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Scrublands, Chris Hammer09/08/2018 - 3:16pmAustralian Rural Crime has arrived, there are novels showing up everywhere claiming this as their sub-genre, and SCRUBLANDS is the one that everyone is talking about. Film rights have been sold, everyone's reading it, most are raving about the book. So having a contrary opinion is obviously going to go down like a lead balloon, but in this case, this reader has to beg to differ. Personally, after reading, SCRUBLANDS, it's staying with me as an airport thriller style novel shoe-horned into a rural setting. A rural setting that has some questionable elements to ... Read Review |
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Dig Two Graves, Carolyn Morwood09/08/2018 - 1:13pmBack when we were all a quite a bit younger Carolyn Morwood had a couple of books out featuring Melbourne based, female, professional cricketer Marlo Shaw (AN UNCERTAIN DEATH and A SIMPLE DEATH). She followed that up more recently with the Eleanor Jones series, set around the time of World War I (DEATH AND THE SPANISH LADY and CYANIDE AND POPPIES). Her latest novel DIG TWO GRAVES has a more contemporary timeframe, and is set in Southern Spain around an artist's retreat / residency. Leaning more towards the crimance sub-genre than the earlier books, DIG TWO GRAVES features ... Read Review |
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Aukati, Michalia Arathimos09/08/2018 - 12:24pmAuthor Michalia Arathimos has Greek-New Zealand heritage which is strongly reflected in her novel AUKATI. Set in New Zealand, this is a crime novel based around the scourge that is fracking. Featuring two main characters, Alexia, a law student with a controlling Greek family, and Isaiah, a young Maori man trying to reconnect with his own family. Cut loose from their backgrounds, and their cultures, they are drawn into the fight to protect Isaiah's Taranaki iwi from the devastation that the fracking is causing. As a protest march turns violent, and the group start to ... Read Review |
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Happily Ever Esther, Steve Jenkins & Derek Walter08/08/2018 - 12:58pmDesigned as a bit of filler behind the story of Esther the Wonder Pig this charming, slightly dotty little book is a) a fund raiser b) a bit more of the true details of life with a rather large pig in the house and c) immensely helpful for those of us with (non-house) pet pigs one of whom is inclined to get a bit "sharky" at certain times of the month. Points to Steve, Derek and all for being so open and honest, and so bloody brave (crazy?) with what they are doing at the Happily Ever Esther Sanctuary.Read Review |
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Take Me In, Sabine Durrant06/08/2018 - 2:23pmFour thriller novels in, Sabine Durrant is already in the stable of authors of whose works I will read no matter what the blurb on their upcoming release has to say. Each book has been just as good as the one before, and Durrant knows exactly what needs to be done in order to pull the reader in close by the end of the very first chapter, if not the very first page. The central premise of TAKE ME IN is an interesting one. The notion of gratitude, and the varying levels of what that can ascend to, comes up often in work and personal relationships. There’s nothing more ... Read Review |
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The Outsider, Stephen King04/08/2018 - 4:41pmOur beloved Uncle Stevie always has many wise things to share with us, his constant readers, and continues to faithfully inserts these pearls into the storytelling matrix of each new novel. Sometimes they may be bashed directly into your psyche and at other times they may merely brush against you in passing but at whatever level of introduction, there will always be a direct appeal to his reader’s hearts at some point. King writes ‘everyman’ like no other. King has an inexhaustible supply of wry observations to dole out via the mouths of his creations and you will find ... Read Review |
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Second Sight, Aoife Clifford01/08/2018 - 2:45pmWhen Eliza Carmody returns to the small seaside town she grew up in, some things have changed, and a lot hasn't. Often the way when you return to the small town of your youth. Carmody's changed a bit though, and this daughter of the local cop, now lawyer, is there as the legal representative of a large corporation, defending a bushfire class action bought by residents of Kinsale, after it was nearly wiped out in a massive bushfire. On the way into town to meet up with an expert witness a road rage incident unfolds in front of her, rapidly spiralling into deadly assault, ... Read Review |
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The Last Escape, John Killick01/08/2018 - 2:04pmReading true crime memoirs written by people you have to think of as career criminals can be a sobering undertaking. John Killick came to fame mostly because of the helicopter escape from Sydney's Silverwater prison aided by his then partner Lucy Dudko, but over many years Killick was well known to law enforcement agencies. He was a bank robber, a scam artist, a petty criminal, a bloody pest who became a violent offender. He's also a father, and a man who now openly admits he made some stupid mistakes in his life. Working now with young offenders in the criminal justice system, he's ... Read Review |
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Hell Ship, Michael Veitch01/08/2018 - 1:22pmCould NOT put this book down and polished it off in a day. Absolutely gripping with great care and dignity afforded to all of those who set sail, seeking a better life for themselves and their families. The research undertaken to write such a detailed work must have been incredible, and it is with this care that Australian author Michael Veitch has written a book detailing of how his great-great grandfather, James William Henry Veitch, first came to Australia and married the woman who saw him through the horror, the stalwart Anne Morrison. HELL SHIP was, if you’ll forgive this, ... Read Review |
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The Sound of Her Voice, Nathan Blackwell29/07/2018 - 4:17pmCop-turned novelist, Nathan Blackwell (true identity hidden due to covert police operations) has written a debut novel, THE SOUND OF HER VOICE, which is intense, unsparing, realistic, brutal and will stay with the reader for a long time. Every year the Ngaio Marsh awards for New Zealand crime fiction throw up an unexpected perspective, something brave and unusual that will set you back on your heels and make you think. For this reviewer, this year, that book was THE SOUND OF HER VOICE. In what's a combination of police procedural, and tragic police perspective, Detective ... Read Review |
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The Other Wife, Michael Robotham28/07/2018 - 4:29pmTHE OTHER WIFE is the latest bittersweet entry in an excellent series that progressively takes a little bit more of your heart with each encounter. And these are crime novels, so that is truly a testament to the author’s mastery of characterization. Creating characters that we are fully invested in will always trump the impact of a complex and clever plot. THE OTHER WIFE is a shining example of both achievements. THE OTHER WIFE serves well as a standalone but if you’ve been on the bandwagon with the rest of us crime readers, you have likely read at least one of the ... Read Review |
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Scrublands, Chris Hammer28/07/2018 - 3:15pmWhat is evident early on to Martin is that the events as reported by a colleague at the time of the shootings are not marrying up with the recollections being related to him now in the present day. For such a remote community, the loss of five of its men was a huge blow and has wrought huge changes in the lives of people used to the world largely only passing through their tiny home town. When two bodies are found in the local dam, the outside world again turns its attention to Riversend. What might strike the reader first is that SCRUBLANDS reeks of authenticity. ... Read Review |
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The Woman in the Woods, John Connolly28/07/2018 - 12:57pmSixteen novels in and are we tired of hearing about the troubled Charlie Parker? No, indeed we are not. He has marvellous entertaining friends too. THE WOMAN IN THE WOODS is brilliant, and its hard to fault at all a series that bundles you so successfully through the emotional washing machine with each novel. At the end of each Parker book we have been through a hell of a ride, and we are inevitably changed. Or at least until the next Parker outing anyway; then we will possibly have even more love and grief wrenched out of us for someone we just want to see toddle happily off on a ... Read Review |
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The Therapy House, Julie Parsons26/07/2018 - 6:14pmKiwi-Irish author Julie Parsons book THE THERAPY HOUSE is an intricate pscyhological observation, interweaving current day crime with Irish history to great effect. Exploring history and crime in terms of it's impact on survivors and/or families and on society in general, THE THERAPY HOUSE is absorbing, chilling, intricate and beautifully written. At the heart of the novel, Garda Inspector Michael McLoughlin is attempting retirement, doing a bit of PI work on the side, but mostly restoring a beautiful old house in the Dublin suburbs - a house that turns out to have as ... Read Review |
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A Scandal in Bohemia, Gideon Haigh18/07/2018 - 11:56amGideon Haigh must like a challenge if the story of the murder of Mollie Dean is anything to go by. There's not a lot known about Mollie - during her lifetime, or sadly about her violent and vicious death. What little is known is gleaned from small clues left behind, a single photograph, some of her published writing, newspaper reporting and extrapolation of the contradicting societies in which she mixed. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA starts out concentrating on those societal aspects. Mollie Dean's life initially took the expected path of the daughter of a respected school teacher ... Read Review |
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The Portrait of Molly Dean, Katherine Kovacic17/07/2018 - 1:53pmLiving in an area that's got more than it's fair share of talented artists, there's something strangely appealing about crime fiction set in the art world. (I'm not implying anything about the people that live here, nor their likelihood of becoming victims and/or perpetrators). But it's a little mined area of interest, and in Katherine Kovacic's novel, THE PORTRAIT OF MOLLY DEAN, it's gold. Molly (Mollie) Dean was a real person, teacher, writer, poet, artist's model and lover of Meldrumite painter and Melbourne art world identity Colin Colahan. (For more on her see ... Read Review |
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The Trials of Minnie Dean, Karen Zelas12/07/2018 - 5:43pmIt is rare, but not unknown to encounter a crime fiction novel in verse. Dorothy Porter's written some of the best examples of this that I've been fortunate enough to read, but I think this might be the first biography of a true crime figure in verse I've come across. Equally beautifully written and wonderfully laid out on the page, THE TRIALS OF MINNIE DEAN is fascinating reading.
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Perfect Criminals, Jimmy Thomson11/07/2018 - 2:49pmThe world sure as hell needs something to laugh at, and it could use a lot more caper novels. Especially ones where things are manic, odd, downright daft on occasions and a bit of just good old fashioned silly fun. With car chases obviously. PERFECT CRIMINALS fits most of those requirements, with just a few minor quibbles. Danny Clay is ex-military, a scriptwriter now, he's a veteran of special operations with PTSD. His best friend, sort of pining love interest, Zan is the Australian born daughter of Vietnamese refugee parents, the girl next door, with a twist. She's scrupilously tidy ... Read Review |
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Murder Most Malicious, Kitty Jackson10/07/2018 - 3:11pmSet in the early twentieth century in mannered and beautiful Dunedin, New Zealand there are plenty of similarities between the stories of Mr Mancini and the delightfully idiosyncratic Hercule Poirot. A cerebral solver of crime, his collaboration with the acerbic Detective Haynes is a nice pairing, and then there is his sounding board, and escaper of tyrannical sisters, neighbour and dog lover. An interesting piece of historical crime fiction, MURDER MOST MALICIOUS is entertaining reading. Great characters, a lovely sense of the time and place, and a good plot into the ... Read Review |
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Death on D'Urville, Penelope Haines10/07/2018 - 11:55amBook One in the Claire Hardcastle series DEATH ON D'URVILLE, the second book STRAIGHT AND LEVEL was released in 2017. Operating out of Paraparaumu airport in New Zealand, Hardcastle is a commercial pilot and flying instructor, which gives the author an opportunity to play with a number of recurring themes including women working in what's traditionally been a male dominated industry, people with the sorts of nerves of steel required to fly and stick their nose into tricky investigations and the complications of dealing with (and being) an alpha personality type; as well as the freedom ... Read Review |