All the Reviews

The second Gary Chance novel, ORPHAN ROAD, sees Chance move his centre of activities to Victoria, all because of an old friend and former employer, the once notorious Melbourne social identity, Vera Leigh. Owner of a struggling S&M club being circled by property developers, knower of decidedly dodgy characters, it all starts with Chance and another contact of Leigh's in Byron, shaking down a peace and love cult front for a major drug smuggling ring. Which turns into another one of those jobs that could be described by the quote in the blurb:

The heist

... Read review

If you’ve ever wondered what a crime novel written by Noel Coward might be like, Naked Ambition could provide some clues.  Review at Newtown Review of BooksRead review

THE SIGNATORY is a thriller set in and around an Australian advertising agency, leaving this reviewer wondering if there's an argument that crime fiction set in the corporate / business world is under-represented. On the face of it, perhaps an unlikely setting, but then again, there are more than reasons to think that there's villainy in day to day business, even if its not strictly illegal.

The story of THE SIGNATORY revolves around Sam Pride - who has just sold his start-up company to a US conglomerate for large piles of money. His life is looking good - young, married ... Read review

Book six in the Peter Clancy series, set in the world of investigative journalism, BEACHDAZE sees Peter back in Australia, out of the day-to-day newspaper game and up to his elbows in neighbourhood dispute from the moment he sets foot in his new home.

Readers of the earlier books in the series will find the idea that Clancy has given up the high-octane world of investigative journalism in swinging London slightly surprising. He got there via an interesting route, starting out his reporting days on the old Truth newspaper in Melbourne, Australia (denizens of the state of ... Read review

"Why do good people do bad things?" is an interesting question, explored fully in WILD PLACE by Christian White.

Set in the heart of Australian suburbia, during the height of the summer of 1989, seventeen year old Tracie Reed vanished one night. Her parents in the middle of a fraught divorce, Tracie's behaviour had changed in the leadup and despite her mother's protestations to the contrary, police have basically dismissed her as a runaway. Part of the local neighbourhood watch, Tracie's high school English teacher, and neighbour, starts digging into her disappearance, ... Read review

This latest offering of Australian rural noir contrasts urban and small-town sensibilities from the perspective of a child protection officer.  Full review at Newtown Review of Books.

 Read review

As I was reading this novel, I was finishing the autobiography THIS MUCH IS TRUE by Miriam Margolyes in audio form and I was struck by the coincidence of some of the things that she says most powerfully and pointedly, about dehumanisation, the utter and abject cruelty of "Empire" and the way that it empowered, and continues to empower, entrenched racism. Add to that the question from Songlines: the Power and Promise, edited by Margo Neale - "What do you need to know to prosper as a people for 65,000 years?" - and you have a review of THE DEATH OF JOHN LACEY. 

Nobody, for ... Read review

First published in 1946, the story is set in the winter of 1937, in the Japanese village of Okamura. Steeped in both the culture and sensibility of the time, THE HONJIN MURDERS is a classic of Japanese crime fiction, a locked room murder in the style of the Golden Age of crime fiction worldwide.

The grand, and influential family Ichiyanagi, are preparing for the wedding of the eldest son. It should be an auspicious event, but there is disquiet. The bride is the daughter of a fruit farmer, a lower class than the groom's Honjin family. Honjin is the Japanese word for an ... Read review

As a face to face bookclub read for a club made up on a lot of knowledgeable readers, male and female, a book couldn't come more highly recommended.Read review