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.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-45160065951008630242017-01-03T07:56:00.001+10:302017-01-03T07:56:38.307+10:30New to me authors: October to December 2016<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s200/new-to-me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s200/new-to-me.jpg" /></a>I finished off the year having read 59 new to me authors, just 50% of my full total of 118 books for the year.<br />
<br />
Here is the list for the last quarter of the year<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/review-death-in-sweden-kevin-wignall.html">4.3, A DEATH IN SWEDEN, Kevin Wignall</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/review-defenceless-kati-hiekkapelto.html">4.7, THE DEFENCELESS, Kati Hiekkapelto</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/review-murdered-banker-augusto-de.html">3.5, THE MURDERED BANKER, Augusto de Angelis</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/review-wrong-hand-jane-jago.html">5.0, THE WRONG HAND, Jane Jago</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/review-see-also-murder-larry-d-sweazy.html">4.3, SEE ALSO MURDER, Larry D. Sweazy</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/review-soldiers-curse-tom-kenneally-meg.html">4.8, THE SOLDIER'S CURSE, Tom & Meg Kenneally</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/review-entanglement-zygmunt-miloszewski.html">4.1, ENTANGLEMENT, Zygmunt Miloszewski</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/review-rules-of-backyard-cricket-jack.html">5.0, THE RULES OF BACKYARD CRICKET, J<span style="color: purple;">o</span>ck Serong</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/review-awoman-much-missed-valerio-varesi.html">4.2, A WOMAN MUCH MISSED, Valerio Varesi</a></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/review-salt-creek-lucy-treloar.html">4.5, SALT CREEK, Lucy Treloar</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/review-death-in-august-marco-vich.html">4.3, DEATH IN AUGUST, Marco Vichi</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/review-climate-change-murders-david.html">3.5, THE CLIMATE CHANGE MURDERS, David Kilner</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/review-conclave-robert-harris-audio-book.html">5.0, CONCLAVE, Robert Harris</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ol>
<a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2017/01/meme-new-to-me-authors-october-to.html">Check here for what others have read.</a> <br />
<br />
<br />Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-88850029096639478672017-01-01T15:00:00.000+10:302017-01-01T19:54:02.529+10:30Meme- New to Me Authors - October to December 2016<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s1600/new-to-me.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s200/new-to-me.jpg" width="200" /></a>It's easy to join this meme.<br />
<br />
Just write a post about the best new-to-you crime fiction authors (or all) you've read in the period of <b>October to December 2016</b>, put a link to this meme in your post, and even use the logo if you like.<br />
The books don't necessarily need to be newly published. <br />
<br />
After writing your post, then come back to this post and add your link to Mr Linky below. (if Mr Linky does not appear - leave your URL in a comment and I will add to Mr Linky when it comes back up, or I'll add the link to the post)<br />
Visit the links posted by other participants in the meme to discover even more books to read.<br />
<br />
This meme will run again at the end of March 2017<br />
<br />
<hr />
<script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?owner=smik&postid=31Dec2016&meme=9611" type="text/javascript">
</script><br />Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-83469522604102847982016-12-23T08:11:00.001+10:302016-12-23T08:11:43.805+10:30Review: CONCLAVE, Robert Harris - audio book<ul><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513Wmx8D2lL._SL300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513Wmx8D2lL._SL300_.jpg" /></a>
<li class="adbl-narrator-row"><span class="adbl-label">Narrated by:</span>
<span class="adbl-prod-author">
<a class="adbl-link" href="http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Fictio_c2_1_narr?searchNarrator=Roy+Mcmillan">
<span>Roy Mcmillan</span>
</a>
</span></li>
<li> <span class="adbl-label">Length:</span> <span class="adbl-run-time">8 hrs and 19 mins</span> <span id="detail_more_info_btn"></span></li>
<li><span class="adbl-format-type">Unabridged</span> <span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">
Audiobook</span></li>
<li><span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">published 2016 </span></li>
</ul>
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"><b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Conclave-Audiobook/B01HFKWP78">Audible</a>)</span><br />
<br />
The Pope is dead.<br />
<br />
Behind the locked doors of the Sistine
Chapel, 118 cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in
the world's most secretive election. They are holy men. But they have
ambition. And they have rivals.<br />
<br />
Over the next 72 hours, one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
I guess one could argue that this novel is at the very edge of crime fiction, but there is certainly mystery, and a plot that kept me listening until the very end.<br />
<br />
The narration is excellent, and there is plenty of drama and suspense as the Dean of the College of Cardinals leads 118 cardinals through the process of electing another Pope, making sure that their final choice is worthy of the office.<br />
<br />
At the end we are left asking how much influence the former Pope actually had in choosing his successor.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 5.0<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
<br />
Robert Harris was born in Nottingham in 1957 and is a graduate of
Cambridge University. He has been a reporter on the BBC's Newsnight and
Panorama programmes, Political Editor of the Observer, and a columnist
on The Sunday Times. He is the author of five non-fiction books in
addition to his bestselling fiction. <span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"></span> Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-91932223010674615102016-12-13T08:08:00.002+10:302016-12-13T08:08:28.860+10:30Review: THE CLIMATE CHANGE MURDERS, David Kilner<ul>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/CLIMATE-CHANGE-MURDERS-David-Kilner-ebook/dp/B00WH96NX0/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51m6%2BOAxa0L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51m6%2BOAxa0L.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 1005 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 230 pages</li>
<li><b>Simultaneous Device Usage:</b> Unlimited</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Published by CUSTOM BOOK PUBLICATIONS (April 21, 2015)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> April 21, 2015</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Amazon Digital Services LLC
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B00WH96NX0</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/CLIMATE-CHANGE-MURDERS-David-Kilner-ebook/dp/B00WH96NX0/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
Skyla Merrick is always in some kind of trouble …<br />
<br />
In disgrace
and suspended, the Cornish-born detective witnesses the first of the
bizarre deaths while visiting Arthurs Bay, a coastal fishing village
with bigger ideas. The director of a local climate change research
facility, Edwina Ling, is number one.<br />
Skyla relishes the opportunity
to restore her fortunes but false evidence and her personal demons
deceive her and she chases the wrong suspect. <br />
Then there is another, and then another death … <br />
Her
one-time lover helps resolve her confusion and assists her pursuit of
the murderer with renewed clarity. Colleagues quietly follow their own
investigations and pursue the money trail. And then there is the
confrontation between the developers and conservationists …<br />
<br />
When Skyla and local police officer Hugh Fitzpatrick bring their work together, she sees the solution. <br />
<br />
But can she catch the killer?<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
The setting of this story is the southern coast of Australia, somewhere in Victoria, a fictitious fishing village called Arthurs Bay where a climate change research facility is located. The Southern Institute of Marine Exploration (SIME) is hosting a convention on climate change and a controversial paper which disputes the impact of climate change on local fish stock is to be presented.<br />
<br />
On the eve of the presentation of this paper the director of the institute, Edwina Ling, is murdered and suspended detective Skyla Merrick is one of those present at her death. Skyla is reinstated to her rank of detective and is put in charge of the investigation into the murder. Skyla brings with her a whole lot of emotional baggage which impacts on her ability to conduct an investigation.<br />
<br />
There are a lot of local issues running in the background, disputes between fishermen and organic vegetable growers, an impending Food Festival, long standing local rivalries, to cite a few. Essentially the fishermen dispute the findings of the research paper, saying that not only are fish stocks dwindling, but that the type of fish now in the area has changed, and that that change is due to the impact of global warming.<br />
<br />
Published in 2015, the book focusses on some pretty topical issues, especially in the light of political opinion, both local and international, that climate change is much overrated, and that global warming is unproven.<br />
<br />
The novel is carefully plotted, but perhaps an attempt was made to cover too many "issues", and that resulted in quite a number of plot threads, and inevitable red herrings. In the long run, there were just too many strings running off the main plot. and it felt rather as if the author was becoming bogged down in complexity in a desperate attempt to come to a resolution. I also found the number of characters a bit distracting.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless an interesting read.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 3.5<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
<br />
David Kilner was born in London and grew up in Adelaide, South
Australia, where he lives with his wife, Pauline, and two Maltese
Shih-Tzu crosses. With the help of the dogs, they raised two daughters.
Now retired, he spent most of his career in the social welfare sector
where he became expert at writing social welfare policy and was awarded a
Doctorate for his work on social housing. These days he enjoys
volunteering with community organisations and writing local history
studies. Many of his non-fiction works have been published, both in
social welfare and in history. He began writing crime fiction several
years ago and has previously published two short stories with Detective
Sergeant Skyla Merrick in the lead. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-25108659648691466392016-12-06T09:51:00.002+10:302016-12-07T08:03:10.807+10:30Review: DEATH IN AUGUST, Marco Vichi<ul><a href="http://italian-mysteries.com/mvi01.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://italian-mysteries.com/mvi01.gif" height="320" width="195" /></a>
<li>first published in Italian 2002</li>
<li>translated into English 2011 by Stephen Sartarelli</li>
<li>published by Hodder & Stoughton </li>
<li>ISBN 978-1-444-71221-6</li>
<li>207 pages</li>
<li>source: my local library</li>
<li>#1 in the Inspector Bordelli series</li>
<li> </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="http://italian-mysteries.com/MVI01.html">Italian Mysteries</a>)<br />
<br />
Florence, summer 1963.<br />
<br />
Inspector Bordelli is one of the few policemen
left in the deserted city. He spends his days on routine work, and his
nights tormented by the heat and mosquitoes.<br />
<br />
Suddenly one night, a telephone call gives him a new sense of
purpose: the suspected death of a wealthy Signora. Bordelli rushes to
her hilltop villa, and picks the locks. The old woman is lying on her
bed - apparently killed by an asthma attack, though her medicine has
been left untouched.<br />
<br />
With the help of his young protégé, the victim's eccentric
brother, and a semi-retired petty thief, the inspector begins a murder
investigation. Each suspect has a solid alibi, but there is something
that doesn't quite add up . .<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
Unencumbered by a wife and family, Inspector Bordelli likes to spend the August holiday season at work, even if it does mean incredible heat, and mosquitoes.<br />
<br />
This is almost a Golden Age style mystery: there is no blood and gore, just a dead body and a mystery about how she died. As Inspector Bordelli tracks down the beneficiaries of the dead woman's will, he and his young assistant settle on the murderer, but the problem is to prove it. He revisits the scene of the death frequently and makes a surprise discovery, and eventually gathers some concrete evidence.<br />
<br />
This is to be the first book in the series and the author takes a lot of care in creating the Inspector's persona: he is 53 years old, fought the Nazis in World War Two, and already sees himself as an old man. He has a lot of friends among criminals and ex-soldiers. There is a lovely scene at a dinner party where a number of them tell stories from the war.<br />
<br />
I was impressed by the careful plotting and the eventual resolution of the mystery.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 4.3<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Marco Vichi</b> was born in Florence in 1957. The
author of eleven novels and two collections of short stories, he has
also written screenplays, music lyrics and for radio, and collaborated
on projects for humanitarian causes. His novel Death in Florence won the
Scerbanenco, Rieti and Camaiore prizes.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="sectionhead">
Series</div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="inspector-bordelli"></a><b>Inspector Bordelli</b><br />
1. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/v/marco-vichi/death-in-august.htm">Death in August</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2011.htm">2011</a>)</span><br />
2. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/v/marco-vichi/death-and-olive-grove.htm">Death and the Olive Grove</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2012.htm">2012</a>)</span><br />
3. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/v/marco-vichi/death-in-sardinia.htm">Death in Sardinia</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2012.htm">2012</a>)</span><br />
4. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/v/marco-vichi/death-in-florence.htm">Death in Florence</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2013.htm">2013</a>)</span><br />
5. <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/v/marco-vichi/death-in-the-tuscan-hills.htm">Death in the Tuscan Hills</a><span class="year"> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/years/2016.htm">2016</a>)</span>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-4355850403926472462016-12-05T10:19:00.000+10:302016-12-05T10:19:06.432+10:30Review: SALT CREEK, Lucy Treloar<ul>
<li>this edition: EasyRead Large Edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.biblioimages.com/macmillanaus/getimage.aspx?class=books&assetversionid=313429&cat=default&size=large&id=26344" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://www.biblioimages.com/macmillanaus/getimage.aspx?class=books&assetversionid=313429&cat=default&size=large&id=26344" width="211" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>published in 2015 in Picador for Pan Macmillan Australia</li>
<li>ISBN: 978-1-45876-590-1</li>
<li>569 pages</li>
<li>source: my local library</li>
<li>author website: <a href="http://lucytreloar.com/salt-creek/">http://lucytreloar.com/salt-creek/</a> </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781743533192">Pan Macmillan Australia</a>)<br />
<br />
<strong>SHORTLISTED FOR THE MILES FRANKLIN AWARD 2016</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>From
the winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Pacific Region)
and the 2013 Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award</strong><br />
<strong>"Salt Creek introduces a capacious talent" <em>The Australian</em></strong><br />
<br />
<em>Some things collapse slow, and cannot always be rebuilt, and even if a thing can be remade it will never be as it was.</em><br />
<br />
Salt
Creek, 1855, lies at the far reaches of the remote, beautiful and
inhospitable coastal region, the Coorong, in the new province of South
Australia. The area, just opened to graziers willing to chance their
luck, becomes home to Stanton Finch and his large family, including
fifteen-year-old Hester Finch.<br />
Once wealthy political activists,
the Finch family has fallen on hard times. Cut adrift from the polite
society they were raised to be part of, Hester and her siblings make
connections where they can: with the few travellers that pass along the
nearby stock route - among them a young artist, Charles - and the
Ngarrindjeri people they have dispossessed. Over the years that pass,
an Aboriginal boy, Tully, at first a friend, becomes part of the
family.<br />
Stanton's attempts to tame the harsh landscape bring ruin
to the Ngarrindjeri people's homes and livelihoods, and unleash a chain
of events that will tear the family asunder. As Hester witnesses the
destruction of the Ngarrindjeri's subtle culture and the ideals that her
family once held so close, she begins to wonder what civilization is.
Was it for this life and this world that she was educated?<br />
<br />
<b>My take</b><br />
<br />
First of all I note that this is NOT crime fiction, although there are mysteries.<br />
<br />
A work of fiction, it is loosely based on inherited stories from the author's family, and includes some characters who actually existed, as well as some fictional creations.<br />
<br />
It is set in the period 1855-1874. The Finch family who have been in the colony of South Australia for a few years, move from Adelaide to Salt Creek on the Coorong. They are a large family, 6 children initially, but things do not go well. There is a history of "bad blood" between the white settlers and the local aboriginal tribe, including the massacre of the survivors of the wreck of the Brig Maria. Details are left sketchy, but somehow Mr Finch was involved in the punishment meted out.<br />
<br />
One of the issues is how the aborigines should be treated: Mr Finch believes in equality, but somehow that does not always come out in his treatment of others. There are references to George Taplin's attempts to civilise them through the mission at Raukkan.<br />
<br />
The environment is a harsh one and members of the Finch family die and others go to the Victorian goldfields to seek their fortune. Meanwhile Mr Finch sinks further and further into debt, always balancing one "investment" against the meagre profit from another.<br />
<br />
A very good read that seems to me to depict the history of these times with sensitivity and accuracy.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.5<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
Lucy Treloar was born in Malaysia and educated in Melbourne, England
and Sweden. A graduate of the University of Melbourne and RMIT’s
Professional Writing and Editing program, Lucy is a writer, editor,
mentor and creative writing teacher and has plied her trades both in
Australia and in Cambodia, where she lived for several years.
<br />
She was awarded an Asialink Writer’s Residency to Cambodia (2011) to
undertake research and to work on her first adult novel, then titled
Some Times in Life. Lucy is the winner of the 2014<strong> Commonwealth Short Story Prize</strong> (Pacific), the 2012 <strong>Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award</strong> and a 2013 <strong>Varuna Publisher Fellowship</strong>. Her short fiction has appeared in <strong><em>Sleepers</em></strong>, <strong><em>Overland</em></strong>, <strong><em>Seizure</em></strong>, and <strong><em>Best Australian Stories</em></strong> 2013, and her non-fiction in a range of publications.<br />
Lucy’s debut novel, <em><strong>Salt Creek </strong></em>(Pan
Macmillan) was published in 2015 to critical acclaim. It has won the
Dobbie Award, the Matt Richell Award for New Writer, and the Indie Award
for Best Debut, and has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin
Literary Award, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the
Readings Prize for New Australian Writer.<br />
Lucy is an Artist in Residence at Melbourne’s Arts House – see <a href="http://www.creativespaces.net.au/find-a-space">Creative Spaces</a>. (Here’s the <a href="http://www.creativespaces.net.au/artists/556/lucy-treloar">information page</a>.) If anyone’s looking for an office or studio to write in, Creative Spaces is the place to find it.Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-75849590274326510182016-12-02T17:29:00.003+10:302016-12-03T08:23:02.650+10:30Review: A WOMAN MUCH MISSED, Valerio Varesi<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41QNtHNg%2BsL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41QNtHNg%2BsL.jpg" width="210" /></a>
<li>first published in Italian 2004, </li>
<li>first pubished in Great Britain in 2015</li>
<li>translated by Joseph Farrell</li>
<li>Commissario Soneri #4</li>
<li>ISBN 978-0-85705-345-9</li>
<li>270 pages</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Much-Missed-Commissario-Investigation-ebook/dp/B012DVZQFW/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
<div id="iframeContent">
A few days before Christmas, with Parma
gripped by frost and fog, Ghitta Tagliavini, the elderly owner of a
guesthouse in the old town centre, is found murdered in her apartment.<br />
<br />
The case is assigned to Commissario Soneri, but the investigation holds
a painful, personal element that sends waves of nostalgia sweeping
through him. Tagliavini's guesthouse is where Soneri met his late wife
Ada, and where the young couple spent unforgettable hours in each
other's company.<br />
<br />
But the present can embitter even the sweetest
memories. An old photograph of Ada with another man sends Soneri into a
spiral of despondency, ever more so when he realises her death may be
linked to Tagliavina's lucrative sideline as a backstreet abortionist
and faith healer.<br />
Though Soneri would like nothing more than to
be allowed to drop the case, he doggedly persists, uncovering at last,
along with the truth behind Tagliavini's death, rife corruption at
Parma's rotten heart and a raft of ghosts from Italy's divisive past.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
This wasn't the easiest book to read. A murder investigation is tangled with political overtones and Commissario is drawn back to an old stamping ground. He recognises the dead woman as the landlady of the student house where his now dead wife used to board. In latter years the guesthouse has become a bordello and Soneri comes to wonder if that was its role when his wife lived there.<br />
<br />
Complicating things is that Italy's two police forces are constantly trying to score easy points at the other's expense and Commissario Soneri, part of the state police force, feels constantly under threat from the officers of the carabinieri.<br />
<br />
I hung in there until everything was resolved and the murder mystery was solved, but I can't say I enjoyed the book. <br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.2 </div>
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-36774418603812955902016-11-14T17:08:00.003+10:302016-11-17T18:13:43.535+10:30Review: THE RULES OF BACKYARD CRICKET, Jock Serong<ul>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rules-Backyard-Cricket-Jock-Serong-ebook/dp/B01FPQQKTS/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/513InVSbE%2BL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/513InVSbE%2BL.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 2036 KB</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Text Publishing (August 29, 2016)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> August 29, 2016</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Amazon Digital Services LLC
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B01FPQQKTS</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rules-Backyard-Cricket-Jock-Serong-ebook/dp/B01FPQQKTS/">Amazon</a>)<br />
It starts in a suburban backyard with Darren Keefe and his older
brother, sons of a fierce and gutsy single mother. The endless glow of
summer, the bottomless fury of contest. All the love and hatred in two
small bodies poured into the rules of a made-up game.<br />
<br />
Darren has
two big talents: cricket and trouble. No surprise that he becomes an
Australian sporting star of the bad-boy variety—one of those men who’s
always got away with things and just keeps getting.<br />
<br />
<br />
Until
the day we meet him, middle aged, in the boot of a car. Gagged,
cable-tied, a bullet in his knee. Everything pointing towards a shallow
grave.<br />
<br />
<i>The Rules of Backyard Cricket </i>is a novel of suspense in the tradition of Peter Temple’s <i>Truth</i>.
With glorious writing harnessed to a gripping narrative, it observes
celebrity, masculinity—humanity—with clear-eyed lyricism and
exhilarating narrative drive.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
This is a very cleverly written book, and will particularly be enjoyed by Australian readers who like to read crime fiction and follow the fortunes of the Australian cricket team.<br />
<br />
The main voice is Darren Keefe, middle aged, trussed up in the boot of a car, seemingly on his way to his execution. He's an ex-cricket player, the younger of two famous brothers, the elder of whom reached the pinnacle, the captain of the Australian XI. Darren always considered himself the better player but it was Wally who reached the heights. While Wally was calm and serene and reliable, Darren lived the high life, sometimes dropped from the team for disciplinary reasons, but recalled because he was so incredible on the field.<br />
<br />
I kept thinking of cricketing brothers, the Chappells, the Waughs, and others, and cricketing bad boys, whose larrikinism has held us captive. So many incidents in the book tweaked half-remembered things in my brain, and the author has obviously been a keen observer of the sport. Like so many Australian cricketers the Keefe brothers pay a terrible price for their fame, and there is a dramatic twist in the tail when a final mystery is solved.<br />
<br />
An excellent read.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 5.0<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
<b>Jock Serong</b> lives and works on the far southwest coast of Victoria. Formerly a lawyer, he is now a features writer, and the editor of <i>Great Ocean Quarterly</i>. His first novel, <i>Quota</i>, won the 2015 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Novel. His most recent novel is <i>The Rules of Backyard Cricket</i>.<br />
<br />Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-19210661087373695392016-11-08T10:57:00.000+10:302016-11-08T10:57:55.244+10:30Review: ENTANGLEMENT, Zygmunt Miloszewski<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51IxTZ0303L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51IxTZ0303L.jpg" width="204" /></a></div>
<ul>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Entanglement-Polish-Prosecutor-Szacki-Investigates-ebook/dp/B003UESN48/">Amazon</a>)</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 770 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 354 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Bitter Lemon Press (July 2, 2010)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> August 1, 2010</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Amazon Digital Services LLC
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B003UESN48</li>
<li>translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Entanglement-Polish-Prosecutor-Szacki-Investigates-ebook/dp/B003UESN48/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
The morning after a group psychotherapy session in a Warsaw monastery,
Henry Talek is found dead, a roasting spit stuck in one eye.<br />
<br />
Public
prosecutor Teodor Szacki, world-weary, suffering from bureaucratic
exhaustion and marital ennui, feels that life has passed him by. But
this case changes everything. Because of it he meets Monika Grzelka, a
young journalist whose charms prove difficult to resist, and he
discovers the frightening power of certain esoteric therapeutic methods.
The shocking videos of the sessions lead him to an array of possible
scenarios. Could one of the patients have become so absorbed by his
therapy role-playing that he murdered Telak? Szacki’s investigation
leads him to an earlier murder, before the fall of Communism.<br />
<br />
And
why is the Secret Police suddenly taking an interest in all this? As
Szacki uncovers each piece of the puzzle, facts emerge that he’d be
better off not knowing, for his own safety.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
To be quite honest, I found this book rather heavy going. Initially I borrowed it from my local library but found the print a bit small, and so purchased it for my Kindle.<br />
<br />
The plot centres around a group therapy weekend, with groups called constellations, in which they undertake role plays. In theory the three people participating in the weekend have had no contact with each other before. However when Henry Talek is found dead, it seems very likely that one of the others has murdered him, and that therefore there is some history connecting at least two of them. Talek's young daughter recently committed suicide and his son is very ill.<br />
<br />
Public prosecutor Teodor Szacki consults other "experts" in this sort of therapy and gets pointers about what he should be looking for. He himself is having some sort of mid life crisis and becomes entangled with a young journalist. He learns from her that the secret police are taking an interest in his activities and his research.<br />
<br />
Most of the story is told through Szacki's eyes, but there is an unnamed character who pops up occasionally who is having Szacki watched.<br />
<br />
While everything got resolved in the end, I felt that, for me, it stretched the bounds of credibility and I struggled.<br />
Perhaps it was just not my sort of book. <br />
<br />
<b>My rating</b>: 4.1<br />
<br />
About the author<br />
<b>Zygmunt Miloszewski</b>, born in Warsaw in 1975, is an editor currently working for <i>Newsweek</i>. His first novel, <i>The Intercom</i>, was published in 2005 to high acclaim. <i>Entanglement</i> followed in 2007, and the author is now working on screenplays based on <i>The Intercom</i> and <i>Entanglement</i> as well as on a sequel to the latter, also featuring Teodor Szacki. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-71389825970313492292016-11-07T21:46:00.000+10:302016-11-07T21:46:38.447+10:30Review: THE SOLDIER'S CURSE, Tom Kenneally & Meg Kenneally - audio book<ul><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ewb3kvFqL._SL300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ewb3kvFqL._SL300_.jpg" /></a>
<li>source: <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/The-Soldiers-Curse-Audiobook/B01HSC2SDY">Audible.com</a></li>
<li class="adbl-author-row"><span class="adbl-label">Written by:</span>
<span class="adbl-prod-author">
<a class="adbl-link author-profile-link" href="http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2_1_auth?searchAuthor=Tom+Keneally" id="AuthorSearchLink"><span>Tom Keneally</span></a>
,
<a class="adbl-link author-profile-link" href="http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2_2_auth?searchAuthor=Meg+Keneally" id="AuthorSearchLink"><span>Meg Keneally</span></a>
</span></li>
<li class="adbl-narrator-row"><span class="adbl-label">Narrated by:</span>
<span class="adbl-prod-author">
<a class="adbl-link" href="http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_pd_Myster_c2_1_narr?searchNarrator=Paul+English">
<span>Paul English</span>
</a>
</span></li>
<li> <span class="adbl-label">Length:</span> <span class="adbl-run-time">13 hrs and 14 mins</span> <span id="detail_more_info_btn"></span></li>
<li><span class="adbl-format-type">Unabridged</span> <span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category">
Audiobook</span></li>
</ul>
<span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"> <b>Synopsis</b> (</span><a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/The-Soldiers-Curse-Audiobook/B01HSC2SDY">Audible.com</a>)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /><span class="adbl-prod-type" itemprop="category"> </span>A fast-paced, witty and gripping historical crime series from Tom Keneally and his eldest daughter, Meg.<br />
<br />
In
the Port Macquarie penal settlement for second offenders, at the edge
of the known world, gentleman convict Hugh Monsarrat hungers for
freedom. Originally transported for forging documents passing himself
off as a lawyer, he is now the trusted clerk of the settlement's
commandant.<br />
<br />
His position has certain advantages, such as being
able to spend time in the Government House kitchen, being supplied with
outstanding cups of tea by housekeeper Hannah Mulrooney, who, despite
being illiterate, is his most intelligent companion.<br />
<br />
Not long
after the commandant heads off in search of a rumoured river, his
beautiful wife, Honora, falls ill with a sickness the doctor is unable
to identify. When Honora dies, it becomes clear she has been slowly
poisoned.<br />
<br />
Monsarrat and Mrs Mulrooney suspect the commandant's
second-in-command, Captain Diamond, a cruel man who shares history with
Honora. Then Diamond has Mrs Mulrooney arrested for the murder. Knowing
his friend will hang if she is tried, Monsarrat knows he must find the
real killer. And so begins The Monsarrat Series.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
This tale is fiction, set in an Australian penal settlement north of Sydney in 1825. It is extremely well read and the voice characterisation is excellent. However while it is fiction, the historical facts ring true.<br />
<br />
The central character Hugh Monsarrat has known the freedom of being a ticket-of-leave man, but lost his ticket when he was found to have left his designated district. He is a victim of the British class system which excluded him from becoming an accredited lawyer in London. He was transported to Australia for forging documents and for passing himself off as a lawyer.<br />
<br />
The characters of Monserrat and the other main characters in the story are convincingly drawn. The story felt a bit slow to begin with but gathered pace as more plot strands were introduced.<br />
<br />
Recommended.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 4.8 <br />
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-13697725939800508292016-10-30T08:52:00.002+10:302016-10-30T08:52:36.827+10:30Review, SEE ALSO MURDER, Larry D. Sweazy<ul><a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51R6sgqVxPL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51R6sgqVxPL.jpg" width="213" /></a>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/See-Also-Murder-Marjorie-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00N6PCPX6/">Amazon</a>)</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 723 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 256 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Seventh Street Books (May 5, 2015)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> May 5, 2015</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Amazon Digital Services LLC
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B00N6PCPX6</li>
<li>#1 in Marjorie Trumaine series </li>
<li>Author website: <a href="http://www.larrydsweazy.com/">www.larrydsweazy.com</a> </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/See-Also-Murder-Marjorie-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00N6PCPX6/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
1964—Life on the North Dakota farm hasn’t always been easy for Marjorie
Trumaine. She has begun working as a professional indexer to help with
the bills—which have only gotten worse since the accident that left her
husband, Hank, blind and paralyzed. When her nearest neighbors are
murdered in their beds, though, Marjorie suddenly has to deal with new
and terrifying problems.<br /><br /> Sheriff Hilo Jenkins brings her a
strange amulet, found clutched in the hand of her murdered neighbor, and
asks her to quietly find out what it is. Marjorie uses all the skills
she has developed as an indexer to research the amulet and look into the
murders, but as she closes in on the killer, and people around her
continue to die, she realizes that the murderer is also closing in on
her.<br />
<br />
<b>My take</b><br />
<br />
This novel is a bit like a cozy set in North Dakota, although some truly horrifying murders take place and it really looks like there is a serial killer on the loose.<br />
<br />
It probably is important to note the time setting of the book: 1964, and at times I lost sight of that. It does help explain some aspects of the story: the fact that Marjorie's house telephone is a party line, the relative isolation of their farm, the cars they drive, the lack of medical treatment for Hank, and the sort of work Marjorie is doing as an indexer (although I guess there is still work doing that. The author himself is credited with having written indexes for over 800 books).<br />
<br />
The thread that binds the plot together and explains the the murders is an interesting one, and I think the author does a good job with local customs and the North Dakota lifestyle.<br />
<br />
It kept me reading until the end. One by one the suspects were eliminated, and then at the end there was a good twist which I should have seen coming.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating: </b>4.3<b><br /></b><br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
Larry D. Sweazy (pronounced: Swayzee) is a two-time winner of the WWA
(Western Writers of America) Spur award. He won for Best Short Fiction
in 2005 for the short story, "The Promotion" and in 2013 for The Coyote
Tracker (Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger #5) for Best Original Mass Market
Paperback. He was nominated for a SMFS (Short Mystery Fiction Society)
Derringer award in 2007. His first novel, The Rattlesnake Season
(Josiah Wolfe #1), was a finalist in the Best Books of 2010 Indiana
literary competition. His second novel, The Scorpion Trail (Josiah Wolfe
#2) won the 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction and
the 2011 Best Books of Indiana literary competition in the fiction
category. The Scorpion Trail (Josiah Wolfe #2) is the only Western to
win the Best Books of Indiana. The Cougar's Prey (Josiah Wolfe #4) won
the 2012 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction, making Larry a
two-time back-to-back winner of the award. He has published over 60
non-fiction articles and short stories, which have appeared in Ellery
Queen's Mystery Magazine; Boys' Life; Hardboiled; Amazon Shorts, and
several other publications and anthologies. Larry is the author of ten
novels, including books in the Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger series, the
Lucas Fume series (Berkley), a standalone thriller, The Devil's Bones
(Five Star), and the Marjorie Trumaine Mystery series (Seventh Street
Books). He is member of ITW (International Thriller Writers), MWA
(Mystery Writers of America), and WWA (Western Writers of America). He
lives in Indiana with his wife, Rose. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-60032042715443012382016-10-05T17:01:00.001+10:302016-10-05T17:01:47.548+10:30Review: THE WRONG HAND, Jane Jago<ul>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Hand-Jane-Jago-ebook/dp/B01BG8VAG2/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51D1rFVxApL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51D1rFVxApL.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 2415 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 368 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Penguin (June 30, 2016)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> June 30, 2016</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> PEN UK
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B01BG8VAG2</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Hand-Jane-Jago-ebook/dp/B01BG8VAG2/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
<div id="iframeContent">
We all make mistakes. Moments that change us and the path we are on irrevocably.<br />
<br />For
Rachel Allen it was the moment that she let her son's hand slip from
hers. For Danny Simpson and Graham Harris it was the moment one of them
took it.<br />
<br />
Seven years ago Danny and Graham were just children
themselves, angry, marginalized and unguided. That was, until they
committed a crime so heinous that three families were left devastated.
They were no longer just boys. They were monsters.<br />
<br />
Released from
juvenile detention, it is time for the boys, now men, to start again;
new names, new people. But they can never escape who they are or what
they did. And their own families, now notorious; the Allens, destroyed
with grief; and the country at large have never been able to forget.<br />
They
will always be running. They will always be hiding. But are some
mistakes too large, the ripples to far reaching, to outrun forever?</div>
<br />
<b>My take</b><br />
<br />
This novel raises the question of whether there are crimes that are too heinous to ever be forgiven. Do children always understand what they are doing? Can they ever be accepted back in society?<br />
<br />
There have been a number of this type of crime world wide and the children who have carried them out have been punished for life. It raises the question of whether both the children are as guilty as each other. Would one have done this if the other had not been present?<br />
<br />
The plot in this book seems to closely reflect <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger">the murder of James Bulger</a>. <br />
<br />
A very thought provoking read.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 5.0<br />
<br />
About the author<br />
Jane Jago was born in Sydney Australia in 1961. Originally trained as a
Printmaker, she began writing whilst raising a family. She has a long
standing interest in exploring the shadow aspect of human nature and in
developmental psychology. Passionate about the protection of children
and their right to a childhood, The Wrong Hand is her first novel.
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-7642692129407134912016-10-05T16:19:00.000+10:302016-10-05T16:22:01.739+10:30Review: THE MURDERED BANKER, Augusto de Angelis<ul>
<li>Format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murdered-Banker-Pushkin-Vertigo/dp/1782271708/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51QRqs01nlL._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51QRqs01nlL._SX323_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
</li>
<li><b>Series:</b> Pushkin Vertigo</li>
<li><b>Paperback:</b> 160 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Pushkin Vertigo (February 23, 2016)</li>
<li>Translated from Italian by Jill Foulson </li>
<li>first published 1935 </li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 1782271708</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-1782271703</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Murdered-Banker-Pushkin-Vertigo/dp/1782271708/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
A body is discovered in a Milan apartment, and Inspector De Vincenzi
investigates. The apartment happens to belong to and old university
friend of his, Aurigi. When the body turns out to be that of Aurigi's
banker, and a phial of prussic acid is discovered in the bathroom,
suspicion falls on the apartment's owner, and De Vincenzi is agonisingly
torn between his sense of duty and his loyalty to an old comrade...<br />
<br />
This
intensely dramatic mystery from the father of the Italian crime novel,
Augusto de Angelis, is the first to feature his most famous
creation--Inspector De Vincenzi.<br />
<br />
<b>My take</b><br />
<br />
I think it may have been a combination of the translation, the author's style, and the complex plot, but I found this a very hard novel to become engaged in. I think the plot reflected the times it was set in.<br />
<br />
My rating: 3.5<br />
<br />
About the author<br />
De Angelis was born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome" title="Rome">Rome</a>. He published his first mystery, <i>Il banchiere assassinato</i>, in 1935. He subsequently wrote some twenty crime books, whose protagonist is Commissario Carlo De Vincenzi of the <i>squadra mobile</i> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan" title="Milan">Milan</a>. Some of them were adapted for television by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAI" title="RAI">RAI</a> in 1974–1977, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Stoppa" title="Paolo Stoppa">Paolo Stoppa</a> playing the role of De Vincenzi.<br />
Despite the success of the books, the Fascist government banned them.
De Angelis was arrested in 1943, accused of being Anti-Fascist. After a
few months he was freed but soon afterwards he was beaten up by a
Fascist activist, and died at <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellagio_%28Italian_region%29" title="Bellagio (Italian region)">Bellagio</a> of the wounds he had received.Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-29614231576354186462016-10-05T08:27:00.001+10:302016-10-05T08:27:11.321+10:30New-to-me authors July to September 2016<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s200/new-to-me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s200/new-to-me.jpg" /></a>I have still not caught up with records of my reading for the last month so this list is missing at least a couple of new to me authors. However, I have now recorded 46 for the year (last year 53 for the whole year) and that means almost 45% of the books I read are by a new-to-me author. Most of them are on my kindle, and many are by authors who have contacted me. I have probably turned as many away.<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/review-satellite-people-hans-olav-lahlum.html">4.4, THE SATELLITE PEOPLE, Hans Olav Lahlum</a></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/review-chosen-kristina-ohlsson.html">4.7, THE CHOSEN, Kristina Ohlsson</a> </span> </span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/review-missing-presumed-susie-steiner.html">4.<span style="color: purple;">5</span>, MISSING PRESUMED, Susie Steiner</a></span> </span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/review-loving-husband-christobel-kent.html">4.3, THE LOVING HUSBAND, Christobel Kent</a> </span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/review-im-travelling-alone-samuel-bjork.html">4.4, I'M TRAVELLING ALONE, Samuel Bjork</a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/review-only-daughter-anna-snoekstra.html">4.5, ONLY DAUGHTER, Anna Snoekstra</a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/review-girl-in-dark-marion-pauw.html">4.3, GIRL IN THE DARK, Marion Pauw</a> </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/review-tiger-ladies-sudha-koul.html">4.3, THE TIGER LADIES, Sudha Koul</a></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/the-devil-in-marshalsea-antonia-hodgson.html">4.6, THE DEVIL IN THE MARSHALSEA, Antonia Hodgson</a></span> </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/review-resurrection-bay-emma-viskic_15.html">4.3, RESURRECTION BAY, Emma Viskic</a></span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ol>
<a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/its-easy-to-join-this-meme.html"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"> </span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/its-easy-to-join-this-meme.html">See what others have read.</a> </span> </span></span></span></span>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-41958474466011949912016-10-03T15:12:00.000+10:302016-10-03T15:12:07.589+10:30Review: THE DEVIL IN THE MARSHALSEA, Antonia Hodgson<ul>
<li>Mformat: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Marshalsea-Thomas-Hawkins-Book-ebook/dp/B00FAT9IJK/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51g-IgdMeUL._SY346_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51g-IgdMeUL._SY346_.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>WINNER OF THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD 2014.</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 929 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 401 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Hodder & Stoughton (March 27, 2014)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> March 27, 2014</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Hachette Book Group
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B00FAT9IJK </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Marshalsea-Thomas-Hawkins-Book-ebook/dp/B00FAT9IJK/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
<b>The first thrilling historical crime novel starring Thomas Hawkins, a
rakish scoundel with a heart of gold, set in the darkest debtors’
prison in Georgian London, where people fall dead as quickly as they
fall in love and no one is as they seem.</b><br />
<br />
London, 1727. Tom
Hawkins refuses to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a country
parson. His preference is for wine, women, and cards. But there’s honor
there too, and Tom won’t pull family strings to get himself out of
debt—not even when faced with London’s notorious debtors’ prison.<br />
<br />
The Marshalsea Gaol is a world of its own, with simple rules: Those
with family or friends who can lend them a little money may survive in
relative comfort. Those with none will starve in squalor and disease.
And those who try to escape will suffer a gruesome fate at the hands of
its ruthless governor and his cronies. The trouble is, Tom has never
been good at following rules, even simple ones. And the recent grisly
murder of a debtor, Captain Roberts, has brought further terror to the
gaol. While the captain's beautiful widow cries for justice, the finger
of suspicion points only one way: to the sly, enigmatic figure of Samuel
Fleet.<br />
<br />
Some call Fleet a devil, a man to avoid at all costs.
But Tom Hawkins is sharing his cell. Soon Tom’s choice is clear: get to
the truth of the murder—or be the next to die.<br />
<br />
A dazzling evocation of a startlingly modern era, <i>The Devil in the Marshalsea</i> is a thrilling debut novel full of intrigue and suspense.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
Debtors' prison in 1727 is very different to what we in the 21st century might expect. Those who enter will never truly be free of debt for if they live to serve their sentence they will still have incurred debts in merely surviving. In many cases the debt to the prison will be greater than that for which they were originally imprisoned. Whether they survive or not really depends on whether they in the Common prison or not. Many of those not in the Common Side of the prison are free to leave during the day to carry on commerce, to conduct business and earn money that will enable them to pay for their prison accommodation. They must return to the prison each night. In this system those housed in the Common Side will not survive more than a few months.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It is unusual though for wealthier prisoners like Captain John Roberts to die, and the authorities announce that he has committed suicide, although his wife firmly believes he has been murdered. Rumours abound that his ghost is roaming the prison and that it requires that his murderer be exposed. The prison authorities recognise the unrest this is causing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Tom Hawkins finds himself charged with identifying Captain Roberts' murderer. If he does he will be released and pardoned, but if he doesn't he will die in the Common Side.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The true value of this book lies in the wealth of historical detail. Many of the characters used are based on true figures, and the situations in which they are found really happened.</div>
<div>
<br />
<b>My rating: </b>4<b>.</b>6<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
<b>Antonia Hodgson</b> (born 1971) is a British <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" title="Historical mystery">historical crime</a> writer and publisher.<br />
Hodgson was born in Derby in 1971. She attended Littleover Community School where she first studied the time of the early Georgians in A-level History. She graduated with a degree in English Literature from Leeds University in 1994 and she went to work for Harcourt, Brace.<br />
Hodgson had spent nearly twenty years in the publishing business rising to editor-in-chief at Little, Brown before she published her own first novel. As an editor she had worked with Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and the American novelists Nora Roberts and Elizabeth Kostova.<br />
<br />
Hodgson's first novel, A Devil in the Marshalsea, was set in the time of the early Georgians, William Hogarth and the Southwark prison the Marshalsea. Hodgson believes that the Georgian period was more intriguing than the Victorian era which is usually considered to be more culturally important. The book was submitted anonymously to the publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, because she was known in the publishing industry. Her first book won the Crime Writers Association's Historical Dagger award and was long listed for a first novel award. It also was shortlisted in 2015 for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. </div>
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-5744569214938236982016-10-03T11:21:00.002+10:302016-10-03T11:21:34.567+10:30Review: THE TIGER LADIES, Sudha Koul<ul>
<li>first published by Review 2002<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41C26CDN2GL._SX306_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41C26CDN2GL._SX306_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>ISBN 9-780755-311163</li>
<li>218 pages</li>
<li>source: lent to me by a friend</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/409496.The_Tiger_Ladies">Good Reads</a>)<br />
<br />
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211">Sitting in her
grandmother Dhanna's kitchen, surrounded by the aromas of mint and the
smoke of a hookah, warmed by the kangri tucked beneath her thighs, young
Sudha Koul listened to tales of She Who Fears Nothing: The Tiger Lady,
stories Sudha would repeat to her own daughters in time, though in a
kitchen many thousands of miles away from her beloved Kashmir. This is a
magical memoir of a land now consumed by political and religious
turmoil, a richly detailed story of a girl's passage into maturity,
marriage, and motherhood in the midst of an exquisite and fragile world
that will never be entirely the same.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span id="freeText13621477857207461211">My Take</span></b><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211">Warning to followers of my blog: first of all, this is NOT crime fiction. </span><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211">I visited Kashmir in 1975, stayed in a house boat on Lake Dal, bought some lacquerware in Srinigar which I still have, visited the Mughal Gardens, and thought the place was fabulous.</span><br />
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211"><br /></span>
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211">But simmering under the surface were the forces that divided India during the Partition in 1947, that would eventually break Kashmir apart.</span><br />
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211"><br /></span>
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211">Sudha Koul tells the story of four generations of women in her family: her grandmother, her mother, herself and her daughters. Born into the Brahmin class which lay atop the social order of Kashmir, Sudha Koul was raised in a priveleged lifestyle, that contained within it the destruction of the political and social order of Kashmir. This is the story of Paradise Lost.</span><br />
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211"><br /></span>
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211">It is impressively told and very readable. </span><br />
<br />
<span id="freeText13621477857207461211"><b>My rating</b>: 4.3 </span> Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-90067882299695617832016-10-01T08:10:00.000+09:302016-10-02T07:20:57.690+10:30Meme- New to Me Authors - July to September 2016<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s1600/new-to-me.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnZAGQ25kEN76bDcAsmTMTDebe5Uo0Zfh2AlOycV9LGGnnD6V2KIsCX0BcFpFzV3_aOPgT4uFDRzYJa2npOS-1csDhdUNbnv2UvjV2b4LFaPka6lSwmMxiJ6C6X5WY4ayuGfrW7cHOnlI/s200/new-to-me.jpg" width="200" /></a>It's easy to join this meme.<br />
<br />
Just write a post about the best new-to-you crime fiction authors (or all) you've read in the period of <b>July to September 2016</b>, put a link to this meme in your post, and even use the logo if you like.<br />
The books don't necessarily need to be newly published. <br />
<br />
After writing your post, then come back to this post and add your link to Mr Linky below. (if Mr Linky does not appear - leave your URL in a comment and I will add to Mr Linky when it comes back up, or I'll add the link to the post)<br />
Visit the links posted by other participants in the meme to discover even more books to read.<br />
<br />
This meme will run again at the end of December 2016<br />
<br />
<hr />
<script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?owner=smik&postid=1Oct2016&meme=9611" type="text/javascript">
</script><br />Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-50604993748256113642016-09-29T14:56:00.001+09:302016-09-29T14:56:58.068+09:30Review: GIRL IN THE DARK, Marion Pauw<ul>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Dark-Novel-Marion-Pauw-ebook/dp/B00Y889ZLK/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41tXN5ztpmL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41tXN5ztpmL.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 897 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 341 pages</li>
<li><b>Page Numbers Source ISBN:</b> 0062424793</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> William Morrow (February 16, 2016)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> February 16, 2016</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> HarperCollins Publishers
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B00Y889ZLK</li>
<li>translated from Dutch by Hester Velmans </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Dark-Novel-Marion-Pauw-ebook/dp/B00Y889ZLK/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
An award-winning, internationally bestselling author makes her
American debut with this taut, riveting domestic drama .... about a long-lost brother convicted of a horrifying crime and a sister’s fight to clear his name.<br />
<br />
A single mother and lawyer, Iris has a colorful caseload, a young son with behavior issues, and a judgmental mother.<br />
<br />
She
also has a brother—shocking news she uncovers by accident. Why did her
mother lie to her for her entire life? Why did she hide the existence of
Ray Boelens from her?<br />
<br />
Curious about this sibling she has never
known, Iris begins to search for long-buried truths. What she discovers
surprises—and horrifies—her. Her older brother is autistic—and in prison
for brutally murdering his neighbor and her daughter.<br />
<br />
Visiting
Ray, she meets a man who looks heartbreakingly like her own son. A man
who is devoted to his tropical fish and who loves baking bread. A man
whose naiveté unnerves her. There is no question that Ray is odd and
obsessive, unable to communicate like the rest of us. But is he really a
killer?<br />
<br />
Told in the alternative voices of Ray and Iris, <em>Girl in the Dark</em>
is a compulsive, page-turning thriller about lies, murder, and the
tenacity of a family determined to stay together even as they are pulled
apart at the most vulnerable seams<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
Although it is tightly and carefully plotted there are rather too many coincidences in this novel for me. The final naming of Ray Boelens' father is really just the last in a long list of them.<br />
<br />
The plight of an autistic lad whose mother cannot cope with his behaviour, and who is wide open to suggestions made by others, is well done, as is the security that his sea water fish tank offers him.<br />
<br />
However the circumstances of the murders for which Ray was convicted and then institutionalised were not well investigated, especially the readiness to accept his own word for his involvement. The novel does highlight the vulnerability of people like Ray.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 4.3 <br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
Marion Pauw is a thriller writer living in Amsterdam. In the Netherlands, <em>Girl in the Dark</em>
won the Golden Noose Award—the annual award for the best Dutch crime
novel—under the title Daglicht (Daylight), and has sold more than
200,000 copies in Europe. It was also made into an acclaimed Dutch film.
<em>Girl in the Dark</em> is Pauw’s American debut. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-72111046259511288472016-09-27T16:04:00.000+09:302016-09-27T16:04:11.312+09:30Review: ONLY DAUGHTER, Anna Snoekstra<ul>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Only-Daughter-Anna-Snoekstra-ebook/dp/B01E83Q6HK/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ej6i3BxAL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ej6i3BxAL.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
</li>
<li><b>File Size:</b> 614 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 288 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> MIRA (September 1, 2016)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> August 22, 2016</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Harlequin Australia
</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B01E83Q6HK</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Only-Daughter-Anna-Snoekstra-ebook/dp/B01E83Q6HK/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
<b>In 2003, sixteen-year-old Rebecca Winter disappeared. </b><br />
<br />
She'd
been enjoying her teenage summer break: working at a fast-food
restaurant, crushing on an older boy and shoplifting with her best
friend. Mysteriously ominous things began to happen—blood in the bed,
periods of blackouts, a feeling of being watched—though Bec remained
oblivious of what was to come.<br />
<br />
<b>Eleven years later she is replaced. </b><br />
<br />
A young woman, desperate after being arrested, claims to be the decade-missing Bec. <br />
Soon
the imposter is living Bec's life. Sleeping in her bed. Hugging her
mother and father. Learning her best friends' names. Playing with her
twin brothers. <br />
But Bec's welcoming family and enthusiastic
friends are not quite as they seem. As the imposter dodges the detective
investigating her case, she begins to delve into the life of the real
Bec Winter—and soon realizes that whoever took Bec is still at large,
and that she is in imminent danger.<br />
As the pretender walks in
Rebecca’s shoes, she realises that whoever is responsible for Bec’s
disappearance is still in her life.<br />
<br />
<b><i>In this chilling psychological thriller, one woman’s dark past becomes another’s deadly future.</i></b><br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
When our unnamed central character decides to impersonate Bec Winter who has been missing from Canberra for 11 years, she means to do it for only a few days, and then to disappear. However she finds that plan is not so easy to carry out. For a start the police are reluctant to release her to Bec Winter's parents. When they finally allow her to go "home" they ask her to avoid publicity and the detective in charge of the investigation visits her every day trying to jog in her memory details of her original "abduction".<br />
<br />
The longer she stays the closer she gets to working out what actually happened on the day Bec disappeared. The reader is assisted by narrative about what actually happened to Bec in 2003, but not everything is revealed. There are several plausible red herrings about who might have been responsible for Bec's disappearance.<br />
<br />
We also become aware that our impersonator has a history which she is not anxious to be revealed.<br />
<br />
A rather tangled but interestingly worked plot, and a relatively quick read.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 4.5<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b><br />
<a href="http://www.annasnoekstra.com/">Author website</a><br />
Anna Snoekstra was born in Canberra, Australia to two civil servants.
At the age of seventeen she decided to avoid a full time job and a
steady wage to move to Melbourne and become a writer. She studied
Creative Writing and Cinema at The University of Melbourne, followed by
Screenwriting at RMIT University.<br />
After finishing university, Anna wrote for independent films and
fringe theatre, and directed music videos. During this time, she worked
as a cheesemonger, a waitress, a barista, a nanny, a receptionist, a
cinema attendant and a film reviewer.<br />
Anna now lives with her husband, cat and two housemates and works full time writing. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-52520422060748478402016-09-26T17:17:00.000+09:302016-09-26T17:17:02.341+09:30Review: I'M TRAVELLING ALONE, Samuel Bjork<ul>
<li>first published in English 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/418Tfpm0%2BYL.SX316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/418Tfpm0%2BYL.SX316.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>translated from Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund</li>
<li>ISBN 978-0-857-52251-1</li>
<li>474 pages</li>
<li>source: my local library</li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/samuel-bjork/im-travelling-alone.htm">Fantastic Fiction</a>)<br />
<br />
<b>International bestseller Samuel Bjork makes his US debut, a chilling
and fast-paced thriller in which two detectives must hunt down a
vengeful killer--and uncover the secret that ties each of them to the
crime</b><br /><br />A six-year-old girl is found in the Norwegian
countryside, hanging lifeless from a tree and dressed in strange doll's
clothes. Around her neck is a sign that says "I'm traveling alone." <br /><br />
A special homicide unit in Oslo re-opens with veteran police
investigator Holger Munch at the helm. Holger's first step is to
persuade the brilliant but haunted investigator Mia Kruger, who has been
living on an isolated island, overcome by memories of her past. When
Mia views a photograph of the crime scene and spots the number "1"
carved into the dead girl's fingernail, she knows this is only the
beginning. Could this killer have something to do with a missing child,
abducted six years ago and never found, or with the reclusive religious
community hidden in the nearby woods?<br /><br /> Mia returns to duty to
track down a revenge-driven and ruthlessly intelligent killer. But when
Munch's own six-year-old granddaughter goes missing, Mia realizes that
the killer's sinister game is personal, and <i><b>I'm Traveling Alone</b></i> races to
an explosive--and shocking--conclusion.<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<br />
This is another of those novels to come out of Scandinavia that tries very hard to convince the reader that you have missed out on earlier titles in a series. Perhaps we have, but it appears to me that this title was first published in Norwegian in 2013 and then translated into English in 2015. It is actually the first of two books in the Mia and Munch series. But we are certainly told that Mia and Munch have "history", and references are made to incidents that occurred in the previous year.<br />
<br />
This tactic seems to be becoming more common recently and makes you wonder whether some of these writers are actually breaking into their own streams of consciousness, or whether they have unpublished manuscripts depicting earlier events, and that eventually they will publish these retrospectively.<br />
<br />
The plot is macabre and won't appeal to all. Six year old girls disappear and are then found in strange places dressed in doll's clothes. Part of the puzzle is to discover who these actions are directed at and flashes of intuition from Mia Kruger provide the answer.<br />
<br />
<br />
Mia Kruger appears in character to be very similar to Stiegg Larsen's creation Lisbeth Solander although perhaps not as autistic.<br />
<br />
In the long run this plot appears to have a bit of everything, almost a pot pourri of what can be found in Scandinavian crime fiction.<br />
<br />
<b>My rating:</b> 4.i<br />
<br />
<b>About the author</b> <br />
Samuel Bjork is the pen name of Norwegian novelist, playwright and singer/songwriter Frode Sander Øien. Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-79228416191271935872016-09-26T16:23:00.000+09:302016-09-26T16:23:09.535+09:30Review: HESTER & HARRIET, Hilary Spiers<ul>
<li>first published 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/413SOww5RFL.SX316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/413SOww5RFL.SX316.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
</li>
<li>ISBN 978-1-92526-641-2</li>
<li>this edition published by <a href="http://www.allenandunwin.com/">www.allenandunwin.com</a></li>
<li>395 pages</li>
<li>source: my local library </li>
</ul>
<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/hilary-spiers/hester-and-harriet.htm">Fantastic Fiction</a>)<br />
<br />
Hester and Harriet are reluctantly driving to visit relatives on
Christmas Day when they come across a young woman hiding with her baby
in a bus shelter. <br /><br />Seeing the perfect excuse for returning to
their own warm hearth, the sisters insist on bringing Daria and Milo
home with them. But with the arrival of a sinister stranger looking for a
girl with a baby, Hester and Harriet's carefully crafted peace and
quiet quickly begins to fall apart....<br />
<br />
<b>My Take</b><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In an "about the author" at the end of this novel we are told that Hilary Spiers enjoys giving a voice to ordinary women in sometimes extraordinary circumstances. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This certainly depicted in this novel, but I found myself wondering if I would have acted as Hester and Harriet did in the same circumstances. On Christmas Eve, on their way out to dinner, they discover a young girl with her baby hiding in a nearby bus shelter. They take Daria and her baby home with them for Christmas. After Christmas Day their young nephew Ben turns up looking for shelter.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Daria turns out to have overstayed her visa and it takes some persuading to get her to go to the police to report her circumstances. In addition it appears that here are people looking for Daria, including a private detective and the father of her baby. Meanwhile other things are happening in the village, and a large cannabis crop attracts attention.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I am not sure how I got a recommendation to read this novel. It is certainly at the extreme edge of crime fiction and really rather like a village cozy. There are crimes committed but they are not really central to the action. But the characterisation is good, and the scenarios quite believable.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the long run an enjoyable read with good human interest and modern themes.<br />
<br />
<b>My Rating:</b> 4.4 </div>
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-89147272723280923742016-09-03T15:20:00.001+09:302016-10-05T15:47:55.264+10:30Review: THE DEFENCELESS, Kati Hiekkapelto<ul>
<li>Format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Defenceless-Anna-Fekete-Kati-Hiekkapelto/dp/1910633135/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51hM-4VVWNL._SX321_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51hM-4VVWNL._SX321_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
</li>
<li><b>Series:</b> Anna Fekete</li>
<li><b>Paperback:</b> 320 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Orenda Books (December 1, 2015)</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 1910633135</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-1910633137</li>
<li>Translator: David Hackston </li>
</ul>
Synopsis (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Defenceless-Anna-Fekete-Kati-Hiekkapelto/dp/1910633135/">Amazon</a>)<br />
<br />
When an old man is found dead on the road—seemingly run over by a
Hungarian au pair—police investigator Anna Fekete is certain that there
is more to the incident than meets the eye. As she begins to unravel an
increasingly complex case, she’s led on a deadly trail where illegal
immigration, drugs, and, ultimately, murder threaten not only her
beliefs, but her life. Anna’s partner Esko is entrenched in a separate
but equally dangerous investigation into the activities of an immigrant
gang, where deportation orders and raids cause increasing tension and
result in desperate measures by gang members—and the police themselves.
Then a bloody knife is found in the snow, and the two cases come
together in ways that no one could have predicted. As pressure mounts,
it becomes clear that having the law on their side may not be enough for
Anna and Esko.<br />
<br />
My Take<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Set in Helsinki, this case begins with an old man being run over by a Hungarian au pair. She claims that he was just lying there on the road, his eyes open, and that her car slid on the icy road, and she was powerless to stop it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The title is the clue that this translated novel is more than just about what on the surface is a road accident. It is also about immigrants and refugees who have come to Finland looking for a better life, and the reality of what they find.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Policewoman Anna Fekete is herself an immigrant and knows well how many of those she deals with from day to day feel. But she has a determination to make the best of life and to get on with things, which many of the victims of crime don't have.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
THE DEFENCELESS is the author's second novel and won the best Finnish Crime Novel in 2014.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My Rating: 4.7</div>
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-2909689894391268412016-08-23T01:17:00.000+09:302016-08-24T11:46:06.879+09:30Review: A DEATH IN SWEDEN, Kevin WignallSynopsis (Amazon)<br>
<br>
Dan Hendricks is a man in need of a lifeline. A former CIA operative, he is now an agent for hire by foreign powers on the hunt for dangerous fugitives. It’s a lethal world at the best of times, and Dan knows his number is almost up. His next job could be his last—and his next job is his biggest yet. <br>
<br>
The target sounds trackable enough: Jacques Fillon, who gave up his life trying to save a fellow passenger following a bus crash in northern Sweden. But the man was something of an enigma in this rural community, and his death exposes his greatest secret: Jacques Fillon never existed at all. <br>
<br>
Dan is tasked with uncovering Fillon’s true identity—but can he do so before his own past catches up with him?<br>
<br>
My Take<div><br></div><div>Quite a gripping thriller. </div><div><br></div><div>A long standing CIA boss has been made head of ODNI, the US Office of National Intelligence. Elements of the CIA are unhappy with his appointment and have begun eliminating some of the operatives who are loyal to him.</div><div><br></div><div>I lost count of the number of agents who were killed in this story - at least twenty- and I certainly would not like to get on the wrong side of Dan Hendricks.</div><div><br></div><div>All of the action takes place overseas: Sweden, Paris, Berlin, just to name a few places. One of the "bad guys" is the American ambassador in Berlin who has covered up a crime committed by his son, now a US Congressman, some 14 years earlier in Paris.</div><div><br></div><div>There is some strange morality in this tale - Hendricks thinks nothing of eliminating five or six men who get in his way, but then talks scathingly of people being unlawfully killed. It makes you ask when murder is murder.</div><div><br></div><div>There is an interesting twist in the tale as we find out what was really behind Jacques Fillon sacrificing himself in the bus crash.<br>
<br>
My Rating: 4.3<br>
<br>
About the author<br>
<br>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Kevin Wignall is a British writer, born in Brussels in 1967. He spent many years as an army child in different parts of Europe, and went on to study politics and international relations at Lancaster University. He became a full-time writer after the publication of his first book, People Die (2001). His other novels are Among the Dead (2002); Who Is Conrad Hirst? (2007), shortlisted for the Edgar Award and the Barry Award; and Dark Flag (2010). The Hunter's Prayer was originally titled For the Dogs in the USA. The film The Hunter's Prayer, directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Sam Worthington and Odeya Rush, will be released worldwide in 2016.</span><br>
<br>
<br>
</div>Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-64331754926674653872016-08-15T22:49:00.002+09:302016-08-15T22:49:59.935+09:30Review: RESURRECTION BAY, Emma ViskicSynopsis (Amazon)<br>
<br>
Caleb Zelic, profoundly deaf since early childhood, has always lived on the outside - watching, picking up telltale signs people hide in a smile, a cough, a kiss. When a childhood friend is murdered, a sense of guilt and a determination to prove his own innocence sends Caleb on a hunt for the killer. But he can’t do it alone. Caleb and his troubled friend Frankie, an ex-cop, start with one clue: Scott, the last word the murder victim texted to Caleb. But Scott is always one step ahead.<br>
<br>
This gripping, original and fast-paced crime thriller is set between a big city and a small coastal town, Resurrection Bay, where Caleb is forced to confront painful memories. Caleb is a memorable protagonist who refuses to let his deafness limit his opportunities, or his participation in the investigation. But does his persistence border on stubbornness? And at what cost? As he delves deeper into the investigation Caleb uncovers unwelcome truths about his murdered friend – and himself.<br>
<br>
My Take<br>
<br>
Caleb and his business partner Frankie are insurance investigators. Frankie is a former cop in the Victoria police and her contacts are often useful in getting information not normally readily available.<br>
<br>
Caleb asks police friend Gary to assist with information about their current case, a warehouse fire, and then gets a text message from Gary indicating he is in trouble. He gets to Gary's flat too late and the police find him sitting on the kitchen floor, covered in blood, holding his friend's body in his arms.<br>
<br>
The investigation into Gary's death sends Caleb to his ex-wife Kat for help and it appears that those who killed Gary now think that Caleb has the incriminating evidence that Gary once held.<br>
<br>
As the blurb says, a fast paced thriller set in Melbourne and a seaside Victorian town. The characters are well drawn and the result is a solid debut novel.<br>
<br>
My Rating: 4.3Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8273911883856580200.post-47081330699603268132016-07-31T12:32:00.002+09:302016-07-31T12:32:44.678+09:30Review: THE LOVING HUSBAND, Christobel Kent<ul>
<li>format: Kindle (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Loving-Husband-Christobel-Kent-ebook/dp/B010QDG7GQ/">Amazon</a>)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<li><b>File Size:</b> 1067 KB</li>
<li><b>Print Length:</b> 416 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Sphere (April 7, 2016)</li>
<li><b>Publication Date:</b> April 7, 2016</li>
<li id="sold-by-merchant">
<b>Sold by:</b> Hachette Book Group
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<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ASIN:</b> B010QDG7GQ</li>
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<b>Synposis</b> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Loving-Husband-Christobel-Kent-ebook/dp/B010QDG7GQ/">Amazon</a>)<br />
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<b>Can you ever truly know the one you love?</b><br />
<br />
Fran
Hall and her husband Nathan live in a farmhouse on the edge of the Fens
with their two children. One February night, when Fran is woken by her
baby, she finds the bed empty beside her and Nathan gone. Searching the
house for him she makes a devastating discovery.<br />
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As Fran finds
herself under intense police scrutiny, she and her two small children
become more isolated as she starts to doubt whether or not she really
knew Nathan. Was he really the loving husband that Fran had trusted him
to be?<br />
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As police suspicion grows the questions for Fran begin to
mount. Is there something that she is hiding from them - something that
she has kept hidden from everyone, including her husband?<br />
<br />
<b>From the author of <i>The Crooked House</i>
comes another stunning psychological thriller about family, secrets and
the lies we tell ourselves. For fans of Gillian Flynn and SJ Watson, <i>The Loving Husband</i> draws readers into a marriage where nothing is as it seems.</b></div>
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<b>My Take</b><br />
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This is another of those hard to write reviews as I don't want to spoil the discoveries that the reader makes as they get into the book. The police do not seem to believe what Fran can tell them about her husband's last night, and it does seem that she really knows pathetically little about him and his work. He has always been very disarming about what he actually does, and when we find out the truth it is quite shocking. All Fran really knows is that Nathan grew up in this area and that something has drawn him back to live here. Nobody though seems to recognise his name and the details they reveal about what happened in the squat that he lived in are very scant.<br />
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Fran is surprised to find that the police don't seem to believe her side of the story, and then someone starts stalking her. A man can be seen standing outside the house at night, he leaves chocolates and messages on her car window. You do feel that Fran really knows who he is, but the fact that she won't talk about it results in a number of red herrings. Fran has two children - the 4 month old baby Ben, and a 5 year old Emme who talks about the "bad man".<br />
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This really is a book where everyone has secrets. Fran is not sure she can even trust the police who seem to have their own agenda. And there are things that Fran doesn't want to tell them.<br />
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It is one of those books that doesn't really hang together as well as it should. The introduction of the character of Nathan's sister Miranda late in the book is obviously done to solve a few of the plot problems. And yet you read on, because you really want to know what the full story is. <br />
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<b>My rating:</b> 4.3 <br />
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<b>About the author</b><br />
Christobel Kent was born in London in 1962 and now lives in Cambridge
with her husband and four children; in between she lived in Florence.
She worked in publishing for several years, most recently as Publicity
Director at Andre Deutsch. Her debut novel A Party in San Niccolo, was
published in 2003.
Kerriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581470363339796352noreply@blogger.com0