Sorted on book title (not in series order)
In 2006 THE CLEANER was released and the opportunity to review it provided this reader with a life-long obsession with Paul Cleave's books (and a sneaking suspicion he was trying to scare me half to death!)
In my review at that time...Read more
Our ancestor once lived close to the
...Read more
house where he was shot. She was at
the river when a man approached
her and offered her some peaches
from a can, but then he attacked her.
The winner of the 2021 Ngaio Marsh Award for Younger Readers, KATIPO JOE is an almost pitch perfect vehicle for older kids (12+) to get some insights into the reality of war, and how identity can come with consequences, and loyalty is hard.
A 12 year old New Zealand boy living...Read more
This review is ridiculously and embarrassingly overdue. The notes for it have been sitting in my queue for way too long, especially as I have always been sorely tempted to gobble read anything by this author as soon as I can get my hands on it. He's one of those authors that knows how to...Read more
THE KILLING HOUR is Cleave's second book - a totally new direction from THE CLEANER, his first book released (at least in Australia) last year.
And what a direction it takes. Our "hero" Charlie doesn't know what he's done. His clothes are covered in blood, there is a bump on...Read more
Fans of MADE TO KILL will already know all about Ray Electromatic, Ada and his line of work. Set in the 1950s, KILLING IS MY BUSINESS is the second in the trilogy based around Ray Electromatic. Part crime fiction, part science fiction, Ray is a robot, Ada is his controlling computer, and...Read more
Alice Atkinson is back, laid up with an injured ankle and mildly bored. When her friend, and fellow resident of Silvermoon Retirement Centre, Owen asks for her help with his wayward granddaughter who has gotten herself into a spot of trouble. Nothing compared to the trouble she's going to...Read more
Third in the Dan Forrester series, we're into classic thriller mode now with this series. Heaps of action, a fast moving, multi threaded plot, this one creates a partnership quickly between Forrester and ongoing series character Lucy Davies that works well. Again we have a couple of main...Read more
J.P. Pomare won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel with his debut CALL ME EVIE. Since then he's carved out a name for himself when it comes to precisely plotted, atmospheric, tense psychological thrillers populated by cleverly constructed characters, designed to keep readers...Read more
The blurb for LAST SEEN LEAVING outlines a particularly interesting concept - high-flying, New York District Attorney, with a happy personal life is struck down by a viral eye infection which renders her blind. Now running a small, suburb based law practice, her ex-fiancée is reported...Read more
New Zealand author Fiona Sussman has created something absolutely remarkable in her blended crime and contemporary fiction novel THE LAST TIME WE SPOKE. Winner of the ...Read more
The Crime Fiction genre is a broad church. Delivery styles, subject matter and purpose can vary wildly from the light-hearted to the darkest noir, from purposely vicious and cruel to accidental and panicked. There's even shades in terms of how or why. Investigation and resolution with all...Read more
In The Legend of Winstone Blackhat, Tanya Moir takes the reader, in a sustained and authentic way, into the world-view of an abused 12 year old. She writes powerfully about a boy, Winstone, (named after a NZ concreting company) who comes from a neglectful and damaging home life....Read more
THE LEWIS PASS is the second book in the Dylan Harper series - the first being THE FORGOTTEN LANDS (I believe aka DEAD GROUND but that needs confirmation - they sound like the same book but it could be a rewrite). Anyway, it's an interesting little series, although it's probably one that...Read more
A debut novel with a very evocative title, LIE DOWN WITH DOGS, is centred around a burnt out, damaged Detective, Kyle Williams. After being shot and losing the love of his life in a disastrous undercover investigation, he's strangely best placed to take on the cold-case murder of two young...Read more
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
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
All novels by Finn Bell have guaranteed two things. Wonderful sense of place, and morally ambiguous characters. As it is with THE LOST DEAD where we have three Maori boys, wanted criminals, on the run, barely one step ahead of the cops and the gangs they have annoyed along the way. There is...Read more
THE LOST TAONGA and A SUITABLE TIME FOR VENGEANCE by Edmund Bohan were both entered in the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards, with THE LOST TAONGA making it onto the longlist. Both these books are from Bohan's Inspector O'Rorke series (six and seven respectively), historical crime fiction set in New...Read more
In Tom Baragwanath’s latest crime novel, Lorraine Henry knows only too well how small towns and close communities are a blessing and a curse.
Tom Baragwanath first introduced ‘Lo’ Henry in...Read more
Obviously one of the most commented on aspects of THE LUMINARIES is the size. Clocking in at 830+ pages this is not a book for fans of thrillers, or fast reads, not just because of its sheer size, but because of the dense nature of the writing and the story. Set in 1866, this novel feels...Read more
Upside, Neil Cross has written some fantastic recent books. Downside, LUTHER THE CALLING has a connection with a TV series which I've never seen. So interesting to see if a fabulous author has written a fabulous book, regardless of whatever's been going on over on the small screen. ...Read more
If you're new to the Judi Westerholme series, it's one of those featuring a slightly older, marginally wiser, female character who's in too deep and doing the two steps forward, one step dance that quite a few of us might recognise. It's a great series, with a believable, slightly manic...Read more
MADE TO KILL is a noir crime novel with all the required elements. Ray is a wisecracking, slightly bitter and twisted investigator, who takes the punches and wears out the shoe leather. Ada, his female sidekick, is the brains behind the operation, with a full-time job keeping Ray on track...Read more
It's always interesting when an author best known for non crime fiction works steps into the genre. The author of A MADNESS OF SUNSHINE is better known for her paranormal romance works, of which there are around thirty New York Times bestsellers.
Fans of crime fiction...Read more
Set in 1920's India, A MADRAS MIASMA takes place in an India that is looking towards independence from the British. With a strong sense of place, culture and time built in, this is debut crime fiction with potential.
The central character, Superintendent Le Fanu is a complex...Read more
The abuse, stalking, and/or terrorising of young women is something we read about in the news these days with depressing regularity. It's always about the consequences, often of events that were downplayed, covered up or ignored by victims and the authorities. What is it about the way women...Read more
Major earthquakes aren't new in Christchurch, but the last really big one left massive destruction, dislocation and death in its wake. As a setting for a crime novel that time and place make enormous sense, giving an author the chance to delve into a society in flux, and the reality of...Read more
The second Jeff Bradley novel from New Zealand author, Thomas Ryan, certainly made me really want to shunt my as yet unread copy of the first (The Field of Blackbirds) up in priority.
A thriller in construction, THE MARK OF HALAM is fast-paced, big-threat, enemies on all sides...Read more
Alan Carter is the author of the Ned Kelly Award winning Cato Kwong series (PRIME CUT won the Best First Award in 2011), but MARLBOROUGH MAN features a new character - UK born, New Zealand based cop Nick Chester and his family.
Chester's had an "interesting" working life -...Read more