Sorted on book title (not in series order)
LIFTING is one of those books that is charming, slightly eccentric, sad, happy, and wonderfully engaging. Set primarily within the walls of the oldest department store in New Zealand, Wellington's Cutty's is an institution that's been marked for closure. Non-New Zealander / Wellington...Read more
I've always been a bit of a fan of whydunnit's, and LIGHTSEEKERS intrigued right from the moment it arrived with the line in the blurb "He's an investigative psychologist, an academic more interested in figuring out the why of a crime than actually solving it.".
Dr Philip Taiwo...Read more
LIKE A BULLET is the third novel in The Paperback Sleuth series from author Andrew Cartmel, also known for his Vinyl Detective Series. Having now read one from each of these, the overriding aspect of these novels is a slightly over the top humour that is going to be perfect for some readers...Read more
Margie Orford lists, among many other activities, that she does Advocacy work for a Rape Crisis group in South Africa, so it's not very surprising LIKE CLOCKWORK looks very closely at the horrific consequences of rape and extreme violence against women. Because of that there's nothing...Read more
Perhaps I should start by saying I didn't have any problem at all with IN THE WOODS - not how it ended, not that there were unresolved issues. To my mind it made everything much more realistic. I know that in real life there are things which...Read more
LINE OF SIGHT by Western Australian based writer David Whish-Wilson, uses the real-life murder of brothel madam Shirley Finn as the basis for his fictional murder of Ruby Devine (hat-tip to Tilly perhaps?)
In the fictional version the facts of Ruby's murder are extremely...Read more
The third book in the Hawthorne & Horowitz series (it's meta - you can find out more about all of that at reviews of THE WORD IS MURDER and THE SENTENCE IS DEATH), sees...Read more
The Hanne Wilhelmsen series from Norwegian author Anne Holt is fabulous, even if it is being translated out of sequence. Which means in THE LION'S MOUTH, Wilhelmsen, who doesn't make an appearance until later in the novel and is not the central investigator anyway, is also walking around....Read more
I've enjoyed the Lachlan Fox series, but I will admit to having read them way out of order. That doesn't seem to have mattered until LIQUID GOLD, which had me more than a little befuddled, and I'm suspicious it might be because I've missed the book immediately before it in the series. ...Read more
I've read all but one of this series, all out of order, and in different formats - this time THE LITTLE SPARROW MURDERS was available as an audio book via the local library which worked out brilliantly. The narrator (Akira Matsumoto) was extremely easy to listen to, used a non-grating...Read more
LITTLE WHITE LIES is a debut novel from Ian McFadyen - drawing on most of the classic elements of the small English village mystery, combined with some elements of a classic police procedural.
Steve and his family have moved away from his big city policing job, to a small...Read more
Tapping into the guilt of parents everywhere who have all had their days where it simply went to hell on public transport, Little White Lies is a novel about repercussions, regret and the tangled webs we weave.
The life of the White family moved on, as it had to, after the...Read more
There are times in life when you just need something frivolous, fun and slightly tongue in cheek. Australian readers are lucky to have the Cass Tuplin series from Sue Williams to fulfil that need.
The tongue in cheek bit is the important thing to remember when it comes to Cass...Read more
LOKAHI'S TRIANGLE and KANALOA'S BETRAYAL are book 4 and 5 in the Detective Reef Kahili series respectively. Set in Hawaii these books are about as close to a travelogue love letter to a location, it's people and it's culture that crime fiction can get without forgetting to be crime fiction...Read more
To be honest, I'd read Ken Bruen's to do list, shopping list, just about anything he writes. (I live with this odd fantasy that his to do list would be terse, pointed, poignant, unapologetic, tense and yet hilarious... but I don't get out much and my mind tends to wander into odd places...Read more
London Rules might not be written down, but everyone knows rule one.
Cover your arse.
Regent's Park's First Desk, Claude Whelan, is learning this the hard way. Tasked with protecting a beleaguered prime minister, he's facing attack from all directions himself: from...Read more
The Lone Child focusses on character development, imbued with sadness, longing, regret and loss.
Following on from her stunning debut novel, What Came Before, Anna George has created another claustrophobic and compelling...Read more
A short story, THE LONELY AUSTRALIAN OF THE ASIAN NIGHT packs a punch in a few pages. With the proviso that you're going to be spending some time in the head of a deeply miserable bloke - one who was a boxer, a grafter and a bit of a loser to be honest. In Melbourne, in his teens, he'd been...Read more
LONELYHEART 4122 sees the introduction of Miss Lucilla (Lucy) Teatime to the mayhem that is Flaxborough and the series is all the better for her presence.
Originally published in the late 1960's, this is a time of matrimonial agencies (and is now a good time to admit I was...Read more
A standalone novel from the author best known for his Bob Skinner series, THE LONER was a real surprise package.
Styled as an autobiographical account of the author's friend, journalist Xavier (Xavi) Ailsado, THE LONER is partially the recollections of the central character,...Read more
Claustrophobic, atmospheric, dark and insular, THE LONEY is part psychological thriller, part literary character study, and one of those books that is hard to categorise.
The central narrator of the book is a young boy who is forced, yearly, to endure an odd religious...Read more
It’s a bit daunting knowing that in order to try a new-to-you series author (that everyone else raves about), a reader faces ploughing through quite a long back catalogue. It was good news to discover that the award-winning author Ann Cleeves has created a fresh protagonist for this brand...Read more
Barry Weston's debut novel THE LONG CON, brings Queenslander and ex-cop, now PI, Frank Cousins to the mean streets of Hobart in search of a client, good pizza, a lot of booze and coffee, and with a bit of luck, Detective Sharon Becker. In the aftermath of The Fitzgerald Inquiry into Police...Read more
A summer of relentless heat. A local surfer named Ray Carlson is found dead in a house not far from Portsea back beach. There’s a silver-handled kitchen knife deep in his chest, and blood everywhere.
Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer is scarcely back from extended leave, and still...Read more
The start of what one selfishly hopes is a long series, THE LONG GAME, introduces readers to Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer. She's back at work after a traumatic incident, working with her old homicide partner Charlie, accompanied by her service dog, the gorgeous Harry, who helps her handle...Read more
THE LONG GLASGOW KISS is the second book from Craig Russell featuring Lennox, Canadian raised, returned soldier, Private Investigator who dances a fine line between the law and the gangsters. Glasgow in the 1950's is controlled by the Three Kings, dangerous men who have divided up the...Read more
LONG WAY HOME was released in 2014 and quickly garnered a lot of very positive comments. At which point it was placed on my reading list and then never quite nudged it's way to the top. Nothing to do with it at all, rather a propensity to be useless at prioritising books and the sudden...Read more
THE LONG WEEKEND is the debut, self-published crime fiction novel from Victorian based author Terry R. Barca. Set in inner Melbourne, using the beautiful Windsor Hotel as a backdrop for most of the action, it features recently retired / newly married Sam and his wife Scarlett on a relaxing...Read more
A Thriller, LOOK CLOSER, is set in London against the backdrop of British Politics, but the scenario could be played out in any similar democracy.
When Will Fletcher's journalist girlfriend Amy is badly wounded in an assassination attempt on the likely next PM, nobody even...Read more
Where LOSING LEAH begins is a country mile from where it ends up and that is all to the good.
Causing a disturbance at a truck stop is a distressed traveller, Chris Hills, who claims that his wife Leah has vanished. It was planned to be only a brief stop for the couple who...Read more