All the Reviews

The Perfect Girl, Gilly MacMillan

Zoe's fragile mother Maria has done her best to carve out a new life for herself and Zoe with her dynamic new husband after the horrors of the past. Zoe now has a much loved baby sister too. What got Zoe through her incarceration in a youth facility was her desire to continue with the piano.  The concert that she agrees to do at the desperate request of her mother was to be their triumph. The night instead ends in a murder and the nightmare begins again for Zoe. The eyes of everyone are on the one person in their midst who has killed before.

One thing you can't get away ... Read Review

Blood in the Cotswolds, Rebecca Tope

BLOOD IN THE COTSWOLD is an entry in the (somewhat unimaginatively named, it has to be said) Cotswold Series from British author Rebecca Tope.

Central character Thea Osborne and her dog Hepzie house-sit. They do this quite a bit, and in this book they are in the quiet little village of Temple Guiting. Thea's partner DS Phil Hollis is joining them for a quiet, and hopefully romantic, celebration of their first-year anniversary. Of course nothing goes to plan, and Hollis puts his back out, meaning he's on the spot when an upturned old tree reveals a skeleton.

The ... Read Review

Flare Up, Felicity Young

If you take absolutely nothing else from author Felicity Young's Cam Fraser series, then it should serve as a reminder of how important volunteer fire services are in rural communities Australia-wide. Young's background in her local service provides a real-life understanding of the embedded nature of those services, and the affect that they can have on the personal and professional lives of volunteers and their close relationships.

The Cam Fraser series isn't however, just about fire-fighting. It's a police procedural, with a central character who has a personal life, in ... Read Review

Under the Harrow, Flynn Berry

This is a very polished work from a debut author. Nora is quite alone in her new reality despite all the new people she now has to deal with as the investigation into the killing develops. Author Flynn Berry has nailed that sense of being alone in a crowded room, as we see Nora struggles to push on with memories of her sister constantly crowding and infiltrating her new reality. There are moments when you are reading that you will go "oops, nope, we're in the past again" as previous conversations with Rachel shadow Nora in the present. Nora doggedly seeks out and speaks to those that ... Read Review

Cyanide Games, Richard Beasley

Styled as a thriller from the legal world, CYANIDE GAMES introduces Peter Tanner - criminal defence barrister, widower, father. Very much one of the good guys, one of those that takes on a hell of a lot and seems to pull results together despite the odds.

There's some complicated set up underway in CYANIDE GAMES, so a greater part of the book is devoted to what feels like considerable framework construction. Which, given that Tanner is a lawyer, appears to end up involving a large amount of personal investigation, involvement and prodding of various bears with a variety ... Read Review

Norfolk, Noleen Jordan

NORFOLK tells a story that has particular resonance in Australia at present - asylum seekers arriving by boat. The substance of the story is covered by the blurb, but in essence, desperate people quickly overwhelm the idyllic community, and government responses are heavy handed enough to cause revolt. From the early arrivals, and the positive responses of the local people, the plot proceeds in a very straight-forward manner to the difficult situation described.

Along the way a lot of characters are introduced, and expanded well enough to allow readers to follow and stay ... Read Review

A Secret to the Grave, Jane Blythe

Sometimes you just can't shake the idea that an author really doesn't like their characters much. Flaws and troubles aplenty are one thing - but weighing everybody down in a story with just about every possible problem known is another kettle of fish altogether.

We know from the blurb that Detective Parker Bell has just returned to work after shooting dead a killer - which turns out to be somewhat less straightforward than it seems. As does the abduction case he and his partner are handed on his return. A young woman being held, a list of clues pointing to others who will ... Read Review

I'm Travelling Alone, Samuel Bjørk

'Watch out Jo Nesbo!' is printed in a bright red circle on the front of I'M TRAVELLING ALONE. It seemed like a rather brave claim to be making before starting this book, and bordering on rash having now finished it. 

The characterisations are reasonably good. There's a partnership of the highly predictable kind with the sane, placid veteran Holger Munch steering a team of investigators trying to work out who is responsible for the shocking death of very young girls. At his side, by his choice despite her objections, his colleague Mia Krüger is damaged and difficult, ... Read Review

Australia's Toughest Prisons: Inmates, James Phelps

The follow up to a fascinating book Australia's Most Murderous Prison, AUSTRALIA'S TOUGHEST PRISONS: INMATES tells the story of a number of people in prison - for a change not all of the usual role-call of participants that show up in these sorts of books. The definition of "toughest" here is something that's really up to the reader's perception - it could mean hardest to cope with, or most able to cope with dreadful circumstances.

There's something very off-putting about the opening to this book describing the behaviour of Martin Bryant. Perpetrator of one of Australia's ... Read Review