All the Reviews

FORBIDDEN FRUIT is the 5th book in the Corinna Chapman series by Australian author Kerry Greenwood (probably best known for her Phryne Fisher series).  These books are set in modern day, inner Melbourne, are also on the cosier end of the scale.  There are enough elements that coincide in both series to make fans of one feel somewhat comfortable in the other.  Having never read any of the earlier books in this series, though, I can't comment on whether FORBIDDEN FRUIT is particularly representative, so I comment on it in isolation.

Corrina is a woman who has turned to ... Read review

The thing with reading a book like MY LIFE by Roberta Williams seems to be, to me at least, to remember that this isn't "yet another book about the Gangland Wars in Melbourne".  It's a book about a specific person's life.  In that I'm not reviewing her life, I'm reviewing a book she wrote.  

So I came to this book with a number of requirements in mind - did it feel like an honest portrayal of her life?  Was this an attempt to put a positive spin on her involvement with some of the most well-known criminals in recent Melbourne history?  How much did she know about what was ... Read review

Craig Russell is best known for his series of novels featuring Hamburg based detective Jan Fabel, but LENNOX is (it is reported) the first in a series of neo-noir styled novels, this one set in Glasgow, post World War II.  Lennox is a Canadian ex-soldier who bears the psychological and physical scars of a brutal war, left with a skill set that makes him an ideal player in post-war, corrupt, grimy, dirty, mucky, violent Glasgow.  Organised crime is establishing itself and at the centre of machinations are identical twins, Tam and Frankie McGahern.  When Tam is murdered Lennox is "hired ... Read review

Remember when you were a kid and The Adventurous Four, The Famous Five and The Secret Seven were just the ticket for an exciting read (okay so you have to be of "a certain age" for that to apply), but I still remember how satisfying those books were.  An adventure, a puzzle that had to be solved - by a bunch of kids of a similar age to yourself, all done and dusted and home in time for tea.  Many a person "of a certain age" will attest that these books were the ones that got them started on a life-long love of reading.  Perhaps that's partly because they were so easy to identify with ... Read review

Somehow the format that worked so well in "The Murder Farm" doesn't seem to have quite the same impact in ICE COLD. Whether it's because of the story of that the novelty of the unusual format isn't as fresh, I'm not sure.

Perhaps it was the blurb on the book jacket which asked the question, "but is he really guilty?" It is a question that maybe leads to false expections about the ending. I found myself none the wiser at the end of the book than I did when I first opened it. It could be more the fault of the publicists and powers that be who decide what goes on the blurbs ... Read review

I often wonder why authors get involved in True Crime writing.  Surely there must be a component of it that's just soul destroying.  Writing about the sad, mad, bad, idiot, evil, opportunist criminals who commit the most senseless acts.  Then again, there are a lot of us that read True Crime.  I know there's all the analysis of "why" - the voyeurism, the thrill, readers getting a glimpse into a world that luckily most won't ever experience first hand, the readers searching for the why behind so many acts.

OUTSIDE THE LAW 2 fits into the middle of the three current OUTSIDE ... Read review

Caro Ramsay's second book - SINGING TO THE DEAD - has a lot to live up to. ABSOLUTION was just a fantastic book, with a particularly brave ending. That ending means SINGING TO THE DEAD starts out looking back to some of that story, and with a need to shift the focus to many of the lesser characters from the first book, as well as introduce new ones.

The disappearance of two seven-year-old boys starts an investigation which finds itself stretched to the limit when a house fire turns into a full-scale murder hunt as well. Then another seven-year-old boy disappears and this ... Read review

DEAD-END ROAD is third novel Detective Harry Mason novel from South African author Richard Kunzmann - the earlier books are BLOODY HARVESTS and SALAMANDER COTTON.  It was the first of this series that I've read, and I'm not sure that was necessarily a wise move.

It's been a couple of years since Harry's last outing and since then he has joined the elite Serious and Violent Crimes unit.  They have been assigned to the investigation of the slaying of a minor politician and his family in a township west of Johannesburg.  Unsolvable, until a tip sends the unit in pursuit of a ... Read review

BORN OR BRED? began life as a book to tell Bryant's mother's story. However, unhappy at what the authors wanted to do, Carleen Bryant quickly pulled out of the project. By that time Wainwright and Totaro had become fascinated into trying to find if there was something in Bryant's past that would explain in inexplicable.

They spoke to neighbours, friends, family, teachers; anyone who knew Bryant and his family willing to talk, trying to shed light on the man.

All are interesting; some are revelatory. Probably the people who come closest to giving us an ... Read review