Karen Chisholm
If somebody could explain to me why the hell I waited so long to read this book then I'd be eternally grateful.
From the Blurb:
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.
Karen Chisholm
July on AustCrime, and another busy month of reading and reviewing. It could very well be that I'm out of sync with these postings again. Who knows.
Read / To be Reviewed:
Karen Chisholm
A personal story, written by victim's friend, 40 years after the killing of a young woman in Rockhampton, Queensland.
From the Blurb:
Author Shirley Eldridge and Mima Joan McKim-Hill were friends and colleagues working for the Capricornia Regional Electricity Board in Rockhampton in 1967 when Mima
disappeared while on the job. She had been abducted, raped and murdered and her body abandoned.
Karen Chisholm
Second book read in the latter part of our week off.
From the Blurb:
A tiny tropical paradise off the coast of Australia, Norfolk Island is notoriously laid-back, its inhabitants friendly and independent-minded. They have to be—with no defences and no way to get immediate assistance from the mainland, Norfolk’s population learned to be self-reliant.
Karen Chisholm
This was from last week's holiday reading - probably should mention that it went particularly well with a very good Pyrenees Cab Sav.
From the Blurb:
Can you become someone else without the world noticing?
When David's wife confesses that she was once a prostitute, the revelation doesn't disturb him - he considers it simply an error of youth. But the following night David collapses from a rare brain disease and within a few months his world is turned upside down.
Karen Chisholm
I will not for a moment pretend that this isn't a treat read, a reward for getting to the end of the holiday and pretty much avoiding everything that we were supposed to do.
From the Blurb:
Sergeant Logan McRae is in trouble…
Karen Chisholm
To be reviewed at http://www.newtownreviewofbooks.com.au
From the Blurb:
WHO REALLY KILLED THE HADLER FAMILY?
Luke Hadler turns a gun on his wife and child, then himself. The farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily. If one of their own broke under the strain, well ...
Karen Chisholm
Perfect little filler and lead in to Drainland
From the Blurb:
A political operative in search of a Senator’s wayward son. A vice-ridden tropical island. This case is way, way too much…
John Dannen is a mysterious and violent man, employed by a powerful Senator. The Senator’s son is causing trouble and even worse, he’s doing it on Tunnel Island, a neon hell-hole run by gambling conglomerates, organized crime and a corrupt police force. But the case is simple enough: hand-deliver a message, get out alive..
Karen Chisholm
Another from this week's reading pile, which is, to be honest, from the very overdue section.
From the Blurb:
The Alo Release is a thriller exposing the potential for public opinion to be manipulated during an international crisis.
Nine days before the global release of a genetically modified seed coating set to make starvation history, the IT advisor for an environmental group receives a cryptic email from an old friend working for the seed corporation.
Karen Chisholm
Attempting a bit of a week off work - which should mean a bit of catching up on reading. She says hoping.
From the Blurb:
On the night Leo Stone returns—notionally from the dead, in reality from the Democratic Republic of the Congo—Cass Tuplin gets a call from Gary Kellett. A call about an actual dead person: Gary’s daughter, killed in a car crash. Gary’s adamant it wasn’t an accident.
Karen Chisholm
For the last couple of years I've had the enormous privilege of being one of the judges on the New Zealand Crime Fiction Ngaio Marsh Awards, and I'm not joking when I call it a privilege. I've always been a fan of the work of New Zealand's fine band of Crime Fiction writers, but in the last couple of years, there's something going on over there that demands close attention. There's a sense of risk taking, of boundary pushing that's now palpable, along with an increasing pride in place and culture that's just wonderful.
Karen Chisholm
The Australian Crime Writers Association today announced the shortlists for the 2016 Ned Kelly Awards for the best in Australian crime writing.
Karen Chisholm
Another from the go away I'm busy pile...
From the Blurb:
'It was suffocatingly hot, and the audience of howling children was viciously indifferent to the violence being done to my integrity as an artist by every ghastly syllable I was obliged to utter and by every mincing step I was obliged to take. As the foul smell of the ancient wig I was wearing wafted into my nostrils, I began to view the bombing of Darwin with something like nostalgia.'
Karen Chisholm
Due out in September, but there's only so much alluring sitting around a book like this can do before a reader just has to sit down and read the thing.
From the Blurb:
A heist thriller set in Queensland, Melbourne and Thailand. Think Richard Stark's Parker, Garry Disher's Wyatt, and Wallace Stroby's Crissa Stone. Add a touch of Surfers Paradise sleaze and a very dangerous stopover in Asia.
Karen Chisholm
From now until the final page is turned on this one be warned. I really don't care what anybody else wants, unless it's a life-threatening emergency, I'm busy.
From the Blurb:
Karen Chisholm
After managing to keep this up for quite a few months - I forgot to do May and now I'm late with June....
Read / To be Reviewed:
The Long Con, Barry Weston (Aust)
Karen Chisholm
I was "patiently" waiting for my partner to finish this one after we were lucky enough to see the author talk about the book at an event in Dunnolly. And then a heap of other books snuck in front. I've still got some that should be being read right now, but I really wanted to read this so it's my "treat of the month".
From the Blurb:
Karen Chisholm
Last night I was all set for a watch of Le Tour de France. Love the stages in the mountains, for the scenery as much as the tactical team riding. But then I picked up DEVOUR, devoured the first 50 pages and lost track of the tour shenanigans completely. Fell asleep with the book on my nose.
From the Blurb:
Their greatest fear was contaminating an ancient Antarctic lake, buried beneath the ice for millions of years. They little knew about the catastrophe they were about to unleash.
Welcome to the high octane world of Olivia Wolfe.
Karen Chisholm
I started reading this before this current cold snap - but now it's feeling oddly apocalyptic.
From the Blurb:
When environmental scientist Laura Alvarado is sent to a remote Antarctic island to report on an abandoned whaling station, she begins to uncover more than she could ever imagine.
Reminders of the bloody, violent past are everywhere, and Laura is disturbed by evidence of recent human interference. Rules have been broken, and the protected wildlife is behaving strangely.
Karen Chisholm
Attempting to read this one over the weekend for our next f2f bookclub gathering.
From the Blurb:
As a young woman, Roseanne McNulty was one of the most beautiful and beguiling girls in County Sligo, Ireland. Now, as her hundredth year draws near, she is a patient at Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital, and she decides to record the events of her life.
Karen Chisholm
This book jumped the queue. Pushy.
From the Blurb:
Jason Ginaff doesn’t get out much. Partly because of the anxiety, mainly because he works at home. Researching people on the internet. Job candidates doing bucket bongs on Instagram accounts they thought they’d deleted; the prospective new head of sales stripping for a hens’ night…
He’s been searching for something on his own time, too.
Now he’s found it: the phone number of the man he believes to be his father.
Karen Chisholm
Whilst it's a huge privilege to be able to read a lot of review books, every now and again it's nice to treat yourself to one just because you want to read it. Although this is the first in the series, prompted because of a review opportunity with the second.
From the Blurb:
Jana Matinova entered the Czechoslovak police force as a young woman, married an actor, and became a mother. The regime destroyed her husband, their love for one another, and her daughter’s respect for her. But she has never stopped being a seeker of justice.
Karen Chisholm
Next up from the ridiculously large and embarrassingly behind schedule, review pile.
From the Blurb:
Karen Chisholm
Lots of things I should have done over the weekend but the first mention of Funky Town and I was gone for all money....
From the Blurb:
An unnamed city, in which crime families flourish and police pinch pennies from those with most power...
Black Sails, Disco Inferno retells the classic medieval romance of Tristan and Iseult by turning things on their head, reversing the sex of our chief protagonists, and then placing them in a '70s pulp/noir world.
Karen Chisholm
Second in the Sammi Willis series, she's back at work after avoiding a serial killer's grasp in the first novel.
From the Blurb:
A marked man. A damaged cop. A town full of secrets.
After her abduction and near death at the hands of a sadistic killer, Constable Samantha Willis is back in the uniform. Despite being on desk duty, rumours reach Sammi that Someone in Angel's Crossing has been hurting little girls, and before long a mob is gathering to make sure justice is served.
Karen Chisholm
2016 is indeed going to be a good year for Pufferfish fans with a new novel - A 13-Point Plan for a Perfect Murder due out in early July (Fullers Publishing) and another in November sometime (title as yet unknown).
Karen Chisholm
I think it's fair to say that we both loved this book, but came away from it with very different view points.
Karen Chisholm
A long weekend treat read that turned out to be a very good treat indeed.
From the Blurb:
"Still, he looked for hoof prints, glad there was nobody to laugh at him for doing so. He shaded his eyes and squinted at a dark object, half covered in sand, then began to walk towards it. He should have been wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes, but he never thought of things like that. It was a woman's coat, black, or at least it had been."
Karen Chisholm
Debut from Tasmanian author Barry Weston, first in the Tasmanian Private Investigation Trilogy.
From the Blurb:
Karen Chisholm
Second from the long-weekend's read pile - a local debut set in Queensland.
From the Blurb:
Cadet journalist Stacey McCallaghan is struggling to find anything newsworthy to report on in the small country town of Toomey. Front-page stories consist of the price of cattle and lawn bowls results, and Stacey spends more time laying out the crossword than covering actual news.
Until the first dead body turns up.
Karen Chisholm
Started this debut novel from a local author last night.
From the Blurb:
Karen Chisholm
A record number of entrants and a kaleidoscopic range of crime tales illustrates the growth of New Zealand crime writing but provided a real challenge for the judges of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, who have revealed the longlist for their 2016 award today.
Karen Chisholm
It was, at best, mildly damp in these parts over the weekend (unlike some parts that got hammered) but the hell with it - got some reading done anyway.
From the Blurb:
USS Ulysses: State-of-the-art nuclear submarine. Deterrent. Target.
Karen Chisholm
The 7th in the "byte" series from NZ author, Cat Connor.
From the Blurb:
Washington D.C. is burning, blowing up before SSA Ellie Conway’s eyes. More than ever she needs her controversial connections to prevent more terror attacks and horrifying deaths.
Karen Chisholm
Had a bit of a free-range around the Ned Kelly list while waiting for himself to finish one of the true crime entrants we got hold of recently ... which I'm looking forward to reading.
From the Blurb:
PI Harry Kenmare is a prehistoric private detective in an unfriendly modern world.
Karen Chisholm
Reading this one for http://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au and thinking a lot about the experiences of women from previous generations.
From the Blurb:
Inspired by the true events of an unsolved murder
Karen Chisholm
Lot's of things I should have been doing over the weekend, but I started this book and got nothing done.
From the Blurb:
Chief Prosecutor Sigurd Halvorsrud's wife is found dead in front of the fireplace in the family living room. The cause of death is instantly apparent - she has been brutally decapitated. Halvorsrud immediately falls under suspicion. Then a journalist at one of Oslo's largest newspapers is found beheaded. What links these two horrifically violent crimes?
Karen Chisholm
Quite a change of pace for me this one.
From the Blurb:
Summons to a bullet-riddled body in a Hell’s Kitchen apartment marks the start of a new case for consulting detectives Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson. The victim is a subway train driver with a hidden stash of money and a strange Colombian connection, but why would someone kill him and leave a fortune behind?
The search for the truth will lead the sleuths deep into the hidden underground tunnels beneath New York City, where answers—and more bodies—may well await them...
Karen Chisholm
Something from the very different indeed pile. Swedish, noir, set in 1930.
From the Blurb:
An ultra-gritty piece of contemporary Swedish noir, set in a decrepit, highly atmospheric 1930s Stockholm that is a far cry from the modern, egalitarian capital city of today.
Karen Chisholm
Step away from the New Zealand and Australian piles at the moment for a f2f bookclub book.
From the Blurb:
Internationally acclaimed crime writer Jo Nesbø’s antihero police investigator, Harry Hole, is back: in a bone-chilling thriller that will take Hole to the brink of insanity.
Karen Chisholm
Eurovision weekend is always a good one in these parts, although having something good to read on the side helps. This debut is quite a find.
From the Blurb:
Music promoter Billy Lime is in trouble.
The tour of rock legends, The Pagan Virtue, is the biggest in music history. Their concerts in Australia should be a career highlight if Billy can keep the warring musicians off the drugs, out of the bars and on the stage.
When lead singer Jet Kelly is poisoned, Billy's world starts to crumble.
Karen Chisholm
I've been wandering around in the Ned Kelly Submission list a bit recently - will be returning back to the Best Crime list asap as there's a few books on it I've yet to read as well.
From the Blurb:
Karen Chisholm
Karen Chisholm
As I'm working my way through all 6 episodes of this - a combined mention :)
From the Blurb:
Lethal in Love is a steamy romantic suspense about an instinct-driven detective and a sexy, scoop-hungry reporter, both on the hunt for a sadistic killer.
Karen Chisholm
Packaged as a series of novellas (episodes), Lethal in Love is a romantic suspense police story with a serial killer hunt at it's heart.
From the Blurb:
Lethal in Love is a steamy romantic suspense about an instinct-driven detective and a sexy, scoop-hungry reporter, both on the hunt for a sadistic killer.
Karen Chisholm
I will admit this is one from the absolutely intrigued me pile - so it has jumped up a little, but I'm regarding it as a treat read.
From the Blurb:
Ethel Livesey was quite a gal.
Karen Chisholm
Very difficult subject matter.
From the Blurb:
The disappearance of Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe was one of the most heartbreaking and confounding child abduction and murder cases of the century, spanning almost a decade prior to the eventual arrest of known pedophile Brett Peter Cowan, one of the original persons of interest.
The story of the police sting that resulted in his confession reads like crime fiction, featuring an elaborately staged fake crime gang run by a ‘Mr Big’ that lured Cowan in with the promise of a hefty payout.
Karen Chisholm
About this time of the year I start madly trying to catch up with the Ned Kelly longlists. The ongoing quest is to manage to read the whole list!
From the Blurb:
Dom Tolen craves a simple life. He keeps his head down at work, jogs off his midweek beers and busies himself with jigsaw puzzles. What riles him is his irksome twin, Donald. Separated from his wife and making his presence felt holed up in Dom’s spare room, Donald turns to pestering him to play a practical joke.
Karen Chisholm
Read over the long weekend - the latest in a series which is mystery focused, but rich with fascinating historical insight.
From the Blurb:
In the third instalment of the Le Fanu Mystery series, the intrepid superintendent is promoted to Inspector-General of Police in 1920s Madras, which proves to be more boring than he had envisaged.
Karen Chisholm
Final from a long weekend where a little more socialising than reading occurred.
From the Blurb:
The darkness felt tangible. Like it was pressing against my blind eyes … We were going to die here. Slowly, slowly.
Karen Chisholm
2nd from the long weekend's reading, and in New Zealand.
From the Blurb:
Karen Chisholm
A Novella length outing with Alex Morgan that is just the thing for some escapist reading, with a very good message.
From the Blurb:
How far will Alex Morgan go to repay the man who saved his life?
Friends are a luxury that agents of INTERPOL's blacks ops division cannot afford, but Alex Morgan wasn't always a spy.
When a former US Army Ranger who saved Morgan's life in Afghanistan reaches out, convinced that Morgan is the only person who can help him, Morgan springs into action.
Karen Chisholm
One from this weekend's reading stack.
From the Blurb:
Audrey is a psychopath and a serial killer residing in a coastal town in the rural far north of New Zealand.
Audrey discovers a drug cartel is using her Tiromoana Cabin Resort for cocaine trafficking. She appears to be helping the police when the drugs go missing and bodies start turning up, but is she?
“The Murder Trail” is the third book in the series: The Audrey Murders