Review: DOGBOY V. CATFISH, Luke Gracias

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C5M16D1L
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Authors Upfront (17 May 2023)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 247 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

On the day of her second wedding, Katherine Fisher, aka ‘Catfish,’ set the date for her divorce. In precisely 18 months, she would be entitled to half of their combined assets and receive maintenance payments until her five-year-old daughter, Emma, turns 18. Just as Catfish was about to take her husband, Lindsay ‘Dogboy’ Kramer (a successful businessman and dog whisperer) to the cleaners, he goes missing.

The police investigation into Dogboy’s disappearance leads them into the dark world of counterfeit designer goods, money laundering, and drug smuggling.

With Dogboy’s assets frozen and the mob protecting their interests, the missing persons case escalates to homicide. Catfish is in a race against time to get hold of Dogboy’s assets before the police get hold of her.

One question remains - is Dogboy dead or alive?

My Take

A fascinating tale, told almost in a documentary style.

Katherine Fisher (Catfish) it seems, will do almost anything for money. She sees her husband Lindsay (Dogboy) as a gullible and easy target, but doesn't realise he has realised her intentions, and set his own plans in motion, to ensure that not only is the wealth that she aims to capture is moved out of her reach, but also that the police and the authorities will be able to document what she has been up to.

In the long run Dogboy is able to call on friends that Catfish didn't realise that he had, while her own resources are criminals.

This is a real page turner, unusual format, and unique subject matter.

My rating: 4.7

About the author

Luke Gracias is an Environmental Specialist who has been working part- time in the film industry since 2006. The Codex Gigas or the Devil's Bible is the largest medieval manuscript in the world. It currently resides in the National Library of Sweden. The Codex Gigas has twelve missing pages which are rumoured to contain an apocalyptic test known as the Devil's Prayer.
An avid photographer, Luke travelled through Europe and his home country Australia documenting the 13th Century conspiracy between the Mongols who came to Europe in search of the Devil's Prayer and the Papal Inquisition.  

Review: TREASURE & DIRT, Chris Hammer

• 
  this edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• aka OPAL COUNTRY
• Imprint:Allen & UnwiN
• Pub Date:30 Aug 2022
• Page Extent:536

Synopsis (Publisher)

An unputdownable standalone thriller from the bestselling author of Scrublands.
In the desolate outback town of Finnigans Gap, police struggle to maintain law and order. Thieves pillage opal mines, religious fanatics recruit vulnerable young people and billionaires do as they please.

Then an opal miner is found crucified and left to rot down his mine. Nothing about the miner's death is straightforward, not even who found the body. Sydney homicide detective Ivan Lucic is sent to investigate, assisted by inexperienced young investigator Nell Buchanan.

But Finnigans Gap has already ended one police career and damaged others, and soon both officers face damning allegations and internal investigations. Have Ivan and Nell been set up and, if so, by whom?

As time runs out, their only chance at redemption is to find the killer. But the more secrets they uncover, the more harrowing the mystery becomes, as events from years ago take on a startling new significance.

For in Finnigans Gap, opals, bodies and secrets don't stay buried forever. 

My Take

I have already reviewed this book, but have re-read it for a discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction readers group.

I must confess that I began reading it as a printed paperback but swapped over about halfway through to a copy that I already had on my Kindle.

Last time I wrote "A book with many themes, a very harsh environment, where the miners themselves struggle to make a living, and a virtual pageant of quirky characters." and I was struck again by the fact that, while there is the central plot of the crucified opal miner, there are a large number of mini plots.  It is also a novel where the Australian outback setting plays a strong role.

If you are looking for something that has strong Australian flavour, then this is it.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

• 4.7, SCRUBLANDS - Martin Scarsden #1
  
• 4.4, SILVER - - Martin Scarsden #2
• 4.6, TREASURE & DIRT - aka OPAL COUNTRY - Detective Nell Buchanan #1
• 4.8, THE TILT - aka DEAD MAN'S CREEK - Detective Nell Buchanan #2
• 4.8, SCRUBLANDS - re-read
• 4.8, THE SEVEN - aka COVER THE BONES - Detective Nell Buchanan #3
  

Review: HOME BEFORE NIGHT, J. P. Pomare

• 
  This edition published by hatchette Australia 2023
• ISBN 978-0-7336-4954-7
  
• 191 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Mother's intuition or a deadly guilty conscience? A woman races against time to find her son in this tense and twisty thriller by the Top Ten bestselling author of THE WRONG WOMAN.

As the third wave of the virus hits, all inhabitants of Melbourne are given until 8 pm to get to their homes. Wherever they are when the curfew begins, they must live for four weeks and stay within five kilometres of. When Lou's son, Samuel, doesn't arrive home by nightfall, she begins to panic.

He doesn't answer his phone. He doesn't message. His social media channels are inactive. Lou is out of her mind with worry, but she can't go to the police, because she has secrets of her own. Secrets that Samuel just can't find out about. Lou must find her son herself and bring him home.

Includes an exclusive extract of the next J. P. Pomare thriller, Seventeen Years Later, publishing in 2024.

My Take

This is the second novel that I've read set in Covid-19 in Australia (TRACED, Catherine Jinks). Few overseas readers will realise how Draconian the measures were that were taken here in the name of "keeping us safe."

When Samuel doesn't get home by the time lockdown hits, his mother worries about where he is. Citizens can't just come and go as they like. The police are keeping a look out for law breakers, and there are heavy financial penalties.

When Samuel finally gets in touch to say he is staying at his girlfriend's his mother thinks that there are things that just don't add up. Thinking back over his recent behaviour she worries that he has found out something she has kept from him all of his life. The reader already knows what that secret is, but there is something that is far worse.

But the way this comes to light makes you wonder if Lou really thought she could get away with it.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

• 4.6, IN THE CLEARING
• 4.8, CALL ME EVIE
• 4.8, TELL ME LIES 
• 4.7, THE WRONG WOMAN

Review: THE SEVEN, Chris Hammer

• 
   this edition made available to me as an e-book on Libby through my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen & Unwin (3 October 2023)
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1761067427
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1761067426
• aka COVER THE BONES 
• Detective Nell Buchanan #3
  

Synopsis (distributor)

Fantastic Fiction

A body has washed up in an irrigation canal, the artery running through Yuwonderie, a man-made paradise on the border of the Outback. Stabbed through the heart, electrocuted and dumped under cover of night, there is no doubt that detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are dealing with a vicious homicide.

The victim is Athol Hasluck, member of one of the seven dynasties who have controlled every slice of bountiful land in this modern-day Eden for generations.

But this is not an isolated incident. Someone is targeting the landed aristocracy of this quiet paradise in the desert. Secrets stretching back decades are rising to the surface at last - but the question remains, who stands to gain most from their demise?

Can Ivan and Nell track down a killer before the guilt at the heart of these seven families takes the entire town down with it?

Amazon
The latest stunning thriller from the bestselling author of Scrublands and The Tilt.

Yuwonderie's seven founding families have lorded it over their district for a century, growing ever more rich and powerful.

But now—in startling circumstances—one of their own is found dead in a ditch and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are sent to investigate.

Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim's friend thirty years ago—another member of The Seven—or even to the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War?

What are the secrets The Seven are so desperate to keep hidden?

With the killer still on the loose and events spiralling out of control, the closer Ivan and Nell get to discovering the truth, the more dangerous their investigation becomes. Can they crack the case before more people die?

The Seven is a compelling thriller filled with intrigue, emotional depth and an evocative sense of place—where nothing is ever quite what it seems. Chris Hammer, the acclaimed and bestselling author of the international bestsellers Scrublands, Treasure & Dirt and The Tilt, can take his place among the world's finest crime writers. 

My Take

Three main time frames, 1913 just before the outbreak of World War One, 1934, and December 2022?

In the first Bessie Walker, part aboriginal girl, newly arrived to work at Three Wells Station begins the first of many letters to her mother. In the most recent time frame, Sergeant Ivan Lucic and Detective Constable Nell Buchanan have arrived at Yuwonderie to investigate the murder of local accountant Athol Hasluck, a lowly member of one of the founding families, The Seven. The district is the local fiefdom of MP Otto Titchfield, Federal member for Family First. Otto is also a member of The Seven.

In 1994 one of the heirs to The Seven and his girlfriend disappeared.

Underlying everything in this story is the importance of water and water rights, and everything the seven families (originally more) have done to control the rights to the water. For over 100 years, since the setting up of the local irrigation scheme, the heads of the seven families have done what has been needed to maintain their positions of privelege. And in the 21st century nothing has changed.

This is a demanding read, the reader having to keep their wits abut them and to remember details, names of characters, and connections. It is also the story of corruption, scams, the vulnerability of those who think they are invulnerable, and the burdens of living with "the dry".

For those who wondered what happened to him, Harley Snouch makes a reappearance. 

for those who make it through to the end, a twist you won't see coming.

My rating: 4.8

I've also read

• 4.7, SCRUBLANDS - Martin Scarsden #1
  
• 4.4, SILVER - - Martin Scarsden #2
• 4.6, TREASURE & DIRT - aka OPAL COUNTRY - Detective Nell Buchanan #1
• 4.8, THE TILT - aka DEAD MAN'S CREEK - Detective Nell Buchanan #2
• 4.8, SCRUBLANDS - re-read
  

Review: TRACED, Catherine Jinks

• 
   Text Publishing Company Australia 2023
  
• ISBN 9-781922-790125
• 341 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Jane is a contact tracer. She has to call a lot of people and some of them don’t want to talk. Various reasons – tax or immigration issues, infidelity. Domestic abuse.

Jane knows all about that. She and her daughter Tara have spent years in hiding from Tara’s manipulative and terrifying ex. Now, as Jane talks to a close contact, she realises the woman on the phone is scared of the same man – and he’s close. Too close.

Suddenly the past comes slamming back into the present as Jane realises she and Tara can’t keep running forever.

One day, they’re going to be found.

My Take

Jane is a Covid-19 contact tracer, one of those trying to prevent the virus becoming endemic in Australia. So far her work has preserved her anonymity, but then she comes across a victim of domestic violence who gives Jane enough clues as to the identity of her perpetrator, and to her horror, Jane knows him!

A very engrossing read.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.5, SHELTER
• 4.3, THE ATTACK
  

Review: THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW, Christian White

• 
  this edition published 2020 by Affirm Press
• ISBN 978-1-925972-75-7
  
• 334 page 
• previous review
  

Synopsis (Publisher)

Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW is a mystery/thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband's secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside down when she's forced to confront the evidence that her husband is a murderer. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives.

Brilliant and beguiling, THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW takes you to a cliff edge and asks the question: how well do we really know the people we love? 

My Take

I previously read this over 3 years ago, and now I am re-reading it for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction group. 

I think now that, when I read it earlier, I seriously under-estimated the clever plot construct that the author builds in. I had forgotten the nature of this twist and began making notes because I actually thought the author had slipped up. And then of course I discovered that he hadn't!

This is an Australian story, set on an island off the coast of Victoria, a popular summer holiday destination, connected to the mainland by a ferry.

What would you do to protect your children? Something happened to John Keddie as a rebellious teenager that would stay with him for the rest of his life - affecting his mental health, giving him nightmares, and memories he can never escape. Eventually the dam overflows.

My Rating: 4.9

Previous reviews

• 4.4, THE NOWHERE CHILD
• 4.5, THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW 
• 4.6, WILD PLACE

 

Review: HOMECOMING, Kate Morton

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Published: 4th April 2023
• ISBN: 9781761185786
• 640 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of the grand and mysterious mansion, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called and a small town becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia.

Sixty years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for almost twenty years, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital.

Nora has always been a vibrant and strong presence: decisive, encouraging, young despite her years. When Jess visits her in the hospital she is alarmed to find her grandmother frail and confused; it's even more alarming to hear from Nora's housekeeper that Nora had been distracted in the weeks before her accident, and that she fell on the steps to the attic - the one place Jess was forbidden from playing when she was small.

At a loose end in Nora's house, Jess does some digging of her own. In Nora's bedroom, she discovers a true crime book, chronicling the police investigation into a long-buried tragedy: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the book that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous crime - a crime that has never been resolved satisfactorily. And for a journalist without a story, a cold case might be the best distraction she can find…

An epic novel that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, and how we protect the lies we tell. It explores the power of motherhood, the corrosive effects of tightly held secrets, and the healing nature of truth. Above all, it is a beguiling and immensely satisfying novel from one of the finest writers working today. 

My Take:

When Jess in London gets the phone call calling her to Sydney, to her grandmother's hospital bed side, she has no idea of what she is about to learn.  She has no idea what secrets her grandmother has kept over the years. She was brought up by her grandmother after her mother Polly went north to Brisbane but she has no idea why that happened. But she becomes aware that many things are troubling Nora and Jess becomes determined to find out what they are.

And so layers of secrets are revealed, beginning with a family tragedy in the Adelaide Hills sixty years earlier.  The story is told in two distinct settings, two distinct timelines, and several mysteries come to the surface. There are several narrative voices, in some cases the narrator doesn't have the full story either.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, working at the mysteries as titbits were revealed. Sometimes I guessed correctly and sometimes I didn't.

My rating: 5.0

I've also read

• THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN
• 5.0, THE LAKE HOUSE
  

Review: THE CARNIVAL IS OVER, Greg Woodland

• This edition published by Text Publishing Australia 2022
  
• ISBN 9781922458698
• 403 pages 
• Shortlisted, Best Crime Fiction, Ned Kelly Awards, 2023

 Synopsis (publisher)

1971—Hal is seventeen, with dreams of escaping from Moorabool to a life in the city. But right now he’s on a good behaviour bond and stuck in a job he hates, paying off the car he ‘borrowed’ and crashed. Hal’s packing-room job makes him a target for workplace bullies and the friendship of the older, more worldly Christine is all that makes each day bearable. So when she doesn’t turn up for work, he’s on the alert.

So is Sergeant Mick Goodenough. But he already knows what’s happened to Christine: the same thing that happened to the newly elected deputy mayor. When another gruesome ‘accident’ occurs in Moorabool, Goodenough suspects there’s something sinister going on behind the scenes at the abattoir.

Mick and Hal are both determined to dig up the truth. Before long each of them is going to find himself in mortal danger and running for his life. 

My Take

As with the first novel in this series I was struck by the similarity in style and setting to Garry Disher novels. It highlights the problems of growing up in Australian rural towns, as well as the problems and limitations of rural economies in Australia in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The novel is set five years after the earlier one, and shares some of the same characters.

Characters are well drawn and the scenarios believable.

My Rating: 4.6

I've also read 4.6, THE NIGHT WHISTLER

Review: THE NOWHERE CHILD, Christian White

 Once again I am using my iPad to record this review so I am hoping that I will eventually be able to update this review so it looks more like my usual format.

I originally read this soon after its original publication in 2019. My earlier review can be located in this blog if you search for it. I have re-read it as part of the list of books we are tackling with my U3A Crime Fiction group. I must confess that I seem to have enjoyed it more this time around, certainly my rating is just a tad higher.

Originally I read it on my kindle as a pre-publication preview from Net Galley. This time I have read it as a hard copy from my local library. Perhaps in e-book format I read it too quickly to appreciate things that I enjoyed this time. 

This was Christian White’s debut title. The theme is an unusual one - an abducted child identified 30 years later by her older brother who has been searching for her almost all his life. The format is unusual in that there are two time frames, current time, and the time the two year old disappeared. And there are really two narrators - Kim/Sammy who was abducted, and then third party narration that tells the main story. 

True to form, I remembered clearly the first part of the book, and then I’d forgotten how the plot resolved. 

So what questions am I going to pose for my U3A readers?

• First of all, the standard ones: did they enjoy the story? What did they like most? What least?
• How plausible did they find the story? What questions did the author pose in his plot?
• What parts of the plot stood out for them? Which characters?
• Was everybody happy when Stu managed to eventually track his little sister down? Who wasn’t?
• Does it feel like an Australian novel? Why so? Or why not? In other words, if you didn’t know the author was an Australian what clues are there to his nationality?
• The author uses some really creepy settings. How effective were they?
• Was Dean wise in returning to the USA? 
• Did the ending take them by surprise? What strands of the plot had they worked out?

My rating: 4.6

Review: THE LONG WEEKEND, Judy Nunn

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Published: 1 November 2022
• ISBN: 9780143778370
• Imprint: William Heinemann Australia
• Pages: 304

Synopsis (publisher)

Six short stories from Australia’s master storyteller Judy Nunn.

The Long Weekend 
Eve, Jet, Mel and Danielle are looking forward – if a little nervously - to their upcoming digital detox. No phones, no laptops – just a quiet weekend in a remote mountain shack. What could go wrong?

The Wardrobe
When journalist Nancy buys a rundown terrace house she knows nothing about the previous owner - until a discovery in an old wardrobe reveals the lives, loves and losses in the world of Emily Roper.

The Otto Bin Empire: Clive's Story
To the homeless men and women who gather near the docks, the newly arrived Clive cuts an enigmatic figure. ‘I’m just a bloke going through a period of adjustment,’ he tells himself, ‘I’ll be back on my feet soon . . .’

Changes
As she celebrates her sixty-fifth birthday, actor turned film producer Jackie looks back on her seven decades – and all the many changes in her life. Not least the most recent and most surprising one of all . . .

The House on Hill Street
It was such a respectable address - the perfect home for Professor Jameson and his family. But the neighbours are becoming concerned. Eileen Jameson and the boys haven't been seen for quite some time...

Just South of Rome
On her way to England, actor Jane Prescott makes a quick stopover in Italy. When she stumbles upon the Hotel Visconti, a grand eighteenth-century villa, she has no idea that it will change her life.

My Take

These stories are very different, mostly almost novellas, a couple of them could be classified as crime fiction, their plots a little macabre. At the end of each story the author describes what led her to write the story. In some cases, a scenario that has stuck in the author's mind for a long time.

My rating: 4.5

About the author

Judy Nunn’s career has been long, illustrious and multifaceted. After combining her internationally successful acting career with scriptwriting for television and radio, Judy decided in the 90s to turn her hand to prose.

Her first three novels, The Glitter Game, Centre Stage and Araluen, set respectively in the worlds of television, theatre and film, became instant bestsellers, and the rest is history, quite literally in fact. She has since developed a love of writing Australian historically-based fiction and her fame as a novelist has spread rapidly throughout Europe where she has been published in English, German, French, Dutch, Czech and Spanish.

Her subsequent bestsellers, Kal, Beneath the Southern Cross, Territory, Pacific, Heritage, Floodtide, Maralinga, Tiger Men, Elianne, Spirits of the Ghan, Sanctuary, Khaki Town and Showtime! confirmed Judy’s position as one of Australia’s leading fiction writers. She has now sold over one million books in Australia alone.

In 2015 Judy was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her "significant service to the performing arts as a scriptwriter and actor of stage and screen, and to literature as an author". 

Review: DIRT TOWN, Hayley Scrivenor

• 
  this edition published 2022, Pan Macmillan Australia
• made available to me by my local library
  
• ISBN978-1-76098-719-0
• 359 pages
• Ned Kelly Award short list best debut title 2023

Synopsis (Publisher)

My best friend wore her name, Esther, like a queen wearing her crown at a jaunty angle. We were twelve years old when she went missing.

On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home.

Ronnie's going to find her, she has a plan. Lewis will help. Their friend can't be gone, Ronnie won't believe it.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels can believe it. She has seen what people are capable of. She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible.

Lewis can believe it too. But he can't reveal what he saw that afternoon at the creek without exposing his own secret.

Five days later, Esther's buried body is discovered.

What do we owe the girl who isn't there?

Character-rich and propulsive, with a breathtakingly original use of voice and revolving points of view, Dirt Town delves under the surface, where no one can hide. With emotional depth and sensitivity, this stunning debut shows us how much each person matters in a community that is at once falling apart and coming together.

Esther will always be a Dirt Town child, as we are its children, still.

My Take

There is a lot going on in this book, very complex plotting, more than just a missing child. Very carefully layered story, overlapping (and challenging) time frames. Lots of secrets too, and things that the "town" knows, but that the investigating police don't necessarily. Even the police investigators have their own secrets.

The narrative is told through several points of view, and so taking notice at the beginning of each chapter of the date and identity of the narrator is important right from the beginning to the reader's understanding and appreciation. The multi-dimensional structure of the book is demanding of the reader. It is a book that requires a high level of concentration.

Highly recommended!

My rating: 4.7

Awards

WINNER OF THE ABIA GENERAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2023 FOR DEBUT FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ABIA THE MATT RICHELL AWARD FOR NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DAVITT AWARDS ADULT CRIME NOVEL 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DAVITT AWARDS DEBUT CRIME BOOK 2023
FINALIST FOR THE 2023 ITW THRILLER AWARDS FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 CWA ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER AWARD
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 MARGARET AND COLIN RODERICK LITERARY AWARD 

About the author

Hayley Scrivenor is a former Director of Wollongong Writers Festival. Originally from a small country town, Hayley now lives and writes on Dharawal country and has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales. Dirt Town is her first novel. An earlier version of the book was shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize and won the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award.

Review: THE DRY, Jane Harper

• 
  This edition provided by my local library
  
• first published 2016 by Pan Macmillan Australia
• ISBN 978-1-7435-805-9
• 339 pages
• WINNER ABIA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
  WINNER ABIA GENERAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
  WINNER INDIE BOOK AWARDS DEBUT FICTION 2017
  WINNER DAVITT AWARDS ADULT FICTION 2017
  WINNER DAVITT AWARDS READERS CHOICE 2017
  WINNER NED KELLY AWARD BEST FIRST FICTION 2017
• #1 Aaron Falk series

Synopsis (publisher) 

WHO REALLY KILLED THE HADLER FAMILY?

It hasn't rained in Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the farming community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are discovered shot to death on their property. Everyone assumes Luke Hadler committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son.

Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for the funerals and is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Because Falk and his childhood friend Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke's death threatens to unearth ...

My Take

I first read this novel 7 years ago. Jane Harper was a new voice on the Australian writing scene and her first novel had instant impact.

Aaron Falk, a Federal Police financial investigator from Melbourne, returns home for the funeral of his childhood friend Luke Hadler who is thought to have killed his wife and young son and then himself. Aaron intends to play a flying visit but agrees to look through the family finances to see if anything there prompted Luke's actions. He meets up with the local policeman and together they undertake an unofficial investigation. Feelings in the town are riding high and there is at least one person who does not want them to unearth the truth.

In the novel sections in italics reveal secrets from the past and Aaron remembers things that he has tried hard to forget. These sections also include narration from other characters.

I am re-reading this novel so that I can discuss it with my U3A Crime Reading Group. In this re-reading I think I have appreciated things that I didn't necessarily see before. The town is gradually being killed off by an ongoing drought, hence the title. This is a common scenario in recent Australian novels (just check some that I've recently reviewed) - I've made a list at the end of this post.

I would normally make a list of discussion questions but there are already plenty around for THE DRY. I have included a couple of batches below.

If you are new to recent Australian crime fiction you really couldn't do better than start here. Jane Harper is a writer to watch.

In our reading group we will be discussing some of those questions and then watching the film starring Eric Bana as Aaron Falk.

My rating: 5.0

My previous review

I have also read

• 4.7, THE DRY- Falk #1
  
• 5.0, FORCE OF NATURE- Falk #2
  
• 5.0, THE LOST MAN 
• 4.8, THE SURVIVORS
• 4.8, EXILES- Falk #3 
• 5.0, THE LOST MAN

Macmillan Reading Group questions

Another set of questions

• The novel has a strong sense of place, despite being set in a fictional town. What elements does Harper include to accomplish this? How do the bush, the rock tree, the river, etc. affect the story?
• Harper has said she is interested in communities where people have known each other—for better or for worse—their entire lives. How does　this affect personal relationships? What are the positives and negatives of a small community?
• Falk describes his group of friends as "teenage tight, where you believe your friends are soul mate and the bonds will last forever." (p. 13) And yet he later wonders why he and Luke were still friends (p. 185). Did the early bonds last? Were the bonds broken because of their personalities, because they grew apart, or because of the lies they told?
• How does the drought affect the town? The Hadlers? The reader?
• How did his father’s doubts affect Falk? How do loved one’s doubts affect the people they are close to? Do we see this in other relationships in The Dry?
• Luke was larger than life. What made people think he was capable of murder?
• The Dry is a book rife with secrets. What secrets do Luke, Jamie, Ellie, and Gretchen tell? How do those secrets affect their relationships? What do they tell us about the nature of truth?
• Are some secrets better off kept? What might have changed in The Dry if certain secrets had remained secret?　
• Do you see　archetypal heroes and villains in the characters of　The Dry? Are there "good" characters and "bad" characters? What were these characters’ motivations?　
• Jane Harper has worked as a journalist for 13 years. How did her personal background affect her telling of the story? Does her writing style make the details more or less believable?

Australian novels to check

• SCRUBLANDS, Chris Hammer
• DRY BONES, Margaret Mayhew 
• OUTBACK, Patricia Wolf 
• THE LOST MAN, Jane Harper 
• STONE TOWN, Margaret Hickey 
• THE TILT, Chris Hammer 
• DAY'S END, Garry Disher 
• CUTTER'S END, Margaret Hickey
  

Review: MALICIOUS INTENT, Kathryn Fox

• 
  first published 2004
  
• this edition published 2007 by Pan Macmillan Australia
• ISBN 978-0-330-42163-8
• 445 pages
• debut title
• #1 Dr Anya Crichton series
• author website: https://kathrynfox.com/malicious-intent-by-kathryn-fox/

Synopsis (author website) 

In Kathryn’s Own Words

“The title was inspired by the Dalai Lama, of all people!

I met him when I was sixteen and wondered what would happen if someone else with the same charisma, charm, intelligence and wit had malicious intent.

The story involves a manipulator who targets women with varying degrees of vulnerability.
In Italy, it was retitled L’ Incantatori, which means, ‘The Enchanter’.”

More about Malicious Intent

Dr Anya Crichton, a pathologist and forensic physician, finds work is sparse for the only female freelancer in the field. Between paying child support, a mortgage and struggling to get her business off the ground, Anya can’t yet afford to fight her ex-husband for custody of their three-year-old son, Ben.

After her expert evidence helps win a high-profile court case, Anya is asked by lawyer Dan Brody to look into the drug overdose of a young Lebanese girl. While investigating, Anya notices startling coincidences in a number of unrelated suicides she’s been asked to examine by friend and colleague, Detective Sergeant Kate Farrer. All the victims disappeared for a period of time, before committing suicide in bizarre circumstances. As Anya delves deeper, the pathological findings point to the frightening possibility that the deaths are not only linked, but part of a sinister plot. One in which Anya is unwillingly immersed…

My Take

My mini-review for MALICIOUS INTENT (rating 4.5)
Dr. Anya Crichton has recently struck out to work on her own as a freelance forensic pathologist. Work is a bit hard to find but she is gaining a reputation as a credible courtroom authority. She is not without friends in the police, the New South Wales State Forensic Institute, and among the criminal barristers. Something about the apparent suicide of Clare Matthews doesn't sit quite right: the fact that, a nun, she disappeared shortly before she was due to take her vows, that she suicided by jumping off the Gap, that she was 6 weeks pregnant, and that she had strange fibres in her lungs. And now another case with similarities crops up: Fatima Deab overdoses on heroine after being missing for some days and her lungs contain the same fibres. Debut publication by Australian author. It is obvious to the reader that Kathryn Fox has a lot to say, lots of issues that she wants to make us aware of, and sometimes this novel takes on a bit of a didactic tone. But the plotting is so good, the tension so well built that by the end I could forgive her anything! 

Business is slow for Anya Crichton, a freelance forensic physician and pathologist. But after her evidence helps to win a high-profile case, demand for her services grows. Perhaps now she can start building up her income to the point where she can afford to fight her ex-husband for custody of their three-year-old son.
When lawyer Dan Brody asks Anya to investigate the apparent accidental death of the teenaged daughter of a local Lebanese businessman, Anya comes across something unexpected. There are links between this death and those of a nun and a doctor. All appear to be suicides, but there are similarities which make Anya question this finding in all three cases.
As she probes deeper into the case, Anya struggles to find a motive for the deaths and, through her own brand of detective work, to find the evidence which will lead her to the killer. What she finds is as unexpected as it is shocking, leaving Anya fighting not just for her own safety, but also that of her colleague, Detective Sergeant Kate Farrer and of Anya's son, Ben.
An Australian author, but doesn't feel much like an Australian setting, although the place names are there. Doesn't feel like a first novel either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I am re-reading this novel for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction reading group. I think I originally read the novel soon after publication. Kathryn Fox was at that time a new voice on the Australian noir landscape. In Fact she was largely pioneering this style of crime fiction in Australia. Most of this style of fiction came from British and American authors. (Barbara Seranella, Deborah Crombie, Marcia Muller, Heather Graham, Stephen Booth, Laura Lippmann, Val McDermid, Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson, Jeffrey Deaver - to name a few)

I would like my group to understand in what ways Kathryn Fox is a pioneer.

I feel that with this novel Kathryn Fox had a lot that she wanted to say (as if she was speaking from her experience and her observations). There were topics such as domestic violence that were comfortable reading about (and still aren't).  This novel is very different from an Agatha Christie cozy.

We learn that domestic violence is not just physical violence.

Among the other topics that this novel touched on were the cultural differences shown in the various cases, the difficulties of being a single mother (who got custody and why), the importance of forensic evidence being documented and followed up from crime to crime, the importance of appropriate forensic funding, and of there being a place where records are centralised and indexed. She is also telling us that solving crimes is not just a matter of intuition but of training and experience.

Fox is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners with a special interest in forensic medicine. After 12 years, she ceased medical practice to concentrate on writing.

In 2005 her achievement with MALICIOUS INTENT was recognised by being shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing — Best First Novel and she was the 2005 winner of the Davitt Award for Crime Writing — Best Adult Novel

My rating: 4.6 

I've also read

BLOOD BORN
4.6, DEATH MASK
COLD GRAVE
4.8, FATAL IMPACT

Review: DIGGING UP DIRT, Pamela Hart

• 
  this edition published by HQ Fiction 2021
• made available by my local library
  
• #1 in the Poppy McGowan series
• ISBN 9-781867-201878
• 341 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Renovations are hell. And that's before you find the body beneath the floorboards. An intriguing mystery from a stylish new voice in crime fiction, for readers of Kerry Greenwood and Holly Throsby.

When your builder finds bones under the floor of your heritage home, what do you do? For TV researcher Poppy McGowan, the first step is to find out if the bones are human (which means calling in the cops and delaying her renovations) or animal (which doesn't).

Unfortunately, 'help' comes in the form of Dr Julieanne Weaver, archaeologist, political hopeful, and Poppy's old enemy. She declares the bones evidence of a rare breed of fat-tailed sheep, and slaps a heritage order on the site. The resultant archaeological dig introduces Poppy to Tol Lang, the best-looking archaeologist she's ever met - and also Julieanne's boyfriend.

When Julieanne is found murdered in Poppy's house, both she and the increasingly attractive Tol are considered suspects - and so Poppy uses her media contacts and news savvy to investigate other suspects. Did Julieanne have enemies in the right-wing Australian Family Party, for which she was seeking preselection, or in the affiliated Radiant Joy Church? Or at the Museum of New South Wales, among her rivals and ex-boyfriends? And who was her secret lover?

Can Poppy save herself, and Tol ... and finally get her house back?

My Take

I read this book out of order and so some things I came across in the second book in the series made a little more sense. The plot in this one is marginally better and more credible in this debut title.  The novels are set in Sydney and Poppy works as a researcher for the ABC Education section. In this debut title however she fills in as an interviewer. The style is more that of a cozy.

The focus of the novel is who has killed Dr Julieanne Weaver and the police have many suspects. The body is found in Poppy's house which has temporarily become an archaeological dig. The fact that Weaver has been trying for political pre-selection widens the array of suspects, but also makes looking outside the usual range of motives imperative.

My rating: 4.5

I've already read

4.5, AN A-LIST FOR DEATH #2 Poppy McGowan 

Review: THE SOULMATE, Sally Hepworth

• 
  This book made available as an e-book on Libby through my local library
  
• ISBN: 9781761263064
• ISBN-10: 1761263064
• Format: ePUB
• Language: English
• Published: 25th October 2022
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
• 336 pages
  

Synopsis (publisher)

Gabe is alone at the cliff's edge. His arms are outstretched, palms facing the empty air.

He said she jumped. He wouldn't lie.

Before the woman went over the cliff, Pippa and Gabe were happy. They had the kind of marriage that everyone envies, as well as two sweet young daughters, a supportive family, and a picturesque cliff-side home - which would have been idyllic had the tall beachside cliffs not become so popular among those wishing to end their lives.

Gabe has become somewhat of a local hero since they moved to the cliff house, talking seven people down from stepping off the edge. But when Gabe fails to save the eighth, a sordid web of secrets begins to unravel, pushing bonds of loyalty and love to the brink.

What wouldn't you do for your soulmate? 

My Take

Since he and Pippa have moved to their clifftop house on the Mornington Peninsula, Gabe has become a sort of Good Samaritan, persuading 7 people who've come there not to end their lives. Until the 8th one jumps. Or at least that's what Gabe says. Pippa is not so sure. What Gabe doesn't tell her, is that he knows this woman. 

There are two narrators: Pippa and Amanda, the woman who jumped. The dual narration provide between them a fascinating story. What seemed simple at first becomes a very complex plot with far stretching threads.

Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

• 4.5, THE MOTHER IN LAW
• 4.7, THE YOUNGER WIFE

Review: HERMIT, S.R. White

• 
  This edition made available from my local library
  
• Headline Publishing 2020
• ISBN 978-1-4722-6844-0
• 375 pages
• #1 in Dana Russo series

Synopsis (publisher) 

After a puzzling death in the wild bushlands of Australia, detective Dana Russo has just 12 hours to interrogate the prime suspect – a silent, inscrutable man found at the scene of the crime, who disappeared without trace 15 years earlier.

But where has he been? Why won’t he talk? And exactly how dangerous is he? Without conclusive evidence to prove his guilt, Dana faces a desperate race against time to persuade him to speak. But as each interview spirals with fevered intensity, Dana must reckon with her own traumatic past to reveal the shocking truth . . .

Compulsive, atmospheric and stunningly accomplished, HERMIT introduces a thrilling new voice in Australian crime fiction, perfect for fans of Jane Harper’s THE DRY and Chris Hammer’s SCRUBLANDS.

My Take

Three main mystery threads run through this novel. 

First of all how is it that "the hermit" has been "off the radar" for the last 15 years. Why did he become a hermit? How has he lived? 

Secondly, did he kill the person he was found standing over? Why? If he didn't, then who did?

Thirdly, why does Detective Dana Russo avoid contact with people on this day in particular? 

I have never quite met a detective like Dana Russo. Her main aim is to get to know the suspect, to get him to trust her, and to find out what has happened to him in the past. She interviews him in short bursts, on her own, although under observation by her boss and colleagues. She compiles questions that she wants her team to find the answers to, to give her ammunition for her questions to the suspect. She gets him to see her as his only friend, so eventually he will reveal his innermost secrets.

All the time though Dana is comparing their experiences. Asking him questions without revealing too much of what has happened to her in the past.

A fascinating novel, and a compelling read.

My Rating: 4.6

About the author
S. R. White’s debut novel, HERMIT, was a top ten bestseller in Australia and nominated for the Crime Writers’ Association award for the best crime novel by a first-time author. He now lives in Queensland, having worked for a UK police force for twelve years before taking an MA in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University.

Review: AN A-LIST FOR DEATH, Pamela Hart

• 
  this edition published 2022, made available by my local library
  
• published by HQ Fiction
• ISBN 978-1-8672-0189-2
• 353 pages
• Author website
• #2 in the Poppy McGowan series

Synopsis (author website)

Shooting for fame could end your career … and your life. A sparkling mystery from a stylish new voice in crime fiction, in a book that will delight fans of Richard Osman and Kerry Greenwood.

TV researcher Poppy McGowan has never sought the spotlight and is none too happy to be photographed with rock god Nathan Castle. When the photo pops up on celebrity gossip sites, it sparks a media feeding frenzy, forcing Poppy to go to ground, don a wig, and pull some nifty moves to escape a tailing car. And she cops abuse from Nathan’s outraged fans.

None of this would have happened if Poppy had not found Nathan’s mother Daisy, one-time glamour girl and elderly best friend of her Aunty Mary, bleeding and unconscious in her bathroom. The police dismiss the case as an accident, but Poppy is sure there are questions to be answered. Who attacked Daisy, and why? Will she come out of her coma? What secrets are her gathering family hiding? What happens to Daisy’s money if she dies?

When a murder occurs outside Daisy’s flat, the police step in at last. Unfortunately, they finger Poppy’s boyfriend, Tol, for the crime – after all, he had bad blood with the victim. As Daisy’s money-hungry family circle, amid hints of poisoning, bribery and blackmail, Poppy must find a way to clear Tol’s name and ensure Daisy’s safety.  

My Take

To me, this novel feels a cross between chick-lit, geezer-lit, and a cozy.

If none of those terms are familiar to you, then perhaps the closest is cozy, although there are a couple of nasty deaths and a couple of close calls.

The narrator is the heroine, Poppy McGowan herself, a youngish woman who works for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) on producing research material for children's programs. This role gets Poppy into Museums and other places which might be difficult to crack. So an Australian writer, using Australian settings.

The novel is tightly plotted although I found the main plot a little implausible. However the characters are strong and believable.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Pamela Hart is my married name and The Soldier’s Wife was my first book under that name, inspired by my grandfather’s service as an ANZAC at Gallipoli (see The Story behind The Soldier’s Wife). Since then, I’ve enjoyed working with other true stories set in and after WWI. Each book has given rise to the next, as I stumble over wonderful stories while doing the research for the current book. As Pamela Freeman, I’ve written children’s fiction, epic fantasy, crime fiction and children’s poetry. You can find out more about my other books here.

I became seriously interested in historical fiction when I wrote The Black Dress, a fictional account of the childhood of Mary MacKillop in the Australia of the 1840s-1860s.

I have a Doctor of Creative Arts in Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney, and I teach writing (face-to-face and online) at the Australian Writers’ Centre.

My writing started when I was a children’s scriptwriter for ABC Kids, which was where I began to write children’s stories. But then I found that I wanted to tell stories for adults, too, and particularly stories about women’s lives, loves, tears and joys.

I live in Sydney with my husband and son and many musical instruments. (I’m a drummer – or at least I’m learning to be one!)

I love to keep in touch with my readers, so follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!

Awards

    The Black Dress, NSW Premier’s History Prize, 2006
    Victor’s Challenge, Aurealis Award, 2009
    Ember and Ash, Aurealis Award, 2011
    Desert Lake, ASO Librarian’s Choice Award, 2017
    Shortlistings: NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, Romantic Book of the Year Australia (the Ruby), Romantic Book of the Year UK (the Rona), Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards, Koala Awards, Wilderness Society Environment Award, Speech Pathology Awards.

Review: SCRUBLANDS, Chris Hammer

• 
  This novel read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B079Z1VHZL
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen & Unwin (1 April 2019)
• 384 pages
• #1 in Martin Scarsden series
  

Synopsis (Amazon)

Winner of the 2019 CWA Dagger New Blood Award for Best First Crime Novel

In an isolated country town brought to its knees by endless drought, a charismatic and dedicated young priest calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners before being shot dead himself.

A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals about the priest and incidents leading up to the shooting don't fit with the accepted version of events his own newspaper reported in an award-winning investigation. Martin can't ignore his doubts, nor the urgings of some locals to unearth the real reason behind the priest's deadly rampage.

Just as Martin believes he is making headway, a shocking new development rocks the town, which becomes the biggest story in Australia. The media descends on Riversend and Martin is now the one in the spotlight. His reasons for investigating the shooting have suddenly become very personal.

Wrestling with his own demons, Martin finds himself risking everything to discover a truth that becomes darker and more complex with every twist. But there are powerful forces determined to stop him, and he has no idea how far they will go to make sure the town's secrets stay buried. 

Hammer published his debut novel Scrublands in August 2018. It shot straight to number one for four weeks and stayed on the bestseller lists for months. It has sold in excess of 80,000 copies.

Earning outstanding reviews in Australia and overseas, Scrublands—set in a dry, dusty outback town—has established Hammer’s place among an elite handful of Australian thriller writers, who have made ‘Aussie noir’ a publishing success here and internationally.

My Take

My earlier review: 4.7, SCRUBLANDS

I am re-reading this novel over 4 years after I originally read it in order to lead a discussion in my monthly U3A Crime Fiction group.

So what I have done is compose a list of discussion points based around the complex and interlaced plot lines we see in the novel.

1.  Martin Scarsden's career - what has happened to him in the past? (in the trunk of a car for 3 days). As a result he thinks his career as a journalist may be at an end.
   He recognises that instead of reporting events without involvement, he has become part of them. In what ways is this true?
2. Martin is sent to Riversend by his editor at Fairfax Press to write a piece about how the town has recovered from what happened there nearly a year ago. How/why does he get side-tracked?
3. The unsolved mystery - why did Byron Swift shoot 5 people outside the church, and then force the constable Robbie Haus-Jones into shooting him?
   - Byron Swift's background
   - the involvement of ASIO - money being sent out of the country to Dubai attracts attention (they don't realise where it is going, think maybe it is going to Jehadists) What is the thread here?
   
4. Harley Snouch - Mandy Blonde's story - did the rape happen?
5. Why did Mandy's mother tell her to put her affairs in order by the time she was 30?
6. The disappearance of the two female German backpackers a year before.
   The story took a backseat when the church massacre happened.
7. Codger Harris, ex bank manager. Why he has become a recluse.
8. Where is Harley Snouch getting the money to renovate Springfields?
9. The wealth coming into the town. Accepted by people as money that the priest is contributing. They don't want to know how it is being generated.
10. The bikies riding through the town. Who are they?
11. What happens at Scrublands? Shooting. Drug factory.
12. The role of fire - what is burnt?
13. Martin's relationship with Mandy.
14. Did you take any notice of the chapter titles? Are they significant?
15. The role of the drought - the heat - what is the significance of coming of the rain?
16.  The profile of the town. How would you sum it up?
17. The suicide of Herb Walker, the sergeant at Bellington.
18. The cutthroat nature of the media. The media feeding frenzy. Why is Martin dismissed by Fairfax?
19. The car crash of the two boys. The death of Allen Newkirk. Why is he a significant character?
20. How satisfied were you with the final explanation? Did everything come together for you? Why did Byron Swift crack? Whose fault was it?
21. Where there any factors/events in the novel that struck you that have not been covered in the pointers above? e.g. the connections between Byron Swift and Avery Foster (ex SAS) and the veteran living in Scrublands.
22. Riversend was once more prosperous than it is now. What signs are there of this prosperity? What blows has it been dealt? (effects of location, drought, changes in technology)
23. What does Chris Hammer do particularly well?
    

From Ten Questions to Chris Hammer

There was a lot going on in Scrublands, with several crimes and interwoven plot-lines.

The drought-ravaged setting played a large part in Scrublands. 

Reading Group Questions

From Together We Read discussion group

• Despite being set in a fictional town, Scrublands has a strong sense of place. What elements does Chris Hammer include to achieve this?
• What assumptions at the beginning of the novel did you think could not be true? Did any of the twists and turns surprise you?
• What did you think of the ending of the book? Were all your questions answered? 

My rating: 4.8

I've also read

• 4.7, SCRUBLANDS
• 4.4, SILVER
• 4.6, TREASURE & DIRT 
• 4.8, THE TILT 

Review: THE YOUNGER WIFE, Sally Hepworth

• 
  This edition made available by my local library as an e-book on Libby
  
• Published: 26th October 2021
• ISBN: 9781760784980
• Length: 336 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

The moment she laid eyes on Heather Wisher, Tully knew this woman was going to destroy their lives.

Tully and Rachel are murderous when they discover their father has a new girlfriend. The fact that Heather is half his age isn't even the most shocking part. Stephen is still married to their mother, who is in a care facility with end-stage Alzheimer's disease.

Heather knows she has an uphill battle to win Tully and Rachel over, while carrying the burden of the secrets of her past. But, as it turns out, they are all hiding something.

The announcement of Stephen and Heather's engagement threatens to set off a family implosion, with old wounds and dark secrets finally being forced to the surface.

A garage full of stolen goods. An old hot-water bottle, stuffed with cash. A blood-soaked wedding. And that's only the beginning . . . 

My Take

Every one in this family has secrets: in the case of the younger women, even the new fiance, burdens they have carried for years. And why does the wife with dementia, Pam, keep saying her husband is a terrible person?

This is a book that just gets you in. You want to know more. Everything surfaces under the stress of the impending divorce, engagement and marriage. 

Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

4.5, THE MOTHER IN LAW

Review: JUDGEMENT DAY, Mali Waugh

• 
  This edition available as an e-book from Amazon on Kindle
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BN9TW1SY
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Macmillan Australia (February 28, 2023)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 312 pages 

Synopsis (Amazon) 

Family law judge Kaye Bailey is found murdered in her chambers. Is this the work of a disgruntled complainant? Or an inside job by a jealous colleague? Or is there something even more insidious at the heart of this brutal act?

Detective Jillian Basset is just back from maternity leave, struggling with new motherhood as she tackles the biggest case of her career. As her work and home lives get messier and messier, though, something's going to give.

Exploring the murky underworld of the justice system and setting a cracking pace, Judgement Day is a gripping thriller from a fresh and compelling new Australian voice.

My Take

Here is a new Australian author to watch.

An Australian family law judge is murdered just hours after her colleagues are told that she will be the next Chief Justice of the Family Law Court. There is no lack of suspects, because Kaye Bailey was extremely outspoken.

It becomes her first case after maternity leave for Detective Jill Bassett. Jill thinks she will be happier returning to work, as she is certainly deeply uncomfortable with motherhood. She buries herself in the case, troubled by her relationship with the Acting Detective who has filled her shoes for the last six months. She would prefer to be working on her own, but things improve on the working front, at the same time as things at home go into a downward spiral.

This novel had me totally hooked.

My rating: 4.7

Author Information
Mali Waugh has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Monash University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne. She has previously worked in a library and a chocolate shop, and now works as a lawyer. This is her first novel.