All the Reviews

Following on from the excellent first novel in this series, BETTER THE BLOOD, RETURN TO BLOOD is centred, once again, around Hana Westerman. Only now she has turned in her police badge, abandoning a career as a detective in the Auckland CIB, she's returned to her hometown of Tātā Bay to do some running repairs.Read review

Martine Kropkowski’s debut crime fiction delves into the devastating consequences of the epidemic of violence against women.

Melissa, Bridie and Cassandra are friends, bonded over the sorts of things that connect young mothers – pressure, expectation, exhaustion and isolation. What starts out as a chance encounter leads to coffee meetings and what they thought would be long and abiding friendships. Only there used to be four of them.

‘ … I’m Cassandra.’

... Read review

In a sign of just how ridiculously behind and disorganised I've been of late, A CASE OF MATRICIDE has been lurking around here for months now, and it's the third novel in a series that I'd failed to even start. Now I'm reading it back to front because this was such a fascinating read.

Fascinating partly because Burnet has a writing style that elegantly combines wry humour with detailed observational elements that never become overblown, blurring boundaries between characters and the reader, all whilst having a good rummage around in the darkest recesses of people's minds ... Read review

This review is ridiculously and embarrassingly overdue. The notes for it have been sitting in my queue for way too long, especially as I have always been sorely tempted to gobble read anything by this author as soon as I can get my hands on it. He's one of those authors that knows how to take an unlikely, unrealistic scenario and make it so matter of fact, whilst scaring the living daylights out of the reader, that the only doubt you may have is just before you start reading. My advice as always? Park the doubt. Read all his books.

In A KILLER HARVEST, young Joshua is ... Read review

In Melbourne, in 1868, theatre star Marie St Denis dies in the arms of her best friend, up and coming actress, Lola Sanchez. The accepted cause of death is suicide by laudanum overdose, something that Sanchez refuses to believe. Why would her brilliant, much admired, accomplished dear friend do such a thing? But then why would anyone kill St Denis?Read review

Right now, given what Richard Scolyer is dealing with health and personal wise, the fact that any book has been written is amazing (he worked with a writer to get this out). That he felt he was able to tell anything of his story, a successful and revolutionary medical career at the Melanoma Institute of Australia, and his life with a much loved family, and how that was affected by a devastating diagnosis of glioblastoma, an incurable brain cancer, is selfless and important.

I so deeply admire the effort and brilliance of his work, and his willingness to be open about the ... Read review

I saw this reviewed somewhere, and now can't find where. Which is a right pain because it was that work that tweaked my interest. Don't read enough history, and my knowledge of circumstances around World War II in particular, is sketchy to say the least.

Not so sketchy as to be unaware of Douglas MacArthur and his "I will return" line. I'd also been aware of Thomas Blamey and his role in the defence of Australia, and his sidelining. I had no idea that both of them had extremely questionable personal morals. Okay so that's too polite. Macarthur's morals would make him a ... Read review

A short, concise and absolutely fascinating take on a number of the well known plays of Shakespeare, in a series of essays:

• Shakespeare is hard, but so is life
• Hamlet: Dying as an art
• Othello: Inside out
• King Lear: Zero hour
• Macbeth: Back to the future

Free of academic speak, jargon and grand gestures, what this precise and very informative collection does is provide fresh insights into the power plays within the plays themselves.

Some ... Read review

TRIGGER WARNING - this book discusses a civil case that revolved around an alleged rape. There are some challenging aspects to the observations and testimony recorded here.

On 15 April 2024 Justice Michael Lee delivered his judgement in Lehrmann v Network 10. The case, which centred on proceedings brought by Bruce Lehrmann against journalist Lisa Wilkinson and Network 10 for her 2021 interview with Brittany Higgins, alleged that Wilkinson had defamed Lehrmann by accusing him of raping Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.

This ... Read review