Sorted on book title (not in series order)
According to the famous names quoted on the back of STILL MIDNIGHT, Denise Mina is the crown princess of crime, past winner of the John Creasey Memorial Prize for her first crime novel GARNETHILL. She certainly is a writer that deserves a wide fan base, as she is undoubtedly one of the...Read more
STILL WATERS is one of those books that will stir endless debate on a number of topics ranging from the oppression of women to the motherhood "myth", sexual inequality to co-parenting and the list goes on. Most of what is depicted within the book will strike a chord with mothers, and what...Read more
Normally I'd try to avoid doing this but I feel that I have to declare up front - I did not like this book. Didn't enjoy it for one second - nothing in it was interesting, appealing or even remotely engaging. So having said that, why?
One of the things that appeals to me...Read more
A stay-at-home mother of two small children is feeling trapped in her life. As a successful career woman she was used to being in control, but now she feels that control slipping away. The demands of caring for her children leave her constantly exhausted. She resents the attention her...Read more
The second DCS Fran Harmon book I've read, there is such a lot that that you'd think would make these books unlikeable. Fran is almost too cheerful and nice, she's the sort of person that it's not hard to fantasise about as a victim of brutal crime. Mind you, she's also refreshingly not...Read more
After years away from his hometown of Melbourne, Luke Harris is back on track. All he wants is a normal job, his own house and a dog.
But Luke is a man with a past, where life was anything but peaceful and his skills ran to the dark side. A past not easily forgotten – or forgiven...Read more
It seems, to this reader at least, that there are a couple of main "types" of crime fiction these days. The new, unusual, clever idea stuff that breaks new ground and the tried and tested world of old ground. The problem with the old ground version is that it's sometimes very easy to sound...Read more
This is an earlier book from J.R. Carroll (although later books are thin on the ground now as well), set in Melbourne, where the discovery of eight bodies in the scrub at Kinglake is only part of what is happening. This book revolves around the man in charge of that investigation - Kerry...Read more
A STOLEN WOMAN is the third novel in the Elizabeth McClaine series, and I can't help thinking it would have been much better to have read the earlier novels first as there's some back story here that took some sorting out. In short, Elizabeth McClaine is the custodian of a wealthy...Read more
STONE TOWN by Margaret Hickey follows the story of the central character introduced in her (very good) debut novel CUTTERS END. Senior Sergeant Mark Ariti's moved from the South Australian outback back to his home town of Booralama. Since the death of his mother, he's living on his own in...Read more
Started reading this novella (133 pages or thereabouts) and really did, for the shortest time, wonder what on earth I'd started. THE STONE WĒTĀ isn't your normal enviro-thriller, oh boy is it not your normal enviro-thriller.
"With governments denying climate science, scientists...Read more
Sometimes you pick up a book, start reading, and instantly start wondering what on earth is going on. Yet for some reason, you cannot put the darn thing down. That's exactly what happened for me with STONEDOGS. Mind you, if I'd have read the blurb that states that Craig Marriner is New...Read more
STONE'S FALL by Iain Pears is one of those books that just looks intimidating. Even in paperback it's a great big doorstopper of a thing - 597 pages long. One of those books that you wonder if you can risk reading in bed, what with a tendency to doze off and the potential for blackened...Read more
In a conversation with a well known author of Australian Rural/Regional crime fiction on twitter recently, we talked about the differences between "rural noir" and "rural crime". She clarified the difference between rural crime fiction and rural noir fiction for me perfectly - a projection...Read more
Romantic Suspense and I do not get on so my viewpoint is probably somewhat skewed. I also cheerfully admit to a particularly strong allergy to anything at all that gets all "she's nothing without a man" or "women donning high heels to run through the bush to escape the bad guy". Which I'm...Read more
There are never enough new crime fiction writers and/or novels in Australia every year (okay so I'm greedy!), but there are certainly never enough quite as good as STORM PEAK which is John A Flanagan's first crime fiction novel, and I'm certainly cheering for more.
STORM PEAK...Read more
Petra Woods is the director of the Sydney New Coastguard - a rescue service made possible by the financial support of her childhood friend and now boss of her family bank, Kirsten McKenzie. Both girls grew up on Sydney Harbour and the water and boats are in their blood. Kirsten has a...Read more
Something about STRAIGHT JACKET could make some readers a little uncomfortable. Not the serial killing aspect in this case - although the idea that there is a killer lurking in the bush that inserts itself into the Sydney suburbs isn't a welcome one. Certainly not a killer that sends...Read more
A few years ago I made a promise to myself to catch up on some of the back catalogue lurking around in darkened corners in this place.
Some months I get that right - other months I make a real hash of it and that's to my own detriment.
Although in an odd way,...Read more
The Le Fanu series from author Brian Stoddart is one of those extremely elegant combinations of mystery fiction and historical lesson that also provides entertainment for readers. There's even a bit of good old fashioned romance from the male point of view. In short, there's something for...Read more
STRATTON'S WAR is the first in an new planned series of crime novels featuring Ted Stratton, a Detective Inspector in the London police during the Second World War. This book includes a second protagonist - Diana Calthorp, young, socialite, not long and unhappily married and unexpected MI5...Read more
Another in a long line of amazing family saga novels out of New Zealand, THE STRENGTH OF EGGSHELLS is the debut novel of Kirsty Powell.
A tale of the women of three generations of one family, this novel is the story of discovery, understanding and acceptance.
In...Read more
STRING THEORY is the 2nd in the Guitar Store Mysteries, and the first I've read. Which I think might have been a bit of a mistake. This worked, in that it was fun, a bit silly, and a bit of giggle in places, although it did take me a while to figure out who was who and how it all fitted...Read more
In case you hadn't noticed there's a number of debut novels recently out of New Zealand, often written by authors with a policing or related background, many of them telegraphing potential for interesting things to come. THE STUDENT BODY is Serious Fraud Office investigator Simon Wyatt's...Read more
The Student is fast-paced, dry as dust, gritty Australian regional noir. Full Review at Newtown Review of Books.Read more
I happily went out earlier this week and bought a copy of Sucked In and it took me roughly one day to finish it - and that was an unfair delay - I could have sat down and read it in one sitting. Needless to say the 6th book in the Murray Whelan series (for which we've all been waiting an...Read more
SUFFER THE CHILDREN is the first book introducing DI Will Wagstaffe. A confession early on - I try not to read blurbs on books so the first few chapters referring alternatively to Wagstaffe and Staffe left me mildly confused, a feeling that came back to visit me on a few occasions...Read more
Winner of the 2009 Victorian Premier's Literary Award, SUFFICIENT GRACE is a difficult book to categorise.
Told from the viewpoint of young Ruth, it's a story about life and survival in a brutal climate, in a brutal, bleak, religious community.
Presented...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
Crime fiction with a vampire as the central protagonist, set on the island of Malta. If this sounds like your ... err cuppa ... give it a try.
Jack Sant is a Knight of Malta, a sort of consultant detective keen to solve the country's worst cold cases, and a vampire....Read more