Karen
WARNING: This book discusses sexual offences, and the related trial proceedings.
DICE is a debut novel from NZ author Claire Baylis. The subject matter is confronting, not just because it is seemingly based on a real life case, the styling is inventive, and the outcomes devastating, infuriating and searingly illuminating.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/dice-claire-baylis
There is much here that could be declared “standard #ScandiNoir”. The tortured central character with a past that he can't come to terms with and addiction issues that could mean he's potentially very unreliable; weather that is overwhelmingly cold, snowy, damp; and a remote, slightly creepy location for people to disappear from - dead and possibly alive when they vanished. There is also that question of the past, and a woman that Aske loved, lost and his struggle to understand why. These elements combine to create a closed-in, desperate sort of atmosphere in I WILL MISS YOU TOMORROW which is both compelling, and worrying simultaneously. ...
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/i-will-miss-you-tomorrow-heine-bakkeid
... a debut series of linked short stories by NZ born, Japan resident author, Simon Rowe. Mami Suzuki is a hotel clerk, and a part-time private investigator, running her slowly building sideline around the day job, and her mother and young daughter at home.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/mami-suzuki-private-eye-simon-rowe
A psychological thriller with a hefty dose of more than willing suspension of disbelief, THE SAFE HOUSE is one of those bare knuckle roller-coaster rides of a reading experience that may lead to a loss of sleep and a strong desire to avoid anywhere in the bush during long hot summers.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/safe-house-cameron-ward
Billed as a thriller, SHE'S A KILLER a bit more than just that. It's social commentary, a look at outsiders, and, importantly, a chilling insight into what could easily be happening in a few years in a lot of places, with people priced out of water availability, food at a premium, and populations hamstrung by corrupt governments. In fact, now that I write that, it doesn't feel quite as futuristic as you might think.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/shes-killer-kirsten-mcdougall
Another entrant in the extremely quirky, cozy Wyld Enchantment Woods series, ACE POST MORTEM TWIST is another one, as the blurb hints, for fans of non-romantic, paranormal, very cozy mysteries dripping with old lady snark, talking cats, and quirky characters.
Very quirky characters. In this one it's all about a still suspended Fairy Godmother, a rookie henchman who is now a cat due to a magical accident, a wicked queen and a potentially crooked cop. In the frozen kingdom (queendom?) of the Wyld Enchantment Woods.
Very niche. So niche I suspect a new niche as been carved out for it. Despite the sound of this I think it's targeted at adult readers. It's also, I believe, the second in the series, which I've no idea if you could start out with or not. That niche thing.
Regardless of why struggling actor Lou Galloway upped sticks from Los Angeles landing in Mexico, going from attending yet another audition in which he didn't get the job to sitting around in bars with cheap mezcal and no demands, the last thing he expected was to end up at the wedding of the daughter of the infamous crime boss Diego Flores.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/el-flamingo-nick-davies
BLOOD & INK is a crime novel about a student that could be writing a crime novel. Or could be planning a range of murders. When his Literature professor Jack Griffen discovers five sheets of paper that the student, Hiero, has written, Jack's not sure which option it is. Until the first event that matches one of the scenarios he's been left.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/blood-ink-brett-adams
It's a nice series, enjoyable without being silly, funny without losing too much of the thrill of the puzzle, or a sense of real danger and jeopardy. The friendship between the three women is expanding, and as a result, more of their backstories are starting to appear.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/queen-poisons-robert-thorogood
Jack Beaumont is a pseudonym used by a former operative in the clandestine operations branch of the DGSE, the French Foreign secret service. He joined them after being an air force fighter pilot, flying special operations and intelligence missions. Needless to say there are a lot of similarities between the author's background and that of his main character Alec de Payns.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/dark-arena-jack-beaumont
SHADOW BROKER is a standalone novel from NZ based author Tina Clough. It's a thriller in style, set in the future, where individual freedoms have been severely curtailed and state surveillance is omnipresent. When coded messages are found on a burner phone, they reveal a shadowy mastermind, who refers to himself as “The Broker”, government corruption, and ruthless politics.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/shadow-broker-tina-clough
Have to admit it, THE DEAD OF WINTER jumped the queues. No apologies, it's by Stuart MacBride, I managed to get hold of it on audio and it is a time in my life where I need a Scottish accent and a bit of sweary mayhem for distraction.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/dead-winter-stuart-macbride
Third in the Cesare Aldo series from D.V. Bishop, RITUAL OF FIRE is set in a time of change for Aldo, his colleagues and his personal life. He's been sent to the Tuscan countryside, hunting thieves and fugitives whilst Florence battles a heatwave, drought and what turns out to be a series of violent murders of rich merchants. Luckily there is a connection between these merchants and the town that Aldo is exiled in, with one of the deaths occuring locally, giving him more than enough reason to insert himself back into Florence and the ongoing investigation. Which is just as well because his young colleague, Strocchi is struggling. With increasingly complicated multiple murders and the religious fervour building in the city.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/ritual-fire-dv-bishop
The second DI Maximo Betancourt novel, set in 1940's Singapore, CHASING THE DRAGON continues his story in close follow on from the earlier novel - WAKING THE TIGER. This novel could work as a standalone, but as with anything where the focus is on a main character, it's probably best to read them in order to get the full backstory and the reasons why Betancourt finds himself in his current professional and personal situation.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/chasing-dragon-mark-wightman
Mark Ariti is back in the third novel in this series, and for the first time, the setting moves from the bush to the seaside. On a short “break” away in the small fishing town of Broken Bay, on South Australia's Limestone Coast, he seems to be approaching it as less holiday, more purgatory. Ariti is not good at aimless, and is acutely aware he's really hiding from his personal life. His partner Rose is about to head overseas to a new job, and Ariti is stuck. Does he go with her to new horizons and adventures, or does he stay in Australia, near his two sons, remaining as a cop in the small town he grew up in, living in his family home?
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/broken-bay-margaret-hickey
This is a tricky one to review. On the one hand I really like this character, and the series has covered some interesting aspects of policing. On the other hand they come with enormous info dumps, none more obvious than the aspects of how and what happens on surveillance jobs in MAN. MADE.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/manmade-ian-austin
t's worth taking a close look at the blurb of THE OUTBACK COURT REPORTER, and keeping the second paragraph in mind when you start to read:
“Outback Court Reporter is a sometimes funny, sometimes tragic look at the comings and goings on inside the country courtrooms dotted across Australia.”
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/outback-court-reporter-jamelle-wells
Technology based thrillers like GOING ZERO can, sometimes, make this reader wary. Very wary, as the “tech” is often so far off course it endangers teeth and the book's ability to stay in one piece. Not so in GOING ZERO - the tech here might be a tad ropey in places, but the application was so believable, and the potential outcome so engaging, I was happy to let it roll along at, it has to be said, a clipping pace.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/going-zero-andrew-mccarten