Michel Bussi is a renowned crime fiction writer and winner of many awards in his native France, BLACK WATER LILIES being the second of his books translated into English. It would appear from both of them (the first was AFTER THE CRASH) he is particularly good at unusual, absolutely enthralling scenarios.
Start reading BLACK WATER LILIES and you could be forgiven for double-checking the classification of this book. It doesn't read at all like a ... Read review
The third book in the Audrey Murders series, THE MURDER TRAIL is set in a very picturesque location in the far north of New Zealand. Audrey owns a beautiful holiday cabin property perched on a rural mountain top. She's been unlucky in love and she's a serial killing psychopath.
Not having read either of the earlier books in the series, this reader relied heavily on the blurb to set up the scenario. From the psychopathic serial killer, through to the likelihood that this property is remote, and the whole drug cartel moved into one of the cabins bit. Pretty soon the sketchy ... Read review
Read by our f2f bookclub, this turned into a fascinating discussion.
Reading BURIAL RITES I will admit to ambivalent feelings. On the one hand obviously extensively researched, and carefully crafted, there was something slightly distant and worthy about it that frequently made it feel a little like hard work. Having said that, deeply admiring of some of the choices this author made - to not sugar coat an ending and to leave plenty of elements to the reader's imagination.
It turned out to be a great book to discuss, around a table with a few bottles of wine. Some ... Read review
Lindy Kelly is an experienced eventing rider in New Zealand and she's taken the idea of write what you know to heart. BOLD BLOOD is set deep in the world of horse eventing - although for the author's sake, you have to hope that some of the action in this book is made up!
Dr Caitlin Summerfield was raised with horses. By a mother that she most definitely does not get on with, who she still blames for the premature death of the father and brother she adored. Called back to the family farm after her mother has an accident and is in hospital, deep in a coma, Caitlin has to ... Read review
Writing a long term series has to create some issues for authors that probably some of we fans rarely consider. All we want is the next book. IN THE COLD DARK GROUND is the 10th in the Logan McRae series from Stuart MacBride, and I'm really sorry about this but I want the 11th pretty well now. As in straight away.
It goes without saying that I've always been a huge fan of this series, and aside from the wonderful, strong, often slightly eccentric characters, the reason for that is the constant changes in circumstance that McRae, DCI Steel and those around them find ... Read review
It's a question that has preyed on a lot of people's minds over the years - why do women fall for, and stay with, the worst possible men? What author Laura Elizabeth Woollett has done is imagine her author's pen into the minds and lives of some of these women in her series of short stories - THE LOVE OF A BAD MAN. Which ends up presenting the reader with an interesting series of fictional looks inside real women's minds that feel very real.
The range of women is historically and geographically varied, and the style of storytelling beguiling enough to have reader's ... Read review
Current readers of TWO DAYS will be greatly relieved to know that DRAINLAND (Book 1) was released in early August 2016 because this novella is the prequel and it would be very unfair if we had to wait for the full show.
Iain Ryan does a particularly good job when it comes to noir set in unlikely places. He's also particularly good at action scenes, a constant level of menace and threat, creating good twisty plots, and putting it all together with a good sense of time, place and some engaging characters.
What more, after all, could the thriller reader want. ... Read review
Sometime ago, a local author who worked in the local justice system, albeit in a different capacity to this author, wrote a debut novel which, at the time, read a lot like a spot of personal therapy. THE WOMAN BEFORE ME has a little of that feeling about it, but more importantly, and not just because it is inspired by a true event, it's a memorable and thought-provoking book into the bargain.
The blurb gives you the basics of the story. A baby has died, and there is only one suspect - a woman who befriended the dead child's mother in hospital, a woman whose own baby boy ... Read review
We read this for our f2f bookclub which had the added interest of our being only an hour out of Ballarat - although few of the members of the club come from this area or have much direct knowledge of the Goldfield time in that town.
Generally the consensus was a reasonably good book which gave an interesting perspective of one day in the life of a young man whose parents own a pub. An Irish Catholic family, the day in history has great significance. Not enough significance to change the day to day life of the running of the pub for everyone though.
Slightly ... Read review
It feels like such a relief to have a woman in Cabin 10, and not a girl, that you'd almost be forgiven for cutting THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 a lot of slack. Along with all the "girls" around there's also been a propensity for unlikeable protagonists, some of whom are unreliable - unknowingly or deliberately. Needless to say Lo Blacklock in THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 is flawed, unsympathetic and seemingly highly unreliable. Or it could just be that she's a stressed out woman with a drinking problem and a long term requirement for anxiety and depression medication, without which unpredictable ... Read review
Set in Australia, but with a decidedly American feel to it, LETHAL IN LOVE is a serialised novel in six parts. Fascinating idea and one that I've always wondered why somebody hasn't done. Released over a period of time, each episode is probably best described as a long novella in length, each advancing the suspense and the romantic side of the story. Although to a reader somewhat disconnected from the world of romantic suspense, I will confess the "romance" aspects read substantially more like "lust" for most of the novel. (Having read all six episodes back to back, I'm going to have ... Read review
It will not come as any surprise to readers of the Nell Forrest series that she's found another body. In a small town like Majic there's an astonishingly high murder rate, even though this unfortunate victim seems to have been in Forrest's backyard for a very long time. About the time that her estranged father disappeared in fact – make of that coincidence what you will. Goodness knows Forrest's going to.
If there is such a thing as a preferable time to find a skeleton buried in your backyard, now is definitely not it for Forrest. She's finally moved into her new home (she' ... Read review
Two mutton pasties, an almond slice and a custard tart are not the normal order that a superior officer would give to a subordinate faced with a possible armed siege. But then, Andy Dalziel's never been one for all that official mucking about and Hector's never been one that anybody really believes. Number 3 Mill Street, an Asian and Arab specialist Video store, is an address flagged for low level interest by the Combined Anti-Terrorism Unit. Inspector Ireland's not convinced that Dalziel is taking this seriously enough. Inevitably he has to ring Peter Pascoe to tell him about this ... Read review
GHOSTLINES won the 2007 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript, before being published by Scribe in 2008. It's the author's first novel, the tale of a profoundly flawed hero - journalist Philip Trudeau, a very driven man. Unfortunately a lot of that drive is self-destructive, but in Gadd's hands, Trudeau is a character who can engender sympathy and maintain the reader's interest and concern - despite those myriad and very obvious faults.
When a young boy is killed at a level crossing, Trudeau reports it initially as a tragic accident. He finds, ... Read review
As Leif G.W. Persson is a new author for me, I was interested to read the bio in this book:
"Leif Persson is the Grand Master of Scandinavian crime fiction. Over three decades, he has taken a scalpel to the political and social mores of Swedish society in dark, complex and satirical crime novels. His work melds the social realism of a Balzac or a Dickens with the hard-boiled street smarts of a James Ellroy."
Whatever that means..... More importantly, the blurb eventually goes on to note that he is the author of nine novels, with BETWEEN SUMMER'S LONGING and ... Read review
I used to read a few cosies, although I was never totally addicted. But I've always been a huge fan of the quirky, odd and the just ever so slightly bats. Colin Watson, Charlotte MacLeod have been favourites for years. I'm adding Pierre Magnan to the list now.
Originally published in French in the late 70's, DEATH IN THE TRUFFLE WOOD was translated into English around 2005. There are a number of books in this series featuring Commissaire Laviolette, although I don't think Roseline makes an appearance in any of the others. Roseline is a truffle hunting pig, and a creature ... Read review
Despite a rather shaky start in the legal profession, Robert Rotenberg's background in criminal law explains the perspective of his first novel OLD CITY HALL, most of the the book is being told from either the defence or the prosecution viewpoints.
OLD CITY HALL starts off in a decidedly disarming manner, with polite, proper and very Indian Mr Singh going about his daily job of distributing newspapers which always involves a chat with Mr Kevin in Suite 12A. On this particular morning the door is open as usual, but there is no sign of Kevin Brace. When he eventually appears ... Read review
One of the most exciting things about a new book from Karin Fossum is exactly where she's going to take the reader this time. The scenarios, the crimes, the individuals that Fossum incorporates in her books are always very thought provoking, and THE CALLER was certainly no different.
From the moment that a young child is found in her pram, in the backyard of her parent's home, bathed in blood; through the mysterious delivery of a message to Inspector Sejer's door; into the story of Johnny and his drunken, irresponsible mother and the touching relationship he has with his ... Read review
In a leadup event to the 2016 Bendigo Writers Festival, Gideon Haigh came to Dunolly for a discussion with Rosemary Sorensen about CERTAIN ADMISSIONS. A true crime book that I'd been aware of for quite a while, this was the prefect opportunity to sit in the wonderful surrounds of the restored Court House, with a glass of wine and listen to a fascinating session about a case that I'd never heard of before this book.
The research, including the employment of genealogists to investigate family trees and backgrounds, and the thought that has gone into this book is clear on ... Read review
There are a lot of thrillers these days using environmental issues as the potential threat to the world. It makes a lot of sense that screwing with the balance of nature has some interesting potential when it comes to the villain of the piece as it could be anybody, and the motive is nearly always a power / money grab which is extremely believable.
THE ALO RELEASE tackles the question of genetically modified seeds. Combining as it does technology that is difficult to understand, high stakes corruption and media manipulation, with people behaving very badly, it's the sort ... Read review