Karen

The second novel in the cosy, chatty BOOKSHOP DETECTIVES series, TEA AND CAKE AND DEATH sees intrepid bookshop owners Garth and Eloise sniffing out a prolific poisoner ahead of a fundraising event - the Battle of the Book Clubs. Most of the actual sniffing is done by rescue dog Stevie, with Garth and Eloise sticking to the more traditional form of detecting, with a sideline in gossip and bookshop owning duties.

Set in the small New Zealand town of Havelock, for those new to this series, Garth and Eloise are ex-UK coppers, now bookshop owners (the shop is called Sherlock Tomes), who are developing a rather major sideline in lurking baddies, murder and chat. The first outing introduced all of the main characters, and gave readers a really strong feeling for the style of this series, this second one, reintroducing a serial killer from the UK and Eloise's past with, it has to be said, somewhat startling reach. And a mouse called Basil.

So heftily on the cosy side - the chatty, all around the houses cosy side - one of those novels that the journey is very much the point, with the destination seeming to come as a bit of a side project. It's probably worth noting that the authors of this are bookshop owners in their own right, so you can't help but think a lot of the in jokes, observations, and day to day is pretty well spot on - and for what it's worth, all sort of seems to fit into the slightly airheaded stylings of this story. I mean Stevie the dog is one thing, but Basil the mouse might be a subplot too far for readers who aren't here for the fun, frivolity and slightly tongue in cheek goings on.

Definitely one for fans of cosy, and the sort of humour that comes with a slight sense of self-aware, celebratory dottiness.

DIRTY! is the second novella in the Bloodline series, BANG! being the opening salvo. It's a series that might not have to be read in order, but would certainly benefit from doing so - the central characters are the same, the storylines follow on, and the themes are as dark as they could possibly be, with DIRTY! ramping that up just a bit more.

Events in BANG! bought bikie, but bewildered and surprisingly compliant, Toby into contact with Jen. This novella takes Jen's story, in particular, forward, but not in a way you'd expect from the background of murder, bikie gangs, drugs and organised crime. Jen's been using her older sister's identity, as she's underage for most things she's been involved in, including marrying Toby in a quickie ceremony in a small country town, after they both fled Perth in the wake of the murder at the centre of the first story. It's not just Jen's identity that's under question though, she's not at all what she seems - manipulative and cold as ice, she's utterly psychopathic.

Jen grew up in a reasonably normal suburban family in Melbourne. There's no particular reason why they would spawn a daughter quite like her - one who went from stabbing her younger sister repeatedly with a compass, to working her way across Australia in brothels, a wild child with a distinct facility for violence, but a preference for manipulation and control. There's questions about the death of a man in Kalgoorlie where she was working, before she arrived in Perth and set her sights on Toby, an easily manipulated young man, perfect as a foil, and a way into a dangerous lifestyle. Where Jen thrives - a lot more than Toby it has to be said. There's something frighteningly ruthless about Jen though - and when her younger sister falls in love with Toby, and finds herself pregnant to him, Jen's reaction is not what anyone expected.

DIRTY! is a short sharp, and very clear-eyed foray into manipulation and extreme antisocial tendencies with the less expected scenario of a young woman being the case study. Jen is, as the blurb puts it, a monster wearing, eventually, the mask of a mother, and this story really gets into some potentially challenging areas for readers to contemplate. Particularly when you consider there is a third planned outing in this series. The ruthlessness of Jen, with what seems like a complete lack of triggers, reasons, motives, justification for why she behaves as she does is particularly sobering - that whole idea of whether somebody can simply be born evil, or it's down to circumstances / conditioning. It's both fascinating and utterly repellent, presented as it is in these novellas - short, sharp, pointed and as cold and clear as you'd imagine Jen would be if you were unfortunate enough to come across somebody like her in day to day life.