Review: MURDER ON NORTH TERRACE, Lainie Anderson

• 
  this edition published by Hachette Australia 2025
  
• ISBN 978-0-7336-5209-7
• 325 pages
• A Petticoat Police Mystery Book 2 

Synopsis (publisher)

The indomitable Miss Cocks and Ethel Bromley return for Book Two in the bestselling and charmingly cosy Petticoat Police Mystery Series, inspired by one of Australia's first policewomen.

Adelaide, September 1917. Six months after solving the Dora Black case, Kate Cocks and Ethel Bromley are back walking the beat. The city is unsettled. Winter won't leave. Soldiers are returning from the Front with broken bodies and troubled souls. And now a powerful board governor has been found dead in the Art Gallery - dumped beneath a scandalous nude painting that has attracted both pious outrage and record crowds.

When Ethel receives an anonymous tip, she's elated at being seconded to the Detective Branch. The murder goes to the heart of Adelaide's elite, where this society girl is in her element. Miss Cocks is left grappling with six o'clock swills, shadows in alleyways and a brutal assault on a schoolgirl. She needs Ethel to catch her killer, and quickly.

Alas, murder in Adelaide is never a simple affair . . .

Inspired by the true story of Australia's pioneering policewoman, Kate Cocks. 

My Take

Historical crime fiction set at home is always attractive, and this one was worth the read. 1917. The first flush of World War I is over. 300 hundred wounded soldiers have returned and a popular army captain is busy drumming up another 150 recruits for South Australia's 10th Battalion. Murders are rare in Adelaide and then the Curator of the Art Gallery is murdered, throat cut, beneath a painting that has attracted a lot of attention. Kate Cox loses her assistant to the Adelaide Detective force, but the investigation is very slow.

The historical elements and settings of the story are credible and the characters strike home. 

My rating: 4.5

I've also read 4.4, THE DEATH OF DORA BLACK  

Review: DRAGON'S BREATH, Rhys Dylan

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D8TRKCRQ
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wyrmwood Books, October 8, 2024
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 298 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1915185341
• Book 14 of 19 ‏ : ‎ DCI Evan Warlow Crime Thriller  

Synopsis

In the mountains, some secrets are deadlier than the storms.

A man wanders lost on a filthy night in the Black mountains of Wales.

Despite the valiant efforts of the rescue services, he does not survive.

Is this an accident? Or malice aforethought?

DCI Warlow and team are drawn into a mystery that soon spirals into more deaths and a poisonous trade.

A devious killer is abroad. One that cares for nothing other than their own twisted greed. The dragon's breath taints everything it touches.

My Take

These stories are a combination of a serious police investigation and the development of personal relations between members of the team. by the time you get to the end of the investigation, and most matters are resolved, you are ready for the next. This one doesn't disappoint. 

If you are new to the series take the time to read them in order. You will be rewarded. 

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.6, THE ENGINE HOUSE - #1

4.5, CAUTION: DEATH AT WORK -#2

4.6, ICE COLD MALICE - #3

4.5, SUFFER THE DEAD - #4

4.6, GRAVELY CONCERNED - #5 

4.5, A MARK OF IMPERFECTION - #6

4.5, BURNT ECHO - #7 

4.6, A BODY OF WATER - #8

4.5, LINES OF INQUIRY - #9 

4.5, NO ONE NEAR - #10 

4.6, THE LIGHT REMAINS - #11

4.6, A MATTER OF EVIDENCE - #12

4.5, THE LAST THROW - #13 

4.6, THE BOWMAN - #15

Review: EXPECTANT, Vanda Symon

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (Amazon) 
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BKPJRDV2
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orenda Books, Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 16, 2023
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 306 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1914585586
• Book 5 of 6 ‏ : ‎ Sam Shephard

Synopsis (Amazon) 

A killer targeting pregnant women.

A detective expecting her first baby…

The shocking murder of a heavily pregnant woman throws the New Zealand city of Dunedin into a tailspin, and the devastating crime feels uncomfortably close to home for Detective Sam Shephard as she counts down the days to her own maternity leave.

Confined to a desk job in the department, Sam must find the missing link between this brutal crime and a string of cases involving mothers and children in the past. As the pieces start to come together and the realisation dawns that the killer's actions are escalating, drastic measures must be taken to prevent more tragedy.

For Sam, the case becomes personal, when it becomes increasingly clear that no one is safe, and the clock is ticking…

My Take:

Highly recommended.  I love the feistiness of Sam Shephard and the intution that she brings to solving cases. 

I realised when I recently read Vanda Symon's latest,  PREY, that I had missed a story in the series. EXPECTANT feels a very personal book, and the Author's Note at the end goes a long way to explaining why that emotion comes through. I think in many ways this is a "woman's" book.

I thought too that I hadn't noticed before how "Kiwi" some of Symon's language is, particularly dialogue.

Most enjoyable. 

My rating: 4.7 

I've also read

• OVERKILL - #1
• THE RINGMASTER -#2
• CONTAINMENT - #3
• 4.8, BOUND - #4
• 4.5, PREY -#6

Review: THE LAST DEATH OF THE YEAR, Sophie Hannah

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DMYM1492
•  Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins, Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 23, 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 318 pages
•  ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0008710026
•  Book 6 of 6 ‏ : ‎ New Hercule Poirot Mysteries  

 Synopsis (Amazon)

The new Hercule Poirot mystery by Sophie Hannah, follow-up to the bestselling Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night.

New Year's Eve, 1932.

Hercule Poirot and his good friend Inspector Edward Catchpool arrive on the Greek island of Lamperos for a little holiday…or is it?

Catchpool suspects Poirot has a different reason for being there — one he won't reveal. As the clock ticks towards the New Year and a festive guessing game takes a sinister turn, can Poirot stop a murderer who is determined to strike before midnight?

My Take

There were a number of times when I almost abandoned this book, and I will seriously think about reading another. I found the plot convoluted and pretentious and could not imagine Agatha Christie putting her name to it.

Poirot has not told his friend Catchpool the truth about why they are spending the New Year on the Greek island of Lamperos, at the "The House of Perpetual Welcome", that he is there to investigate an attempted murder, and to prevent a murder occurring in the future. 

My appreciation of the book was limited by the fact that I did not like any of the characters, and struggled to understand the philosophy behind "The House of Perpetual Welcome".  

My rating: 4.1

I have also read

• 4.4, THE CARRIER
• 4.3, THE MONOGRAM MURDERS - #1
• 4.2, CLOSED CASKET - #2
• 4.4, CLOSED CASKET - audio
• 4.4, THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS - audio book #3
• 4.4, THE KILLINGS AT KINGFISHER HILL - audio book #4  
• 4.4, HERCULE POIROT'S SILENT NIGHT - #5
• 4.4, THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS