Karen
This novel, soberingly based on a true story, is set in the 1830's in England, telling the story of a sensational divorce trial instigated by Frances Dickinson after years of enduring abuse and degradation at the hands of her appalling husband. 18 years old and wealthy when she married Lieutenant John Gells, she soon discovered there was much more to him. A cruel, violent, predatory man he subjected her to years of physical, sexual and mental abuse, spending her money with abandon, whilst preying on their staff, she was kept separate from everyone, hidden away on his family's Scottish estate. Rest of the review on my website.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
I know, what on earth - bridge dwelling monsters, magical toasties, a caffeine-addicted dog, ducks, deadly brewers, superpowered DJs, raging florists, ALL OUT OF LEEDS (book 1) and TROUBLE BREWING IN HARROGATE (book 2), and this reader. Not a match made in heaven. But it's not always about personal taste, and somewhere there will be readers going ... oooo, who is writing this sort of right up my country lane style paranormal cosy fiction?
Kim M. Watt has a number of series along these lines, these being the first 2 books in the DI Adams set, which as at the date of this review has 3.5 entries in it. They are sort of police procedurals, with a hefty dose of overt humour and ... well magic. (Did I mention that the dog, in this case a black dog called Dandy is also invisible. It's not completely weird, Adams can see him). More of this review on my website...
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
The Beaufort Scales Mysteries are another paranormal cosy series from Kim M. Watt - this time with dragons. And tea and cakes, a dodgy water supply, endless rain, a water sprite called Nellie who has vanished, a battalion of furious geese (that one I can get behind, got one of those myself) and a wellness guru.
I mean a wellness guru shows up and you know you're in trouble, unless you've got a dragon who is more than prepared to step in I guess.
You get the picture, this is another series for those that like their crime on the fluffy, crazy side, with hefty doses of tea, cakes, paranormal goings on, water sprites, arch humour, and dragons....
Oh and a bit of a concentration of ladies of "a certain age". Being somewhere in that category myself now I'm not sure whether the recognition is appreciated, or I should take the time to point out that not all of us get to that age, and insist on going fluffy and cosy. Some of us are still listening to heavy metal and punk music and actively engaged in a lot of pointed swearing and glaring.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
I know, what on earth - bridge dwelling monsters, magical toasties, a caffeine-addicted dog, ducks, deadly brewers, superpowered DJs, raging florists, ALL OUT OF LEEDS (book 1) and TROUBLE BREWING IN HARROGATE (book 2), and this reader. Not a match made in heaven. But it's not always about personal taste, and somewhere there will be readers going ... oooo, who is writing this sort of right up my country lane style paranormal cosy fiction?
Kim M. Watt has a number of series along these lines, these being the first 2 books in the DI Adams set, which as at the date of this review has 3.5 entries in it. They are sort of police procedurals, with a hefty dose of overt humour and ... well magic. (Did I mention that the dog, in this case a black dog called Dandy is also invisible. It's not completely weird, Adams can see him). More of this review on my website...
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
I started listening to the audio of this series when it was available at the library, and I felt like something quintessentially "British". These fit that bill perfectly, with central police inspector Stephen Ramsay a laconic, feeling slightly rumpled, divorced cop, new to the area, the force and living on his own in the middle of nowhere. As well as trying to solve murders, he's trying to sort his life out and figure out how to work with a subordinate who seems to resent him, or at least they haven't yet found a way of connecting.
In this example, Alice Parry, seemingly popular, committed to causes in her local village, is murdered in her own backyard on a bitterly cold St David's Eve, in the middle of the night. Only her backyard is a bit unusual, as is her house, and her family relationships with two much loved nephews who are seemingly devoted to her. Except when she's interfering in their complicated personal lives, and, it turns out, her popularity is slightly tainted. Being helpful and deeply devoted to local causes, sometimes can come across as meddling and all is not as serene as it seems on the face of it in Heppleburn.
Nicely done, with a dose of the detective's personal life thrown in to balance against the personal lives of the suspects and the victim. Easy to listen to, with a good narrator's voice, this one is the second in the Inspector Simon Ramsay series.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
This review is by Adam Donnison for AustCrimeFiction
Alan Turing develops a machine he calls Nautilus that can send messages back in time. He uses it to fix a disastrous D-Day that threatens to lengthen the war and see Hitler triumph. Seeing the power and potential, he decides that it can only be entrusted to family. For Alan this means his friend and one time fiancee, Joan Clarke and their son from a fling on VE day.
There is a lot of potential in the idea, sadly unrealised in the text, instead opting for a superficial treatment that is, at least, entertaining if you ignore the obvious flaws.
The unrealistic dialogue also hinders the development, as does the “ministerial briefing” format of the segues between catastrophes. But for me the central point was the complete avoidance of the obvious paradoxes being created. Worse, Nick even mentions that the limits on the machine (cannot send back further than 8 weeks and cannot be used more than once in 6 months) are to avoid paradoxes. Yet changing history by sending messages in the past, after living through that history, doesn’t raise an eyebrow or even a mention of what happens to those in the original timeline.
There are other obvious clangers. For example, when the son is given the secret he upgrades security on the device, and even updates its output from telegram to SMS, yet doesn’t change the input from a morse code key, telling his daughter when it is her time to learn the secret that she must learn morse code. So he is able to create a DNA lock but not add a keyboard?
Just a few pages in the dire dialogue almost stopped me from reading on, however the central idea of the novel was compelling enough for me to continue. Unfortunately by the end I was reading more to find out when, or, as it turned out, if, the paradoxes were ever addressed. Coming from a Science Fiction background and having an interest in quantum physics, this left me completely unsatisfied. Perhaps those expecting a thriller and uninterested in the fascinating possibilities around investigating the time travel paradox would have found it more enjoyable.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
At it's heart, this is a police procedural series, built on great characterisations, with a central theme of the affects of crime that ripple outwards in this community of proud First Nations peoples. There is great strength in the glimpses the novels provide into a way of life, and thinking that is different, and yet not. The novels are built around people from an unfairly oppressed culture who have found pride in who they are, where they came from, and where they are going. Full review of this and the earlier two novels in the series on my website.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
One day I will finally understand how it is that I can find a book in a series intriguing (DEAD CAT BOUNCE in this case), and then completely and utterly miss the existence of the second novel. I mean there's catching the miss and there's waiting 7 or so years to notice the miss...
Anyway, I've finally managed to notice and DEAD HEAT arrived just in time for a short break to catch up on some reading so I bumped it up the list and sat down to revisit Darren Glass, who really does seem to have gotten his act together well and truly. If you don't include being bumped out of Canberra to Jervis Bay, and playing second fiddle to senior Intelligence Officers from the Royal Australian Navy, then there's a bit of dare doing on motorbikes in Central Australia, a couple of dead Royal Australian Navy operators, some drones, a dead Aboriginal woman, a dead Navy sailor, an attack on a highly secure Naval Base, some nukes, a booby trapped culvert, a constantly going missing Aboriginal woman, a Land Rights / come bikie conspiracy, blown up boats, shark attacks, and ... well a lot. It's busy this one. Engaging, complicated, and very very busy.
More on this and the earlier book, DEAD CAT BOUNCE on my website.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
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 oldest friend, Mikael Långberg, the brilliant theatre director who had died many years ago in questionable circumstances, during the final days of a notorious Cabaret production. Officially ruled a suicide, unofficially anybody who knew Mikael Senior did not easily accept that verdict.
In pursuit of the truth, young Mikael, and Pekka dig through (as the blurb puts it) layers of performance, paranoia, and betrayal to discover that the truth, and solving a murder aren't always comfortable bedfellows.
Right from the outset, THE BIRTHMARK MURDERS, isn't a straight-forward undertaking. The author deploys a lot of layering here, wrapped up in huge amounts of cultural and descriptive passages, that lend themselves to more immersive reading that might require an expectation switch on the part of some crime fiction readers. The humour is as dry and dark as you can get, redolent of the cultures that the novel inhabits. The prose is on the long-form side of storytelling, again, fitting with the idea of long, cold winters, hot fires, a glass or two, and some tales being drawn out from dark corners.
It's not the fastest read in the world, and there were some points that this reader, confronted as she is daily by an out of control MtTBR, really wished that a little judicious darling killing had been undertaken, but that's more about me than it is about this book. Once settling into the style and the direction the author was pulling me in, the novel is very different, and very engaging, whilst never pretending to be anything other than what the blurb says it is:
Darkly funny, emotionally layered, and rich with a Finnish atmosphere, The Birthmark Murders is a mystery that dances between satire and sorrow, theatre and truth, love and obsession. Prepare to laugh, flinch, and turn pages late into the night.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
A polarising book, it almost feels like that's a given these days with anyone who makes it onto a Booker list of any kind, there is a dark streak to the humour, and an unflinching attempt at something unsympathetic in many ways, anonymous and disassociating for a reader - connection with the narrator of this story will be hard fought for, and all the more rewarding if you achieve it. More of this review on my website.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
Why I have really enjoyed the audio versions of the first two books of this series (The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first, this is the second) could, on the face of it, look like an even bigger mystery then the central premise of these books, which is a man and daughter who bring to life the food memories of their customers with a few clues and maybe some geographical locations as a starting point. What's less of a mystery is just how thoroughly enjoyable they are, if not slightly annoying because frankly the food descriptions makes me hungry every single time.
Perhaps it's the final part of the blurb that explains this the best "a tender and healing novel that celebrates the power of community and delicious food". There's also something quintessentially "Japanese" about these stories, with their polite restraint, their rejoicing in food, and their acknowledgement and awareness of the subtle differences in flavour, culture and tradition. It's perhaps that which appeals the most to this amateur foodie who takes coeliac disease and vegetarianism as a challenge, rather than a limitation. It's the idea of the challenge, the tracking down, the testing, tasting and finageling of memories into recipes, of connection to past and good and difficult memories, that makes sense in any culture, but feels just like the sort of thing that fits right into Japanese sensibility.
The audio version, narrated by Hanako Footman, is a pleasure to listen to, and highly recommended as a lesson in, if nothing else, menu Japanese (who knew I'd been pronouncing Wasabi so incorrectly for so very long).
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
The fourth book in the Cormac Reilly series from Irish / Australian author Dervla McTiernan, has a series of strange deaths in bogs near Galway as the central focus, with a sideline in Reilly trying to find an Irishman missing in Paris, and some potential career changes for him and his closest team member as secondary threads.
New readers to this series might find that THE UNQUIET GRAVE will work fine for them, the backstory to all the main characters is filled in nicely, but if it's possible to have read the series in order, then you're going to have a much better grip on the ups and downs of the professional and personal of this group of cops, their friends and families.
Full review on my website.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
LIKE A BULLET is the third novel in The Paperback Sleuth series from author Andrew Cartmel, also known for his Vinyl Detective Series. Having now read one from each of these, the overriding aspect of these novels is a slightly over the top humour that is going to be perfect for some readers. And confuse and possibly annoy the hell out of others.
There are, apparently, also a lot of crossovers of characters in both series, so whilst it's not completely necessary to have read any of the earlier books from either set, it would perhaps help a little to have read some of the earlier Paperback Sleuth ones, because the central character here, Cordelia, is someone to be going on with.
The idea behind the series is that Cordelia specialises in tracking down rare paperback novels for fans who have a lot of money and no idea / desire to do the job themselves. She has special contacts and ways and means of finding these little gems, starting out combing charity shops and jumble sales, but not above a spot of nefarious dealings and burglary to get her hands on her much desired prizes. All of which seems to always come with a hefty dose of wrong target, very big bother, when it comes to parting owners from their much prized books. And some quite surprising ill-gotten gains along the way.
To be fair, it's all a bit of high-silly fun, and some of the supporting cast, like her landlord Edwin and his dog, are lovely characters. Cordelia, on the other hand, is a more tricky undertaking, bordering on unlikeable, which will mean that new to the series readers might be wondering just who she thinks she is. But remembering this is high humour, almost farce, that humour will either work. Or not. For this reader it kind of did, and then it all got a bit too much, and two one armed men and a few seriously silly names later, and I was mildly annoyed, and more than a bit confused by how or why or how anyone would want to spend any time at all with a bibliophile who is mostly just in it for the cash. Although, to be fair, she's not above a very decent gesture if you're in this book to the end.
Definitely one for fans of a very tongue in cheek brand of humour, with hefty doses of farce and some very uncomfortably understandable threats on the life of The Paperback Sleuth.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
TRIGGER WARNING: Addresses foster and orphaned children and child abuse, as well as animal abuse - see expansion below.
The second DI Nyree Bradshaw novel from Catherine Lea, this is a police procedural styled series that is strong on character and sense of place, and no slouch when it comes to plotting and personal complications for its characters.
BETTER LEFT DEAD is an interesting tale based around the death of an eccentric hoarder Lizzy Bean. Lizzy seems to an bit of an unknown in her local area, although there are a lot of people who have a problem with the build up of rubbish and junk around her house. A house which is located in a pristine, sought after area, with views overlooking Northland Bay. Needless to say how she ended up in this house, in this place, is something that Bradshaw's team have to dig to discover, and along the way, they find an intricate series of connections to the past, a dangerous crime syndicate and a kidnapped woman, and, particularly sadly, a group of ex-foster children haunted by their pasts.
More of this review on my website.
Originally posted at www.austcrimefiction.org.
An historical mystery that mixes fact and fiction, THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE is set in Adelaide in late 1948. It's a story about female police officers built around the factual case of the Somerton Man, a notorious tale that has captured much speculation for many years until recently solved (with the decidedly non-edgy revelation of a missing Australian man whose disappearance went unremarked upon for many years).
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/woman-who-knew-too-little-olivia-wearne
Sherryl Clark is an author with a keen eye for a fascinating central female character, and Lou Alcott is one out of the box. A Melbourne based Private Investigator with a prominent organised crime figure for a grandfather, she's a disillusioned ex-cop with a major attitude when it comes to domestic violence perpetrators.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/woman-missing-sherryl-clark
Don't be put off by LIARS by James O'Loghlin. It's a biggish book at 464 pages, but it fills that size admirably. Engaging, addictive, and intriguing, it's small town setting is used to build a complex story, with personalities, connections, backgrounds and people that are anything but.
https://austcrimefiction.org/review/liars-james-ologhlin
Everyone, and I mean everyone, has always said that the first two books in this excellent series - (this one, and COCKROACHES) are at best to be avoided. Whilst I'd definitely agree that they probably don't serve as the greatest introduction to what Harry Hole became in later books, they do fill in some of the backstory of who he is, how he got to be there, and what happens when you take him out of his snowy, cold comfort zone.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/bat-jo-nesbo
Another one where connection to the main character, Kat Frank, is going to really impact the reader's experience of this novel. If, for any reason, the potential for science fiction is intriguing or off putting, at it's heart, IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, is more on the emotional, case driven, team building, fragile police investigating awful bloody people end of the scale. And there is a second in the series planned.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/blink-eye-jo-callaghan
This reader found it an interesting, frustrating, unexpected ride. On the one hand fast paced, intriguing and engaging. On the other, I had to restrain a physical reaction to some of the plot twists that had me eye-rolling and sighing more than a bit. There were points where I couldn't put the novel down, and there were points when I wanted to pitch it against the nearest wall. From memory, a similar reaction to the author's earlier novel, and maybe that's the point.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/no-one-will-know-rose-carlyle
Watched Sam Neill's appearance on the ABC's version of “The Assembly” at the same time that I read this most unexpected, delightful, memorable memoir from a man who does tongue in cheek really well, but can never quite hide the humanity, kindness and thoughtfulness of the true self. An unusual sort of timeline in that it does take you down some of the expected pathways of memoir - childhood, growing up in various countries, the move to New Zealand, his family life, his acting career, his love of wine and so on. Interwoven with that, is unsurprisingly, the cancer diagnosis he now deals with. It's funny, it's touching, poignant, and then it's funny again. It's meandering and gentle, it's self-deprecating and without ego. It's as real, and as lovely as he seems to be himself. That appearance of his on “The Assembly” was outstanding in a field of incredibly memorable interviewees. The book was a gift.