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Death of a Foreign Gentleman, Steven Carroll22/07/2024 - 8:15pmThe first book in a planned series of post-war literary crime novels, DEATH OF A FOREIGN GENTLEMAN by Steven Carroll was released in April 2024. Not sure when the next one is due for release but I'll be standing by for it when it arrives. Set in 1947, in Cambridge England, German philosopher Martin Friedrich is riding his bicycle through an intersection when he's hit and killed by a speeding car, which promptly left the scene. The only clues available to DS Stephen Minter when he is assigned to this case, are a possible partial number plate, an unrecognised driver, ... Read Review |
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Blood & Ink, Brett Adams19/07/2024 - 7:12pmBLOOD & INK is a crime novel about a student that could be writing a crime novel. Or could be planning a range of murders. When his Literature professor Jack Griffen discovers five sheets of paper that the student, Hiero, has written, Jack's not sure which option it is. Until the first event that matches one of the scenarios he's been left. Why would Hiero choose Jack you well may ask? Well Jack's an interesting character, mild-mannered, but coming back from a recent nervous breakdown. His wife divorced him, and she and their adult daughter moved to the USA, leaving ... Read Review |
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Murder by Natural Causes, Helen Erichsen19/07/2024 - 6:29pmBorrowed this one by sheer happenstance from the library in audio format. Turned out to be an excellent choice, as it was different, and cleverly done. MURDER BY NATURAL CAUSES is told in two timelines. In the current day, Cilla is a 22-year-old contract killer, specialising in "dry" killings - murders that are usually declared by natural causes, with no suspicions aroused. Her main source of work is Vladimir Haugr, owner of an exclusive London based bridge club, she does five jobs a year for him, in return for a flat, a retainer and expenses paid. She freelances as well ... Read Review |
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The Queen of Poisons, Robert Thorogood16/07/2024 - 4:17pmTHE QUEEN OF POISONS is book number 3 in The Marlow Murder Club, which is also now a TV series. Not at all surprising, it definitely has a "perfect for TV feeling" to the stories, it's quite good fun, and written by Robert Thorogood, the man behind the Death in Paradise series. The "crime fighting trio" in this series is made up of Judith, a retiree who keeps herself busy setting crosswords for a newspaper, and nude swimming in the Thames that meanders past her ramshackle old mansion. Then there's Suzie, the salt-of-the-earth type dog walker. She has a long standing ... Read Review |
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Dark Arena, Jack Beaumont11/07/2024 - 3:57pmJack Beaumont is a pseudonym used by a former operative in the clandestine operations branch of the DGSE, the French Foreign secret service. He joined them after being an air force fighter pilot, flying special operations and intelligence missions. Needless to say there are a lot of similarities between the author's background and that of his main character Alec de Payns. Not that the expertise is mishandled in this, now, series of two novels. Beaumont has the knack of providing more than enough detail of how missions are conducted, operatives work, and the difficulties, ... Read Review |
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The Shadow Broker, Tina Clough11/07/2024 - 3:50pmSHADOW BROKER is a standalone novel from NZ based author Tina Clough. It's a thriller in style, set in the future, where individual freedoms have been severely curtailed and state surveillance is omnipresent. When coded messages are found on a burner phone, they reveal a shadowy mastermind, who refers to himself as "The Broker", government corruption, and ruthless politics. Based around a group of three friends, who in an unlikely twist of circumstances, discover the messages on a burner phone, which sends them off on a dangerous game of cat and mouse, setting them ... Read Review |
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With Winter Comes Darkness, Robbi Neal10/07/2024 - 3:26pmOn paper this should have been right up my cobblestone alley, but I've been thinking about it for over a week now, trying to identify what didn't quite tick my personal boxes. And this is very much a personal reaction. As with all books, there will be lots of readers for which WITH WINTER COMES DARKNESS ticks boxes, dots i's and crosses all the t's. Set in the 1970's in Ballarat, WITH WINTER COMES DARKNESS is made up of two main story lines. The first is Alice's life and the car accident that turns it upside down. Her handsome, assured, lawyer husband is driving out in ... Read Review |
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Broken Bay, Margaret Hickey09/07/2024 - 3:20pmMark Ariti is back in the third novel in this series, and for the first time, the setting moves from the bush to the seaside. On a short "break" away in the small fishing town of Broken Bay, on South Australia's Limestone Coast, he seems to be approaching it as less holiday, more purgatory. Ariti is not good at aimless, and is acutely aware he's really hiding from his personal life. His partner Rose is about to head overseas to a new job, and Ariti is stuck. Does he go with her to new horizons and adventures, or does he stay in Australia, near his two sons, remaining as a cop in the ... Read Review |
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The Dead of Winter, Stuart MacBride05/07/2024 - 8:38pmHave to admit it, THE DEAD OF WINTER jumped the queues. No apologies, it's by Stuart MacBride, I managed to get hold of it on audio and it is a time in my life where I need a Scottish accent and a bit of sweary mayhem for distraction. Readers of other books by Stuart MacBride will be unable to avoid the obvious comparisons, DC Edward Reekie and Logan McRae / DI Victoria Montgomery-Porter and DI Roberta Steel. The similarities are striking, what with Reekie doing a very good line in sotto voce bitching, put upon following orders, a good range of doing the shit jobs, and ... Read Review |
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Ritual of Fire, D.V. Bishop04/07/2024 - 8:32pmThird in the Cesare Aldo series from D.V. Bishop, RITUAL OF FIRE is set in a time of change for Aldo, his colleagues and his personal life. He's been sent to the Tuscan countryside, hunting thieves and fugitives whilst Florence battles a heatwave, drought and what turns out to be a series of violent murders of rich merchants. Luckily there is a connection between these merchants and the town that Aldo is exiled in, with one of the deaths occuring locally, giving him more than enough reason to insert himself back into Florence and the ongoing investigation. Which is just as well ... Read Review |
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Chasing the Dragon, Mark Wightman03/07/2024 - 5:44pmThe second DI Maximo Betancourt novel, set in 1940's Singapore, CHASING THE DRAGON continues his story in close follow on from the earlier novel - WAKING THE TIGER. This novel could work as a standalone, but as with anything where the focus is on a main character, it's probably best to read them in order to get the full backstory and the reasons why Betancourt finds himself in his current professional and personal situation. The Singapore Marine Police is tasked with policing the docks and waterways in and around Singapore. Which means they are the first port of call when ... Read Review |
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Lies and Deception, Laraine Stephens02/07/2024 - 12:21pmThe 4th novel in the Reggie da Costa series, LIES AND DECEPTION is a nicely twisty tale of the just desserts served up to a serial conman and his accomplices by a determined crime reporter and his ... accomplices. If you're new to this lovely series, set in the early 1920's in Melbourne, Reggie da Costa is the lead crime reporter for The Argus newspaper. He's a very debonair chap, possessed of a very stylish wardrobe, a particularly standout motor vehicle, a recently acquired and, as far as he can see, unexpected and utterly beguiling love interest, and a keen, almost ... Read Review |
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The Fall Between, Darcy Tindale27/06/2024 - 7:34pmTHE FALL BETWEEN is the debut novel from Darcy Tindale, set in the Muswellbrook area, located in the NSW Upper Hunter Valley. The story features Detective Rebecca Giles, who, after some time in the police force, has returned to her home town in no small part because her father, an ex-cop himself, is suffering a debilitating disease. When the report of a missing twelve-year-old, Kayleen Ellis, comes in, Giles has just finished interviewing a petty criminal, known colloquially as Sticky Pete, about the very flashy ring his missus has recently been waving around. As reported ... Read Review |
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Death Leaves the Station, Alexander Thorpe26/06/2024 - 5:28pmThere's a really nice interpretation of classic golden age mystery styling at the heart of this lovely little novel set in the early white settlement period of rural, remote Western Australia. Cleverly balanced between the personal story of Ana, the adopted daughter of the owners of Halfwell Station, and the search for a murder victim whose body she came across in the bush, late at night when reportedly star gazing, there's a lot of intrigue going on here. It's not just the nameless friar who appears at the Station at the time that Ana reports (to the friar initially and ... Read Review |
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Death Holds the Key, Alexander Thorpe26/06/2024 - 3:38pmWhen I read the first novel from Alexander Thorpe (DEATH LEAVES THE STATION) I hadn't quite twigged to the extent that future novels would be based around the itinerant friar figure - but it's now titled the "Itinerant Mendicant" series, and it really makes a lot of sense. He's a fascinating, elusive, all seeing, quiet and perspicacious character, and, because of his position, his look and mannerisms, tailor made to quietly slot into places without suspicion. He's therefore from the school of observant and evesdropping investigators, watching, understanding human nature, and analysing ... Read Review |
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The Company of Rats, Sulari Gentill21/06/2024 - 3:31pmOver at: The State Library of NSW, there's a delightful little short story, IN THE COMPANY OF RATS, by Sulari Gentill featuring a very young version of her redoubtable character Rowly Sinclair, who even at the tender age of 14 was a trial to his family, with all the makings of the kind, generous and decent man he'd become, with an eye for an investigation even then. The story was originally published in Openbook in 2021 ... Read Review |
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Man. Made, Ian Austin21/06/2024 - 3:29pmThis is a tricky one to review. On the one hand I really like this character, and the series has covered some interesting aspects of policing. On the other hand they come with enormous info dumps, none more obvious than the aspects of how and what happens on surveillance jobs in MAN. MADE. Which whilst perhaps useful to know, read less thriller / novel and more manual / information briefing for potential operatives. The series central character is Dan Calder, who worked in the UK police as a specialist undercover and covert surveillance cop (the timeline of the series, ... Read Review |
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Mrs Sidhu's Dead and Scone, Suk Pannu20/06/2024 - 5:21pmWe first came across this character in the TV Series, MRS SIDHU INVESTIGATES starring Meera Syal who is just perfect as the caterer, and amateur eponymous sleuth at the centre of a surprising number of food adjacent (but not necessarily caused by) deaths. (Seems they all stem from a radio series). So finding the audio version of the first of a series of novels by Suk Pannu was a rather happy event, coinciding as it did with a bit of a period craving more amusing listening. On the cosier side, this is lighter in style, but with depth and some interesting insight underlying ... Read Review |
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The Outback Court Reporter, Jamelle Wells20/06/2024 - 4:57pmIt's worth taking a close look at the blurb of THE OUTBACK COURT REPORTER, and keeping the second paragraph in mind when you start to read:
Because emotional whiplash is certainly one way of reacting to the collections of stories here. Whether or not the juxtaposition works for readers is undoubtedly going to have a direct bearing on your experience - it certainly did for this ... Read Review |
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Going Zero, Anthony McCarten13/06/2024 - 4:31pmTechnology based thrillers like GOING ZERO can, sometimes, make this reader wary. Very wary, as the "tech" is often so far off course it endangers teeth and the book's ability to stay in one piece. Not so in GOING ZERO - the tech here might be a tad ropey in places, but the application was so believable, and the potential outcome so engaging, I was happy to let it roll along at, it has to be said, a clipping pace. Basically the idea is that there's a big, high-tech company, run by one of those wunderkind tech bro types - Cy Baxter, although in the background there's a ... Read Review |