The reader might remember I said something about things stabilising at the end of June. More fool me. This newsletter is late for a bunch of IRL reasons which I won't bore you to tears with. Onto the book chat instead.
Reviews
This month's reviews were a very different bunch. Dividing them up into rough categories, starting out on the darker side there was the excellent, high octane, extreme violence with a sense of humour about it High Rise by Gabriel Bergmoser, then the less funny but excellent introduction to the brilliant Sean Duffy series - the novella God's Away on Business by Adrian McKinty another short, sharp, punchy styled story. Then the confrontational gem that was Dirty! by Taliyah Stone part of a series of three novellas - well worth pursuing.
In the category of "not what you'd expect" Happy Woman by Abby Corson. Really enjoyed her first book The Concierge with similar themes being explored here. This next one - Stay Buried by Jane R. Miles was atmospheric, with a very unusual premise explored in a very interesting way -- although maybe should have come with a warning for those of us prone to claustrophobia. Against Their Will by Karina Kilmore was action apace, again with a slightly unusual approach to confrontational subject matter. Then a police procedural with a well balanced heft of personal Hooked Up by Fiona Sussman and continuing with the personal theme, but nothing like Hooked Up was Sisters in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami. Finally, from the cosies pile Tea and Cake and Death by Gareth Ward & Louise Ward and What Rhymes With Murder? by Penny Tangey. These are similar (sort of) in style but the different subject matter will appeal to different sorts of cosy readers.
Just Finished Pile
The finished reading pile has a couple of entries on it that are making me feel very smug (although I shouldn't because these are RIDICULOUSLY overdue), but I finally finished The Ledge by Christian White and have now caught up reading Parrot Heaven by Jessica Howland Kany. I also charged through The Picasso Ransom by A.T. Prewett and listened to A Plot to Die for by Ardal O'Hanlan (lots of driving needless to say). Other than that - a lot of the books that were reviewed were also recent finishes. Once this newsletter is out of way - more reviews to be caught up with.
According to Hardcover - my stated aim of 100 books to be read in 2026 is at 69 which is ahead of schedule so there's that.
Current Reading Pile
The current reading pile is as weird and disorganised as ever with Cold River by Margaret Hickey sneaking up the queue and I noticed there's a new Shelley Burr book (Shot) out soon so that's going to have to sneak into the list somewhere sometime soon as will her earlier ones I've still not caught up with!
#NextUp
This grouping is still more than a bit random as I'm juggling a lot of priorities at the moment but if we put it in the groupings:
#Library(WhatWasIThinking)
A Spy in the Blood by Paul Warner
#FeelingGuiltyAbout
Just about everything at the moment....
#NgaiosSubmissions
To be fair these are ones that I want to get back to, having done a read through already now.
A Man Called Box by Tina Clough (2026 Ngaio's), The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney (2026 Ngaio's) and The Birds Began to Sing by Jeffrey Buchanan (2026 Ngaio's)
#NudgedToRead
Red River Road by Anna Downes and The Writers Retreat by Victoria Brownlee
#ReallyWantToRead
#NetGalleyReads
She Lied First by Dinuka McKenzie (highly likely to be the next up book).
Upcoming Releases
A brief taste of the things I noticed, added, found, am wanting to read badly.
This time back in 2020's a new series, the Detective Liz Moorland books started being released and of course I missed it completely. So I've added Last Known Contact and Lest Bridges Burn by Phillipa Nefri Clark to the lists to have a look. There was also The Unearthed by Lenny Bartulin released in 2023 I missed that one as well (which is particularly mortifying because I really love his work).
From 2025 (and obviously missed completely by me!) comes The Palazzo by Kayte Nunn, The Worst Thing I've Ever Done by Clare Stephens and The Long Night by Christian White (which had been on my library list but I've now purchased a copy).
From this year, the following releases by month now.
January 2026:
The Last Encore by Rebecca Heath (someone who I really should be doing a catch up read of all their work, and yes I'm aware that there are a LOT of names in that particular list) and A Spy in the Blood by Paul Warner (which is a UK release but I'm reading it now because I kind of like the occasional spy thriller as a bit of a palate cleanser)
March 2026:
The Drowning by Fiona Lowe (another author on my needs to be caught up with list).
June 2026:
The Yacht by Kayte Nunn (which is part of the reason that I twigged that The Palazzo was one I'd missed). There was also one I've already read now The Picasso Ransom by A.T. Prewett - really enjoyed Marc Fennell's 4 part FRAMED on the TV, and having some age adjacent understanding of the opening line of the blurb it did queue jump, a lot. Finally, For All the Dead Girls by Sherryl Clark which is the second in a new series from this rapidly becoming a favourite author
July 2026:
A couple first up that were instant purchases when I saw them: The Rising by Whitney Fitzsimmons and Cold River by Margaret Hickey who is totally in my favourite author's list. Nautilus by Nick Croydon is out now as a sequel to The Turing Protocol which readers might recall received a very chequered response. The third in the New Zealand based series - The Bookshop Detectives: Murder and Mojitos by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward is also out now, just as I've caught up with the second. Then a depression era novel with the notorious Sydney brothel owner of the title in the cast of characters - The Diamonds of Tilly Devine by Jackie French. The Mortons by Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld was another purchase on sight, based on the blurb alone, whilst De'Ath Takes a Holiday by Shaun Micallef is one I've had two attempts at reading, both thwarted by time pressures of other books - it's back on the borrow queue at the library so hopefully third time lucky. She Lied First by Dinuka McKenzie is actually next up on my to be read list, and high to shouting on the wish list is The Lineup by Nicholas Timms and Reckonings by Louise Jordan with a bushfire being something on all our minds right now (not looking forward to this summer one little bit).
August 2026:
The Guilt Toll by Liz Lukavic has a very intriguing plot at the core of it, and jostling at the top of that wish list is Just Like the Night by Michael Caleb Tasker. On the pile also is Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins just to make the next up list that bit more difficult.
September 2026:
Penitent by A.W. Hammond (the blurb on this one makes it sound really good and this author always brings something interesting to the list!). Full Circle by Chris Hammer is a standalone thriller from this prolific author. Meanwhile three books that seem to have a lot of noise about them building are In Plain Sight by Robyn Dennison, The Girl in the Story by Shaeden Berry and The Cruise by Naïma Brown.
October 2026:
Shot by Shelley Burr is one on my desperately want to catch up with list whilst Dark Days Hotel by Anna Downes will be much anticipated by fans of her work (and we all should be).
November 2026:
Another favourite author - another anticipated upcoming release - The Writers' Room by James O'Loghlin,
December 2026:
(December being listed already ---- insert shudders and sighs as appropriate ---), but this month will see the final instalment in the Jack Harris series which is a bit of a disappointment as it's been a really good what's now going to be a trilogy The Switch by P.A. Thomas. Also expect to see the release of River City by Troy Henderson and In My Next Life by Sarah Smith looks like it's one for lovers of stories about family tensions.
New Acquisitions
Courtesy of a gift voucher I had a little bit of a buy up this month... which of course I really really needed to do - what with no books to read in the house....
Starting out with a couple from a new favourite - Korean fiction, most of which was fantasy for a change, I scored Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum and Marigold Mind Laundry by Jungeun Yun.
Not forgetting Japanese fiction, I got the first two books in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - Before The Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe, as well as Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Of the locals one that was partially for himself (captain of the local CFA) Sirens by Martin McKenzie-Murray piqued our interest when it was first released, whilst Ghost Cities by Siang Lu is probably more his cup of tea as well. Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth has been on the list for ages as has The Long Night by Christian White, and not local at all, but a favourite musician / writer for many years Just Kids by Patti Smith.
From the UK this time, in a series I've quite enjoyed A Twist in the River by Stig Abell and The Bestseller by Jenny Knightsby. From France No Room at the Morgue by Jean-Patrick Manchette (I couldn't resist the blurb on that one) as well as the three books in The Paris Crime Files series Irène, Alex and Camille by Pierre Lemaitre.
From Scandinavia - and Finland first The English Speakers by Agatha Zaza, and from Sweden such a treat to finally get my hands on The Room in the Ground by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
Tedious Spammers Alert
As mentioned in this blog post Tedious Spammers Alert some loser is using a gmail address that includes "austcrimefiction" in the handle along with various numbers and other things, pretending to be me offering partnership or cooperation agreements. Remember these things only exist because some people engage with them. Block them if you can. Report them if you can. Wish them to the deepest darkest corners of hell if that suits you.