AustCrimeFiction - All Blogs

I've been meaning to get to this book for a while, and I'm kicking myself it's taken so long to pick it up.  Set in London during WWII, it's a two threaded story built around two characters.  One a happily married (male) policeman going about his job, investigating suspicious activities in the middle of the bombing raids of WWII.  The other thread is set in the same location, and same time, but has an unhappily married female protagonist involved in the war effort, working in the intelligence side of the services.  It's really very enjoyable so far (leaving aside a couple of lingering worri

This series has lept into my favourites list with very little hesitation.  Book anticipation's not unknown around here but there is a select list that I will seriously contemplate a bit of a queue outside the bookstore on the publication date - Mr Hill's Dalziel & Pascoe series has always been high up there, as has Shane Maloney's series.  The Henning Mankell Kurt Wallender series is another that has tempted me to queue, and now the Arnauldur Indridason books have joined that list.  (Although these days "queue" is somewhat more hovering at an online bookstore's order page!)

This is the first book from an Australian author - Richard Young.  Set in a Hunter Valley winery, it seemed like a good book for me to start recently when I was in the Riverina.

From the Blurb:

A while ago I talked a friend of mine into buying this book at the wonderful Readers Feast in the city.  I'd heard a lot of whispers about the book, and as my friend's tastes have been veering a little to the darker side recently - I thought it might be worth a try.  I also wouldn't have minded reading it myself when she'd finished.

Am I feeling vaguely satisfied.    Yes

Do I have a slghtly silly grin on my face.  Yes

Am I drunk.  Not yet.

What I am is the happy new holder of a copy of the second Brad Chen novel - SMOKE AND MIRRORS by Kel Robertson.

Cue happy sigh and a bit of giggling.

Who is cooking dinner tonight around here.  Not me. 

I'll be in a corner reading. 

From the Blurb:

114 Pages.  Set in the USA.  Serial Killer book.  With vigilantes.  A victim who won't go easily.

According to the blurb from the author at the front of the book, ... "the publisher, Barrington Stoke said they'd never had a serial killer book before (as it's not easy to make one work without turning the thing into a doorstop-sized lump of paper) but would I have a go?"

From the Blurb

They call him Sawbones:  a serial killer touring America, kidnapping young women.

The FBI are trying to catch him - but they're getting nowhere.

I really like a bit of a good old fashioned spy thriller every now again.  It probably says a lot about formative years reading Ludlum, Forsyth and the like, curled up on a couch hiding from my parents (who were somewhat more interested in the daily chores list on the wall than I was).  I found those early spy thrillers fascinating for a few reasons - for a start they hinted at a great menace in shadowy places in the world, places a long way away from a farm in country Australia.  But luckily whilst there was menace there were also the "good guys" happily fighting the menace.  Of course a f

Being in Victoria, the details of the murder of Jody Galante are a bit sketchy for me - I remember the case certainly, but the whys and wherefores of the whole thing isn't something that has stayed with me.  So I'm finding the book by Edmund Tadros - What the Mother Knew very interesting so far.  Edmund is the journalist who covered the story for The Sydney Morning Herald at the time that it happened.

Blurb from the Book:

This is most definitely a just for my own pleasure read - I love the Inspector Montalbano series.  I'm very partial to a rumpled and grumpy detective at the best of times, but add to that the lunacy of the station in which he works and the sublime food that he eats on a daily basis - and I feel like this is almost too decadent to read (not that that will stop me!)

From the blurb:

Red Centre, Dark Heart won the Ned Kelly for True Crime this year, and it is one of those books that I've been trying to get to read.  A series of chapters about notorious criminal events in Australia, it starts out with the escape and subsequent cannabilism of a group of convicts in Tasmania in 1822.  But more on each chapter in a subsequent review.

From the Blurb:

Ken Bruen's 2002 novel BLITZ is to be made into movie by Lionsgate U.K.  The rumour is that Jude Law might be playing the lead. 

(information courtesy of Declan Burke).  Full story at Declan's  Crime Doesn't Pay BLog

A 3 part tv series based on Val McDermid's book is currently being broadcast in the UK.

A PLACE OF EXECUTION is widely regarded as one of McDermid's best works and it will be interesting to see what televisions does with it.

Just when (or if) it will make it to Australian tv screens remains to be seen, but we keep our fingers crossed.

The Ninth Circle has been tempting me for a while now, and it's just clamoured itself to the top of the pile (that I was restacking anyway). 

From the Blurb:

A man comes round on the floor of a shabby flat in the middle of Budapest.  His head is glued to the floorboards with his own blood.  There's a fortune in cash on the kitchen table.  And he has no idea where, or who, he is.

M.J. Trow's written 12 (or so) books in the Peter 'Mad Max' Maxwell series.  Now before any Australian's get too excited, this isn't the sort of Mad Max that instantly comes to mind for us.  There's no desert, no strange vehicles (unless you count his bicycle), and there's definitely no similarity between the plots.  There is, however, quite a dry, laconic sense of humour that's actually quite catching after a while.  (Early on it does seem to be laid on a bit thick, but go with it - you get into the swing of it eventually).

From the Blurb:

LITTLE BROTHER - Cory Doctorow (Y/A)

I thought this might be a little light reading to get me back into the review book stack. 

From the blurb:

Like many English villages, the veneer of calm tranquility presented by Moulton Bank disguises a labyrinth of secrets, lies, intrigue and petty jealousies that stretch far back into the past and are soon to cast a tragic pall over the future.

Opening Line:

Anyone attending this one who can report in?  I'd be interested in what US author Mark Gimenez says on his panel/s - his Little,Brown publicist just e-mailed me to slot in for an interview (it'll only be via e-mail).  I quite liked THE ABDUCTION (book number two) but I've never had the chance to get around to book one which did rather well, THE COLOUR OF LAW.

THE PERK has recently been released.

http://www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au/(link is external)

I've been hoarding the remaining J.R. Carroll books I've got and grabbing any I find for a while now.  There's not enough of them.  STINGRAY is one of the early ones - from 1994.

The blurb:

'You reckon you've seen every thing, but you never have, have you?  There's always something really stuffed up ahead.  Waiting for you...'.

The bodies of eight women are uncovered in the scrub at Kinglake.  For Kerry Byrne, head of the task force investigating the murders, it's a problem he doesn't need.

Opening Line:

Ted's around somewhere - not quite in a box but possibly hiding behind one, so no photo this time around, but after this weekend I really needed to pick up something that would be entertaining ... and fun ... and involving ... and fun .... and I think I did rather well with my selection (okay so I'm nearly finished) Fat, Fifty & F***ed by Geoffrey McGeachin.  This is actually Geoff's first novel - from pre Alby days, although there are a few elements that ring a bell from the Alby books.  Don't care - it's a hoot.  It's funny.  More in the upcoming review:

This is a true crime book, so mucking around with Ted is probably not that appropriate.  It's based around the child sex abuse scandal that broke on Pitcairn Island in 2000.

The blurb of the book describes it best:

"Pitcairn Island, remote and wild, home to descendents of the Bounty, a South Pacific Shangri-La, shrouded in myth ....

But also, as the world would discover, a place of sinister secrets.

Well, house packing is underway.  We have found one place that we're really interested in - so we're off for another look tomorrow,  Starting the packing has a twofold benefit - for a start it's going to take forever to pack this place up plus it means we clear some room in the house as this is a big week for the 4MA / AustCrime Fiction "girls" (aka "The Coven" as himself nicknamed us a few years ago - which stuck). 

Hell's Fire is the 4th book in this Manchester based series.  Killing Beasts was selected as a Best Crime book for 2005 by Shots Magazineand his second novel Pecking Order was selected as a best British crime novel by Deadly Pleasures Magazine.

From the blurb:

The deliberate torching of a church creates outrage across Manchester.  And when a charred corpse and satanic symbols are found in the smoking ruins, DI Jon Spicer and the city's Major Incident Team are called in.

First line:

According to the promotional material that came with this book The Secret Friend is the 5th thriller from Boston based author Chris Mooney.

The blurb:

Two dead girls in the water.  Two tiny statues of the Virgin Mary concealed in their clothing.  One CSI on the hunt for their killer.

Opening Line:

"Darby McCormick had finished hanging the last of the bloody clothing inside the drying chamber when she heard her name called over the loudspeakers.  Leland Pratt, the lab director, wanted to see her inside his office immediately."

Yes, dear reader, after all that threatening to, and moving the book backwards and forwards, and starting and stopping, I'm reading The Final Murder by Anne Holt.  I hate it when I have to wait this long for something as you never know whether the anticipation will ruin the actual reading experience - or if the book doesn't live up to the possible potential.  Of course, none of that applies in the case of The Final Murder, which is, so far, absolutely tremendous.

The blurb:

The shortlist for the inaugural Prime Minister's Literary Awards has been announced and there are 14 in total, fiction and non-fiction.

The awards are one of Australia's richest, with the winner of each category receiving $100,000.

Mr Rudd's decision is expected to be announced next month, as he will make the final decision, after advise from a six-member judging panel.

Unless you've been ignoring my ramblings, you may not be aware of how blown away I was by El Dorado.  I doubt it's a book I will forget in a long long time - luckily.  I also haven't put it away on the shelves - it sits where I can pick it up occasionally and re-read a little bit.  It's a stunningly good book.  And himself recently read it - after Dorothy's session at the Crime & Justice Festival, he started reading the book in between sessions, and promptly finished it in the following days.  His 

I like these books in a sneakingly, almost guilty way.  They are just pure entertainment - sort of James Bond crossed with a healthy dose of Austin Powers done Clive Cussler style.  They are fast paced, totally over the top, too good to be true, pure and utter escapism, silly, funny, slightly daft and not a bad way to fill in a few hours.  Mind you, this is the smaller size paperback and it's 558 pages so you'd think you were in for a lifetime's commitment, but they are very quick to read.  I do know I've read the next book in the series - Pirate (they go Hawke, Assassin, Pirate in order) a

Before anyone groans and ducks for cover - we all know that Top 10 lists depends on what second of the day that you pick your Top 10, but Catherine Sampson's list in The Guardian(link is external) highlights some books that deserve mention - Top 10 or not!

Last night I started reading The Build Up which is a crime novel from Phillip Gwynne, whose previous books have included Deadly, Unna and Nukkin Ya. 

It features Detective Dusty Buchanon - a female cop in the very male world of the Northern Territory Police Force.

From the blurb:

I think, dear reader, that it might be time I promised to stop explaining I'm running late in posting this - if you'll just take it as a given that I should have done everything a few days ago.  Mostly, this time, because I've nearly finished this book.  A debut novel which is "blurbed" as 'Ice-cold suspense from Sweden's new Agatha Christie'.  Now I'm not 100% sure what that means - but I doubt it will do the book a whole lot of service.  Okay, it's a little bit of a closed community because it's snowing and it's a small town, but it's not really.  It's certainly not a "no sex please, we'r

This is less of a "Currently Reading" and more of a finished a few minutes ago.

Wow

I was really happy to come across an audio interview between Colin Cotterill - author of the Dr Siri series - and Lars Schafft from Krimi over on Crimespace(link is external).  It provides a lot of background to the books and Laotian life.

The best thing about getting up at a ridiculously early hour to get into the city is that at the end of it you get to spend some time in charming company.  The session with Peter Temple was very much a conversation with he and Clare Forster talking about a range of things including the vagaries of plotting on whiteboards, the difficulties in trying not to repeat yourself, and the difference in writing a novel like Shooting Star and In The Evil Day.  Peter Temple has a background as a journalist (which he calls an antidote to writing (I think he's partly joking / maybe totally joking - it's

Well .... this was one that came from out of the blue.  What a session.

Nigel Latta is a forensic psychologist in New Zealand - Into the Darklands is both a book and a TV series which it seems is coming to Australia.

He's a straight talker.  A very very straight talker.  He works with Sex Offenders and as the covering note to the session says - his professional practice involves treading carefully through a psychological minefield to reduce offending by helping his clients to confront the consequences of their crimes and ultimately themselves.

The second session we attended on Saturday was Crime and Verse - Dorothy Porter talking to Jason Steger.  Some of you may remember my stunned amazement at the joy of El Dorado - Dorothy's second crime based verse novel - at MWF last year.  I'm still quietly raving about that book to anybody who will stand still for more than 10 minutes - and, as an aside, I've got to say I'm rather chuffed that after this session himself has started reading the book.  SEE - I TOLD YOU IT WAS BLOODY GOOD!

This is the second in the Cornelia Finnigan series - a comic cozy series from local author Robin Bowles (more well known for her True Crime novels). 

The blurb:

Having recovered from her near fatal run-in with a novice nun, Cornelia is the lucky recipient of a stunning porcelain horse.  Funny that it looks just like the one the Triads appear to be murderously searching for...

Opening Line:

The Crime Writers Association in the UK announced that Blood from Stone has won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for 2008 (the same award given to The Broken Shore last year)  So I was very happy to find it in my review pile and it jumped the queue needless to say.

From the Blurb:

Nobody really liked Marianne Shearer - but nobody murdered her either.  She did that all by herself, booking into a Kensington hotel for the sole purpose of checking out through a sixth-floor window.  But why would a stylish and highly successful criminal barrister do such a thing?

First line:

This is the first translated novel in a Turkish series - featuring a Transvestite protagonist - unnamed in this book.

The blurb:

Something's gone seriously wrong in Istanbul - a killer is on the loose, and transvestites are being murdered, the circumstances becoming increasingly bizarre with each death.  Our protaganist - fellow transvestite, nightclub owner and glamour puss extraordinaire - downs her lipstick and ups the ante in the search for the religious nut.

The opening line:

In a significant change of pace for me, I'm currently reading Soldier of Fortune by Edward Marston. 

The blurb: 

"The dashing Captain Daniel Rawson - spy, linguist, duellist, ladies' man and career soldier - can charm a woman as well as he can parry a sword.  And whether it is extracting information from the wife of a French general or leading his soldiers in a Forlorn Hope, Rawson proves himself invaluable to John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough and the Confederate forces as they head towards the ferocious battle of Blenheim."

Opening line:

Quite an achievement for a TV show as normally anything that even mentions "footy" will drive me into a coma in a nanosecond, but the show was really engaging and luckily talked about a lot more than the dreaded "footy".  In fact Sunnie reminded me in an email last night that many of the issues raised were very very similar to those in The Broken Shore - not identical obviously, but similar.

Bright Air is the latest from well known writer Barry Maitland  It's a standalone - not part of the Brock and Kolla series. 

The synopsis:

Normally anything with "footy" in it would have me diving for cover, but I may manage to drag myself in front of the TV this Sunday for the screening of Valentine's Day - firstly because Rhys Muldoon's in it and secondly because the script is written by Peter Temple and, well, I love Peter Temple's sparse, funny, pointed writing style.  For more check out:

Valentine's Day on ABC 1

This is the second book from Leah - the first, Vodka Doesn't Freeze was a stunning debut to say the least!

Dodging the prologue again - the first chapter starts out:

"'Goddam it!"  Jill Jackson's toe caught the edge of a metal filing cabinet.  She hurled the half-packed archive box across the room, coloured manila folders and white sheets of paper trailing an arc through the air behind it.  'Ow, Shit.  OW!'  Clutching her bare foot, she hopped through the room, her face a warning."

The author of The Blood Detective - Dan Waddell is a journalist who has published ten non-fiction books, including Who Do You Think You Are? - tied in with the BBC TV series (which we've become quite firm fans of).

Dodging the prologue:

I tend not to read many books with historical settings, but this is a very different setting - 1867, Canada.  The story is set in a small settlement of, it seems, largely Scottish immigrants - at a time only about 20 years before my own Scottish ancestor arrived in Australia.  Should be interesting - I've read the first 40 or so pages so far, and it is really quite engaging.

"The last time I saw Laurent Jammer, he was in Scott's store with a dead wolf over his shoulder.  I had gone to get needles, and he had come in for the bounty."

I often maintain I'd read a grocery list written by Reginald Hill and I really am not joking.  I've been reading all of the reports about the latest Dalziel and Pascoe - A Cure for All Diseases and whilst I'm looking forward to it immensely I was also aware of a new Joe Sixsmith and I do like that series as well.  Given nobody much is talking about it, I thought I'd pick up The Roar of the Butterflies.

The opening line:

"Joe Sixsmith was adrift in space."

I confess I'm running a little late in recording my reading of this book as I've very nearly finished it - but on the better late then never principle, and as something a little extra than normal:

Opening Lines:

"I want you to steal something for me."

and page 123 - the first few sentences which by happy co-incidence is the start of chapter twenty:

THE BUILD UP  - Phillip Gwynne

Pan Macmillan - Scheduled for release  1 August, 2008

For Detective Dusty Buchanon, a female cop in the very male world of the Northern Territory Police Force, it always pays to expect the unexpected. When the body of a young Thai prostitute is found in a billabong near a camp of disaffected Vietnam Veterans, Dusty knows this is what she's been looking for – a spectacular case to get her back on top after the debacle of an infamous British backpacker murder trial that almost destroyed her career.

This is another from the Ned Nominees long list:

This is from Chapter 1 - skipping the prologue:

"There were seven of them.  Six Australian SAS and one Aussie spook on a line of Honda trail bikes slipping through the outback night."

Another of the long listed nominees for this year's Neds is Alex Palmer's second book - The Tattooed Man

"The dead sat at the table like those who are about to eat but never will.  Dinner plants set before them contained a meal left untouched.  Their rested mouths, their closed eyes, the unshifting weight of their bodies, had a finality beyond waking."

Just to prove sometimes I can make a plan and stick to it - after all I only worked out a plan for my next few books yesterday - it can't be that hard for me to stick to something for 24 hours can it... don't answer that.

After a couple of torrid books, I thought some light and "fluffy".  Well my sort of light and fluffy anyway - So the second Charlie Mortdecai book from Kyril Bonfiglioli (which I confess Stephen Fry's blurb of "You couldn't snuggle under the duvet with anything more direputable and delightful" had some impact on the choosing thereof):

"Yes, well, there it was.  That was that.  I'd had my life".

Have you ever hit a passage in a book that made you stop.  And go back and read it.  This has got to be one of "the" passages I've read lately (sure it's a pretty confrontational event, but the description is shatteringly good).  Context is that somebody has just put a gun in their mouth and pulled the trigger:

I am nothing if not fickle. 

I know on Sunday I listed books that I'd carefully selected to read this week - but last night and this morning, despite the dense pea souper fog and knowing that the last of Paul Cleave's books - The Killing Hour - scared me witless (yes I know - short trip), I've picked up Cemetery Lake next.