of this, and despite the reference to the wonderful BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES TV series in her bio, there are no old Holden cars, country music, and quirky characters here. Far from it to be honest. And for those worried - this is not an ending that comes with one of those cliffhanger, "and in the next book endings"... sort of.
Billed as "The novel with the best twist you'll read this year", there is so much more to SOMETHING HE DID than just a twist - a doozy which hindsight might make you feel you could have seen coming, but hindsight has been known to lie through it's teeth. It's absolutely a thriller with an opening half that seems a bit, well floaty, for want of a better description. That section shares the story between Amber - a young mother with a drug problem - fighting for access to her daughter, and struggling with constant setbacks - some of which are her own fault, a major one, a split-second of road rage, is anything but. That moment though, a car crash in the early morning traffic of Melbourne, sets Amber's life on a path that has a horrible sense of inevitability about it. What happens to the other party in the crash is less clear. Jake is an ex-rugby player, famous and lauded in his native New Zealand, a bit player in Australia, he travels backwards and forwards from his wife and two daughters at home in Queenstown; to his job, and his girlfriend and young son in Melbourne. The girlfriend knows all about his family at home. His wife and daughters nothing about his other life in Melbourne.
The novel constantly plays with the reader's expectations whilst tearing through the main two characters lives like a wrecking ball. Mistakes come back to haunt, constantly dragging both Amber and Jake through the mire, escalating through both their lives until a couple of major incidents. It's when Jake's elder daughter, a girl already leading a hidden life, disappears in Melbourne that DS Claudia Russo's Missing Person's unit comes into the picture, tasked with looking for a rebellious teenager, pressured from above because Jake has a few contacts in high places and has been throwing his weight around.
What seems like it might be a straight forward thriller styled novel, with readers waiting for that final twist, has a lot more than that going on. From the car crash moment there's something not quite right about that description from the blurb "For one driver, the crash is a bizarre stroke of luck that sets their life on an upward trajectory they never thought possible. For the other, it is the first domino to fall in a terrifying downward spiral." Sure, initially, things might seem to be heading upward and onward for one of the driver's whilst the downward spiral for the other is marked and incredibly confronting to read. Until a daughter disappears, and a father's true nature is revealed, and it turns out the higher you climb, especially if you're using other people as the rungs on your ladder, the further and harder you fall.
Without spoilers though, that twist is really something. As is the aftermath, the conclusion that wraps up this story, and asks a hell of a lot of questions about right, wrong and complicity that will stay with readers until, one supposes, the next book is released. Which I'll certainly be queuing for now.
Last Days of the Lotus
Saigon, 1968, on the eve of Tet. The Vietnamese New Year draws near, and the city waits, restless and uneasy, the air thick with rumours of ceasefire and the taste of betrayal.
Smith has served his time in the secret world – an Australian case officer grown weary of the lies that pass for intelligence, and the loyalties that dissolve at first suspicion. When a colleague is murdered and leaves behind a single word in a blood-stained notebook, Smith finds himself drawn back into the game he thought he’d abandoned.
The trail leads him through bars, alleys, and burned-out villages, deeper into a war that has already devoured truth and loyalty, where every debt must be paid.
As the city slides towards chaos, Smith must decide what is worth saving and what must be left behind.
In the tradition of The Quiet American and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Last Days of the Lotus is a taut, atmospheric novel of espionage, moral fatigue, and slow-burning dread. It is, ultimately, a requiem for the idea of victory.
We Chase Shadows
At sunrise, high in the Italian hills, a body is found on the steps of a beautiful private villa. On the body is a threatening note, signed by a mystery man.
Back at We Solve Murders HQ, Amy, Rosie and Steve leap at the chance to take on their first proper case. So what if their new client seems to have his own reasons for avoiding the police? All they need to do is uncover who left the note, and then find them. Simple.
But once they start digging, the suspects keep piling up: there’s Sweden’s most-wanted criminal, a canny ex-wife and a fierce business rival – yet the murderer keeps evading them. And as the trio chase a villain through the shadows, danger travels closer to home . . .
Between Italy and Palm Springs, via Barcelona and Steve’s village pub, can the team catch an elusive killer who knows EXACTLY where to hide?
Near Death in Venice
‘I’m a seventy-three-year-old woman, Tristan; I am practically invisible. I’m exactly the sort of person you need to pull off this caper. Oh my God, I can’t believe I just used the word “caper” in a sentence referring to myself!’
Tristan Barclay, art historian, minor TV celebrity and Belvedere Tours leader, is reluctantly embarking on his final tour of European art and culture. But this will be no ordinary excursion to see the old masters – Tristan is secretly planning a ‘grand gesture’ of his own, one that will shock the world.
The only problem is, he can’t complete his mission alone, especially once a budding romance distracts him from his noble quest. Luckily, his tour group are eager to help – and find themselves caught up in a high-stakes heist where danger lurks around every ornate column …
Near Death in Venice is thrilling, hilarious and wildly entertaining.
The Cross
In the dying days of 1974, a mysterious yellow sports car speeds into the quiet Riverina town of Gunnawah. While the locals are initially intrigued by the stranger in their midst, nobody is prepared for what comes next.
At the town's only newspaper, the Gunnawah Gazette, cadet journalist Adelaide Hoffman starts looking into a proposed new resort development on the banks of the Murray. Her street-smart boss, Valdene Bullark, and Val's long-time friend, Wayne Trevaskis, have been around the block and they're pretty sure something shady is going down. Meanwhile, the town's only cop, raw recruit Jack Overlund, is about to learn the stranger has brought more than an oversized ego to the town.
Over the years, the echoing, heat-rimmed days of the Riverina have concealed a lot. A secretive priest. A pregnant teenager. The dark shadows of the Nugan Hand Bank. A faded TV star. A deadly shame. When big city money arrives and long-buried secrets threaten to surface, some will be forced to deal with their past and others will have to grapple with their future.
The richly comic and deeply dark companion novel to Gunnawah, The Cross is set in a time of football, meat pies, Gough Whitlam and shag-pile carpet. A quintessentially Australian crime story of ratbaggery, religion and revenge that deftly blends gripping crime with acerbically funny, moving and distinctly Australian characters.
Gone Guru
Gone Guru is a cosy mystery that punctures the writing bubble with a sharp pen and an even sharper look at an industry often accused of peddling unrealistic dreams.
Noni Barlow is broke, jet-lagged and alone in New York with nothing but a dream and a manuscript.
When her idol Joyce Carol Oates tells her that Born Again memoirs are so 'last year', Noni's big break starts to feel like a big mistake.
To add to the general weirdness, she meets her new flatmate only once before he vanishes into thin air - and that's even before Noni discovers he is a transcendental meditation guru with a massive following, and a million-dollar trust fund.
Aided by an octogenarian social worker, and the sarcastic daughter of her Puerto Rican landlady, Noni finds herself deep in the case of the disappearing guru.
Is this the new plot line she needs to save her writing career?
Donkey Drop
It's 1999. Joel likes suburban life just fine: dole cheques rolling in, hanging out with his best mate, and the future comfortably on hold.
That is, until he lands a job at a smash repair shop.
Under the wing of a charismatic car thief, he learns panel beating, discovers pride in his work, and enters a world of responsibility, risk, and unspoken rules.
When a reckless decision involving a stolen car goes wrong, Joel is left with guilt he can’t outrun.
As pressure from work and the people he has begun to care about closes in, he is forced to confront the cost of loyalty and the uneasy truth about the person he is becoming.
Donkey Drop is a gritty Australian coming-of-age novel about friendship, consequences, and the choices that stay with us long after they’re made.
Penitent
A holy confession. A string of ritual killings. An impossible choice.
When Father Tom Morgan hears the confession of a murderer, he is faced with an impossible dilemma: whether to violate the sacred seal of confession and betray his vows, remain silent while the killing continues and risk innocent lives ... or take justice into his own hands at the cost of his faith and conscience.
Meanwhile, Detective Atalia Reid is hunting a killer who ritually stages the bodies of his victims. As she finds more clues that seem to implicate Tom's parish, her suspicion of the troubled priest intensifies, leading her to believe he is concealing a dangerous secret.
Driven by mistrust and a mounting sense of dread, Tom and Atalia are drawn into a deadly contest between faith and justice. With each new murder, Tom's silence becomes harder to justify.
Penitent is a morally charged thriller about guilt, conscience and the impossible choice between a sacred duty and saving a life.
Cold River
Deep in the mountains, secrets grow deadly . . .
Detective Constable Sally White knows how easily hikers can go missing in Victoria’s high country. But there’s something about the disappearance of Louis Taylor, a young man lost up Mount Viking, that’s not sitting right with her.
Louis was an aspiring journalist, researching the illegal tobacco trade – also known as chop chop – that was once so prevalent in the area. And the last person he interviewed before his hike has just met a gruesome end . . .
But with no other leads, and with the search winding down, Sally is forced to accept the young man died in a tragic accident.
Until she learns of another missing person case that bears striking similarities. Astrid Marlowe, a young lawyer, vanished in the same mountains two years before.
Were Louis and Astrid simply unlucky hikers lost in the treacherous terrain? Or did they both stumble into something – or someone – they shouldn’t?
Into the Flames
Ilene, a working-class mother, is struggling to survive and desperate to reconnect with her children, Jack and Lonnie, in the aftermath of a near-fatal tragedy. But her children vanish, setting off a chain reaction within the community.
Suspended detective Omar helps out with the investigation, uncovering disquieting clues, but he keeps getting pulled away by a dangerous cold case.
Benji, a recovering addict, finds peace by breeding lorikeets and caring for his mother, only to have his clean life upended by a stranger’s menacing threat.
Nera, a city lawyer grieving on a country farm, wants to find out who killed one of her animals and is faced with increasingly strange and unsettling answers.
**In this gripping tale of human frailty and the other-worldly, each character must confront the mystery of what really happened to Jack and Lonnie.
Middle Rage
Myf Warhurst thought she was nailing middle age. Then, thanks to some unexpected curveballs, life shook things up. Myf's usually breezy, sunny demeanour went AWOL, replaced with a quiet, seething fury bubbling deep within that threatened to burst out at any moment. No-one had warned her about this.
In this revealing memoir, Myf gets deeply personal about her own experience that left her irrevocably changed, and the impact it has had on her mind, her body and sense of self. Empowered by a newfound clarity, she shines a light on some of the glaring injustices, absurdities, cruelties and ridiculous gender expectations in our modern world. She calls bullshit on those in charge, and those who think they are, who uphold the archaic structures holding women back.
In sharing her hard-won knowledge and claiming her own power, Myf encourages women to stop putting themselves last.
MIDDLE RAGE is an unflinchingly honest manifesto. It is a powerful, relatable book for any woman shaking their fist at the constraints of age, womanhood, relationships and expectations in today's world, and for the men who love those fist-shaking women. There's no doubt, there is nothing so illuminating as the volcanic rage of a Gen X woman.
This is not the book Myf intended to write. It is the book she had to write.
The Writers' Room
Seven writers. One murder. Whose story do you believe?
Clara Newsome was twenty-two when she died. A prodigiously talented writer, she'd seemed destined to take the literary world by storm.
Twenty years later, her four best friends have done rather well for themselves. Now successful screenwriters and producers, they've finally decided to adapt Clara's only novel into a television series, recruiting Clara's son Xavier to help. A creative retreat in a remote mansion in the NSW Southern Highlands, ten days of brainstorming, and a story that's been waiting two decades to be told. What could possibly go wrong?
Quite a lot, as it turns out. Because housekeeper Barb Young has just found a body at the bottom of a nearby cliff.
The police are happy to call it an accident, but Barb is not the sort of woman who settles for a convenient explanation. As she starts asking questions nobody wants to answer, she discovers that everyone in the writers' room has something to hide. And that the real story of Clara's death might not be the one they've all been telling.
James O'Loghlin's twisty, suspenseful and darkly humorous crime novel follows unlikely amateur detective Barb Young - who readers first met in Liars - on a new adventure, as she sets about solving a mysterious death with charm, stealth and the world's most disarming interrogation technique.
The Switch
The final Jack Harris mystery from the author of The Beacon and The Sunbaker. A grandmother vanishes from her own coffin, replaced by a stranger.
The third and final instalment in the entrancing Byron Bay-set series featuring newspaper editor Jack Harris and his lawyer-turned-partner Caitlin O'Shaughnessy.
Lisa Delaney is not having a good day. She has flown to Byron Bay to attend the funeral of her beloved grandmother, Mildred, but is running late and just manages to make it on time. After the service has finished, she asks for a chance to say her final goodbyes to the woman who raised her like a mother. But when the coffin is opened, Lisa is shocked and horrified to find that it is not actually Mildred in the coffin. The body is of a man – someone that nobody seems to recognise.
When the police make slow progress identifying the mystery man and no progress at all finding the missing Mildred, Jack Harris, journalist at the local newspaper in Byron Bay, becomes intrigued by the story, especially since the unidentified man was wearing a T-shirt from one of his favourite bands from the 80s. He decides to start his own investigation into the man's identity and to locate the missing Mildred. When another person goes missing and heavily armed gang land figures from interstate appear on the scene, the pressure begins to escalate.
Can Jack find the missing Mildred and work out how and why a mystery man was placed in her coffin before others find themselves in harm's way?
Another page-turning murder mystery full of humour by the author of The Beacon and The Sunbaker.
Red River Road
On the Coral Coast of Western Australia, solo traveller Katy is on a mission to find her free-spirited sister, Phoebe, who disappeared along the same route a year ago. But as she drives her campervan further into the wild north, Katy realises she's not as alone as she'd first believed. Soon she is pulled into a complicated web of secrets, lies, myths and stories that force her to question everything she thought she knew about her sister.
In this nerve-shredding outback thriller, our obsessions with freedom and beauty collide with our fear of what lies in the wilderness, and the truth behind Phoebe's disappearance proves stranger and darker than Katy could ever have guessed...
A Man Called Box
Sam thought the worst part of living alone was the loneliness. She was wrong.
When a hunted man arrives on her doorstep late one night and asks for sanctuary, she agrees to hide him and to not call the police. The mention of a cabal of corruption is enough to convince her to do what he asks.
A decision based on compassion, which will soon change her life, force her to abandon everything and flee to avoid being killed.
But hiding and leading a lonely, anonymous life locks Sam into a situation she cannot resolve.
Thomas, searching for his long lost sister, finds a fugitive living alone in the mountains. Two stubborn people surrounded by danger and distrust, in a situation where one misstep will get them killed.
Who can you turn to if even police can’t be trusted? And who is the man called Box?
A Divine Fury
Florence. Autumn, 1539.
Cesare Aldo was once an officer for the city’s most feared criminal court. Following a period of exile, he is back – but demoted to night patrol, when only the drunk and the dangerous roam the streets.
Chasing a suspect in the rain, Aldo discovers a horrifying scene beneath Michelangelo’s statue of David. Lifeless eyes gaze from the face of a man whose body has been posed as if crucified. It’s clear the killer had religious motives.
When more bodies appear, Aldo believes an unholy murderer is stalking the citizens of Florence. Watching. Hunting. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike again . . .
The Writers Retreat
A wickedly twisty and atmospheric thriller set at a writers' retreat in the South of France, The Writers Retreat is Knives Out meets Anna Downes’ The Safe Place from an exciting new voice in the thriller/mystery space.
Welcome to The Writers Retreat – a creative haven for writers to hone their plotlines and sharpen their characters while soaking up the Provençal atmosphere. But this year’s retreat offers something different, as real-life blurs with fiction, and suspense isn't contained to the page.
Kat Hale is a bestselling Australian author crumbling under the pressure of writing her second novel. On a whim, she has fled to a writers retreat in the South of France run by internationally acclaimed author Helen Thorne. What Kat hopes will be two blissfully uninterrupted weeks to focus on her writing in anonymity quickly turns into something more sinister, when Kat begins to suspect that Helen isn't quite as perfect as everyone seems to believe.
Will Kat’s drive to uncover the truth about Helen be any match for Helen’s desire to hold onto her career, her reputation and her writing retreat, or is Kat at risk of falling victim to a more dangerous climax?
The Good Father
Gordon and Sarah Rutherford are normal, happy people with rich, fulfilling lives. They have a son they adore, a house on the beach and a safe, friendly community in a picture-postcard town.
Until, one day, Bonnie the labrador comes in from the beach alone. Their son, Rory, has gone - the only trace left behind is a single black sandal.
Their lives don't fall apart immediately. While there's still hope, they dig deep and try to carry on.
But as desperation mounts, arms around shoulders become fingers pointed - at friends, family, strangers, each other. Without any answers, only questions remain. Who can they trust? How far will they go to find out what happened to Rory?
And the deadliest question of what could be worse than your child disappearing?
When the truth begins to emerge, they find themselves in a world they could barely have imagined.
The Birds Began to Sing
In the harbour city of New Plymouth in the 1960s there’s a fizz of seedy sexuality beneath a veneer of respectability. Godfrey’s world is the Balmoral Hotel his parents own, where visiting sailors drink and local fringe-dwellers congregate.
When Reggie, the openly gay barman, goes missing Godfrey senses something sinister. There’s a prevailing attitude of inevitability. Godfrey doesn’t get it, but he’s hungry to understand. Guided by his daytime-television and pulp-fiction detective heroes and a very active imagination, he attempts to solve the mystery—in the process stumbling into his own sexual adventures and discovering a new-found power in a perplexing adult world.
Out on the Ice
One brief but tragic moment out on a frozen Reykjavík lake changes Sóley’s life forever. Now, looking back on the last twenty-three years of her life, she attempts to make sense of it all. The tears, the pain and the lives lost along the way.
No one ever told her bringing up a son all on her own would be easy but not in her wildest dreams did she imagine it might be so hard.
Together Jakob and her have walked alone through the worst that Iceland could throw at them and now she’s here to tell you her tale.
Lit
What would you do if someone you knew came back from the dead?
Gin is an architect on the brink. LIT, the Auckland-based practice she shares with her girlfriend, Clary, has been precarious since their third partner – Clary’s ex, Billy – disappeared, presumed dead.
Now, several years later, LIT’s financial problems and Gin’s personal debts are snowballing. Clary – emotionally fragile since the disappearance – is growing increasingly remote and elusive. When Gin begins to be haunted by glimpses of Billy, she blames stress and guilt. But could he be back, threatening to expose the past?
Trapped in a web of secrecy and betrayal, Gin’s downward spiral gathers force as she begins to suspect her paranoia hides an even more shocking truth – one that will send her whole life up in flames.
This stunning debut literary-suspense novel from award-winning writer Anna Woods explores the insidious charm of those who gaslight us, and examines the blurry line between love and control.
Devil Mountain
A wickedly dark police procedural with a hint of the supernatural, this crime novel is Dinuka McKenzie meets The Bluffs.
When Detective Sergeant Anastasia Brown is sent to investigate a grizzly murder in a small NSW town, she welcomes the chance to run from heartbreak and humiliation. But she quickly discovers that this is no ordinary murder. A popular doctor's body has been found on the mountain, chained and burned, with arcane symbols carved into the soles of his feet - and the boy who found him swears he saw a ghost lingering in the trees.
Is this a clever killer with a flair for the macabre? Or the work of an elusive Wiccan coven that worships on the mountain? Or, even stranger, are the local murmurs of the mountain being haunted more than just folklore??
As the investigation grows ever murkier, Ana realises that everyone in town has a secret… and some are deadly.
The Informant
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing ...
The town of Hopeville is thrown into chaos when the body of Silas Ziccone, president of the notorious bikie gang the Outcasts,is found next to his abandoned car on a dirt road. Evidence suggests Silas was not alone when he was murdered, but there are no witnesses and the locals aren’t talking. When Silas’s son Anton steps into his role determined to get revenge on those responsible police fear an all-out bikie war.
Journalist Lars Nilsson is writing a book on outlaw motorcycle clubs and is sent by his former editor to cover the story. Police warn Lars to stay away, but undeterred he pursues a lead that takes him into the centre of the gang rivalry.
With debts to pay and a teenage son to raise alone, all Silas’s girlfriend Ashley wants is to escape to Western Australia and start afresh but Anton is keeping her close. There’s one person who may be able to help her get out but when your whole life’s a lie, how do you know who’s telling the truth?
The Informant is a simmering crime thriller that gives a window into the world of outlaw motorcycle gangs, organised crime and police corruption that will keep readers gripped until the heart-stopping end.
The Rising
In a town scarred by floodwaters, the past refuses to stay buried.
When a catastrophic flood rips through the rural town of Birradurra, a shocking cold case is discovered. Unearthed from the mud are the skeletal remains of a baby.
Shaken by this and haunted by her traumatic past, journalist Bec Carter is consumed with getting justice for the victim.
But when her friend Harry who vowed to help with the investigation vanishes in violent circumstances, authorities look to Bec for answers.
Now the prime suspect in Harry’s disappearance, Bec must fight to clear her name and uncover the facts before another flood hits.
But nothing is straightforward, and someone will do anything to keep the past from resurfacing.
Twisty, atmospheric and utterly gripping, The Rising is a heart-stopping thriller where every secret comes with a cost — and some truths are better left hidden.
Nothing Personal
Theft. Extortion. Dinner with Dad.
Lola McKenzie never wanted to steal from her dodgy boss.
But she also never wanted to be stuck in a dead-end job, paying off her dad’s debts.
So when she sees a bag of cash sitting around unattended at work, she figures it’s time to make life a little easier. Only, the next day her boss is missing, presumed dead – and it won’t take a genius to figure out Lola is involved.
Turns out that Lola’s pinched more than a bag of cash … nestled at the bottom of the bag was a USB drive that could be either a curse or an opportunity.
Lola doesn’t know what’s on it, only that it’s important enough for the local cops and the local crooks to come looking for it.
Is it a magnet for trouble? Or her ticket out of the hard life? All she has to do is figure out a way to sell it to the highest bidder without revealing her identity.
Should be easy, right?
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