End of April update in which, happily, again there are quite a few new / upcoming releases listed in a two part newsletter. Click here for the Other Places listing.
Reviews
On the review side of things, I finally found some notes I'd been frantically searching for so there was a bit of a catchup on #YeahNoir novels in particular. You'll find mentions of The Night Belongs to Her by Justin Warren, Girl of the Mountains by Trish McCormack, Lie Down with Dogs by Syd Knight and A Place to Bury Strangers by Grant Nicol, as well as catchups on a couple of Anne Cleeves novels The Sleeping and the Dead and A Lesson in Dying.
I'm just getting going on a Caimh McDonnell catchup as well, starting out with the one from the Dublin (not a) Trilogy - Fortunate Son and one from the McGarry Stateside series - I Have Sinned.
The more up to date list includes What You Don't Know by Sandi Wallace and then from the embargoed list which I'm kind of up to date with now - No Good Deed by Katherine Kovacic, Redbelly Crossing by Candice Fox and Three Reasons for Revenge by Dervla McTiernan. That list will expand next month as I have a few very enticing things from Netgalley on the queues at the moment.
Just Finished Pile
The just finished pile didn't grow as much as I was hoping over Easter - the weather here is unseasonably hot and dry (well I say unseasonably but it's been this way for years now), so reading time lost out to dealing with other stuff time. I have however managed to read and review What You Don't Know by Sandi Wallace and Three Reasons for Revenge by Dervla McTiernan, and from the 2026 Ngaio Submission List read The Strength of Old Shale by Kirsty Powell, The Girl from Sarajevo by Stef Harris, Bella Donna by Jill Johnson, Lucky Thing by Tom Baragwanath, The Bookshop Detectives: Tea & Cake & Death by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward, Three Dogs, Two Murders and A Cat by Rodney Strong and Hooked Up by Fiona Sussman.
Current Reading Pile
The currently reading pile includes A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan (which I have been slow savouring), Honey by Imani Thompson and What Rhymes with Murder by Penny Tangey
#NextUp
This grouping remains a bit random as I'm juggling a lot of priorities at the moment but if we put it in the groupings
#FeelingGuiltyAbout The Ledge by Christian White and Parrot Heaven by Jessica Howland Kany
#NgaiosSubmissions
Empathy by Brian Walpert immediately and then The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney
#NudgedToRead
Red River Road by Anna Downes and The Writers Retreat by Victoria Brownlee
#ReallyWantToRead
Happy Woman by Abby Corson and Out On the Ice by Grant Nicol
#NetGalleyReads
Hero by Patricia Wolf, Later, Only Love Remains by Leah Swann and Against Their Will by Karina Kilmore
Recent Arrivals / Upcoming Releases (Australia / NZ)
This section, as always, includes new and upcoming releases, and acquisitions.
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Wed, 04/01/2023
ISBN: 9781867250319
You should leave the past in the past ... or should you? A vividly told, jaw-droppingly twisty and wholly engaging story about the consequences of discovering the truth. For readers of Sally Hepworth, Nicola Moriarty and Adele Parks. Olivia is hiding from vicious media and online scrutiny in a remote Tasmanian house when an unknown man knocks on her door, seeking Pippa, a woman who once lived there. His father, Jeremy, has died, leaving behind a letter for the unknown woman. Olivia wants to help, but can she risk revealing her own sordid past and exposure...Read more
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Wed, 03/01/2024
ISBN: 9781867250333
No matter the cost ... After a brutal attack and the breakdown of her marriage, life has taught former TV star Remi Lucan that it's safer to not rely on anyone. Instead, she's buried herself in Hobart, transforming her dilapidated sandstone house back to its former splendour, and it has been her proudest achievement. Better than her short-lived acting career. Definitely better than being a smile-on-command trophy wife. But when she runs out of money, her wealthy ex-husband tries to force the sale of the property and Remi realises her only option is to lower her defences...Read more
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Sat, 01/03/2025
ISBN: 9781460717349
'There's always someone whispering about something.' On a small island off the coast of Scotland, an isolated community is grieving. Eighteen-year-old Alan Ferguson was found at the foot of the lighthouse - an apparent suicide. DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to investigate. A raging storm keeps them trapped on the island for five days. And the locals don't take kindly to mainlanders. Read more
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Sun, 01/03/2026
ISBN: 9781760995232
Devon, 1929. Members of the Pedhurst and de Reve families gather to hear unpopular matriarch Julia Pedhurst (née de Reve) read from her late husband’s will. One of the houseguests is fighter pilot Fred Willets, now an inspector in the Kalgoorlie Gold Squad, who has come to the UK as a beneficiary of the will. When Aunt Julia dies before the reading, and another death follows soon after, everybody in the manor house is a possible suspect. It is up to Willets, assisted by the bright young pharmacist Prudence Meadows, to crack this whodunnit.Read more
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Tue, 14/04/2026
ISBN: 9781761356698
There’s nothing more dangerous than someone who remembers who you used to be. At a secluded beachfront mansion on Kangaroo Island, three wealthy couples gather for a weekend of partying and luxury indulgence. But beneath the glitter and excess, deep rivalries and explosive secrets fester between the old friends. When they wake to a shocking murder scene, they are gripped first by fear, then by suspicion. With ferry services suspended due to a storm, the survivors and the killer remain trapped on the island together. Read more
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Tue, 21/04/2026
ISBN: 9781761350368
Never underestimate a tea lady. Sydney, 1968. When a popular local man is murdered, police are quick to pin the blame on his glamorous model fiancée, who has since disappeared. But Hazel suspects a criminal cover-up and rallies the tea ladies to investigate; a quest that brings danger right to her door. Meanwhile, Merl’s long-buried family secret threatens to unravel her carefully constructed life. When she stumbles on evidence that her detective son-in-law is corrupt, she’s forced to swallow her pride and reunite with the other tea ladies,...Read more
Series Name: The Tea Ladies No in Series: 4
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Tue, 28/04/2026
ISBN: 9781761152986
Gwynne Hogg is an enviable woman – until she discovers her beloved dad is a serial killer. As her dad’s decades-old secrets finally catch up with him, Gwynne struggles to reconcile the man she trusted most with the crimes he’s accused of. She tries to process it all while keeping the wheels of her ‘normal’ life turning. That means caring for her depressed mum, enduring the stares of other parents on the nursery run, and showing up for clients at her PR firm, all under the relentless gaze of the media. Read more
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Tue, 28/04/2026
ISBN: 9781761822513
New graduate Fei Fei Chou is an outlier at her prestigious law firm.
She's too quiet.
She wears too much makeup.
She’s only here because the boss has a thing for Asians.
But Fei isn’t here to climb the corporate ladder – she’s here for revenge. Read more
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Tue, 30/06/2026
ISBN: 9781761427848
Old rivals become new adversaries in the explosive new installment of the bestselling Logan Booth series. Retired assassin Logan Booth is ready to settle down after surviving a war that almost destroyed his life – but Jacinta Murphy, the President of the United States, has other ideas. Paranoid he will expose her past mistakes, the President sets off a chain of events that drive Logan to Colombia and into the middle of an old war. Read more
Region: Australia
Publication Date: Tue, 30/06/2026
ISBN: 9781761472800
When careers counsellor Suze and her family are evacuated from their home during a bushfire emergency, she suddenly realises they're being kidnapped. The van crashes and Suze thinks it's the end. But she wakes up two weeks back in time. No one else remembers the terror that came before. Is it all in her own mind? Then it happens again. And again. Read more
Region: Australia
Publication Date: 30/06/2026
ISBN: 9798895651599
:
TRUE CRIME / The Butcher of Aberdeen explores the chilling true crime story of Katherine Knight, delving into a life shaped by childhood trauma, violent relationships, and a relentless descent into madness. A mother living in a small country town stabs her partner to death thirty-seven times before decapitating him, skinning him, and serving up slices of his cooked flesh at a table set for his children. The Butcher of A Story of Sex, Madness, and Murder is a shocking tale of childhood trauma, volatile relationships, and a descent into madness. Read more