I’d had Lie by the Pool by Susan Walter awaiting me on my iPad for a while before getting to it. I’m not sure why I requested it, but something about it leapt out and I’ve seen other Aussie bookbloggers or bookstagrammers reading it too. In some ways it’s a proverbial sleeper. We come into the story part-way through. Bree has lost everything – her husband and house – and is living out of her car. When we meet her she’s sneaking into the poolhouse of a large house in Beverley Hills. It’s obvious that it’s familiar to her for some reason but that’s all we know. And that’s all we do know until Walter very cleverly starts pulling together multiple threads.
Book review: The Detective Up Late by Adrian McKinty
The Detective Up Late by Adrian McKinty is the seventh in the Sean Duffy series. McKinty has been busy with some excellent standalones so the last time we met Duffy was in the spectacularly named Police at the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly, released in 2017.
I was thinking there’d be a very long gap between books, but on further investigation (ie. looking at Goodreads) I noticed that this book was in fact originally released in 2018 and I missed it at the time. Unfortunately in my review of book six, I cagily comment on changes being afoot for Duffy though don’t offer any spoilers. It meant I started this with absolutely no idea what had happened in the previous outing. I soon discovered however that he’s moving to Scotland with his girlfriend and their three year old daughter and transitioning to a part-time role with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
Book review: Anatomy of a Killer by Romy Hausmann
This is the second book I’ve read by Romy Hausmann (her first Dear Child, was also translated by Jamie Bulloch) and I’ve enjoyed both. I’m conscious though, some might grapple with the subject matter Hausmann tends to tackle – involving complex family relationships with child-centric themes.
Here we meet 24yr old Ann, home one night for dinner with her father when the police come knocking to accuse him of being a serial child murderer – responsible for nine deaths over a spate of a dozen years.
Book review: Those Empty Eyes by Charlie Donlea
A bookstagrammer I follow (Mandy) raved about Those Empty Eyes by Charlie Donlea, saying it broke a meh-ness reading drought for her. I hadn’t seen it on anyone’s Australian listings and she said she’d gotten it from the US publisher so I requested it having read (and enjoyed) Donlea’s other books.
And though I didn’t love it as much as Mandy, it’s another great twisty read. The book opens with the murder of a family; the parents obviously the targets, but their teenage son is in the wrong place at the wrong time. And unfortunately for the killer, another family member escapes. (Though given the killer was using a shotgun, it’s not exactly surprising they were warned!)
Book review: Retribution by Sarah Barrie
Retribution by Sarah Barrie is the second in the series featuring (former sex worker and computer hacker) Lexi as well as DI Rachael Langley and her nephew Finn Carson (also a cop), and I for one was excited by their return as I really liked Lexi when she was introduced in Unforgiven.
Here she’s joined the police and when the book opens is on nightshift with a likeable new partner and mentor while secretly continuing to chase after Damon Vaughn, the man who’d tried to kill her when we last met.
Book review: Day’s End by Garry Disher
Consolation by Garry Disher was the first book I’d read by the respected and renowned Australian author. It was the third book in his Constable Paul Hirschhausen (Hirsch) series and had won the 2021 Ned Kelly award for Best Crime Fiction in 2021. Disher came highly recommended, as did Consolation. And though I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it. I suspect my expectations were a tad high and though really liked Hirsch, it featured one of my pet hates – having multiple plots that don’t mesh or otherwise merge conveniently (though not logically) at the end.
Nevertheless, I very happily dug into Day’s End, the fourth in the series and enjoyed it more than its predecessor.
Book review: Found Object by Anne Frasier
US author Anne Frasier has several series under her belt, standalone books as well as romance novels under the pseudonym Theresa Weir. This (however) is my first book by Frasier and it features investigative journalist – the spectacularly named – Jupiter (Edwina Delilah) Bellarose. I suspect it’ll become the first in the series and though I found it a little overly-convoluted and ‘fantastique’ (in the end), I liked Jupiter and would happily spend more time with her.
Book review: The Murder Book by Mark Billingham
I was a latecomer to the DI Tom Thorne (and more recently Nicola Tanner) series but mentioned in earlier reviews that I disliked Tom’s previous love interest so was glad when they split. I’d forgotten he had a new partner here… and think it’s because Billingham took a break from the series last year to write the (very brilliant) Rabbit Hole.
Book review – White Noise by Mercedes Mercier
A publishing friend of mine (who knows of my penchant for crime fiction) suggested I’d like debut novel, White Noise by Mercedes Mercier. And they certainly weren’t wrong. I had the opportunity to read an early copy back in February, but decided to wait for the final before posting my review. Of course an unexpected trip away meant I wasn’t here when the final copy arrived, but now I’m back home I’ve been able to re-read Mercier’s debut novel and again very much enjoyed meeting prison psychologist Lauren.
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