All the Reviews

Please Don't Leave Me Here, Tania Chandler

Told in three parts, Please Don’t Leave Me Here by Melbourne writer Tania Chandler begins with the story of Brigitte – mother of twins and married to policeman Sam – a normal wife and mother, with a secret.

Part I, ‘Come as You Are’, set in 2008, is the present, after Sam and Brigitte have met while she was in hospital recovering from a car accident, a meeting connected to Sam’s investigation into both the accident and the death of Eric Tucker, a music promoter. The injuries Brigitte sustained affect her physically to this day but something about the accident has ... Read review

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Good Money, J.M. Green

Set mostly in the Western suburbs of Melbourne, JM Green’s Good Money introduces Stella Hardy. A social worker by vocation, Hardy is the sort of laksa-loving, inner-city woman who fits into the role of accidental detective with considerable aplomb. She moves through the suburbs on foot, by tram and taxi, regardless of the weather and her own personal health, while sometimes reflecting back to her life as a young girl on a farm – and the lessons (harshly) learnt then.

Reflective in private, a bit of an action woman when required, Hardy is a character able to carry ... Read review

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Four Days, Iain Ryan

Short, sharp and to the point, FOUR DAYS delivers deepest and darkest noir in the unlikely setting of 1980’s Brisbane and Cairns. In the Sunshine State corruption is rife and nowhere more so than in the police force and the licensing department in particular.

Lone wolf Detective Jim Harris isn’t exactly lily-white himself, with a complicated backstory of illicit love affairs and drug use, to say nothing of family relationships that would challenge most genealogy software. He is, however, seemingly the only cop dedicated enough to pursue the truth behind the death of a ... Read review

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Blue Wicked, Alan Jones

BLUE WICKED is the second book by Scottish author Alan Jones I’ve read. Each of them have come with warnings about strong language and use of the Glasgow dialect which is more of an attraction than deterrent for this reader.

The author’s first novel, THE CABINET MAKER, was an interesting variation on standard crime fiction fare. BLUE WICKED has a similar concept at the core, ... Read review

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Dead Wood, SJ Brown

DEAD WOOD is the second book from Tasmanian author s.j. brown, located in his home state, featuring Police DI John Mahoney.

Set within the fallout of the GFC, the novel explores the haves and the have not’s as a result of financial shakedown, within the framework of the very brutal murder of a prominent member of the local business community. Using that structure provides the author with another angle to explore as well - the big fish in a small pond, and the high profile that salacious goings on can give local events.

In the first book in the series, HIGH ... Read review

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Eden, Candice Fox

Right from the commencement of HADES, the first Archer / Bennett book by Candice Fox, it was obvious that this was a series to be watched. Dark, confrontational, emotional and compelling, that book started a journey into the consequences of human damage, and EDEN picks that up, twists it around your throat and pulls tight.

When Eden Archer goes undercover to catch a potential killer, the deprivation of the world into which she immerses herself is unsurprisingly apt. She's a woman with a dark core, a vigilante, an edge dweller, and the way she can step into the odd world ... Read review

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A Certain Malice, Felicity Young (aka Flashpoint)

Before WA based author Felicity Young commenced her extremely good Dr Dody McCleland series, she published a series of police procedural novels one of which built around the central character of Sergeant Cam Fraser in it. FLASHPOINT, originally out in 2005, has recently been re-released in ebook format.

Years ago this reader did read FLASHPOINT and some of the elements remained and obviously a lot didn't (the first version of this review muddled up the Cam Fraser and Stevie Hooper series utterly - with apologies to Felicity Young). FLASHPOINT looks back to recent events ... Read review

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Deadly Diplomacy, Jean Harrod

The Author of DEADLY DIPLOMACY has a background as a diplomat working for many years in Embassies and High Commissions in Australia, Brussels, the Caribbean, China, East Berlin, Indonesia, Mauritius and Switzerland. Her indepth knowledge of the workings of that world stands out in this novel, with her protagonist, Jess Turner, the British Consul in Canberra.

Called upon to support the sister of the victim, Turner is quickly dragged into the investigation. Setting up a diplomat and a cop being forced to co-operate is an unusual approach, but the inclusion of the ... Read review

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Birthdays for the Dead, Stuart MacBride

Something went wrong in the reading universe a while ago and I missed that this had been sitting in the unread list, when I picked up and enjoyed the second in the series - A SONG FOR THE DYING.

Which weirdly turned out to be a good thing as an introduction to a new character and a new series, BIRTHDAYS FOR THE DEAD is not without problems.

MacBride is not the sort of writer who shilly-shally's around with reader sensitivities. So the fact the (fictional) victims here are children and the way that ... Read review

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Stuart MacBride

Inside the Black Horse, Ray Berard

One of the great strengths of really good crime fiction is the exploration of big issues at a local level. INSIDE THE BLACK HORSE is set within a smaller community, revolving around life in the local pub / pokie venue, exploring the destruction and chaos that comes with illicit drug use, and distribution.

Setting the story around a Maori community also gives the author an opportunity to explore the good and the bad effects of drugs on those communities in particular. There’s an interesting comparison of elders trying to keep their traditions alive, a young widow trying to ... Read review

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For the Dignified Dead, Michael Genelin

The 5th book in the Jana Matinova series (as best as can be gleaned from online lists which universally don’t seem to include it), FOR THE DIGNIFIED DEAD was so good the first book leapt straight into Mt TBR. It also extremely readable if you are new to them as well.

Part of the strength of the book was undoubtedly the central character of Jana Matinova who is strong, smart and unwilling to take any crap from anyone - crims and colleagues alike. She’s compassionate without being soppy and dedicated. She’s also very driven in this book as she’s well aware that the killer’s ... Read review

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Michael Genelin

Breathe and Release, Katherine Hayton

It’s no longer surprising that certain “scenarios” seem to be duplicated in a rush of books - and amnesia and/or dementia causing memory loss is the one that has been showing up a lot recently.

BREATHE AND RELEASE is by New Zealand based Katherine Hayton, and in this case, the memory loss is as a result of a car accident, and there’s a complication. Another woman is trapped in an underground hell, unable to escape, barely alive. Readers would be forgiven for assuming that there’s going to be a connection between Elisabet and Lillian, although what the connection is might ... Read review

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Katherine Hayton

Snowblind, Ragnar Jónasson

Beautifully written, SNOWBLIND comes with great characters; a wonderful sense of place; a cleverly constructed plot; and that introspective, claustrophobic feeling that often appeals to fans of Icelandic and Scandinavian crime fiction. Coupled with a lyrical translation by Quentin Bates there was not an off-key note from start to finish.

The first in the Dark Iceland series sees Ari Thór Arason take up his first job as a policeman far from his previous life, and girlfriend based in Reykjavik. There’s a number of changes explored in this move - Arason’s willingness to go ... Read review

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Ragnar Jónasson

The Heat, Garry Disher

The 8th in the Wyatt series, the resurgence of the best unrepentant, unapologetic and very demanding professional crook in Australian Crime Fiction is something to be very pleased about.

Wyatt is not a man who plays well with others, and his danger radar is on high alert after he’s pulled into early planning of a heist by some rank amateurs. A move to Noosa and a commission to steal a particular painting comes at a time when absenting himself from Melbourne and all chance of being connected to that group is particularly welcome. Not only is the intended heist a nice ... Read review

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Three Lives Down, Rachel Amphlett

Fans of big, larger-than-life political thrillers where the threat is enormous, the conspiracy deep seated, and the need for a hero overwhelming could do worse than get on board with the Dan Taylor series.

Book three, THREE LIVES DOWN, could be read as a standalone, although knowing the background to Taylor’s life and work will help with flesh out some of his connections, supporters and enemies. Of course, this is a book that comes straight out of that big threat thriller world, so you will also have to be a fan of huge scenarios, with high stakes games being played in ... Read review

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Rachel Amphlett

Vertigo, Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac

Being a huge Hitchock fan this book particularly intrigued, but even if you’ve never seen a single Hitchcock film in your life, VERTIGO is an engaging, fascinating, and frequently beautiful book. If you are also a fan of the film, then there is greater nuance here than the film, and plenty to conjecture about for the reader.

Set at the start of World War II, the central character of Flavières is troubled by many things, not just the need at one point to flee the war’s encroachment. He seems, on the face of it, a man who was destined to be obsessed with the wife of his ... Read review

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Thomas Narcejac

Murder on the 18th Green, Frederico Maria Rivalta

Laid back as the residents of Euganean Hills environment may be, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to blow-in, and investigative journalist, Riccardo Ranieri who has tense, nervous and put-upon down pat.

Starting out reading MURDER ON THE 18TH GREEN, there is the distinct possibility that Ranieri is going to annoy some readers. He’s an odd sort of combination of ego and vulnerability, sincerity and glibness that makes him very hard to pick in the beginning. It doesn’t hurt that for a man who, on moving to this country location, has availed himself of ... Read review

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Frederico Maria Rivalta

Blood Salt Water, Denise Mina

Denise Mina is one of those authors that you can always trust to spin a good yarn, and once in a while an absolute ripper. BLOOD, SALT, WATER is somewhere on this reader’s scale between really good and ripper.

Taut and pointed, her ability to skewer character’s personality traits - good and bad - is razor sharp as usual, with a beautiful turn of sarcasm when required. Putting those characters in a realistic small-town location in Scotland provides not just a wonderful sense of place, but an interesting juxtaposition of have’s and have-nots, whilst leaving more than enough ... Read review

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Dark As My Heart, Antti Tuomainen

The exploration of consequences is beautifully executed in Antti Tuomainen’s mesmerising DARK AS MY HEART. That he is an award winning author comes as no surprise, but of the five novels to his name in his native Finland, the third “The Healer” and this, his fourth novel, are so far the only ones translated into English. Needless to say THE HEALER is now on the TBR pile.

Aleksi Kivi was thirteen years old when his mother vanished. Now, twenty years on, he’s still haunted by her murder, and his feelings of recognition and utter belief that the millionaire owner of the ... Read review

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Antti Tuomainen

Surveillance, Bernard Keane

Set in Sydney, SURVEILLANCE is billed as a cyber-thriller about government spying and corporate underhanded behaviour. A timely and really interesting subject to be explored, this was picked up with much anticipation.

Perhaps the expectations were wrongly set, but SURVEILLANCE quickly felt like it was less about hacker and cyber-vulnerability and more about corporate corruption. Then there's the enthusiastic sexual conquest pursuit that would have made Sydney Sheldon or Harold Robbins envious.

The sex scenes are, frankly, breathtaking. Not in a good way ... Read review

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