tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82739118838565802002024-03-18T20:17:53.419+10:30MYSTERIES in PARADISEWhy <b>MYSTERIES?</b> Because that is the genre I read. <br>Why <b>PARADISE?</b> Because that is where I live.<br>
Among other things, this blog, the result of a 2008 New Year's resolution, <br>will act as a record of books that I've read, and random thoughts.Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-42906413935592874072024-02-11T14:36:00.001+10:302024-02-11T14:36:52.255+10:30Review: VANISHING POINT, Pat Flower<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.dymocks.com.au/Pages/ImageHandler.ashx?q=9781862542921&w=&h=570" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="373" height="320" src="https://www.dymocks.com.au/Pages/ImageHandler.ashx?q=9781862542921&w=&h=570" width="209" /></a></div>this novel first published 1975<br /></li><li>this edition published by Wakefield Crime Classics 1991</li><li>ISBN 1-86254-292-9</li><li>209 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/vanishing-point-by-pat-flower-and-pat-flower-9781862542921">publisher</a>) </p><p>Cruel, egotistical Noel, a thistledown, a cheap balloon whisking willy-nilly away from the piercing, deflating needle of her fine judgement.<br /><br />Geraldine needs to keep her cool through the highs and the lows, but it's maddening when Noel keeps missing the point.<br /><br />The trek up north was gruelling, yet every plant and bird she saw, every sweaty, purposeless mile she crossed, convinced her that they were made for each other.<br /><br />Back home in Sydney, when there's still a gap between them, he has to be made to see.<br /><br />The Wakefield Crime Classics series revives forgotten or neglected gems of crime and mystery fiction by Australian authors. Many of the writers have established international reputations but are little known in Australia.<br /><br /><b>additional blurb</b> (<a href="https://saperebooks.com/books/vanishing-point-pat-flower-australian-thrillers/">Sapere Books</a>) - more revealing (almost a plot spoiler)<br /><br />When Geraldine Blaine embarks on a gruelling expedition through the remote Cape York Peninsula with her husband, she hopes it will be the trip of a lifetime.<br /><br />Noel is becoming ever more emotionally distant … and, she suspects, unfaithful. Perhaps a holiday is just what they need?<br /><br />But Noel never wanted Geraldine on the trip in the first place, and amidst the simmering menace of the wilderness their threadbare marriage swiftly begins to unravel.<br /><br />When Noel delivers the bombshell that he’s returning home early, in defiance Geraldine stays behind. But when she finally returns home to Sydney, her husband is more indifferent than ever — and clearly infatuated with beautiful young Nerida Jessop.<br /><br />It’s the final straw for Geraldine – and as her obsessive love turns to murderous rage, she’s driven to terrible extremes…<br /><br />In flight from the consequences of her actions, she finds herself journeying through the unforgiving Peninsula once more. But as her new travelling companions turn against her, Geraldine’s about to learn that some secrets aren’t so easy to bury…<br /><br />Why is her new travelling companion, Jim Oates, so hostile? And why are he and the mysterious Ralph Turner so interested in Geraldine’s past?<br /><br />And as the net begins to close in on her, what desperate measures will she resort to?<br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Set in 1974, a thriller set around a trip from Sydney to Cape York. I found this a demanding read. It is written from the point of view of Geraldine Blaine who sees herself very differently to the ways other people see her. Her husband Noel really marries Geraldine for her money, which she never quite understands. By the time they undertake the trip North, Geraldine's hold on reality has become very stretched.<br /></p><p>Eventually Noel drives Geraldine to an extreme act, but she thinks she has got away with it. </p><p>The final pages of the Wakefield Crime Classic version of this novel contains a thought provoking review by editors Michael J. Tolley and Peter Moss.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.6</p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>Pat was born in Ramsgate, Kent, England and moved to Australia with her family in 1928. She originally worked as a secretary, writing radio plays and sketches in her spare time. She eventually moved on to writing crime novels and TV scripts.<br /><br />She wrote so many episodes of the ABC TV series Australian Playhouse one critic called it “The Pat Flower Show”.<br /><br />She was married to Cedric Flower, an actor, costume designer, designer, playwright, director, playwright, producer and set designer.<br /><br />Pat passed away in 1977.<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-46495482402590556062024-01-24T15:50:00.000+10:302024-01-24T15:50:00.336+10:30Review: LOWBRIDGE, Lucy Campbell<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>This edition from <a href="https://ultimopress.com.au/products/lowbridge">Ultimo Press</a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91LJsayVk2L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91LJsayVk2L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="210" /></a></div></li><li>ISBN 9781761152061<br /></li><li>Pub Date July 2023</li><li>Extent 384pp<br /> </li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://ultimopress.com.au/products/lowbridge">Publisher</a>)<br /><br /><b><i>Where everybody knows everyone, how can somebody just disappear?</i></b><br />A missing girl. Decades of silence. A secret too big to bury.<br /><br />1987: It’s late summer and a time of change when 17-year-old Tess Dawes leaves the local shopping centre in the sleepy town of Lowbridge and is never seen again.<br /> <br />Tess’s unsolved disappearance is never far from the town’s memory. There’s those who grew up with Tess, and never left. And those who know more than they’re saying … <br /> <br />It just takes an outsider to ask the right questions. <br /> <br />2018: Katherine Ashworth, shattered by the death of her daughter, moves to her husband’s hometown. Searching for a way to pick up the pieces of her life, she joins the local historical society and becomes obsessed with the three-decades-old mystery.<br /> <br />As Katherine digs into that summer of 1987, she stumbles upon the trail of a second girl who vanished when no one cared enough to see what was happening in plain sight. <br /> <br />Her trail could lead right to Katherine’s door. <br /> <br />In a town simmering with divisions and a cast of unforgettable characters, Lowbridge is a heart-wrenching mystery about the girls who are lost, the ones who are mourned and those who are forgotten. </p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Katherine Ashworth and her husband Jamie have moved back to the town where he grew up in rural New South Wales following the shattering death of their daughter. While Katherine finds it difficult to move on Jamie just seems to be able to put everything behind him, and they grow further and further apart. Katherine drinks and does little else until Jamie challenges her to find something to do.</p><p>But when Katherine joins the historical society and finds out about the disappearance of a school friend of Jamie's,Tess Dawes, 30 years earlier, he becomes reticent to talk about it, and she fears the worst.</p><p>A well constructed mystery which flits between the past and the present. The central characters are well drawn. The eventual resolution is a shock.<br /></p><p><b>My rating:</b> 4.5</p><p><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR</b><br />Lucy Campbell has worked as a writer and sub-editor across magazines, newspapers and non-fiction books. Lowbridge is her first novel. She lives in Canberra with her husband and three children.<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-7675608107419816232024-01-13T16:03:00.001+10:302024-01-13T16:03:24.359+10:30Review: THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME, Laura Dave<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781501171352/the-last-thing-he-told-me-9781501171352_xlg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="525" height="320" src="https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/book_images/onix/cvr9781501171352/the-last-thing-he-told-me-9781501171352_xlg.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>this edition published by VIPER <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Last-Thing-He-Told-Me/Laura-Dave/9781501171352">Simon & Schuster 2021</a></li><li>ISBN 9781788-169271<br /></li><li>305 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Last-Thing-He-Told-Me/Laura-Dave/9781501171352">publisher</a>)</p><p>The “page-turning, exhilarating” (PopSugar) and “heartfelt thriller” (Real Simple) about a woman who thinks she’s found the love of her life—until he disappears.<br /><br />Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.<br /><br />As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.<br /><br />Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated.<br /><br />With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a “page-turning, exhilarating, and unforgettable” (PopSugar) suspense novel.</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>There was no warning in the morning that Owen Michaels wouldn't be coming home after work that night. A child turns up on Hannah's doorstep with a note from Owen and it becomes obvious he is on the run. That is quickly followed with a message from a friend, and then a story on the news, that the company he works for are in trouble, and that Owen's boss has been arrested for fraud and embezzlement.</p><p>Two days on and an FBI Marshall turns up on Hannah's doorstep and then the police come knocking. Owen's daughter Bailey finds a sack of money in her locker at school with another brief note.</p><p>Hannah realises that Owen is on the run and she and Bailey start to put together clues about where he is and why. A real page turner.<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Last-Thing-He-Told-Me/Laura-Dave/9781501171352">Reading Group Guide available</a>. <br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.6</p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>Laura Dave is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me, Eight Hundred Grapes, and other novels. Her books have been published in thirty-eight countries and have been chosen by Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club, Book of the Month Club, and the Richard and Judy Book Club. The Last Thing He Told Me was chosen as the Goodreads Mystery & Thriller of the Year for 2021. It is now a limited series on Apple TV+, cocreated by Laura. She resides in Santa Monica, California. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-41412280924109514952024-01-09T16:53:00.001+10:302024-01-09T16:53:22.220+10:30Review: BRUNY, Heather Rose<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781760875169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="345" height="320" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781760875169.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>this edition from my local library<br /></li><li>first published 2019, <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Heather-Rose-Bruny-9781760875169">Allen & Unwin</a></li><li>ISBN 978-1-76087-516-9</li><li>406 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Heather-Rose-Bruny-9781760875169">publisher</a>)</p><p>Why is a massive bridge being built to connect the sleepy island of Bruny with the mainland of Tasmania? And why have terrorists blown it up?<br /><br />When the Bruny bridge is bombed, UN troubleshooter Astrid Coleman agrees to return home to help her brother before an upcoming election. But this is no simple task. Her brother and sister are on either side of politics, the community is full of conspiracy theories, her mother is fading and her father is quoting Shakespeare. Only on Bruny does the world seem sane. Until Astrid discovers how far the government is willing to go.<br /><br />Bruny is a searing, subversive novel about family, love, loyalty and the new world order. It is a gripping thriller with a jaw-dropping twist, a love story, a cry from the heart and a fiercely entertaining and crucial work of imagination that asks the burning question: what would you do to protect the place you love? <br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Astrid Coleman's twin JC is the Liberal Premier of Tasmania, coming up to an election in less than 6 months. Their old sister is the leader of the Labor opposition. The focus of JC's activity has been a huge bridge to connect mainland Tasmania to the island of Bruny. But now someone has bombed the nearly completed bridge. JC asks Astrid to come home. He wants her to manage public relations while he gets the re-building of the bridge agreed to. Initially she refuses but then gets an instruction from her bosses to go. <br /></p><p>People find it very difficult to understand why the bridge is being built. It has Federal Government backing, and then JC announces that he has secured a workforce of about 300 Chinese workers to be available for the re-build immediately, and Astrid wonders what the Chinese are getting out of the deal.</p><p>This is a thought provoking novel in many ways. Astrid's parents are suffering from dementia and final-stage cancer and this adds another dimension to the story.</p><p>Rose has some interesting comments on Australian attitudes.<br /></p><p><span class="product-fields-title" data-v-2b6daa75="">Awards:</span><span class="product-field-display" data-v-2b6daa75=""></span></p><ul class="book-award" data-v-2b6daa75=""><li class="awards-list" data-v-2b6daa75=""> Shortlisted, Best Fiction, Indie Book Awards, 2020, AU </li><li class="awards-list" data-v-2b6daa75=""> Longlisted, Best Designed Commercial Fiction Cover, Australian Book Design Awards, 2020, AU </li><li class="awards-list" data-v-2b6daa75=""> Winner, General Fiction Book of the Year, ABIA Awards, 2020, AU </li><li class="awards-list" data-v-2b6daa75=""> Shortlisted, Adult Fiction Book of the Year, ABA Booksellers' Choice Awards, 2020, AU </li><li class="awards-list" data-v-2b6daa75=""> Shortlisted, Best Crime Fiction, Davitt Awards, 2020, AU </li><li class="awards-list" data-v-2b6daa75=""> Longlisted, Nib Literary Award, 2020, AU </li></ul><p></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.8</p><p><b>About the author</b> </p><p>Heather Rose is the Australian author of eight novels. Her seventh novel <i>The Museum of Modern Love</i>
won the 2017 Stella Prize. It also won the 2017 Christina Stead Prize
and the 2017 Margaret Scott Prize. It has been published internationally
and translated into numerous languages. Both <i>The Museum of Modern Love</i> and <i>The Butterfly Man</i> were longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. <i>The Butterfly Man</i> won the Davitt Award in 2006, and in 2007 <i>The River Wife</i>
won the international Varuna Eleanor Dark Fellowship. Heather writes
with Danielle Wood under the pen-name Angelica Banks and their <i>Tuesday McGillycuddy </i>children's
series has twice been shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards for best
children's fantasy. Angelica Banks is also published internationally.
Heather lives by the sea in Tasmania. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-76272997203507464112024-01-05T16:12:00.001+10:302024-01-05T16:12:52.158+10:30Review: THE SILENT INHERITANCE, Joy Dettman<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.biblioimages.com/macmillanaus/getimage.aspx?class=books&assetversionid=352837&cat=default&size=large&id=31102" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://www.biblioimages.com/macmillanaus/getimage.aspx?class=books&assetversionid=352837&cat=default&size=large&id=31102" width="212" /></a></div>this edition from my local library<br /></li><li>published 2016 by <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781743549162/the-silent-inheritance/">Pan Macmillan Australia</a></li><li>ISBN 978-1=74354-014-5</li><li>405 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781743549162/the-silent-inheritance/">publisher)</a> </p><p>Sarah Carter, mother of twelve-year-old Marni, is raising her daughter alone in a small granny flat in suburban Melbourne. A serial killer, dubbed 'The Freeway Killer', is headline news and when Marni's classmate is abducted from the mall where Sarah and Marni shop, their city no longer feels safe.<br /><br />Detective Ross Hunter's investigation into the abduction leads him to dead ends - until an unrelated incident sends him to the door of Freddy Adam-Jones, an unscrupulous barrister, who is guarding a secret that could ruin his life.<br /><br />When an unexpected windfall changes the lives of Sarah and Marni, their sudden wealth opens doors long closed, and threatens to cast light on history better left buried.<br /><br />What might Sarah's past reveal? What is her connection to Freddy? And can Detective Ross Hunter discover the link in time to save a young girl's life?</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>This novel had all the makings of a good 'un but I came away with strong feelings of dissatisfaction. On reflection I've ended up thinking that the author tried to do too much, tried to create too much mystery. It seemed that there were too many plot strands and that they never finally got wound together. At the end I had strong feelings that I had missed something. The story seemed to finish but I had a number of confusions and unanswered questions.<br /></p><p><b>My rating:</b> 3.2</p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>Joy Dettman was born in country Victoria and spent her early years in towns on either side of the Murray River. She is an award-winning writer of short stories, the complete collection of which, Diamonds in the Mud, was published in 2007, as well as the highly acclaimed novels Mallawindy, Jacaranda Blue, Goose Girl, Yesterday's Dust, The Seventh Day, Henry's Daughter, One Sunday and the bestselling Woody Creek series. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-65723880871074929472023-11-16T10:45:00.000+10:302023-11-16T10:45:53.836+10:30Review: RETURN TO VALETTO, Dominic Smith<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781761067273.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="345" height="320" src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/assets.allenandunwin.com/images/small/9781761067273.jpg" width="209" /></a></div> this edition published in2923 by <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Dominic-Smith-Return-to-Valetto-9781761067273/">Allen and Unwin</a></li><li>ISBN 978-1-76106-727-3<br /></li><li>358 pages </li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Dominic-Smith-Return-to-Valetto-9781761067273/">publisher</a>)</p><p>A captivating and moving new novel from the international bestselling author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos.<br />A nearly abandoned Italian village, the family that stayed, and long-buried secrets from World War II.<br /><br />On a hilltop in Umbria sits Valetto. Once a thriving village-and a hub of resistance and refuge during World War II-centuries of earthquakes, landslides and the lure of a better life have left it neglected. Only ten residents remain, including the widows Serafino - three eccentric sisters and their steely centenarian mother - who live quietly in their medieval villa. Then their nephew and grandson, Hugh, a historian, returns.<br /><br />But someone else has arrived before him, laying claim to the cottage where Hugh spent his childhood summers. The unwelcome guest is the captivating and no-nonsense Elisa Tomassi, who asserts that the family patriarch, Aldo Serafino, a resistance fighter whom her own family harboured, gave the cottage to them in gratitude. Like so many threads of history, this revelation unravels a secret - a betrayal, a disappearance and an unspeakable act of violence - that has impacted Valetto across generations. Who will answer for the crimes of the past?<br /><br />Dominic Smith's Return to Valetto is a riveting journey into one family's long-buried story, a page-turning excavation of the ruins of history and our commitment to justice in a fragile world. For fans of Amor Towles, Anthony Doerr and Jess Walter, it is a deeply human and transporting testament to the possibility of love and understanding across gaps of all kinds - even time.</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>An unusual novel about justice and retribution. Two young girls abducted by a fascist in their town, disappeared for 3 days, interrogated by him for family secrets, and never recovered from their experience.</p><p>A 100 year birthday party becomes an opportunity for the Serafino family to seek an apology from the fascist.</p><p>One of those books that is only partly only crime fiction, but rich in cultural history for we outsiders who know so little about Italian history.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.4</p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>Dominic Smith is the author of six novels, including The Last Painting
of Sara de Vos, which was a New York Times bestseller and a New York
Times Book Review Editors' Choice, and a best book of the year at
Amazon, Slate, the San Francisco Chronicle and Kirkus Reviews. His
writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, the Chicago
Tribune, the New York Times and The Australian, among other
publications. He grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Seattle,
Washington. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-19526030392811137812023-11-05T16:50:00.003+10:302023-11-05T16:51:49.734+10:30Review: THE BLITZ DETECTIVE, Mike Hollow<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61TK3T13OLL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61TK3T13OLL._SL1500_.jpg" width="226" /></a></div> this edition published for Kindle on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blitz-Detective-intricate-wartime-mystery-ebook/dp/B088WPQYLS">Amazon</a></li><li>ASIN : B088WPQYLS<br /></li><li>Publisher : Allison & Busby; Reissue edition (July 23, 2020)</li><li>first published 201</li><li>Print length : 448 pages </li><li>#1 of 8</li><li>first published as DIRECT HIT <br /></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blitz-Detective-intricate-wartime-mystery-ebook/dp/B088WPQYLS">Amazon</a>)</p><p>First published as Direct Hit.</p><p><br />Saturday 7th September, 1940. The sun is shining, and in the midst of the good weather Londoners could be mistaken for forgetting their country was at war - until the familiar wail of the air-raid sirens heralds an enemy attack. The Blitz has started, and normal life has abruptly ended - but crime has not.<br />That night a man's body is discovered in an unmarked van in the back streets of West Ham. When Detective Inspector John Jago is called to the scene, he recognises the victim: local Justice of the Peace, Charles Villiers. The death looks suspicious, but then a German bomb obliterates all evidence. War or no war, murder is still murder, and it's Jago's job to find the truth.<br /><br />(Please note Direct Hit, Fifth Column, Enemy Action and Firing Line were republished in 2020 as The Blitz Detective, The Canning Town Murder, The Custom House Murder and The Stratford Murder respectively. See <a href="http://www.blitzdetective.com">www.blitzdetective.com</a>) <br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>This is the first in an interesting looking crime fiction series set in London at the beginning of the Blitz, the bombing raids by the Luftwaffe in September 1940.</p><p>Like every other service, the police detectives in London have been severely depleted by the demands of the army, navy and airforce. Detective Inspector John Jago is a survivor of World War One and should be looking at retirement rather than leading an active unit. His sergeant has been promoted from the uniforms probably well ahead of his time and is not yet familiar with procedures.</p><p>This story raises a number of questions of morality and the role of policing when the country is under attack from the enemy. What is the value of tracking down a murderer locally, or corruption, when so much chaos reigns?</p><p>Has the makings of a good series.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.5</p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>Mike Hollow was born in West Ham and grew up in Romford, Essex. He studied Russian and French at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and then worked for the BBC and later Tearfund. In 2002 he went freelance as a copywriter, journalist, editor and translator, but now gives all his time to writing the Blitz Detective books. <br /><br />(Please note Direct Hit, Fifth Column, Enemy Action and Firing Line were republished in 2020 as The Blitz Detective, The Canning Town Murder, The Custom House Murder and The Stratford Murder respectively. See www.blitzdetective.com) <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-15270250633856382252023-09-23T15:50:00.000+09:302023-09-23T15:50:07.544+09:30Review: THE MISTAKE, K.L. Slater<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hachette.imgix.net/books/9780751574937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="509" height="320" src="https://hachette.imgix.net/books/9780751574937.jpg" width="204" /></a></div> this edition published 2019 by Sphere<br /></li><li>ISBN 978-0-7515-7493-7</li><li>360 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/k-l-slater/the-mistake-an-unputdownable-psychological-thriller-with-a-brilliant-twist">publisher</a>)</p><p> You think you know the truth about the people you love.<br /><br />But one discovery can change everything…<br /><br />Eight-year-old Billy goes missing one day, out flying his kite with his sister Rose. Two days later, he is found dead.<br /><br />Sixteen years on, Rose still blames herself for Billy’s death. How could she have failed to protect her little brother?<br /><br />Rose has never fully recovered from the trauma, and one of the few people she trusts is her neighbour Ronnie, who she has known all her life. But one day Ronnie falls ill, and Rose goes next door to help him… and what she finds in his attic room turns her world upside down.<br /><br />Rose thought she knew the truth about what happened to Billy. She thought she knew her neighbour. Now the only thing she knows is that she is in danger… </p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Rose has always blamed herself her little brother's death. She is convinced that if she hadn't brought Gareth into her family's lives then Billy would never have been have been under threat, he wouldn't have disappeared, and he wouldn't have died.</p><p>For 16 years Rose has blamed herself and dealt with the consequences of her actions. And now everything she believes is being challenged and she feels she must face Gareth to find out the truth.</p><p>And there is a twist at the end, cleverly done, unexpected, you mustn't miss it.</p><p>I will be reading more by this author.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.6<br /></p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>K.L. Slater is the number one bestselling author of fifteen psychological crime thrillers. She has sold over two million copies of her books worldwide. She has also written four Carnegie-nominated Young Adult novels as Kim Slater for Macmillan Children's Books. Kim has an MA in Creative Writing and lives with her husband in Nottingham, England.<br /><br />Author website: <a href="http://www.KLSlaterAuthor.com">www.KLSlaterAuthor.com</a><br />Twitter: @KimLSlater<br />Facebook: KL Slater Author<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-86568889788099317002023-09-14T14:39:00.002+09:302023-09-14T14:39:22.818+09:30Review: THE HONEYMOON, Kate Gray<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>This edition published by Welbeck Fiction 2023</li><li>ISBN 978-1-80279-373-4</li><li>406 pages</li></ul><div>Synopsis</div><div><br /></div><div>Two British couples on honeymoon meet in Bali and seem to hit it off at once. But on the night before they leave a man is killed and everything changes.</div><div><br /></div><div>My Take</div><div><br /></div><div>Once they get back to England neither couple seems to be able to forget the death in Bali. One couple was actively involved in the death, while the wife in the second couple is a journalist and she cannot help thinking that here is a story she can exploit.</div><div><br /></div><div>Both couples have secrets that we have not been aware of before their arrival back home.</div><div>A very interestingly constructed book which results in a real page turner.</div><div><br /></div><div>My rating: 4.7</div><p></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-78102555363195780212023-09-10T12:40:00.001+09:302023-09-10T12:40:18.342+09:30Review: DARK MODE, Ashley Kalagian Blunt<p> Again another brief “review”.</p><p>This is a very dark story focussing on the dark web, which so few of us know anything about.</p><p>Reagan Carson, plant shop owner, has managed to keep most of her life offline, or so she thinks. Ten years ago she had a bad experience with a stalker who also just happened to be a policeman. So she has focussed on using the internet as little as possible and has avoided social media.</p><p><span> But now out jogging in the early morning in Sydney she has stumbled across a murder victim who looks just like her. Similar murders occur and she becomes paranoid that they have been perpetrated by her former stalker. She avoids talking to the police but then starts to get nasty emails. She has a car accident and forms a friendship with a man who seems to be just what she needs.</span></p><p><span>A really harrowing story.</span></p><p><span>My rating: 4.7</span></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-36547886002122085342023-08-22T19:19:00.006+09:302023-08-22T19:21:20.153+09:30Review: THE JADE LILY, Kirsty Manning<p> My desktop computer is not behaving tonight, so I'm not able to use my usual review format. Hopefully I will be able to bring this review up to date later.</p><p>Just for now I want to record that I've finished reading this book as an ebook on Libby, by a new to me author, whom I will certainly follow up.</p><p>It is mystery rather than my usual crime fiction. It spans at least 7 decades, and world events as they affected a Jewish family forced out of Austria by Hitler. They emigrated to Shanghai and finally the war caught up with them again.</p><p>The story begins with Alexandra who is returning to Australia from London. She knows she is of German and Chinese heritage but mystery surrounds her mother's parentage. She returns to Melbourne where her grandfather is dying, taking many secrets with him. Alexandra has won a job in Shanghai and her grandmother encourages her to take the job and to do some family history research for herself while she is there.</p><p>So this story is told mainly on two narrative stages, and eventually the reader is able to sort out the links. The story is beautifully told and we share the dilemmas each character is faced with, and the choices they made. There are many signs of extensive research by the author.</p><p>Highly recommended. </p><p>My rating: 4.7</p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-10210466458866179022023-08-12T16:17:00.001+09:302023-08-12T16:17:51.553+09:30Review: DIRT TOWN, Hayley Scrivenor<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.biblioimages.com/macmillanaus/getimage.aspx?class=books&assetversionid=745635&cat=default&size=large&id=50301" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="335" height="320" src="https://www.biblioimages.com/macmillanaus/getimage.aspx?class=books&assetversionid=745635&cat=default&size=large&id=50301" width="214" /></a></div>this edition published 2022, <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760987190/">Pan Macmillan Australia</a></li><li>made available to me by my local library<br /></li><li>ISBN978-1-76098-719-0</li><li>359 pages</li><li>Ned Kelly Award short list <a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2023/08/07/235249/ned-kelly-awards-2023-shortlists-announced/">best debut title 2023</a></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760987190/">Publisher</a>)</p><p><i>My best friend wore her name, Esther, like a queen wearing her crown at a jaunty angle. We were twelve years old when she went missing.<br /></i><br />On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home.<br /><br />Ronnie's going to find her, she has a plan. Lewis will help. Their friend can't be gone, Ronnie won't believe it.<br /><br />Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels can believe it. She has seen what people are capable of. She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible.<br /><br />Lewis can believe it too. But he can't reveal what he saw that afternoon at the creek without exposing his own secret.<br /><br />Five days later, Esther's buried body is discovered.<br /><br />What do we owe the girl who isn't there?<br /><br />Character-rich and propulsive, with a breathtakingly original use of voice and revolving points of view, Dirt Town delves under the surface, where no one can hide. With emotional depth and sensitivity, this stunning debut shows us how much each person matters in a community that is at once falling apart and coming together.<br /><br /><i>Esther will always be a Dirt Town child, as we are its children, still.</i><br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>There is a lot going on in this book, very complex plotting, more than just a missing child. Very carefully layered story, overlapping (and challenging) time frames. Lots of secrets too, and things that the "town" knows, but that the investigating police don't necessarily. Even the police investigators have their own secrets.<br /></p><p>The narrative is told through several points of view, and so taking notice at the beginning of each chapter of the date and identity of the narrator is important right from the beginning to the reader's understanding and appreciation. The multi-dimensional structure of the book is demanding of the reader. It is a book that requires a high level of concentration.<br /></p><p>Highly recommended!<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.7</p><p><b>Awards</b></p><p>WINNER OF THE ABIA GENERAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023<br />SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2023 FOR DEBUT FICTION<br />SHORTLISTED FOR THE ABIA THE MATT RICHELL AWARD FOR NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR 2023<br />SHORTLISTED FOR THE DAVITT AWARDS ADULT CRIME NOVEL 2023<br />SHORTLISTED FOR THE DAVITT AWARDS DEBUT CRIME BOOK 2023<br />FINALIST FOR THE 2023 ITW THRILLER AWARDS FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL<br />LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 CWA ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER AWARD<br />LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 MARGARET AND COLIN RODERICK LITERARY AWARD <br /></p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>Hayley Scrivenor is a former Director of Wollongong Writers Festival. Originally from a small country town, Hayley now lives and writes on Dharawal country and has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales. Dirt Town is her first novel. An earlier version of the book was shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize and won the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award.<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-80903467733099076152023-07-25T10:51:00.000+09:302023-07-25T10:51:24.214+09:30Review: HIDE OUT, Louisa Luna<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/P/0385545533.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="329" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/P/0385545533.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>This edition made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library<br /></li><li>ISBN-10 : 0385545533</li><li>ISBN-13 : 978-0385545532 </li><li>Number Of Pages: 368</li><li>Publisher : Doubleday (March 8, 2022)</li><li>Alice Vega #3</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hideout-Alice-Novel-Louisa-Luna/dp/0385545533">publisher</a>)<br /><br />Alice Vega has made a career of finding the missing and vulnerable against a ticking clock, but she's never had a case like that of Zeb Williams, missing for thirty years. It was 1984, and the big Cal-Stanford football game was tied with seconds left on the clock. Zeb Williams grabbed the ball and ran the wrong way, through the marching band, off the field, and out of the stadium. He disappeared into legend, replete with Elvis-like sightings and a cult following.<br /><br />Zeb's cold trail leads Vega to southern Oregon, where she discovers an anxious community living under siege by a local hate group called the Liberty Boys. As Vega starts digging into the past, the mystery around Zeb's disappearance grows deeper, and the reach of the Liberty Boys grows more disturbing. Everyone has something to hide, and no one can cut to the truth like Alice Vega. But this time, her partner Max Caplan has his own problems at home, and the trouble Vega finds might be too much for her to handle.<br /><br />Louisa Luna understands suspense, tension, and character like only the best writers in crime fiction do--and she may well write the best interrogations in the genre. Hideout is pure adrenaline and Luna's most intimate thriller yet, a classic cold case wrapped in a timely confrontation with a terrifyingly real network of white supremacists and homegrown terrorists. </p><p><b>My Take</b>:</p><p>Generally I like to read an author's books in order as you know, but this time it was a question of when the library had the books available. So I came to Vega and Caplan "cold", so to speak, and it took a little time to work things out, and become familiar with Alice Vega.</p><p>Vega has taken on a case to discover what happened to Zeb Williams when he disappeared thirty years before in unforgettable circumstances. When businessman Anton Fohl asks Vega to take on the case he warns that it is likely to be the biggest case of her career. She is unaware of the Zeb Williams story. Fohl tells her that his wife used to be Williams' girl friend and he had not told her that he was asking Vega to take on the investigation. He gives Vega a photograph taken of Zeb Williams the last time he was recognised in a town in Oregon. Eventually the photo is her starting pointing. Ilona, the town where Zeb was last seen.</p><p>From the very beginning people in the town are unwilling to share what they know with Vega. And then she becomes aware that the town has other problems. A Sheriff who rules the roost, secrets that not every one is happy with, and an active white supremacist group that vents its spleen.</p><p>Vega has not parted on good terms with her former partner Caplan and is reluctant to involve him in her investigation although she feels a need to tell him what she is doing. Inevitably he is drawn in, although he has his own problems at home.</p><p>This certainly is a page turner. Vega does not seem to be able to leave things alone when she senses injustice and abuse, and eventually she draws retribution and punishment from people who dislike her interference.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.6</p><p><b>About the Author</b><br />LOUISA LUNA is the author of the Alice Vega novels The Janes and Two Girls Down as well as Brave New Girl and Crooked. She was born and raised in San Francisco and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and daughter.<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-65275628404726346012023-06-04T10:10:00.000+09:302023-06-04T10:10:24.136+09:30Review: HERMIT, S.R. White<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.headline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/hbg-title-9781472268433-33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="522" height="320" src="https://www.headline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/hbg-title-9781472268433-33.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition made available from my local library<br /></li><li><a href="https://www.headline.co.uk/titles/s-r-white/hermit/9781472268433/">Headline Publishing 2020</a></li><li>ISBN 978-1-4722-6844-0</li><li>375 pages</li><li>#1 in Dana Russo series</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.headline.co.uk/titles/s-r-white/hermit/9781472268433/">publisher</a>) </p><p>After a puzzling death in the wild bushlands of Australia, detective Dana Russo has just 12 hours to interrogate the prime suspect – a silent, inscrutable man found at the scene of the crime, who disappeared without trace 15 years earlier.<br /><br />But where has he been? Why won’t he talk? And exactly how dangerous is he? Without conclusive evidence to prove his guilt, Dana faces a desperate race against time to persuade him to speak. But as each interview spirals with fevered intensity, Dana must reckon with her own traumatic past to reveal the shocking truth . . .<br /><br />Compulsive, atmospheric and stunningly accomplished, HERMIT introduces a thrilling new voice in Australian crime fiction, perfect for fans of Jane Harper’s THE DRY and Chris Hammer’s SCRUBLANDS.</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Three main mystery threads run through this novel. </p><p>First of all how is it that "the hermit" has been "off the radar" for the last 15 years. Why did he become a hermit? How has he lived? </p><p>Secondly, did he kill the person he was found standing over? Why? If he didn't, then who did?</p><p>Thirdly, why does Detective Dana Russo avoid contact with people on this day in particular? </p><p>I have never quite met a detective like Dana Russo. Her main aim is to get to know the suspect, to get him to trust her, and to find out what has happened to him in the past. She interviews him in short bursts, on her own, although under observation by her boss and colleagues. She compiles questions that she wants her team to find the answers to, to give her ammunition for her questions to the suspect. She gets him to see her as his only friend, so eventually he will reveal his innermost secrets.</p><p>All the time though Dana is comparing their experiences. Asking him questions without revealing too much of what has happened to her in the past. <br /></p><p>A fascinating novel, and a compelling read.<br /></p><p><b>My Rating</b>: 4.6</p><p><b>About the author</b><br />S. R. White’s debut novel, HERMIT, was a top ten bestseller in Australia and nominated for the Crime Writers’ Association award for the best crime novel by a first-time author. He now lives in Queensland, having worked for a UK police force for twelve years before taking an MA in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-17257058597921083302023-05-18T16:44:00.001+09:302023-05-18T16:44:12.959+09:30Review: MURDER IN TUSCANY, T.A. Williams<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.boldwoodbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/9781804832158-664x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="519" height="320" src="https://www.boldwoodbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/9781804832158-664x1024.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>This edition published in 2022 published by <a href="https://www.boldwoodbooks.com/book/murder-in-tuscany/">Boldwood Books</a></li><li>ISBN 978-1-80483-218-9<br /></li><li>410 PAGES (large print)</li><li>made available by my local library</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.boldwoodbooks.com/book/murder-in-tuscany/">publisher</a>) </p><p>A brand new cozy crime series set in gorgeous Tuscany…It’s murder in paradise!<br /><br /><b>A remote retreat…</b><br /><br />Nestled high in the Tuscan hills lies Villa Volpone, home to renowned crime writer Jonah Moore and his creative writing course. It’s also the last place retired DCI Dan Armstrong expected to spend his retirement! Dan’s no writer, but maybe this break will help him to think about the next chapter in his own life story?<br /><br /><b>A gruesome murder…</b><br /><br />But only days into the course, Jonah Moore is found stabbed to death with his award-winning silver dagger! And Dan finds himself pulled out of retirement with a killer to catch.<br /><br /><b>Eleven possible suspects.</b><br /><br />The other guests all seem shocked by Jonah’s death, but Dan knows that one of them must be lying. And as he and Italian Commissario Virgilio Pisano begin to investigate it quickly becomes clear that everyone at Villa Volpone has secrets to hide…<br /><br />But can Dan discover who the murderer is before they strike again?<br /><br />A gripping new murder mystery series by bestselling author T.A. Williams, perfect for fans of Lee Strauss and Beth Byers.</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Recently retired London DCI Dan Armstrong was given a two week creative writing course as a retirement present by his former colleagues. The focus of the course is a surprise to him, and several times he has thought of not attending. But the location in Tuscany is a drawcard.</p><p>The fact that the writer who has initiated the course is found dead after a couple days, stabbed to the heart in his dining room while Dan is visiting the police in Florence becomes an added bonus.</p><p>The case ends up changing the direction of Dan's life. <br /></p><p>An enjoyable cozy read.<br /></p><p><b>My rating:</b> 4.3</p><p><b>About the author</b><br />T A Williams is the author of over twenty bestselling romances for HQ and Canelo and is now turning his hand to cosy crime, set in his beloved Italy, for Boldwood. The series will introduce us to retired DCI Armstrong and his labrador Oscar and the first book, entitled Murder in Tuscany, will be published in October 2022. Trevor lives in Devon with his Italian wife. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-24864281855390578602023-04-30T12:31:00.002+09:302023-04-30T12:46:09.951+09:30Review: EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE, Benjamin Stevenson<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/419oDF0Ib4L.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="327" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/419oDF0Ib4L.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition an e-book from <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Everyone-Family-Has-Killed-Someone-ebook/dp/B09JP2WJSH/">Amazon on Kindle</a> </li><li>ASIN : B09JP2WJSH</li><li>Publisher : Penguin eBooks (29 March 2022)<br /></li><li>Print length : 365 pages</li><li>DYMOCKS BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST 2022</li><li>THE SUNDAY TIMES (UK) BEST CRIME BOOKS OF 2022</li><li>ABIA GENERAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST 2023</li><li>BOOKPEOPLE FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST 2023</li><li>INDIE BOOK AWARD 2023 LONGLIST <br /></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis </b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Everyone-Family-Has-Killed-Someone-ebook/dp/B09JP2WJSH/">Amazon) </a></p><p><i>I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder.<br /><br />Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort, snow and bodies piling up.<br /><br />The thing is, us Cunninghams don’t really get along. We’ve only got one thing in common: we’ve all killed someone.<br /><br />My brother<br />My step-sister<br />My wife<br />My father<br />My mother<br />My sister-in-law<br />My uncle<br />My stepfather<br />My aunt<br />Me</i> </p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Ern (Ernest) Cunningham has done the unforgiveable in most families- he dobbed his brother Michael in, gave evidence at his murder trial, and sent his brother to jail. Michael, for an unknown reason, got a surprisingly light sentence, and now three years later is being released.</p><p>The setting is a remote resort in the Victorian Alps, and by the time Michael and Ern's estranged wife Erin turn up (the last to arrive), there is already a body, and a storm is about to break. The police have arrived in the form of one officer who appears to be a detective but no-one is sure how he was notified that a murder had already happened. Michael and Erin arrive in a large truck containing something that Michael wants Ern to see.</p><p>Ern's Aunt Katherine has organised this reunion in the remotest place she can find. But what is the purpose? To celebrate Michael's release, or is there something else?</p><p>In real life Ern writes how-to e-books on different genres for budding authors. EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY.. is narrated by Ern, and at times he addresses the readers, rather quirkily, telling us what to look out for, and what is coming.</p><p>An odd sense of humour shows itself from time to time, and there are references to authors like Agatha Christie, just to remind us that above all else this is a murder mystery. There are plenty of murders and plenty of mystery.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.4</p><p><b>About the Author</b><br />Benjamin Stevenson is an award-winning stand-up comedian and author. He has sold out shows from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival all the way to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Off-stage, Benjamin has worked for publishing houses and literary agencies in Australia and the USA. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone will be published in twenty-four territories around the world, and will soon be adapted into a major HBO TV series. </p><p>This is his third novel.</p><p>His first novel, Greenlight, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award for
Best Debut Crime Fiction, and his second novel, Either Side of
Midnight, was shortlisted for the International Thriller Writers Award
for Best Original Paperback.</p><p><br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-55445708291860273132023-04-22T10:02:00.001+09:302023-04-22T10:02:46.485+09:30Review: OUTBACK, Patricia Wolf<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41SCsrfHo6L._SY346_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="226" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41SCsrfHo6L._SY346_.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition made available by my local library as an e-book on Libby<br /></li><li>Publisher : Embla Books (November 8, 2022) </li><li>Print length : 292 pages </li><li>DS Walker Thriller Book 1</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Outback-stunning-thriller-Walker-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0B938CHB6">Amazon</a>)</p><p><b>TWO MISSING BACKPACKERS. ONE VAST OUTBACK.</b><br /><br />DS Lucas Walker is on leave in his hometown, Caloodie, taking care of his dying grandmother. When two young German backpackers, Berndt and Rita, vanish from the area, he finds himself unofficially on the case.<br /><br />But why all the interest from the Federal Police when they have probably just ditched the heat and dust of the outback for the coast? Working in the organised crime unit has opened Walker's eyes to the growing drug trade in Australia's remote interior - and he becomes convinced there is more at play.<br /><br />As the number of days since the couple's disappearance climbs, Walker is joined by Rita's older sister. A detective herself with Berlin CID, she has flown to Australia - desperate to find her sister.<br /><br />Their search becomes ever more urgent as temperatures soar. Even if Walker does find the young couple, will it be too late?<br /><br />This deeply atmospheric thriller is the gripping opening of a new crime series for fans of Cara Hunter and Chris Whitaker.</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>This made for interesting reading. It hits a topic, the disappearance and murder of backpackers, that has been raised in a number of novels, and also in true crime reporting. There are several narrators but the story is told largely in the third person, with glimpses of the thoughts of individual characters.<br /></p><p>The coincidence of the young missing backpackers being German, and the fact that the author lives in Germany is an interesting one. I liked the character of the policewoman from Berlin who comes searching for her sister. It would be good to see her work with Lucas Walker in future novels. </p><p>I was reminded also of the international tourist (a Belgian) who comes looking for her missing son in Garry Disher's <a href="https://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/2022/12/review-days-end-garry-disher.html">DAY'S END</a>, who just happens to be a forensic expert. </p><p></p><p>The original interest of the Federal Police and the Department of Foreign Affairs in the disappearance of these two backpackers, just days after they have gone missing, is never really explained. (Or if it was, I missed it)</p><p>It is interesting also that the accounts by a number of crime fiction authors, including Chris Hammer, and Garry Disher, support the view of what Patricia Wolf is saying about Outback towns.<br /></p><p><b>My Rating</b>: 4.5</p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>Patricia Wolf has been a journalist for more than 15 years, a regular
contributor to titles including The Guardian, the Financial Times, The
Independent and The Telegraph, among others. She grew up in outback
Australia, in a mining town called Mount Isa in far north-west
Queensland – eagle eyed readers will have spotted a small reference to
it in her first book, OUTBACK. Patricia loves the rugged beauty, indigo
sky and wide horizons of the outback, but left Australia after
university to travel the world and became a journalist. She lives in
Berlin, Germany, but the outback always calls her home. In 2019, just
before the covid pandemic locked us all in, Patricia spent two months in
northwest Queensland, taking a four-week road trip. As she drove and
spent nights and days surrounded by the beauty and rugged harshness of
the outback, DI Lucas Walker and his stories came to be.</p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-69971185948724121692023-01-17T16:55:00.002+10:302023-01-17T16:55:48.222+10:30Review: AFTER YOU WERE GONE, Vikki Wakefield<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://d2wzqffx6hjwip.cloudfront.net/spree/images/attachments/000/058/177/product/9781922458001.jpg?1673895667" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="523" height="320" src="https://d2wzqffx6hjwip.cloudfront.net/spree/images/attachments/000/058/177/product/9781922458001.jpg?1673895667" width="209" /></a></div>This edition made available as an e-book by my local library on Libby<br /></li><li>Extent: 368pp</li><li>Text Publishing Australia:5 October 2022</li><li>ISBN: 9781922458001</li><li><a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/after-you-were-gone">Read an extract</a></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/after-you-were-gone">publisher</a>)<br /><br />What happens to a family when a child goes missing?<br /><br />In a busy street market, Abbie lets go of six-year-old Sarah’s hand. She isn’t a bad mother, just exhausted. When she turns around, her daughter isn’t there.<br /><br />Six years later, Abbie is in love and getting married. But her fragile peace is constantly threatened: not knowing what happened to Sarah is like living with a curse.<br /><br />Then she receives a phone call from an unknown number.<br /><br />A man claims to know what happened to Sarah, but if Abbie tells anyone or fails to follow his instructions, she’ll never find out. How far will Abbie go to know the truth?<br /><br />Prize-winning and hugely popular author Vikki Wakefield turns her hand to the psychological thriller in this unputdownable novel that will disturb your dreams!</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Abbie has always blamed herself for losing Sarah, but she has never stopped looking for her.</p><p>This novel has a very adventurous time structure, with frequent use of chapter headings BEFORE, NOW, and, sometimes AFTER. The story line jumps between time frames, allowing to the reader to put together a picture of the life Abbie led, and eventually, who took Sarah. </p><p>If you were Abbie, what would you do if someone offered you the unthinkable, to reunite you with the child you lost six years ago. What would you sacrifice?</p><p>A very jarring novel.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.6</p><p><b>About the Author</b><br />Vikki Wakefield writes fiction for adults and young adults. Her novels All I Ever Wanted, Friday Brown, Inbetween Days and Ballad for a Mad Girl have been shortlisted for numerous awards. This Is How We Change the Ending was a Book of the Year in the 2020 CBCA Awards. After You Were Gone, a psychological thriller, is her first novel for adults....<br /></p><div> <br /></div>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-29359456168156310142023-01-14T16:54:00.001+10:302023-01-14T16:54:38.916+10:30Review: AGATHA CHRISTIE: A Very Elusive Woman, Lucy Worsley<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/covers/big/9781529303889/6811/agatha-christie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://www.booktopia.com.au/covers/big/9781529303889/6811/agatha-christie.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>This edition published By Hodder & Stoughton, Great Britain 2022<br /></li><li>ISBN 978-1-528-30388-9</li><li>415 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/agatha-christie-lucy-worsley/book/9781529303889.html">publisher</a>) </p><p><i>Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was.'</i><br /><br />Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was 'just' an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn't? As Lucy Worsley says, 'She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern'. She went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness.<br /><br />So why - despite all the evidence to the contrary - did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure?<br /><br />She was born in 1890 into a world which had its own rules about what women could and couldn't do. Lucy Worsley's biography is not just of an internationally renowned bestselling writer. It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman.<br /><br />With access to personal letters and papers that have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley's biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realise what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was - truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century. </p><p>My Take</p><p>An impressive non-fiction work that covers Agatha Christie's whole life, written by a person who is quite obviously a "fan", well versed in the events of Christie's life and the books she has written.</p><p>I've also just watched, and can recommend, the first of the documentaries (4?) based on the book.</p><p>I was glad to see that Worsley shares some of my own impressions of the importance of Agatha Christie in crime fiction. She refers to some of Christie's plot strategies as Christie's "tricks" and refers to the way they made a difference to what we expect from crime fiction as a genre. The book has also sowed a few seeds that will influence my interpretation of the Christie novels that I intend reading this year.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 5.0</p><p><b>About the Author</b><br /><br />Lucy Worsley OBE is Chief Curator at the charity Historic Royal Palaces and also presents history documentaries for the BBC. Her bestselling books include Queen Victoria, Jane Austen at Home, A Very British Murder, If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home, Courtiers, Cavalier and four historical novels for young readers. In 2019 her BBC One programme Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley won a BAFTA. <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-57312111209239810662022-12-30T12:57:00.001+10:302023-01-05T08:54:24.088+10:30Review: THE CROSSING, Matt Brolly<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518N1XJsMJL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518N1XJsMJL.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>#1 of 5 books, available on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Detective-Louise-Blackwell-Book-ebook/dp/B07T73RLVN/">Kindle</a></li><li>ASIN : B07T73RLVN</li><li>Publisher : Thomas & Mercer (February 14, 2020)<br /></li><li>Print length : 333 pages</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Detective-Louise-Blackwell-Book-ebook/dp/B07T73RLVN/">Amazon</a>) </p><p>An Amazon Charts bestseller.<br /><br />In a small town full of secrets, everyone’s a suspect.<br /><br />When a body is discovered, bled dry on a beach, the sleepy seaside town of Weston-super-Mare wakes up to a nightmare. For Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell, recently transferred to the town she last saw as a child, it’s her first case on the job.<br /><br />The victim—Veronica Lloyd, an elderly volunteer at a local church—has puncture wounds to her hands. When a priest is found killed in a nearby church in a similarly grisly condition, it becomes clear that Blackwell is dealing with a righteous and bloody murderer. But the victims aren’t random. The killer has a vendetta and is hell-bent on exacting twisted revenge for a dark secret dating back years—and there are more murders planned.<br /><br />As the body count rises, Blackwell faces a race against time to solve the mystery of the murderer’s identity and put an end to the carnage. She thought she knew Weston, but the town holds more secrets than she’d ever have imagined. Who can she trust and who knows more than they are letting on?<br /><br />She must discover the crimes that unite the victims—before it’s too late.</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>There are elements in this first-in-a-series novel that have been common to a number of crime fiction novels recently: female detective, life made more difficult for her by male colleagues than it need be, appears to make a mistake, penalised by her superiors; misses out on promotion, relocated to a position now seen as a demotion, has to step straight up to the plate, with a very puzzling case.</p><p>This novel has a well thought out and intriguing plot, with a central character who is at the same time likeable and has potential. <br /></p><p><b>My rating: </b>4.5</p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p><br />Following his law degree, where he developed an interest in criminal law, Matt Brolly completed his master’s in creative writing at Glasgow University.<br /><br />He is the bestselling author of the DCI Lambert crime novels Dead Water, Dead Eyed, Dead Lucky, Dead Embers and Dead Time; the acclaimed near-future crime novel Zero; and the US-based thriller The Controller.<br /><br />Matt also writes children’s books as M. J. Brolly. His first is The Sleeping Bug.<br /><br />Matt lives in London with his wife and their two young children. You can find out more about Matt at <a href="http://www.mattbrolly.co.uk">www.mattbrolly.co.uk</a> or by following him on Twitter: @MattBrollyUK.<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-65683130713750397292022-12-30T12:26:00.000+10:302022-12-30T12:26:13.688+10:30Review: MURDER ON THE CHRISTMAS EXPRESS, Alexandra Benedict<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51C9QIkFjSL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="325" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51C9QIkFjSL.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>This edition available as an e-book on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Christmas-Express-puzzling-mystery-ebook/dp/B09TS137RK/">Kindle</a></li><li>ASIN : B09TS137RK</li><li>Publisher : Simon & Schuster UK (November 10, 2022)<br /></li><li>Print length : 351 pages</li><li>Page numbers source ISBN : 1398519820</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Christmas-Express-puzzling-mystery-ebook/dp/B09TS137RK/">publisher</a>) </p><p>Eighteen passengers. Seven stops. One killer.<br /><br />In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train to the Highlands is derailed, along with the festive plans of its travellers. With the train stuck in snow in the middle of nowhere, a killer stalks its carriages, picking off passengers one by one. Those who sleep on the sleeper train may never wake again.<br /><br />Can former Met detective Roz Parker find the killer before they kill again?</p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>Recently retired Met detective Roz Parker is on the Christmas Eve train London to Fort William to be with her daughter Heather, who is soon to give birth. After the train leaves she learns that Heather has gone into labour. The train is somewhat predictably derailed in a snow storm after passing through Edinburgh. <br /></p><p>And then, also predictably one of the passengers dies violently in a room locked from the inside. Roz's training kicks and she begins to record scene of crime notes. Through her eyes we assess passengers as suspects. When a second passenger also dies violently, the remaining passengers reject Roz's attempts to confine them to the main dining room, and she retreats to her room. But then it becomes obvious that the police will not be able to get to the train at all quickly and Roz needs to work out who is the killer.</p><p>The author attempts to confuse the reader with passages narrated by the killer without revealing who it is. In the background the theme of the imminent birth of her grandchild runs a fairly predictable course.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.3</p><p><b>About the author</b></p><p>Alexandra Benedict has been a composer, singer-songwriter, actor, and
lecturer in crime fiction, and is now an award-winning writer of novels,
short stories and scripts. As AK Benedict, she writes high-concept
novels, speculative short stories and scripts. Her first novel, the
critically-acclaimed THE BEAUTY OF MURDER, was nominated for the eDunnit
Award; her short stories have featured in many anthologies; and her
audio drama has been shortlisted for multiple awards including the BBC
Audio Drama Award 2020, and, twice, for the Scribe Award, winning it in
2019. As Alexandra Benedict, she writes contemporary tributes and takes
on Golden Age crime fiction. THE CHRISTMAS MURDER GAME was an Amazon
Fiction Bestseller and was long-listed for the CWA Gold Dagger Award.
Her latest novel, MURDER ON THE CHRISTMAS EXPRESS, arrives on November
10th. She lives on the south coast of England with her fiancé, writer
Guy Adams, their daughter, and their dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford. </p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-79246975126188237872022-01-18T10:36:00.000+10:302022-01-18T10:36:22.449+10:30Review: THE INVISIBLE HOST, Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51pyY5xFE2L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51pyY5xFE2L.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition an e-book on my <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Invisible-Host-Gwen-Bristow-ebook/dp/B09C7KK499/">Kindle</a></li><li>ASIN : B09C7KK499<br /></li><li>first published 1930</li><li>Publisher : Dean Street Press; 1st edition (6 December 2021)</li><li>Language : English</li><li>Print length : 190 pages </li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Invisible-Host-Gwen-Bristow-ebook/dp/B09C7KK499/">Amazon</a>) </p><p><i>"Do not doubt me, my friends; you shall all be dead before morning."</i><br /><br />New Orleans, 1930. Eight guests are invited to a party at a luxurious penthouse apartment, yet on arrival it turns out that no one knows who their mysterious host actually is. The latter does not openly appear, but instead communicates with the guests by radio broadcast. What he has to tell his guests is chilling: that every hour, one of them will die. Despite putting the guests on their guard, the Host's prophecy starts to come horribly true, each demise occurring in bizarre fashion. As the dwindling band of survivors grows increasingly tense, their confessions to each other might explain why they have been chosen for this macabre evening-and invoke the nightmarish thought that the mysterious Host is one of them. The burning question becomes: will any of the party survive, including the Host . . . ?<br /><br />The Invisible Host (1930) established one of the best-loved and most durable forms in classic mystery fiction. It was famously to reappear in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (1939). How much Christie's novel is indebted to its predecessor is open to conjecture (and the subject is discussed in our new introduction, by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans). Whatever the verdict, readers will delight in The Invisible Host, an innovative and most unusual mystery from the golden age of crime fiction. It was adapted into a play, and a Hollywood movie as The Ninth Guest (1934).<br /><br />1930. The Invisible Host is the first novel published by the husband and wife team of Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning. The tale of murder was based on a facetious scheme to get rid of a neighbor whose raucous radio disturbed them day and night. </p><p>The novel begins: <i>That makes thirty-seven words, said the girl. Will you read the telegram again? came the voice over the wire. She read: Congratulations stop plans afoot for small surprise party in your honor Bienville penthouse next Saturday eight o'clock stop all sub rose big surprise stop maintain secrecy stop promise you most original party ever staged in New Orleans Signed Your host.</i><br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>I have read this as a prelude to re-reading AND THEN THERE WERE NONE with my U3A Agatha Christie Discussion group. THE INVISIBLE HOST pre-dates the publication of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by 9 years. </p><p>In New Orleans in 1930, 8 guest, all well-heeled and well known in society are invited to a surprise party in their honour. All think they know who the host organising the party is, and all think they know the reason why the party is being given. When they arrive at the party, each of them sees there the person whom they think is the host, but amongst the guest each sees at least one person that they hate.</p><p>They are met by a butler who says he does not know who the host is, that he has his instructions, and among those is to turn on the radio, and that their host will communicate with them via it during the evening. Through the radio the host tells them they are all scheduled to die before morning, and that they are taking part in a competition in which he will outwit each one of them. And so the plot proceeds.<br /></p><p>I didn't actually know of the existence of this book, nor of the possibility that Agatha Christie plagiarised the main plot. We don't know now, and can't ask, if Agatha Christie had read the book, but to me, if she had, there is no surprise in the possibility that she said something like "What an interesting plot - but I can do better than that". That is actually a situation that we come across quite often in crime fiction - where an author seems to have taken a plot that someone else has used, and seemingly tried to do better or produce a variation. </p><p>There are many differences between THE INVISIBLE HOST and AND THEN THERE WERE NONE but I will let you discover them for yourself. I'm not sure that I agree that in the former the guests were in a competition with the host - if they were, the rules were never made clear.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.4 <br /></p><p></p><p><b>About the authors</b>:</p><p>Gwen Bristow was born in Marion, South Carolina in 1903, and Bruce Manning in Cuddebackville, New York in 1902. In 1924, following Bristow's graduation from Judson College, her parents moved to New Orleans, the setting for The Invisible Host (1930). In the late 1920s, Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning, both Louisiana journalists at that point, met and married.Their first joint novel, The Invisible Host, was a success, and was followed by stage and film adaptations, and two further mysteries.The couple moved to Hollywood and there Bristow established herself as a prolific and successful writer of historical fiction, while Manning became a well-respected screenwriter, producer and director.They continued to live in California until their respective deaths, Manning's in 1965, Bristow's in 1980<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-11983473127254042352022-01-12T10:10:00.001+10:302022-01-12T10:10:44.802+10:30Review: A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SHEEP, Sally Coulthard<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41IULolpRwL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41IULolpRwL.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition on Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-World-According-Sheep-ebook/dp/B08CP7LLT2">Amazon.com</a>)<br /></li><li>ASIN : B08CP7LLT2</li><li>Publisher : Apollo (August 6, 2020)</li><li>Print length : 237 pages </li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-World-According-Sheep-ebook/dp/B08CP7LLT2">Amazon.com</a>)</p><p>From the plains of ancient Mesopotamia to the vast sheep farms of modern-day Australia, sheep have been central to the human story. Since our Neolithic ancestors' first forays into sheep-rearing nearly 11,000 years ago, these remarkable animals have fed us, clothed us, changed our diet and language and financed the conquest of large swathes of the earth.<br /><br />Sally Coulthard weaves this fascinating story into a vivid and colourful tapestry of engaging anecdotes and extraordinary ovine facts, whose multiple strands celebrate just how pivotal these woolly animals are to almost every aspect of human society and culture. <br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>This was a very entertaining, and at the same time easy, read. And of course not my usual crime fiction.</p><p>Who knew there would be so many aspects of our relationship with sheep to consider: from how they were originally tamed, to the properties that make wool so useful, how long we have been relieving sheep of their woolly coats, and then the employment that sheep have sponsored in the human race, the importance they have had economically and socially speaking, the role they have played in the history countries all over the world? </p><p>Each chapter is entertaining with myriad anecdotes. For those who want the serious stuff of history there are scores of references to follow up. I just enjoyed the stories.</p><p>Highly recommended.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.6</p><p><b>About the author</b><br />Bestselling author and columnist Sally Coulthard has spent the last two decades writing about her favourite things – nature, history and craft. Many of her books delve into the traditions of rural life – from artisans to agriculture – the people, plants and creatures who make the countryside tick.<br /><br />Sally’s work often weaves together different disciplines, pulling threads from social history, anthropology, archaeology, design and nature writing to bring her diverse subjects to life.<br /><br />After studying Archaeology and Anthropology at Oxford, and a brief stint working in factual television production, Sally moved back to her beloved Yorkshire, married a gardener and set up a smallholding; it’s from there, surrounded by her family and other animals, that Sally writes from a shed in the old orchard.<br /><br />Her books have covered a wide range of themes – from native bees and hedgehogs to folklore and the history of rural buildings. The countryside remains a constant source of inspiration – whether it’s barn owls or earthworms – and many of Sally’s books share her love of native wildlife and sustainable living.<br /><br />Sally also writes a column for Country Living magazine, A Good Life, in which she reveals the triumphs and disasters of growing her own fruit and vegetables, and keeping an unruly gaggle of livestock including Soay sheep, runner ducks and hens.<br /><br />Sally’s written over twenty-five non-fiction books. Her titles have been translated into a dozen languages and many of her more recent publications are also available as audiobooks <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-70600296637289722052022-01-11T10:15:00.000+10:302022-01-11T10:15:01.034+10:30Review: THE RIVER MOUTH, Karen Herbert<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1b124riq24c135lpm3nl6tz1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/9781760990466_RGB-scaled-300x459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://1b124riq24c135lpm3nl6tz1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/9781760990466_RGB-scaled-300x459.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>This edition an e-book on Libby made available through my local library<br /></li><li>ISBN: 9781760990466</li><li>Pages: 256</li><li>Publication year: 2021</li><li>Publisher: <a href="https://fremantlepress.com.au/books/the-river-mouth/">Fremantle Press</a></li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://fremantlepress.com.au/books/the-river-mouth/">publisher</a>) </p><p>Fifteen-year-old Darren Davies is found facedown in the Weymouth River with a gunshot wound to his chest. The killer is never found.</p><p>Ten years later, his mother receives a visit from the local police. Sandra’s best friend has been found dead on a remote Pilbara road. And Barbara’s DNA matches the DNA found under Darren’s fingernails. </p><p>When the investigation into her son’s murder is reopened, Sandra begins to question what she knew about her best friend. As she digs, she discovers that there are many secrets in her small town, and that her murdered son had secrets too.<br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>The setting of this novel is a small coastal town on the West Australian coast at the mouth of the Weymouth River some days south of the Pilbara. There are two major timelines. The novel has several narrators including Darren, his friends Colin and Tim, and Darren's mother Sandra. The combination of the timelines and the various narrative voices give the story considerable complexity.<br /></p><p>The narration starts with Sandra, and what she knows, ten years after her son was killed and few days after her best friend's body has been found in the Pilbara. Chapter 2 is narrated by Colin and begins a count down 25 days before Darren died. From there we flit backwards and forwards from the past to the present. The reader is often left to deduce which timeline we are on, and I did find that confusing at times, although we do know who the narrator is. There is a lot for the reader to unravel, but that is part of the pleasure of the book, so I am not going to explain everything here. At times the author attempts to see things through the eyes of the three boys, and at times reflects their lack of understanding of what is happening in the adult world around them.<br /></p><p>Sandra thinks she has moved on since Darren's death, but there are questions she has never asked and answers she has never sought.</p><p>I thought there were hints that various of the characters may have indigenous background but perhaps I missed out on picking up on when that was more clearly stated.</p><p>The final resolution to who killed Darren, and why, seems to come out of left field, but there were hints among all the red herrings. <br /></p><p>So here is another new author to watch! <br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.4</p><p><b>About the author</b><br />Karen Herbert spent her childhood in Geraldton on the midwest coast of Australia, attending local schools before moving to Perth to study at the University of Western Australia where she attained a Bachelor of Commerce with First Class Honours. She also holds a Master of Science in Applied Psychology. Karen has worked in aged care, disability services, higher education, Indigenous land management, social housing and the public sector, and is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is a Board Member of The Intelife Group, a Board Observer at Advocare, and President of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA). Karen lives in Perth, Western Australia with her husband, Ross, and the occasional fledgling.<br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-44010093847912027092021-09-28T14:50:00.002+09:302021-09-28T15:01:39.148+09:30Review: THE SKELETONS OF BIRKBURY, Diana Febry<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518O6JnOFBL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/518O6JnOFBL.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CYQDHHJ">Amazon</a>)<br /></li><li>ASIN : B07CYQDHHJ</li><li>Publication date : May 8, 2018 -originally published in 2015<br /></li><li>Print length : 277 pages</li><li>Page numbers source ISBN : 198104986X </li><li>#1 Peter Hatherall series</li></ul><p><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CYQDHHJ">Amazon</a>)</p><p>One buried body.<br />Many hidden secrets.<br />When the body of a teenage girl is discovered, the villagers of Birkbury close ranks to protect their secrets.<br />Gossip turns to fear and suspicion as they realise the killer is one of them and is prepared to kill again.<br />Beneath the good manners and polite smiles, DCI Hatherall discovers deep-seated resentments and family feuds going back decades. The stakes are raised when another girl goes missing.<br />Will the police uncover the killer before it is too late? <br /></p><p><b>My Take</b></p><p>A debut title and the first in a series. The author has gone on to write more than a dozen titles, including five more in this series. </p><p>During a big storm, a large tree falls over and reveals a skeleton. There is no problem in identifying the body as there is a bracelet that identifies her as a girl who had gone missing twenty years before. It seems most likely that she had been working at one of the local riding stables but nobody is able to remember her.</p><p>After her body is identified her twin brother and a cousin both turn up in the village. DCI Peter Hatherall and his offsider DC Fiona Wilson try to track down all who might have some knowledge of what was happening twenty years before. A mixture of local gossip and a set of old photos point the way for them.</p><p>While the story is very readable, and most of the i's get dotted and the t's crossed by the end, there are signs that this is a debut novel - for example there are a number of characters who come to nothing, and side-plots that have little significance. Peter Hatherall predictably has a curmudgeonly boss who threatens to take the case away from him if he doesn't get results "soon", and one of the suspects plays golf with someone higher up the chain than Peter Hatherall. Peter has domestic issues, a problem daughter, and a tragedy in the past, that all add dimensions to his character.</p><p>I'm looking forward to reading the second in the series.<br /></p><p><b>My rating</b>: 4.3</p><p><b>About the author</b><br />I was born and brought up in South west England where I still live with husband,two teenage children and aged dog. I studied law at Brookes University, Oxford but after a few years of feeling suffocated left to drift through a series of casual jobs. Mostly they have been connected with horses in some way but all gave me the freedom to dream and feed my imagination. <br /></p><p> <br /></p>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0