Out of the 80 books I've read this year nearly 30 are new-to-me authors.
I reported on the first 16 at the end of March and chose two Australian authors as my best for the period:
5.0, A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN, Sulari Gentill5.0, THE BROTHERHOOD, Y.A. Erskine
I didn't have any 5s this time but you can see form the list below that two came close.
I am going to point you again to two Australian authors.
Longlisted for Australia's 2012 Miles Franklin Award which is a literary award, on the face of it, THE PRECIPICE by Virginia Duigan is not a crime fiction novel, although by the end you realise that more than one crime has been committed, and there are certainly plenty of puzzles to solve. Read more about the book here.
What would you remember about her if your sister, who is ten years
older than you, simply walked out one night and never came back? Would
you know her if she reappeared twenty years later? Would you know if the
person was an imposter? What if she didn't have any evidence of her old
identity? What if she had changed her name? What questions should you
ask?And what if there was more at stake? What if you had to share your mother's estate with her?
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? by Wendy James is an excellent read.
And then finally, I'll direct you to THE HANGING SHED by Gordon Ferris
I liked this book in particular because of it's historical setting, the year that I was born. It is set in Scotland, I was born in Australia, I must hasten to point out. But we shared a bleak, almost poverty stricken, post-war world.
The book begins strongly with a description of Barlinnie Prison in
Glasgow. Douglas Brodie is hurtling through the night to Glasgow on the
Royal Scot. It is April 1946 and he has had a phone call from a friend
he thought had died in the war. The friend is in desperate trouble,
convicted of murdering a young boy, and scheduled for the hanging shed.- 4.8, THE HANGING SHED, Gordon Ferris
- 4.6, WINGS OVER THE WATCHER, Priscilla Masters
- 4.8, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Wendy James
- 3.1, BICYCLE SHOP MURDER, Robert Burton Robinson
- 4.6, DEFENDING JACOB, William Landay
- 4.2, THE BROTHERS OF BAKER STREET, Michael Robertson
- 4.8, THE PRECIPICE, Virginia Duigan
- 3.2, MURDER AT THE ROCKS, Jill Paterson
- 4.5, THE FLATEY ENIGMA, Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson
- 4.7, DREGS, Jon Lier Horst
- 4.6, NEXT OF KIN, Elsebeth Egholm
- 4.2, APRIL FOOL, William Deverell
- 4.7, THE HOLY THIEF, William Ryan
You are sure to find some new names and books.
Kerrie - Oh, you have reminded me that I must read The Precipice and some Wendy James too (I've been wanting to read The Mistkae). Some intriguing choices here!
ReplyDeleteWell, coincidentally, my copy of The Precipice arrived a few days ago and is waiting for me to open it and dig in. It's next in line.
ReplyDeleteAnd I expect some books by Wendy James, which I highly anticipate. When they arrive, I'll start right in to read.
I wish that books by women authors from Oz were more accessible over here. Only a few are ordered by the library system and The Book Depository doesn't carry too many.
However, I'll muddle through.
Last Will: A Novel
ReplyDeleteby Liza Marklund
Good not great; new for June, 2012
bookshelves: mysteries, Scandinavia
What evil lurks behind the Karolinska Institute, home of the Nobel Prize Committee? How does a slightly mad woman juggle her career as a crime reporter and her home life? What are the mechanics of journalism and international contract crime? These strands of Last Will get so jumbled that Annika the girl reporter must annoyingly constantly review the situation for herself and colleagues. Flamboyant easy to guess finish but a fun read nevertheless.
Also, Marklund's Red Wolf: Although now I can't remember anything about this book, read less than two weeks ago, I know that I liked the perky journalist character Annika and will continue to read about her efforts to keep the world comprehensible while adoring her two children.