GARRY DISHER Consolation. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
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...
MICHAEL BURGE Tank Water. Reviewed by Mary Garden
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...
WENDY JAMES A Little Bird. Reviewed by Kim Kelly
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...
ROBERT GOTT The Orchard Murders. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
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...
NICOLA WEST Catch Us the Foxes. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
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...
IAIN RYAN The Spiral. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Inventive and brutal, there are good reasons why Iain Ryan’s third novel is being talked about. It’s fair to say that thrillers come at the reader of Australian fiction at a pretty hefty rate, and it’s hard to avoid some familiar story elements, e.g....
DERVLA McTIERNAN The Good Turn. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
The Good Turn continues Irish-Australian writer Dervla McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly crime series, which has become a firm favourite in a very short time. For those that are new to Cormac Reilly’s story, he’s an Irish Garda officer with a messy professional...
KARINA KILMORE Where the Truth Lies. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Shortlisted for the Unpublished Manuscript Award in the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Karina Kilmore’s debut has got a lot of Australian crime fiction fans talking. She was slipping away. The further she fell, the closer the clouds seemed to come....
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...
Autumn Giveaway #4
No, you can’t ever have enough books, whatever Marie Kondo says. Here’s your chance to win all four of these titles in our fourth big Autumn Giveaway. To go in the draw, simply email editors@newtownreviewofbooks.com.au with ‘Autumn 4′ in the subject...
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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