Sorted on book title (not in series order)
The third Catherine Berlin novel from Annie Hauxwell takes the concept of moving a character out of their comfort zone that bit further. Berlin is one of those unrepentant flawed types. A heroin addict she's prepared to manage the addiction with prescription medications, but she's really...Read more
MOSQUITO CREEK, the first novel from Robert Engwerda is set in 1855 on the northern Victorian goldfields. It's a particularly pleasing experience to read about this area of the goldfields, deep in flood, when we've spent such a long desperate period in drought.
Engwerda has...Read more
My review of RESERVATION FOR MURDER, FACULTY OF MURDER and MAKE-UP FOR MURDER has been posted:
June Wright has faded from view, but in 1948 her novel Murder in the Telephone Exchange outstripped sales of Agatha Christie in...Read more
Lucy, like most women on the precipice of marriage, has spent some time considering not only what her new life might be like when she becomes a wife, but also how it might be to become someone’s daughter-in-law. In order to achieve her happy-ever-after with the lovely Oliver, Lucy must...Read more
It is probably no coincidence that this book is likely to appeal to fans of TV shows like CSI and Law and Order as the author says she is very fond of those shows and the book has a structure, subject matter and delivery which seems somewhat reminiscent of that style of...Read more
MURDER AT THE FORTNIGHT is set in the testing arena of the "theatre" and the arts. Showbiz commentator, Stella Pentangelli is returning from a bit of a "rest" as it's known in the trade, after a stella career as a showbusiness commentator and heavyweight. Inspector Ng is an investigator in...Read more
Originally published in 1970, this title was reprinted in 1991 by Weldon Publishing.
From the book: "When a famous, but hated, movie producer seems to have been killed by the very film technique he claimed to have invented, journalist Peter Cardiman turns detective. The tightly...Read more
In the process of getting the new AustCrime version up and running, I keep coming across books I've not read, or reviews I've forgotten to post. This fell into the later category, how I managed to miss this I'm not quite sure, but that gap has now been filled.
One of the things...Read more
MURDER IN MT MARTHA is a fictional story, inspired by an unsolved 1953 real-life murder in the Mornington Peninsula suburb of Mt Martha. Author Janice Simpson combines the real facts with a range of unconnected contemporary elements to weave a potential solution and create her fictional...Read more
In Melbourne, in 1868, theatre star Marie St Denis dies in the arms of her best friend, up and coming actress, Lola Sanchez. The accepted cause of death is suicide by laudanum overdose, something that Sanchez refuses to believe. Why would her brilliant, much admired, accomplished dear friend do such a thing? But then why would anyone kill St Denis?Read more
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
I love fiction that's set in remote communities, that's obviously written with great affection and experience of those communities - albeit with an outsider's viewpoint. It's obvious that this author has a close connection with, and affection for TI and it's people and the way that the...Read more
This is hardly a new book, being originally self-published in 1886, but it is a really important book in the history of crime fiction. Firstly, it was the best selling crime novel of the nineteenth century - outstripping both Arthur Conan Doyle and Wilkie Collins. It actually pre-dates...Read more
Stay with me here, this is going to get complicated. THE MYSTERY OF THE VENUS ISLAND FETISH is a satirical, comic crime novel set within the realms of Sydney Museum. Written, supposedly by museum curator of worms, Dido Butterworth, the first complication is that the story comes straight...Read more
In Sulari Gentill’s new novel, aspiring writer Theo and her brother Gus become embroiled in increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories. Full Review at Newtown Review of BooksRead more