All the Reviews

Not being at all adverse to a big suspenseful thriller I was more than pleased to get my hands on a copy of NZ author Steve Malley's book POISON DOOR.

Even more pleased that I didn't dither around like I'm wont to do and sat down and read it.  There's an awful lot to like about this book.  The story revolves around three main characters - Michelle Swanston, a 14 year old girl who lives a fair amount of her life on the streets - anything to avoid her drug addled mother.  Tommy Knowles is a thug - originally from London he's landed on the shores of New Zealand with a desire ... Read review

Take one gloriously grumpy central protagonist, add that train crash, include a massive snowstorm cutting off a train full of people 1222 metres above sea level in an inaccessible hotel, add a mysterious locked carriage and a group of shadowy unknown passengers, then kill off a high-profile passenger and see what happens.

What happens is that our grumpy protagonist, Hanne Wilhemlsen, ex-police officer, in a wheelchair as a result of being shot on duty, has to work out what is going on before the body count continues to increase.  With no official help from the outside, ... Read review

Yes, yes, I know.  What am I doing reading a book like THE AFFAIR OF THE BLOODSTAINED EGG COSY.  In my defence I used to be quite a SPLASHER (4MA speak for somebody who reads a wide range of crime book "styles") although in recent years I will admit I've moved more and more to the dark side.  But every now and then I like a bit of a splash around in the lighter side of the genre, and I do rather like the eccentric side of the classic English country house sub-genre.  Chuck in a slightly batty Lord; an unflappable Lady; a house with secret passages; a poor cousin / secretary / jolly ... Read review

SHADOW SISTER is the second book translated into English from Dutch author Simone van der Vlugt.  Both standalones, this one is the story of twins Lydia and Elisa, as the blurb puts it - identical in appearance, different in every other way.

Starting out on a particularly dramatic note, the book opens with Lydia being threatened with a knife by one of her students.  From there, and there's really no other way to explain how this book works, except to say that the book is about the events that led up to Lydia's murder.  Each sister has a voice, her own perspective about ... Read review

I suspect we all pick up a book looking forward to what is going to happen.  So normally around page 50 a reader will be getting twitchy if nothing much has happened.  Get to the end of the book and it still seems like you're waiting for something to happen and it's a very frustrating experience.  

Set during the 1889 World Expo in Paris, the Eiffel Tower has just been officially opened and is a massive attraction.  When a woman dies on one of the Tower's platforms, officially she died from a bee sting.  As other people also die supposedly from bee stings, the police are ... Read review

This book was on my Quest List for such a long time until I finally managed to track down a copy (and was subsequently somewhat startled to find it listed on Fishpond NZ!). The reason it hit the Quest List was the premise sounded so fascinating - take a bunch of real life cases, give them to a set of fictional crime writers and see what the "solution" is that they come up with.

Whilst it may seem like a bit of a weird idea on some level (and perhaps somewhat uncomfortable for some readers), the result are really very interesting. Not the least in those stories where the " ... Read review

Think Hercule Poirot in a Sikh turban and the tropical heat of Kuala Lumpur, but add a hefty dose of rumpled Columbo and I think that's the best description of Inspector Singh of the Singapore police that I can come up with.  A MOST PECULIAR MALAYSIAN MURDER is the first in this series from Singapore based author Shamini Flint.

This book is definitely on the lighter side of crime fiction, I'll have to read the next couple that I have here to be able to say if that's an ongoing characteristic, but I'm guessing it's probably exactly where the books are heading.  Whilst ... Read review

We've got this little dog... Jedda is a 3 year old Australian terrier female.  She's short, red-golden haired, extremely independent, determined to the point of obsession, friendly but can switch quickly into extreme bolshie and she is absolutely and utterly incapable of stepping away from an argument.  She's the sort of dog that will continue the fight after she's been physically picked up and carried away from the conflict point.  I suspect if I'd read OVERKILL before we'd got that dog, there would have been a strong case put for naming her Sam.

OVERKILL is written from ... Read review

Susan Hill is probably best known to Crime Fiction fans for her Chatto and Windus series, but THE SMALL HAND is a ghost story with mysterious overtones which would  appeal to anyone who is looking for something which is just simply beautifully written.

A short (and sumptuously packaged) book, THE SMALL HAND is the story of antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow as he takes a wrong-turning one day and stumbles across the derelict old White House deep in rural England.  Curiosity draws him towards the house, and the unmistakable sensation of a small hand creeping into his own ... Read review