CHRIS HAMMER Silver: extract
This week our extract is from Chris Hammer’s second crime novel, Silver. It again features investigative journalist Martin Scarsden, who readers first met in Scrublands where – among other things – he fell for the beautiful Mandalay Blonde in the small Riverina town...
KIRSTEN ALEXANDER Riptides. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Kirsten Alexander’s second novel evokes 1970s Queensland as it explores the fallout of a tragedy. In her acknowledgements at the end of Riptides, Kirsten Alexander touches on the difficulties she faced in writing about her home town: Anyone who grew up in...
SUJATA MASSEY A Murder at Malabar Hill. Reviewed by Ann Skea
A Murder at Malabar Hill is the first instalment of Sujata Massey’s crime series set in 1920s Bombay featuring lawyer Perveen Mistry. Bombay, February 1921. Perveen Mistry is about to enter Mistry House, where she works as a solicitor in her father’s law firm....
JP POMARE In the Clearing. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
The author of the bestseller Call Me Evie returns with a chilling story inspired by the real-life cult The Family. In a small town in rural Victoria, amid oppressive heat and the threat of bushfire, Freya lives the life of a single mother, raising...
ADRIAN MCKINTY The Chain. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
Adrian McKinty has won multiple awards for his crime novels featuring Belfast detective Sean Duffy. With The Chain he moves into new territory, producing a flat-out thriller. This is one hell of a ride. If you’re looking for a book to keep you up and turning the...
JP POMARE Call Me Evie. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Who is Evie? JP Pomare’s taut debut thriller has already been shortlisted for crime writing awards. A man holds a young girl against her will. She bolts, reaching the front door of the house, but the man catches up and drags her back inside. He forcibly...
SIMON BECKETT The Scent of Death. Reviewed by Louise Mentor
Simon Beckett’s new thriller takes his Dr David Hunter series into sinister territory. Instantly immersive, this gripping new addition to the bestselling David Hunter series by Simon Beckett focuses on the discovery of a partially mummified body in the...
NGAIO MARSH and STELLA DUFFY Money in the Morgue: The new Inspector Alleyn mystery. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
It’s 84 years since Dame Ngaio Marsh published the first Roderick Alleyn novel. Now he’s back, in a crime novel outlined by Marsh during the Second World War and completed by Stella Duffy in 2018. Dame Ngaio Marsh was a New Zealand crime writer and theatre...
LEE GOLDBERG Killer Thriller. Reviewed by Lou Mentor
This second book in Ian Ludlow action series by Lee Goldberg takes us deep into a global conspiracy, never skipping any opportunity for cheap kills, expensive thrills and slapstick laughs along the way. Following on from True Fiction, Ian Ludlow once again stars as...
DERVLA MCTIERNAN The Scholar. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
This second novel in the DS Cormac O’Reilly series cements Irish-born, Australian-resident Dervla McTiernan as one of the up and coming stars of crime fiction in both countries. DS Cormac O’Reilly of the Garda was introduced to readers in the highly...
BRIAN STODDART A Greater God. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
Superintendent Chris Le Fanu is back in his familiar territory of 1920s Madras. In this fourth instalment of the police detective series that began in 2015, Brian Stoddart remains on top of his game. In Stoddart’s previous book, A Straits Settlement, Le Fanu had been...
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