Sorted on book title (not in series order)
The indefatigable Miss Phryne Fisher returns to solve what may be her most puzzling murder.
Set in Bendigo, Victoria, it was interesting to read the acknowledgements / author's note on this one because it definitely read like...Read more
The Crooked House sits on a snowbound cliff at the remote northern tip of Japan. A curious place to build a house, but even more curious is the house itself - a maze of sloping floors and strange staircases, full of bloodcurdling masks and uncanny dolls. When a guest is found murdered in...Read more
A collection of eight different short stories, many of them past prize winners, all of them featuring crime and women from differing viewpoints.
Journalists, police officers and private investigators are some of the occupations of the different central characters. Perpetrators...Read more
Before any rumours get started, when I read MURDER IN THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE many years ago, it wasn't quite as far back as 1948! No idea where that copy sadly disappeared to, but the book was one of those Golden Era, mostly by female author's books that got me started on a life long love...Read more
June Wright is one of the early writers who forged a way for the current vibrant Australian crime fiction scene.
Unfortunately the crime novels of June Wright have been largely forgotten and unavailable for many years. That situation is now being rectified,...Read more
There are a lot of reasons why I move heaven and earth to get hold of a Philip McLaren book when I hear there's a new one in the offing. Firstly, as you can probably pick from the synopsis above, there's a very dry, understated wit in McLaren's story-telling style. He's also writing about...Read more
In the previous book in the long and much loved Phryne Fisher series, DEATH IN DAYLESFORD, author Kerry Greenwood felt it was time for the younger members of the Fisher household to do some investigating of their own. Not surprisingly Ruth, Jane and young Tinker turned out to quite the dab...Read more
Latter day Australian Pulp Fiction at it's best, Murder is Never Pretty... is, well hilarious.
Part of the attraction is that it's 100% true to the style and phrasing of the pulp writers of bygone times - but it's all set in current day Perth - dare one say the mean and dirty...Read more
I'll be honest - I was keen to read this book because of the similarity in timeframe for its writing to that of Fergus Hume's The Mystery of the Hansom Cab - and because of Shane Maloney's excellent introduction to the book comments that Adam's made no particularly literary claims for this...Read more
Phryne Fisher returns in her 20th mystery, and one gets the distinct impression that the singer in Ms Greenwood has had issues with choir conductors in the past. But that's not the only thing that really stood out in MURDER AND MENDELSSOHN.
Fans will, as always, find Miss...Read more
First few chapters - what on earth am I doing reading this.
Next few chapters - okay I'm getting this, this is .... different.
Next few chapters - what do you mean you want something ... can't you see I'm busy.
Why do I keep hearing Henning Wehn's...Read more
Set 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...Read more
It's been a long time since I caught up with Phryne and her household of adopted daughters, faithful retainer, dedicated companion, cook and exotic lover. Part of the reason for that was the feeling that it was all a little same old same old. What I did find with MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER...Read more
The most elegant investigator returns in her seventeenth escapade to investigate an apparent suicide and a missing heir. The start of 1929 is particularly wearisome for the plucky heroine as a heatwave has hit Melbourne with a vengeance. It is so hard to think when one is so hot – but think...Read more
Quirkly written tale of 1870's gold rush New Zealand, with more than enough parallels with local history to make this believable and entertaining reading. Central character Gordon Trembath, is a young, inexperienced police constable, stuck with being the only one on duty over the Christmas...Read more
If there's one thing I'm a huge fan of it's dialogue that's realistic. Crisp, authentic and realistic. That and plots and the behaviour of characters that are consistent.
MURDER ON DISPLAY is obviously based sort of loosely (very loosely in some parts) around true events in the...Read more
Laid back as the residents of Euganean Hills environment may be, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to blow-in, and investigative journalist, Riccardo Ranieri who has tense, nervous and put-upon down pat.
Starting out reading MURDER ON THE 18TH GREEN, there...Read more
MURDER ON THE BRIGHTON EXPRESS is the fifth in the Railway Detective series and it’s easy to see why the series is popular. Colbeck is a progressive and broadminded man; a rarity in Victorian times. It is easy to visualise the Victorian world that the author Edward Marston has chosen for...Read more
The opening chapters in the night club gradually build the tension. It is going to end very badly for someone, but who? This makes compulsive, page-turning reading. Once the victim is revealed, the book shifts to a slightly slower pace as the detectives go about unravelling the case. This...Read more
I suspect we all pick up a book looking forward to what is going to happen. So normally around page 50 a reader will be getting twitchy if nothing much has happened. Get to the end of the book and it still seems like you're waiting for something to happen and it's a very frustrating...Read more
Less a full review, more of a note to self to keep track of this series because it really is extremely good fun. Robert Thorogood is the author behind Death in Paradise, and now the...Read more
Second in the Smiley series - this is another one of those sets of books that I waited too long to revisit. As mentioned in my review of the first novel, it was the tone and style of Le Carre's narration of AGENT RUNNING IN THE FIELD that tweeked my interest and when listened to in that...Read more
Syd Fielding is on a fishing trip when he hears a horrifying scream ... What he doesn′t yet know is that a young man is being fed to a saltwater crocodile.
So begins MURDER AND REDEMPTION, an absorbing crime novel which follows in the traditions of Jon Cleary and Peter Temple....Read more
2011 was an interesting year in Australian Crime fiction with quite a few excellent debut books appearing. In 2012 we've started off with the release of MURDER AND REDEMPTION by Noel Mealey, another debut, another book set in outback Western Australia, and another book aiming for a...Read more
The third book in the Audrey Murders series, THE MURDER TRAIL is set in a very picturesque location in the far north of New Zealand. Audrey owns a beautiful holiday cabin property perched on a rural mountain top. She's been unlucky in love and she's a serial killing psychopath.
...Read more
Sulari Gentill has never pulled her punches when it comes to putting Rowly Sinclair in a spot of peril, and it turns out that she's even prepared to do that retrospectively. In the process she makes the idea of being a scion of this particular landed gentry family a rather sobering prospect...Read more
MURDER WITH THE LOT is set in the fictional Mallee town of Rusty Bore, featuring Cass Tuplin, fish and chip shop owner, mother, and self-appointed private investigator. The story is told all from Cass's viewpoint, a viewpoint which is somewhat skewed towards a ... how should we put this...Read more
There is a lot that I liked about this book. Not your traditional "crime story" it's probably best to flag it as a mystery. The mystery builds right from the start with the brutal massacre of an entire family - except for one. When that one orphan, now a man home from the war, returns to...Read more
Opening Sentence: "...BlackWidow has entered the room..."
PD Martin's second novel is simply amazing. It is so chillingly plausible it leaves you feeling very uncomfortable. Most internet users belong to some sort of online discussion group or forum. Many of these...Read more
There is much to like about MY HUSBANDS LIES. We have an intimate view over the shoulders of four people who thought that they would be together forever, but in reality, time has been gradually easing them apart. It’s a long time for a group of school friends to stay at this level of...Read more