Review: THE RAVEN'S EYE, Barry Maitland

• published 2013
• ISBN 978-1-74331-350-3
• 377 pages
• #12 in the Bork & Kolla series
• borrowed from local library

Synopsis (author site)

First published : 2013 Allen & Unwin, Australia; 2013 St Martin’s Press / Minotaur

A woman dies in her sleep in a houseboat on the Thames; the apparent cause of death, an unflued gas heater. It all seems straightforward, but DI Kathy Kolla isn't convinced.

Unfortunately both Kathy and DCI Brock are up against an aggressive new Commander who seems to have a different agenda, opposing their investigation in favour of emerging technologies over the traditional policing methods. Coppers like Brock and Kolla who have reservations are being squeezed out.

To make matters worse, there's a new Task Force moving in on their patch, and a brutal killer, Butcher Jack Bragg, to be tracked down and caught. It's one of Brock and Kolla's bloodiest investigations yet.
In this heart-thumping new novel Brock and Kolla are under pressure; it's a clash between the menacing ever-present eye of computer surveillance versus the explosive threat of a man with a meat cleaver and a grudge.

The Raven's Eye is published in Australia by Allen and Unwin, http://www.allenandunwin.com, and in the USA by St Martin's Press / Minotaur, http://us.macmillan.com/minotaur.aspx.

My Take

If I wasn't convinced of it before, this title firmly sets Barry Maitland in my mind as an Australian crime fiction author up there with the best. His writing is quietly assured, and although there are elements of the plot that strain the bounds of credibility, Maitland is very persuasive. Poor Kathy Kolla seems to be in the firing line in more ways than one in THE RAVEN'S EYE, and both she and David Brock are very plausible and likeable characters.

If you share my tastes, then you'll enjoy this thriller written by an Australian author but set mainly in London.If you haven't yet met this pair of sleuths then you have a manageable series of 12 titles to tackle. And you know what I will say: read them in order! Although to be honest there is not much overlap from title to title so you can read them as stand alones.

My rating: 4.7

Check out my other reviews:
BRIGHT AIR
DARK MIRROR
4.8, CHELSEA MANSIONS

The series list from Fantastic Fiction
Brock And Kolla
1. The Marx Sisters (1994)
2. The Malcontenta (1995)
3. All My Enemies (1996)
4. The Chalon Heads (1999)
5. Silvermeadow (2000)
6. Babel (2002)
7. The Verge Practice (2003)
8. No Trace (2006)
9. Spider Trap (2006)
10. Dark Mirror (2009)
11. Chelsea Mansions (2011)
12. Raven's Eye (2013)

Review: NO PLACE LIKE HOME, Caroline Overington

• format: Amazon (Kindle)
• File Size: 434 KB
• Print Length: 203 pages
• Publisher: Random House Australia (September 25, 2013)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00DBOF5FW

Synopsis (Amazon)

From bestselling author and award-winning journalist Caroline Overington comes another thought-provoking and heart-rending story, that reaches from the heart of Bondi to a small village in Tanzania.

Shortly after 9.30 in the morning, a young man walks into Surf City, Bondi's newest shopping complex. He's wearing a dark grey hoodie - and a bomb around his neck.

Just a few minutes later he is locked in a shop on the upper floor. And trapped with him are four innocent bystanders.

For police chaplain Paul Doherty, called to the scene by Senior Sergeant Boehm, it's a story that will end as tragically as it began. For this is clearly no ordinary siege. The boy, known as Ali Khan, seems as frightened as his hostages and has yet to utter a single word.

The seconds tick by for the five in the shop: Mitchell, the talented schoolboy; Mouse, the shop assistant; Kimmi, the nail-bar technician; and Roger Callaghan, the real estate agent whose reason for being in Bondi that day is far from innocent.

And of course there's Ali Khan. Is he the embodiment of evil, as the villagers in his Tanzanian birthplace believe? Or just an innocent boy, betrayed at every turn, who just wants a place to call home?

My Take

The story takes readers through the background of all the people who are locked in the shop with Tanzaniaan refugee Ali Khan. The narrator is former Catholic priest, police chaplain Paul Doherty, who contacts each of the people locked in the shop after the event for trauma counselling.We benefit from the research he has done about each of these people.

Part of what each reader must ask herself is how you would react in this situation. The shopping centre is in lock down with the voice of Senior Sergeant Boehm booming instructions over a loud speaker system. And yet Ali Khan is showing no sign of understanding.

The book also broaches issues with which Australians are familiar, or are we? Do we really know how refugees are treated under the Australian border protection systems? What are the detention centres housing refugees and asylum seekers really like? Why was Ali Khan, a genuine refugee who has an Australian passport, in Baxter and Villawood for four years?  This is a book that will make you think.

And Paul Doherty has his own problems too, his own crisis of faith, which perhaps does not make him the best narrator.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME is written as a thriller, and, true to form, we do not find out what happened in the last minutes of the siege until the very end.

A good read by an Australian author to look for.
My rating: 4.5

I have also read 4.4, SISTERS OF MERCY

Review: A WICKED DESIGN, Brian Kavanagh

• Published by Vivid Publishing 2013
  
• ISBN 978-1-925086-06-5
• #5 in the Belinda Lawrence series
• 190 pages
• source: complementary copy from the author

Synopsis (Vivid Publishing)

Belinda Lawrence returns to her home town of Melbourne, to discover a murder that's close to her heart.

A murder which leads to the seat of political power, Parliament House.

The various threads of deceit and intrigue are gradually unravelled and, with Hazel Whitby at her side, Belinda is confronted by warring political factions.

The mystery deepens with the discovery of a priceless historical item, of value to both political powers, and which places Belinda's life in jeopardy.

The gregarious Major;
An enigmatic university Professor;
Two colourful antique sellers;
Eccentric retired music-hall entertainers;
And Belinda's partner, Mark Sallinger...
...all immersed in the scheming and covert encounters besieging Belinda as she solves her most challenging mystery.
Book Five in the Belinda Lawrence mystery series.

My Take

I think the author's decision to base this novel in his, and Belinda Lawrence's, home town of Melbourne is a very successful one, as is his basing one of the plot lines on a piece of Melbourne's colourful history. It also considers the ever present Republican debate, a very real Australian political divide.

A WICKED DESIGN is a well constructed cozy with a heroine who has grown in stature with every outing in this series. Belinda Lawrence and her antique dealer friend Hazel Whitby are very realistically drawn, as is Belinda's fiance Mark Sallinger.

I have also reviewed
CAPABLE OF MURDER
THE EMBROIDERED CORPSE
4.2, BLOODY HAM
4.3, A CANTERBURY CRIME

I think each one has seen Brian's writing become more assured.
All the books are available in print and as e-books.

My rating: 4.3

About the author

Brian Kavanagh (b. 1935) is an accredited life member of the Australian Film Editors Guild & a member of the Australian Society of Authors. He has many years experience in the Australian Film Industry in areas of production, direction, editing and writing.

His editing credits include THE CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH, ODD ANGRY SHOT, THE DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND, LONG WEEKEND, SEX IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD and the recent comedy, DAGS.

He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Screen Editors Guild and is an accredited member. An Australian Film Institute award for Best Editing for FROG DREAMING (USA title THE QUEST).

His website 

Review: THE MIDNIGHT DRESS, Karen Foxlee

My Take

Had this book not been chosen by my face-to-face reading group, I probably wouldn't have come across it, but I'm glad I did. Karen Foxlee is a new-to-me Australian author.

Apart from anything else, the structure of the book is unusual and interesting. After the annual Harvest Parade in which they both participated, two girls are missing in a coastal sugar cane town in mid-northern Queensland.

Each of the chapters is headed with the name of a stitch used in tailoring or embroidery.
e.g.
Anchor Stitch
Oyster Stitch
Catch Stitch
Straight Stitch
Binding Stitch
Spider Web Stitch etc. etc. (I didn't know there were so many stitches)

And the reader's attention is captured straight away in the opening of the first chapter, Anchor Stitch:

Will you forgive me if I tell you the ending? There’s a girl. She’s standing where the park outgrows itself and the manicured lawn gives way to longer grass and the stubble of rocks. She is standing in no-man’s-land, between the park and the place where the mill yards begin. 

It’s night and the cane trains are still. 

It is unbearably humid and she feels the sweat sliding down her back and she presses her hands there into the fabric to stop the sensation that is ticklishly unpleasant. She lifts up the midnight dress to fan her legs. It’s true, the dress is a magical thing, it makes her look so heavenly.

After a couple of pages from this narrator, the chapter continues with the story from the beginning. Rose Lovell arrives in town with her father at the Paradise caravan park where they will live for the next few months. She meets Pearl Kelly in the next day or so when she goes to school. They will be the central characters of the story, but there is also Edie Baker, an eccentric dressmaker with a history, Rose's alcoholic father, and Paul Rendell who runs a Book Exchange in the back of his mother's shop.

The first chapter sets the pattern for the rest. There is always a preface from the narrator, helpfully written in italics, and then the continuing story. There's the feeling of two paths, with the main story slowly catching up to the point where the narrator's brief snippets begin.

The two teenage girls are trying to establish their identities. Rose has been on the move with her father for a number of years after the apparent drowning suicide of her mother. She has had little chance to establish friends, and she connects surprisingly well with both Pearl and Edie, who agrees to help her make her dress for the Harvest Parade. Pearl is trying to work out who she is too, looking for her Russian father, by writing to men surnamed Orlov in Moscow. As Rose and Edie make the dress, so the tragedies of Edie's life emerge.

After a stuttering start, the book gathers pace. The author drops information all over the place and there are many little stories for the reader to piece together. It is a very effective technique.

So for me, Karen Foxlee is a new author to watch out for. A great book, not just a coming of age novel, but a well constructed mystery on many levels.

My rating: 4.7

The author's debut title, THE ANATOMY OF WINGS, published in 2009 looks interesting too. (My local library lists it as teen fiction).

Ten-year-old Jennifer Day lives in a small mining town full of secrets. Trying to make sense of the sudden death of her teenage sister, Beth, she looks to the adult world around her for answers.

As she recounts the final months of Beth’s life, Jennifer sifts through the lies and the truth, but what she finds are mysteries, miracles, and more questions. Was Beth’s death an accident? Why couldn’t Jennifer—or anyone else—save her?

Review: THE RIDERS, Tim Winton - audio book

• first published in 1994
  
• audio book published in 2008 at Audible
• Narrator Stanley McGeagh
• Length: 10 hours 9 mins

 Synopsis (Audible)

 Fred Scully waits at the arrival gate of an international airport, anxious to see his wife and seven-year-old daughter. After two years in Europe they are finally settling down.
He sees a new life before them, a stable outlook, a cottage in the Irish countryside that he's renovated by hand.
He's waited, sweated on this reunion. He does not like to be alone - he's that kind of man. The flight lands, the glass doors hiss open, and Scully's life begins to go down in flames.

My Take

This may not have been the best book to read as an audio book, because there were many passages that, had it been a paper publication, I would have re-read.

Stanley McGeagh's Irish accent, as the voice of an Australian character, took a bit of getting used to.

After Scully's wife fails to turn up on the flight, and Billie gets off the flight alone, the book is mainly about trying to locate Jennifer and to work out why she has seemingly deserted him. Billie is withdrawn and won't utter a word about where her mother is.
In the manner of the Shiralee, Scully drags his daughter through Europe looking for Jennifer, returning to places that as a family they have visited before. Some former friends rather mysteriously won't talk to him.

Circumstances dictated that we listened to THE RIDERS over a long period of time, nearly two months in fact, probably missing the significance of some events, and certainly not understanding some references. For example, it was hard to work out where the title came from. There was a passage at the very beginning about riders that I would have liked to check although I did get a little help from Wikipedia.

The novel deals with ideas of architecture, Australia, Europe, masculinity and trust. It also asks the question of self-identity, and how well you can ever truly know someone else.

The book draws on the European mythology of the Wild Hunt, hence "The Riders".

I also checked what Percy Middlemiss had to say in his review.

So I've come away a bit disappointed by this book, but it is probably related to the fact that we "read" it as an audio book over far too long a passage of time.
It was after all a nominee for the Man Booker Prize in 1995.

My rating: 4.2

Review: BITTER WASH ROAD, Garry Disher

My Take

BITTER WASH ROAD is set smack bang in the present day; more than that, in a South Australia I recognise: fragile economic climate, police corruption and whistleblowing, small rural communities struggling to survive, reduced resources, drought - you name the issue, it's there.

Until I did a bit of research I thought Tiverton, South Australia, the wheat belt town near the Barrier Highway where Paul Hirschhausen is posted, was fictitious. But it exists all right. Garry Disher seems to me to have played a little with the geography, but the flavour of the setting rings true.

This is Australian crime fiction at its best. A body is discovered but Hirsch is frustrated when his local boss Sergeant Kropp seems determined to keep him away from any real action. Hirsch faces real issues of getting himself established in the small town. The cops in nearby Redruth where Kropp is have a reputation for being bullies, mates with every one and turning a blind eye to what their mates get up to, perhaps even participating in crime themselves.

I absolutely loved this book.

Read an extract on Amazon.

My rating: 5.0

I've also reviewed
4.7, WYATT
4.8, WHISPERING DEATH
4.7, BLOOD MOON

Review; MURDER AND MENDELSSOHN, Kerry Greenwood

• First published 2013 by Allen & Unwin Australia
• ISBN 978-1-74237-956-2
• 376 pages
• library book

Synopsis (Allen & Unwin)

The divine and fearless Miss Phryne Fisher returns in her 20th adventure in a vastly entertaining tale of murder, spies, mathematics and music.

To the accompaniment of heavenly choirs singing, the fearless Miss Phryne Fisher returns in her 20th adventure with musical score in hand.

An orchestral conductor has been found dead and Detective Inspector Jack Robinson needs the delightfully incisive and sophisticated Miss Fisher's assistance to enter a world in which he is at sea. Hugh Tregennis, not much liked by anyone, has been murdered in a most flamboyant mode by a killer with a point to prove. But how many killers is Phryne really stalking?

At the same time, the dark curls, disdainful air and the lavender eyes of mathematician and code-breaker Rupert Sheffield are taking Melbourne by storm. They've certainly taken the heart of Phryne's old friend from the trenches of WW1, John Wilson. Phryne recognises Sheffield as a man who attracts danger and is determined to protect John from harm.

Even with the faithful Dot, Mr and Mrs Butler, and all in her household ready to pull their weight, Phryne's task is complex. While Mendelssohn's Elijah, memories of the Great War, and the science of deduction ring in her head, Phryne's past must also play its part as MI6 become involved in the tangled web of murders.

A vastly entertaining tale of murder, spies, mathematics and music.

My Take

Followers of my blog will realise that it has taken me a bit longer to read this novel than is usual for me. Part of the reason is that I spent the weekend at a crime fiction convention, but it is also true to say that I found MURDER & MENDELSSOHN a little more challenging to read.

It was partly due to the setting that surrounds the murder of the orchestral conductor of the Harmony Choir. The author uses her own experiences of singing choral music to explore how the conductor and choristers feel about Mendelssohn, including some scripts in detail.

There are many possible murderers when first one conductor, then another is murdered. Neither of the conductors has many friends in the choir or the orchestra but murder seems rather extreme.

There is also a sideplot where it appears someone is trying to kill ex-code-breaker Rupert Sheffield. We learn a few never-revealed-before facts about Phryne's role in intelligence gathering, and particularly about her connections with MI6.

Greenwood also uses the novel as an opportunity to explore homosexuality and this side plot takes up quite a bit of space, detracting a little from the main murder plot. Phryne herself also seems a little more promiscuous, while her lover Lin Chung is overseas.

I did enjoy the glimpses of the splendour of Melbourne's grand old dame, the Windsor Hotel, where some of the characters are staying, and where I have also stayed a couple of times.

So this, the 20th in the Phryne Fisher series, didn't delight me as much as #19 UNNATURAL HABITS.
But I'll be still lined up for #21.

My Rating: 4.3

Also reviewed on this blog
MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT
TRICK OR TREAT
FORBIDDEN FRUIT
4.3, DEAD MAN'S CHEST
4.4, COOKING THE BOOKS
4.3, TAMAM SHUD
4.8, UNNATURAL HABITS

Review: THE CRY, Helen Fitzgerald

• Published 2013, Faber & Faber UK
  
• ISBN 978-0-571-28770-3
• 307 pages
• source: library book

Synopsis (Amazon)

He's gone. And telling the truth won't bring him back...

When a baby goes missing on a lonely roadside in Australia, it sets off a police investigation that will become a media sensation and dinner-table talk across the world.

Lies, rumours and guilt snowball, causing the parents, Joanna and Alistair, to slowly turn against each other.

Finally Joanna starts thinking the unthinkable: could the truth be even more terrible than she suspected? And what will it take to make things right?

The Cry is a dark psychological thriller with a gripping moral dilemma at its heart and characters who will keep you guessing on every page.

My Take

Anybody who has flown a long flight, say Glasgow to Dubai, in the company of a small child, or been sitting near one, can empathise with the situation when the child constantly cries. That's where we start with Joanna and Alistair and their baby Noah. For Joanna this becomes the trip from hell, although Alistair seems to be able to sleep through it all. The second leg of the journey from Dubai to Melbourne is only a little better.

The journey starts badly at departure when airport security declares that the bottles that Joanna's antibiotics and Noah's Calpol are too big. That leads Joanna into making a crucial error.

The family is on its way to Melbourne so that Alistair can claim custody of his teenage daughter from his ex-wife who brought Chloe back to Australia illegally. When Noah goes missing from the car when they are driving to Geelong, the custody of Chloe still looms large for Alistair in particular. It becomes even more crucial when Noah remains missing.

This story twists in directions the reader just couldn't predict. The general public becomes involved in the search for Noah not only through media releases but also through social networking like Facebook and Twitter. Joanna and her reactions to her baby's disappearance come under public scrutiny, with the rumour mill coming perilously close to the truth.

Although firmly set in Australia (Joanna and Alistair land in Melbourne when small towns near Geelong are threatened by bushfires) the setting could almost be anywhere and Helen Fitzgerald has the reader asking how they would have reacted in similar circumstances.

A really good read, touching issues that go well beyond the disappearance of a baby.

My rating: 4.7

See other reviews

• Fair Dinkum Crime (Bernadette)
• The Big Issue
• So Many Books, So Little Time
• other review comments: author's site

I've also reviewed
DEAD LOVELY

Novels by Helen Fitzgerald (from Fantastic Fiction)

Dead Lovely (2007)
My Last Confession (2009)
The Devil's Staircase (2009)
Bloody Women (2009)
Amelia O'Donohue Is So Not a Virgin (2010)
Hot Flush (2011)
The Donor (2011)
Deviant (2013)
The Cry (2013)

About the author (Fantastic Fiction)

Helen FitzGerald is one of thirteen children and grew up in Victoria, Australia. She nows lives in Glasgow with her husband and two children. Helen has worked as a parole officer and social worker for over ten years. Her first novel, Dead Lovely, was published in 2007.

See the author's blog.

Review: SILENT VALLEY, Malla Nunn

• Published by Pan Macmillan Australia 2012
• Alternative title BLESSED ARE THE DEAD
• ISBN 978-7426-1088-7
• 311 pages
• #3 in the Emmanuel Cooper series
• source: review copy from publisher

Synopsis (publisher)

A remote town. A girl of rare and exquisite beauty. A murder that silences a whole community.
The body of a seventeen-year-old girl has been found covered in wildflowers on a hillside in the Drakensberg Mountains, near Durban. She is the daughter of a Zulu chief, destined to fetch a high bride price. Was Amahle as innocent as her family claims, or is her murder a sign that she lived a secret life?

Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper is sent to investigate. He must enter the guarded worlds of a traditional Zulu clan and a white farming community to gather up the clues Amahle left behind and bring her murderer to justice. But the silence in the valley is deafening, and it seems that everyone - from the uncooperative local police officer, to the white farm boy who seems obsessed with the dead girl - has something to hide.

With no cause of death and no motive, Cooper's investigation is blocked at each turn. Can he tough it out, or will the small-town politics that stir up his feelings about the past be more than he can bear?
In this page-turning tale of murder and mystery, Nunn entangles us in a rich and complex web of witchcraft, tribalism, taboo relationships... and plain old-fashioned greed.

My Take

This novel is set in South Africa in October 1953. It is a world still divided by apartheid, blacks are always treated as "kaffirs", and white supremacy is assumed.

With Emmanuel Cooper comes his Zulu constable Shabalala. Apartheid means he can't stay in the same hotels as Cooper, or dine at the same tables, but he can get the "real" story from the servants, and he understands local Zulu customs.

SILENT VALLEY is a very atmospheric novel. Malla Nunn is able to transport 21st century readers to a very different culture, and help us to see the crime with very different eyes.

Life is not easy for Emmanuel Cooper. He is descended from Boers and is still not accepted in police circles dominated by whites even though he has the patronage of Colonel van Niekerk who is also an Afrikaaner. van Niekerk will take the credit for Cooper's successes, but will quickly disown him when he fails.

If you've never read any of this series before I would suggest you start at the beginning, so you get the full story (although of course you can read SILENT VALLEY as a stand alone). But there are characters who were created in the first and second novels who are important in the third and so you will understand more if you read them in order. They are available for Kindle.

My rating: 4.9

I've also reviewed

5.0, A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE
4.5, LET THE DEAD LIE  

About the author

Malla Nunn grew up in Swaziland before moving with her parents to Perth in the 1970s. She attended uni in WA, and then the US. In New York, she worked on film sets, wrote her first screenplay before returning to Australia where she began writing and directing short films and corporate videos, three of which have won numerous awards and have been shown at international film festivals. Her debut novel A Beautiful Place to Die was published to international acclaim and won the 2009 Sisters in Crime Davitt Award for Best Adult Crime Novel by an Australian female author. Malla and her husband live in Sydney with their two children.

Review: CLOUDSTREET, Tim Winton - audio book

• this edition from Audible
  
• narrated by Peter Hosking
• unabridged, 12 hours 50 mins
• originally published in 1991
• recipient of a Miles Franklin Award in 1992 

Synopsis (Audible)

Two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet, where they begin their lives from scratch. For 20 years, they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts.

See Also Penguin Australia

From separate catastrophes two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet, where they begin their lives again from scratch. For twenty years they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts. 

Tim Winton's funny, sprawling saga is an epic novel of love and acceptance. Winner of the Miles Franklin and NBC Awards in Australia, Cloudstreet is a celebration of people, places and rhythms which has fuelled imaginations world-wide.  

My Take

My listening companion and I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to this Australian saga, made all the more enjoyable I suspect by Peter Hosking's wonderful narration. He has one of those iconic Australian voices, without being over the top.

It covers a period we both remember well, from World War II to the early 1960s, being the period we both grew up in. Although it is set in Perth, there are many resonances with Adelaide. My husband's family came from the bush to the city in a similar time frame and then lived in a "shared" house, while I came to the city for my education in the early 60s.

But it isn't history that dominates but what happens to these two families as they share life in Cloudstreet. The characters are marvellously drawn.

This is not my usual crime fiction diet, being an attempt to read a  little outside the genre occasionally. It is, I admit with shame, the first Tim Winton novel I remember reading, and certainly the first I have written a review of. I have joined the ranks of those who love Cloudstreet.

My rating: 5.0

You might enjoy the longer outline on Wikipedia. 

For overseas readers who would like a copy, it appears to be available through Amazon US in a variety of formats.

Book Review: UNNATURAL HABITS, Kerry Greenwood

• Published by Allen & Unwin 2012
  
• ISBN 978-1-74237-243-3
• 332 pages
• #19 in the Phryne Fisher series
• library book
• read an extract

Synopsis (Allen & Unwin)

1929: pretty little golden-haired girls are going missing in Melbourne. But they're not just pretty. Three of them are pregnant, poor girls from the harsh confines of the Magdalen Laundry. People are getting nervous.

Polly Kettle, a pushy, self-important Girl Reporter with ambition and no sense of self preservation, decides to investigate--and promptly goes missing herself.

It's time for Phryne and Dot to put a stop to this and find Polly Kettle before something quite irreparable happens to all of them. It's a tale of convents and plots, piracy, murder and mystery . . . and Phryne finally finds out if it's true that blondes have more fun.

My Take

Nearly a quarter of a century on from the start of the series, Phryne Fisher is going as strong as ever. This remarkable, seemingly ageless, sleuth has gathered quite a household around her now, and also has the local police in her pocket. Most of Melbourne's high society either count her as a friend, or they owe her something, and so she has passage into places that the police on their own could never penetrate, like the Blue Cat Club and the Abbotsford Convent and the Magdalen laundry.

For me Kerry Greenwood seems to have captured well the essence of society's attitude to unmarried mothers, as well the growing militant unionism of the late 1920s. A mark of her indefatigable research.

These novels carry the hallmarks of most cozies, with a tinge of Australian history and attitudes. There's plenty of humour, and loads of well drawn characters. At the same time they are well plotted, and I think UNNATURAL HABITS is almost Greenwood at her best. Their growth in popularity, and that of the Miss Fisher television series, ensure they are also available overseas, at least in e-format, for a reasonable price.

My rating: 4.8

I have reviewed
MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT
TRICK OR TREAT
FORBIDDEN FRUIT
4.3, DEAD MAN'S CHEST
4.4, COOKING THE BOOKS
4.3, TAMAM SHUD

Phryne Fisher
1. Cocaine Blues (1989)
     aka Death by Misadventure
2. Flying Too High (1990)
3. Murder on the Ballarat Train (1991)
4. Death at Victoria Dock (1992)
5. The Green Mill Murder (1993)
6. Blood and Circuses (1994)
7. Ruddy Gore (1995)
8. Urn Burial (1996)
9. Raisins and Almonds (1997)
10. Death Before Wicket (1999)
11. Away with the Fairies (2001)
12. Murder in Montparnasse (2002)
13. The Castlemaine Murders (2003)
14. Queen of the Flowers (2004)
15. Death By Water (2005)
16. Murder in the Dark (2006)
17. Murder on a Midsummer Night (2008)
18. Dead Man's Chest (2010)
19. Unnatural Habits (2012)
20. Murder & Mendelssohn (2013) 

Review: GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, Maggie Groff

• Published by Pan Macmillan Australia 2013
• ISBN 978-1-742-61193-8
• 369 pages

Synopsis (Pan Macmillan Australia)

Intrepid investigative journalist Scout Davis has given herself a holiday, but when Hermione Longfellow accosts her in the supermarket, she stops to listen.

Most people in Byron Bay are aware of the eccentric Anemone sisters. Always dressed in black, they rarely leave their home nestled in the hills - but Scout is sure that the drinking of chicken blood is just idle gossip. When Hermione asks Scout to track down her sister Nemony's AWOL husband, believed to have died at sea thirty years ago but recently popped up again on the Great Barrier Reef, Scout jumps at the opportunity.

Another source of intrigue falls close to home when Scout's sister Harper despairs over her husband's odd behaviour. And as if that wasn't enough, Scout's journalist boyfriend is finally coming home from Afghanistan. Trouble is, Scout thinks she may be falling in love with irresistible local cop Rafe - who coincidentally is also Toby's best friend...

Delightfully witty and addictively fast-paced, this is the second hilarious outing for unforgettable sleuth Scout Davis.

My Take

I wasn't sure whether this title by 2013 Davitt Award winner Maggie Groff (she scooped the Australian Sisters in Crime pool of Best Novel and Best First novel with MAD MEN, BAD GIRLS a few weeks ago) would actually be my cup of tea. It seemed that it would be "lighter" than my usual crime fiction fare. But then I chose it for my face to face reading group to read in the coming month, so in a sense I was committed.

I did have my doubts in the first 50 pages or so, but then things settled down a bit, and I must admit to enjoying both the plot and the plotting skill. The blurb on the front cover calls sleuth Scout Davis " a successor to Evanovich", and I thought I could detect a bit of Phryne Fisher there too.

I also enjoyed the quirky humour - who would call their cat Chairman Meow? - but underneath it all there is some serious, realistic characterisation and some careful plotting. There are a couple of other humour lines such as the guerilla knitting group that I thought were a bit superfluous but I guess they show another dimension of Scout's character.

I think this series has a future.  My rating: 4.6
International readers can find it here on Amazon US for Kindle or audio.

See Bernadette's review

Review: BURIAL RITES, Hannah Kent

• first published 2013 in Picador by Pan MacMillan Australia
• I read the Kindle edition
• ISBN 9781742612829 (pbk)

Synopsis (Pan Macmillan Australia)

In northern Iceland, 1829, Agnes Magnusdottir is condemned to death for her part in the brutal murder of two men.

Agnes is sent to wait out the time leading to her execution on the farm of District Officer Jon Jonsson, his wife and their two daughters.

Horrified to have a convicted murderess in their midst, the family avoids speaking with Agnes. Only Toti, the young assistant reverend appointed as Agnes's spiritual guardian, is compelled to try to understand her, as he attempts to salvage her soul. As the summer months fall away to winter and the hardships of rural life force the household to work side by side, Agnes's ill-fated tale of longing and betrayal begins to emerge. And as the days to her execution draw closer, the question burns: did she or didn't she?

Based on a true story, Burial Rites is a deeply moving novel about personal freedom: who we are seen to be versus who we believe ourselves to be, and the ways in which we will risk everything for love. In beautiful, cut-glass prose, Hannah Kent portrays Iceland's formidable landscape, where every day is a battle for survival, and asks, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?

My Take

I guess the first question any reviewer must address is whether BURIAL RITES actually fits into the category of crime fiction. Bernadette at Reactions to Reading calls it "speculative biography".

The author says "While this novel is a work of fiction, it is based on real events.... 
Many known and established facts about Agnes's life and the murders have been reproduced in this novel, and events have either been drawn directly from the record, or are the result of speculation; they are fictional likelihoods."

The most notable precursor for this style of "novel", which seems to move seamlessly from fact to fiction, so that the reader has little idea of where one ends and the other starts, is Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD. (see my mini-review below).

In reality Agnes Magnusdottir was the last person to be executed in Iceland (in 1829). From the novel the reader pieces together the enormity of the crime with which Agnes was accused, the harsh Icelandic setting, and what seems to be the barbaric nature of her execution. How life has changed in Iceland in nearly two centuries can be judged through the work of modern author Arnaldur Indridason.

The reader moves with the Jonsson family with whom Agnes is billeted awaiting her execution, and with Toti, the young assistant reverend appointed as Agnes's spiritual guardian, to try to assess whether in fact Agnes is guilty of the crime. During long Icelandic nights Agnes tells us the story of her life and of the events leading up to the Illugastadir murders.

It is obvious that Hannah Kent has done a lot of research, and throughout the "novel" letters, documents and extracts from the public record are presented. The merging of fact and fiction is cleverly done, the resultant writing stunningly empathetic.

My face to face book group, which usually reads crime fiction only, decided to read BURIAL RITES mainly because Hannah Kent is a South Australian writer and it is hard to ignore local displays of the book in our book shops. It was an excellent choice that should provoke a good amount of discussion.

My rating: 4.5

See other reviews

• Reactions to Reading 
• The Australian 
• The Adelaide Review

About the author

Hannah Kent was born in Adelaide in 1985. As a teenager she travelled to Iceland on a Rotary Exchange, where she first heard the story of Agnes Magnusdottir. Hannah is the co-founder and deputy editor of Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings, and is completing her PhD at Flinders University. In 2011 she won the inaugural Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award. Burial Rites is her first novel.

Hannah Kent's website.

As an attendee of this year's 2013 Edinburgh International Book Festival, Burial Rites is eligible for the 2013 FIRST BOOK AWARD.
Vote for Burial Rites in the First Book Award, sponsored by eBooks by Sainsbury’s. (Voting will close on Monday 14 October)

Mini-review: IN COLD BLOOD, Truman Capote, published 1966
This reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and their two children by 2 amoral young killers. The book presents the true-fact story almost as if it were fiction with descriptive passages where truth and journalism are inextricably intertwined. The structure that Capote chose for the book gave him the leeway to use the facts to explore the circumstances surrounding the murders, and to consider why they happened, and what the effects were on those who not only remained but investigated the crime.
My Rating: 4.2

Review: PEOPLE OF THE BOOK, Geraldine Brooks

• read as Kindle version
• originally published in 2008
• winner of at least two awards
• Australian author

Synopsis (Amazon)

When Hanna Heath gets a call in the middle of the night in her Sydney home about a precious medieval manuscript that has been recovered from the smouldering ruins of war-torn Sarajevo, she knows she is on the brink of the experience of a lifetime.
A renowned book conservator, she must now make her way to Bosnia to start work on restoring the Sarajevo Haggadah -- a Jewish prayer book -- to discover its secrets and piece together the story of its miraculous survival. But the trip will also set in motion a series of events that threaten to rock Hanna′s orderly life, including her encounter with Ozren Karamen, the young librarian who risked his life to save the book.

As meticulously researched as all of Brooks′ previous work, People of the Book is a gripping and moving novel about war, art, love and survival.

My Take

I read PEOPLE OF THE BOOK following a recommendation/reminder from a member of one of the face to face book discussion groups I attend.

I need to tell you first that it is not crime fiction although some horrendous crimes are committed, particularly those related to the expulsion and elimination of Jewish populations throughout history. So the book also fits in with my personal challenge to occasionally read outside the crime fiction genre.

Although Geraldine Brooks no longer lives in Australia, where she was born, she manages to flavour the novel with Australian idioms and captures familiar characteristics with her central character Hanna Heath.

Hanna works back in time to piece together the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah from physical evidence left within the book itself. The reader learns the full, fictitious, story of the people who either created, preserved or protected the book, while Hanna herself can only surmise the bare bones. The book is Jewish and so much of the story is related to the persecution of the Jews over a period of nearly six centuries and the relationships between Muslim, Christian and Jewish rulers and populations. That makes it a very topical book even to the present day, and a reminder that human lives are involved in military campaigns. It also points out the sacrifices people make to preserve items that are culturally valuable.

Hannah wants to write a paper about the possible history of the Haggadah and in her pursuit of evidence learns a lot about herself, and, eventually her own family background, secrets her mother has kept from her for thirty years.

As you can probably tell, I enjoyed my trip outside my preferred genre. The writing is superb and the story moves at a good pace. I guess at the end you could say it becomes a thriller as Hanna learns of the latest crime that has been committed in the name of the book.

My rating: 4.8

Geraldine Brooks' other novels
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague (2001)
March (2005)
People of the Book (2008)
Caleb's Crossing (2011)

IF I TELL YOU.. I'LL HAVE TO KILL YOU, edited by Michael Robotham

• Allen & Unwin paper back
• ISBN 978-1-743331-348-0
• 319 pages
• borrowed from my local library

Kindle edition available July 24

Australia's best crime writers - Michael Robotham, Kerry Greenwood, Shane Maloney, Peter Corris, Tara Moss and more - share the secrets to their success, their best- ever writing tips and their favourite 'must reads'. An ideal guide for aspiring writers and crime fiction fans alike.

Description

Crime fiction is the single most popular genre in international publishing and Australia has some of the finest practitioners when it comes to walking the mean streets and nailing the bad guys.

Whether you're a fan of crime fiction, true crime or a would-be crime writer, this collection of essays will provide laughter, understanding, insight, ideas, advice and hopefully some inspiration. Learn about Shane Maloney's near-death experience in a freezer, Leigh Redhead's adventures as a stripper and Tara Moss taking a polygraph test to prove her doubters wrong.

There are stories of struggle and triumph, near misses and murderous intent, as our best crime writers lay bare their souls and reveal their secrets as never before, along with their rules for writing and reading lists.

But beware. They will have to kill you...

My Take

All royalties from this book go towards the Australian Crime Writers Association, which runs the annual Ned Kelly Awards and was established to promote crime writing and reading in Australia.
So while I read this copy from my local library, I also bought a copy for my Kindle.

Here's a unique opportunity to find out what makes some of your favourite Aussie authors tick. The book consists of 20 very readable essays. I've sat through a lot of author talks at the Adelaide Writer's Week and reading these essays reminded me of some of the more candid of those sessions. The five "must-reads" at the end of each essay give further insight and for me, reminded me that I have never read Raymond Chandler's THE BIG SLEEP.

The Table of Contents reads a bit like a Who's Who of successful Australian crime writers, so here is a chance of finding a new author or two, or just relaxing in the company of someone you already follow. The format was a winner for me - each essay is twelve to fifteen pages long and is followed by "My Rules" which of course vary from writer to writer, and then "Five Must Reads" with similarities from author to author.

The final essay is from Peter Lawrance and picks out some of the highlights in the history of the Ned Kelly Awards, founded in 1996. Peter is a long-time convenor and organiser of the NKs.

Well done to whoever had the idea of putting this anthology together. It should be must reading for all crime fiction courses, whether for readers or budding writers.

My rating: 4.8

Review: I HEAR THE SIRENS IN THE STREET, Adrian McKinty - audio book

• this unabridged version available from Audible
• Book published 2013
• #2 in the Sean Duffy series (The Troubles Trilogy)
• Narrated by Gerard Doyle
• length 9 hrs 42 mins

Synopsis (Audible)

A torso in a suitcase looks like an impossible case, but Sean Duffy isn’t easily deterred, especially when his floundering love life leaves him in need of a distraction. So with detective constables McCrabban and McBride, he goes to work identifying the victim.

The torso turns out to be all that’s left of an American tourist who once served in the U.S. military. What was he doing in Northern Ireland in the midst of the 1982 Troubles? The trail leads to the doorstep of a beautiful, flame-haired, twenty-something widow, whose husband died at the hands of an IRA assassination team just a few months before.

Suddenly Duffy is caught between his romantic instincts, gross professional misconduct, and powerful men he should know better than to mess with. These include British intelligence, the FBI, and local paramilitary death squads - enough to keep even the savviest detective busy. Duffy’s growing sense of self-doubt isn’t helping. But as a legendarily stubborn man, he doesn’t let that stop him from pursuing the case to its explosive conclusion.

My Take

This is the sequel to THE COLD, COLD GROUND which I reviewed last year. Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles in 1982. When a male torso turns up in a suitcase, the suitcase turns out to have belonged to a man murdered by the IRA the previous year. The widow lives on an isolated estate and from the beginning Detective Inspector Sean Duffy can see that there are elements of her story about her husband's murder that don't quite jell. One thing leads to another and Sean identifies the body as that belonging to an American tourist. Even there, there is something wrong with the story.

With his passion for tying up loose ends Sean eventually follows the story even when he has been expressly warned off. This is noir crime fiction laced with Sean's own peculiar sense of humour. There's not just the blackness in the plot, but blackness in the setting - Northern Ireland on the brink of economic disaster, its last remaining industry whimpering to its death.

Adrian McKinty is a master story teller, the writing well polished, the characters well drawn. The dangers of living and working in Northern Ireland in the Troubles are vividly brought to life. He takes us to a time and place few of us have experienced first hand.

The narrator Gerard Doyle does an excellent job.

My rating: 4.8

See Bernadette's review.

Review: WATCHING YOU, Michael Robotham

• publication Australia August 8 2013 (see other release dates)
• published by Sphere
• ISBN 978-1-84744-527-8
• 441 pages
• Available for pre-order on Amazon
• source: ARC from author/publisher

Synopsis (author site)

Marnie Logan often feels like she's being watched. Nothing she can quite put her finger on - a whisper of breath on the back of her neck, or a shadow in the corner of her eye - and now her life is frozen.
Her husband Daniel has been missing for more than a year. Depressed and increasingly desperate, she seeks the help of clinical psychologist Joe O'Loughlin.
Joe is concerned by Marnie's reluctance to talk about the past, but then she discovers a book packed with pictures, interviews with friends, former teachers, old flames and workmates Daniel was preparing for her birthday. It was supposed to be a celebration of her life. But it's not the story anyone was expecting...

My Take

Another terrific read from Michael Robotham. There are bits of the plot that strain credibility but, balanced against the superb writing, they hardly matter. Rather they serve to make the reader question whether something like that could happen.

The structure of the story is interesting - two main stories unfolding side by side. I find as I write that I can't really talk too much about the book without plot spoilers. You'll have to take my word for it that I found WATCHING YOU a very satisfying read. Read the first chapter here.

Followers of Robotham will welcome the furtherance of the Joe O'Loughlin / Vincent Ruiz story, and I for one want the next story NOW.

My rating: 5.0

Other reviews on this blog
BOMBPROOF
SHATTER
SHATTER (audio)
BLEED FOR ME
5.0, THE WRECKAGE
4.8, SAY YOU'RE SORRY 

Watch out for IF I TELL YOU, I'LL HAVE TO KILL YOU being released in August at the Byron Bay Writer's Festival. Edited by Michael Robotham,  (More)
Australia’s finest crime writers reveal their secrets
Find out where they bury their bodies…
Crime fiction is the single most popular genre in international publishing and Australia has some of the finest practitioners when it comes to walking the mean streets and nailing the bad guys.

Whether you’re a fan of crime fiction, true crime or a would-be crime writer, this collection of essays will provide laughter, understanding, insight, ideas, advice and hopefully some inspiration. Learn about Shane Maloney’s near-death experience in a freezer, Leigh Redhead’s adventures as a stripper and Tara Moss taking a polygraph test to prove her doubters wrong.

There are stories of struggle and triumph, near misses and murderous intent, as our best crime writers lay bare their souls and reveal their secrets as never before, along with their rules for writing and reading lists.
But beware. They will have to kill you…

Review: THE EASY SIN, Jon Cleary - audio book

• book published in 2002
  
• 19/20 in the Scobie Malone series
• this edition published by Audible in 2009
• narrator: Christian Rodska
• Length 8 hours 53 mins

Synopsis (publisher)

The time has come for Officer Scobie Malone to leave the Homicide and Serial Offenders Unit of the Sydney police. His last investigation could be the most bizarre case ever to land upon a policeman's desk.

Fantastic Fiction

From Australia's 'national literary institution' (Sydney Morning Herald), the latest mystery featuring homicide detective and family man Scobie Malone

The time has come for Scobie Malone to leave the Homicide and Serial Offenders Unit of the Sydney police, and his last investigation could be the most bizarre case ever to cross his desk. Called in when a housemaid is found dead in a dotcom millionaire's penthouse, Scobie suspects he's dealing with a kidnap that's gone wrong. In fact, it couldn't have gone more wrong. The kidnappers thought they had grabbed the millionaire's girlfriend -- how were they supposed to know he liked slipping into her designer dresses when she wasn't around?

The plot thickens further when it is revealed that the dotcom bubble has burst, leaving the erstwhile millionaire in debt to the Yakuza and Scobie on the trail of some old adversaries. Throw in the ex-wife, a mistress or two, and the mother of all outlaws, and you have a case that would confound the greatest detective and entertain the most discerning of readers. 

My Take

Christian Rodka's brilliant narration added great pleasure to listening to this novel. There is quite a cast of characters and his voice portrayal made picking one from the other relatively easy.

I've been on a bit of a Jon Cleary kick in the last few months and have listened to
4.6, WINTER CHILL- set some time before THE EASY SIN and
4.7, DEGREES OF CONNECTION which was Jon Cleary's last Scobie Malone novel, following on from THE EASY SIN.

There are passages in this novel which crack a smile, despite the seriousness of the story line: an abduction and a couple of murders thrown in for good measure; a gang that by any standards is incompetent, but at the same time amoral.  I thought some of the characters were overblown and parts of the plot definitely unrealistic. On the other hand the collapse of the dotcom bubble pointed to how ordinary Australians lost money in a world financial phenomenon.

And then for Scobie Malone fans, historically this was his last case at the head of Homicide and at the time they must have wondered what Jon Cleary was up to. With hindsight we know he was preparing to bow out of crime fiction. 

My rating:  4.3

Review: MIDNIGHT PROMISE, Zane Lovitt

• first published by Text Publishing 2012
• ISBN 9-781921-922930
• 283 pages
• subtitled: a detective's story in ten cases
• contains 'Leaving the Fountainhead', winner of the SD Harvey short story award at the 2010 Ned Kelly Awards.

Synopsis (Publisher)

John Dorn is a private investigator. Just like his father used to be. It says ‘private inquiry agent’ in John’s yellow pages ad because that’s what his old man called himself, back before his business folded, his wife left him and he drank himself to death. 

But John’s not going to end up like his father. He doesn’t have a wife, or much business. He doesn’t really drink, either. Not yet. 

In each of these ten delicious stories Zane Lovitt presents an intriguing investigation filled with humour and complex, beautifully observed characters. At their centre is John Dorn, solving not so much crimes as funny human puzzles; but the crimes, and the criminals, are forever lurking nearby, taunting him from the city’s cold underworld.

It’s his job to unravel the mystery, or right the wrong, or just do what the client has hired him to do. Somehow, though, there is a misstep at every turn, and John takes another small stumble towards his moment of personal truth. His midnight promise. Perhaps even his redemption.

My Take

Here are ten very unusual Australian short crime fiction cases with John Dorn, private investigator, at their centre. Set mainly in working class Melbourne, and in more or less chronological order, they tell John's life story from his initial acquisition of his private investigator licence through to his loss of it, and show a downward spiral of his fortunes, even though he generally solves the mystery that the case hinges on.

John gets most of his work through high profile lawyer Demetri Sfakiakopoulos, champion of the lost cause. It ranges from investigating miscarriages of justice, false accusations, to protection of minors. The plots are generally very unusual, sometimes comedic, sometimes noir, and John Dorn always has sympathy for the underdog, even to the point of putting himself in some danger. However the outcome of John's involvement in the case is not always as successful as it might be.

Take for example the first case Amnesty.  In this one Dorn needs Demetri's help rather than the other way around. Gary Blanche is on remand and he has phoned John Dorn for help. He's up on three counts of possession of a prohibited weapon. Police found guns in his house a week before after a tip-off. Gary is claiming that three guns have been left in his letter box by mistake. He is fearful of going to jail and pleads with John Dorn to help him beat the rap. Dorn realises there is not a lot he can do, but that Demetri has far more clout than he.

The construction  of the book is unusual in that it includes 'Leaving the Fountainhead', winner of the SD Harvey short story award at the 2010 Ned Kelly Awards, and two other previously published short stories. This will appeal to those of you who really like noir stories.

My rating: 4.5

See the following video comment from Sydney bookseller Jon Page

Review: ROTTEN GODS, Greg Barron

• published by Harper Collins Australia in 2012
• ISBN 978-0-7322-9434-2
• 470 pages
• Read an extract
• available for Kindle (free?) 

Synopsis (Publisher)

A new wave of terror threatens a world torn by inequality, conflict, economic disaster and environmental chaos.

Heads of state gather in Dubai in an attempt to bring society back from the brink of global catastrophe. But when extremists hijack the conference centre, the clock starts ticking: seven days until certain death for presidents and prime ministers alike, unless the terrorists′ radical demands are met.

A treasonous British diplomat, an Australian intelligence officer, an airline pilot searching for his missing daughters, a mysterious Somali agent, and a disillusioned UN official are all forced to examine their motives, faith and beliefs as they attempt to stave off disaster, hurtling towards the deadline and a shattering climax.

Rotten Gods is both an imaginative tour de force and a dire warning, holding the reader spellbound until the last breathtaking page.

Blurb from Amazon Kindle

It took seven days to create the world ... now they have seven days to save it.
Extremists hijack the conference centre where heads of state have gathered in an attempt to bring society back from the brink of global environmental catastrophe, and the clock starts ticking: seven days until certain death for presidents and prime ministers alike, unless the terrorists′ radical demands are met.
Marika, an Australian intelligence officer, Isabella, a treasonous British diplomat, Simon, an airline pilot searching for his missing daughters, and Madoowbe, a mysterious Somali agent, are all forced to examine their motives, faith and beliefs as they attempt to stave off disaster, hurtling towards the deadline and a shattering climax.

My Take

ROTTEN GODS is not a quick read, but don't let that put you off - it is well worth your attention and signals the arrival another Australian author to put on your "look for" list. There is nothing about this book to indicate it is a debut title. The plotting is well executed and the writing is tight, with plenty of detail and plenty of depth.

The fact that the action is on a 7 day deadline heightens the tension. There are four main plot arenas and the story moves easily from one to the other. What doesn't sit so easily for the Western reader is the account of the damage their lifestyle has done, and continues to do, to the global environment. So this becomes a book with a message as well. It also highlights the attractiveness of extremist action for those who feel that the world, or at least those responsible for environmental policy, is not listening.

My rating: 4.8

I was reminded of the plot of THE LORDS' DAY by Michael Dobbs in which the Queen is taken hostage by terrorists at the opening of Parliament in the House of Lords. ROTTEN GODS however is far more global in its theme.

Other reviews to consider

• Bernadette @ FairDinkumCrime
• Karen@AustCrime

About the author

Greg Barron has lived in both North America and Australia, and studied International Terrorism at Scotland’s prestigious St Andrew’s University. He has visited five of the world’s seven continents, once canoed down a flooded tropical river, and crossed Arnhem Land on foot. Greg’s writing reflects his interests in political, social and environmental change. He lives on a small farm in Eastern Australia’s coastal hinterland with his wife and two sons.

His website.

A second title, SAVAGE TIDE, is already available.