by NRB | 12 Apr 2022 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
In John Darnielle’s new novel, a true crime writer confronts the limits of the genre. John Darnielle may be best known as the lead singer of the American indie folk rock band the Mountain Goats, but he is also the author of two previous novels, Wolf in White Van...
by NRB | 22 Mar 2022 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
Set in small-town New Zealand, Boy Fallen is beautifully written and elegantly plotted crime fiction. Auckland Detective Brooke Palmer returns to her home town of Taonga to support her best friend Lana when the body of Lana’s teenage son is found at the base of the...
by NRB | 17 Feb 2022 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
Australia’s leading writer of rural crime fiction, Garry Disher, has been quietly crafting an excellent series set in the dry wheatbelt of South Australia. This latest instalment won the 2021 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction. There are three books now in the...
by NRB | 15 Feb 2022 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
Hannah King’s debut novel is an unsettling murder mystery with a longstanding female friendship at its core. She and I is a detective story with a difference. It is set in Ireland but there are few indications of this, apart from a police officer’s query about...
by NRB | 21 Dec 2021 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
In Tank Water Michael Burge brings a fresh dimension to crime fiction set in small Australian towns. Michael Burge’s debut novel Tank Water is a crime thriller set in rural Australia. Beautifully and vividly written, I read it quickly in one day. And a few weeks...
by NRB | 17 Dec 2021 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
NZ-based Charity Norman’s sixth novel is her second to be shortlisted for Best Crime Novel in the Ngaio Marsh Awards. Taut, tense and cleverly constructed, The Secrets of Strangers is a thriller set in London that explores human behaviour in the high-risk...
by NRB | 2 Dec 2021 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
The ninth novel from Wendy James is a classic page-turning mystery that is both psychologically complex and authentically Australian. Best known as the ‘queen of domestic noir’, James brings a keen understanding of social and political history to her richly layered...
by NRB | 14 Sep 2021 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
Colson Whitehead’s new novel is a story of ambition and the American dream – and heists, shady characters, and corruption. Colson Whitehead deservedly won the Pulitzer prize (and a bunch of other awards) for his previous two novels. Both detailed tragic times in...
by NRB | 2 Sep 2021 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
The fourth book in Robert Gott’s ‘Murders’ series frees its cast from the constraints of the newly formed Homicide Squad and plunges them straight into a baffling case that threatens many of their number. Readers who are new to this series might be fine starting...
by NRB | 19 Aug 2021 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
Nicola West weaves a conspiracy within a conspiracy in her debut crime novel. Nicola West opens Catch Us the Foxes with the protagonist, 29-year-old Marlowe ‘Lo’ Robertson, being introduced to an enthusiastic crowd at the Sydney Opera House: ‘She’s a bestselling...
by NRB | 17 Aug 2021 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
The new crime novel from the author of You Don’t Know Me explores the life of a London street-dweller in a confounding situation. What can you do if you witnessed a murder but the police will not believe you? They have no report of anyone missing, they haven’t...
by NRB | 29 Jul 2021 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
The new thriller from the award-winning author of Call Me Evie and In the Clearing has a disturbing premise. New Zealand writer JP Pomare opens his sinister thriller setting a scene as though it were a movie set — which it will be, shortly. The Auckland residence...