Sorted on book title (not in series order)

#yeahnoir

The Agency, Ian Austin

The opening salvo in what's to be an ongoing series, THE AGENCY introduces the character of Dan Calder. Calder has joined the police force in the UK - following in his father's footsteps. His father had a successful public life and career, although the truth of their home life was very...Read more

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The Alexandrite, Dione Jones

When Pamela, Lady Scawton discovers a stranger dead in the woods near the family home, Ashly House, it triggers a multi-generational, multi-timeline search for the truth. The stranger was carrying an odd stone in his pocket, along with a letter addressed to Pamela's dead husband. Pamela is...Read more

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All Our Secrets, Jennifer Lane

If there is one thing you'll come away from ALL OUR SECRETS with, it's the voice of Gracie Barrett ringing in your ears. It's an impressive portrayal.

There's something very worrying going on in the fictional town of Coongahoola, New South Wales. It's not just The Believers (or...Read more

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The Alo Release, Geoffrey Robert

There are a lot of thrillers these days using environmental issues as the potential threat to the world. It makes a lot of sense that screwing with the balance of nature has some interesting potential when it comes to the villain of the piece as it could be anybody, and the motive is nearly...Read more

Antiques and Assault, Rodney Strong

The fourth entry in the Silvermoon Retirement Village series, ANTIQUES AND ASSAULT is part of what's overall a cozy, fun series, with 98 year old Alice Atkinson at the centre of a maelstrom of murder, vice and goings on that would do more than rock a retirement home - but Alice, and the...Read more

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Aukati, Michalia Arathimos

Author Michalia Arathimos has Greek-New Zealand heritage which is strongly reflected in her novel AUKATI. Set in New Zealand, this is a crime novel based around the scourge that is fracking.

Featuring two main characters, Alexia, a law student with a controlling Greek family,...Read more

Baby, Annaleese Jochems

BABY is the story of a self-absorbed, narcissistic pain of a woman who is judgemental, obsessed by minutia, unreliable, untrustworthy, unlikeable and unbelievably compelling.

Which is quite an achievement when you think about it. Partly it's because the book starts out intense...Read more

The Beautiful Dead, Kim Hunt

Another book from the Ngaio Marsh list of 2021 that feels like the start of a series. This one is set north-west of Sydney, Australia, featuring park ranger Cal Nyx, who finds a badly decomposed body in the bush. Identification shows the body to be that of somebody she once knew, and Cal...Read more

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The Beckoning Ice, Joan Druett

Having never heard of the Wiki Coffin series before, THE BECKONING ICE was an opportunity to read some historical crime fiction from New Zealand that doesn't come along all that often. Part Maori, part American, Wiki is on board the United States Exploring Expedition when a very odd murder...Read more

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Between, Adele Broadbent

As a young adult novel, BETWEEN, is a little firecracker of a story, mostly because Olly is a wonderful character. Grounded, a lot, in the relationship between the slightly naughty Olly, who is constantly drawn to Mad Martha, despite the blanket family ban on contact, the other side of that...Read more

The Birthmark Murders, Janus Lucky

Mikael is a young man, half Finnish, half New Zealander, who never really knew his father, or the story of his mysterious death. In search of answers - about himself as well, he teams up with Pekka Wall, an acerbic editor and translator of famous science fiction novels, as eccentric as his...Read more

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The Blasphemer, John Ling

Up front, the only complaint I've got about THE BLASPHEMER is that the ending came way too quickly. From the opening scenes, when an armed fanatic breaks into the house of, we discover, Abraham Khan and his wife, things just keep moving fast. Much like the cavalcade required to move Khan...Read more

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Blood on Vines, Madeleine Eskedahl

The opening novel in The Matakana Series, New Zealand based, Swedish born author Madeleine Eskedahl has set this story in one of the true gems of NZ locations, one that obviously means a lot to her. Matakana is a picturesque small town, increasingly devoted to wine growing, farmers markets...Read more

Blood, Wine & Chocolate, Julie Thomas

Life growing up in the United Kingdom wasn't a bed of roses for Vinnie Whitney-Ross, what with gangland family connections, childhood friend problems and general law and disorder. Whitney-Ross found himself in the role of sort of reluctant hard-man, but the chance to escape to New Zealand...Read more

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Bold Blood, Lindy Kelly

Lindy Kelly is an experienced eventing rider in New Zealand and she's taken the idea of write what you know to heart. BOLD BLOOD is set deep in the world of horse eventing - although for the author's sake, you have to hope that some of the action in this book is made up!

Dr...Read more

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Boom and Bust, Angus Gillies

In the process of researching the background to BOOM AND BUST I found some information on a trilogy of books Angus Gillies has written about the 1985 to 1990 terror campaign of a Maori sect calling themselves the Rastafarians - in Ruatoria on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island....Read more

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Bound, Vanda Symon

Detective Sam Shephard is back, promoted (no longer a Detective Constable), working in the same squad as boyfriend Paul and still in head on confrontation with the boss, and slightly off centre confrontation with her mother.  Which is particularly difficult as in BOUND Sam's much loved...Read more

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Boy Fallen, Chris Gill

Set in small-town New Zealand, Boy Fallen is beautifully written and elegantly plotted crime fiction.

Auckland Detective Brooke Palmer returns to her home town of Taonga to support her best friend Lana when the body of Lana’s teenage son is found at the base of...Read more

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