GARRY DISHER Mischance Creek. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Senior Constable Paul Hirschhausen and his small community are once again put to the test in the fifth of this outstanding rural noir series. Paul Hirsch is out and about on his huge, drought-ridden South Australian beat doing firearms audits. Checking that guns are...
MICHAEL ADAMS They’ll Never Hold Me. Reviewed by Tom Kelly
A charismatic criminal, corrupt cops, and the brutality of Grafton Gaol – the story of Kevin John Simmonds is more than compelling true crime. In 1959 most people in Australia would have known the names ‘Simmonds and Newcombe’. They were the two prisoners who...
JENNIFER TREVELYAN A Beautiful Family. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Jennifer Trevelyan’s debut novel is both a coming of age story and a mystery full of secrets set within a 1980s New Zealand beach holiday. All sorts of things might have happened to the girl’s body after it had drowned, Kahu said. It might have been carried out to...
SUZANNE DO The Golden Sister. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Set on the Australian coast, Suzanne Do’s first novel is both a murder mystery and a story of grief, family and connection. Lili Berry is in her twenties, and her world is a mess of anxiety, dysfunction and pain. Compounding all her day-to-day problems in the...
KELLY GARDINER and SHARMINI KUMAR Miss Caroline Bingley Private Detective. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Gardiner and Kumar give Caroline Bingley a larger and more exciting role than she ever had in Pride and Prejudice. Caroline Bingley’s unpopularity in Pride and Prejudice stems largely from her behaviour and motivations, which clash with the values celebrated in...
FIONA HARDY Unbury the Dead. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Melbourne author Fiona Hardy has broken very different ground with her crime fiction debut Unbury the Dead. Hardy is well-known in crime fiction circles as a Melbourne bookseller, crime fiction reviewer and, more recently, an award-winning author of children’s...
KATE KEMP The Grapevine. Reviewed by Sally Nimon
Psychologist Kate Kemp’s debut novel opens with blood spatters and goes on to unravel the secrets of a suburban street in 1970s Australia. The time is 1979. The place (namely Warrah Place) is suburban Canberra. It’s summer and the heat is oppressive, disrupting the...
ASHLEY KALAGIAN BLUNT Cold Truth. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Set amid the ferocious cold of a Canadian winter, Ashley Kalagian Blunt’s new novel continues her exploration of the threats of life online. In her debut novel, Dark Mode, Kalagian Blunt dug deep into the murky world of stalking and the personal toll of...
CATHERINE JINKS Panic. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
In her new novel, Panic, Catherine Jinks provides a timely take on online mobs, conspiracy theorists, and sovereign citizens. Bronte is a young woman who, along with most of her generation, records pretty much everything about her life online. One drunken rant,...
MARTINE KROPKOWSKI Everywhere We Look. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Martine Kropkowski’s debut crime fiction delves into the devastating consequences of the epidemic of violence against women. Melissa, Bridie and Cassandra are friends, bonded over the sorts of things that connect young mothers – pressure, expectation, exhaustion and...
MARK SMITH Three Boys Gone. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Mark Smith’s first novel for adults is both a psychological thriller and an exploration of a shocking moral dilemma. Mark Smith, a Victoria-based educator, is best known as the author of the critically acclaimed YA Winter Trilogy and If Not For Us, a very enjoyable YA...
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