Review: A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN, Sulari Gentil

• first published Pantera Press 2010
• ISBN 978-0-9807418-1-0
• 349 pages
• Source: my local library
• #1 in the Rowland Sinclair series

Synopsis (Pantera Press)

In Australia’s 1930s, the Sinclair name is respectable and influential, yet the youngest son Rowland - an artist - has a talent for scandal.
Even with the unemployed lining the streets, Rowland lives in a sheltered world... of wealth, culture & impeccable tailoring with the family fortune indulging his artistic passions & friends… a poet, a painter & a brazen sculptress.
Mounting political tensions fuelled by the Great Depression take Australia to the brink of revolution. Rowland Sinclair is indifferent to the politics… until a brutal murder exposes an extraordinary & treasonous conspiracy.

My take

As the 21st century rolls on, and events that made us in the 19th and 20th get further away, Australians are in desperate need of good story tellers whose fictions are firmly embedded in an authentically drawn past. Last year Geoff McGeachin did it for me with THE DIGGERS REST HOTEL set in an Australia recovering from World War II, and now comes Sulari Gentill's series featuring artist and gentleman Rowland Sinclair, set in the period leading up to that war.

A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN is #1 in the series, and now there are two more for me to track down, A DECLINE IN PROPHETS, and MILES OFF COURSE.

Gentill does a wonderful job of embedding her fictional protagonist Rowland Sinclair into authentic historical detail: Australia in the Great Depression; the Premier of New South Wales seeking to distract the people by building a great bridge across Sydney Harbour; and widely disparate political groups who want to roll time back to the 19th century, or to adopt Communism, or to install Fascism.

Coming from a wealthy landed family Rowly Sinclair is caught in a cleft stick between the old values and his friends who have joined the Reds. And then his uncle Rowland Sinclair is murdered and Rowly's quest to find the culprits takes him into the third group.

This was an excellent read: well constructed plot, vividly drawn characters, and reminders of the historical events that occupied Australia's "premier state" in the early 1930s.

My rating: 5.0

Other sites to check:

• Bernadette's review on Fair Dinkum Crime
• Fair Dinkum Crime interview with Sulari Gentill
• More comments on the Pantera Press site.
• The author's site

How Aussie are you?

Reaction to Reading had this meme running on Saturday last week
101 things that may indicate you are an Aussie

I've marked my 80 or so "accomplishments" in bold.

1. Heard a kookaburra in person. (we have them around here often)
   
2. Slept under the stars. (done quite a bit of camping in my time)
   
3. Seen a koala. (even held one)
4. Visited Melbourne. (an annual pilgrimage)
   
5. Watched a summer thunderstorm.
6. Worn a pair of thongs.
7. Been to Uluru (Ayers Rock)
8. Visited Cape York.
9. Held a snake (at the Snake Temple in KL)
10. Sang along with Khe San
11. Drank VB.
12. Visited Sydney.
13. Have seen a shark
14. Have used Aussie (and NZ) slang naturally in a conversation.
15. Had an actual conversation with an indigenous Australian (Aboriginal)
16. Eaten hot chips from the bag at the beach (I like them out of newspaper better)
    
17. Walked/climbed over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
18. Used an outside dunny, and checked under the seat before sitting down.
19. Seen Chloe in Young & Jackson’s (got an offer to visit her last time I was in Melbourne)
20. Slept on an overnight train or bus (slept in the luggage rack on the train to Kalgoorlie)
21. Been to Sydney’s Mardi Gras
22. Have gone bush-bashing
23. Taken a sickie
24. Been to see a game of Aussie Rules football. (often)
25. Have seen wild camels (both here and in the UAE)
26. Gone skinny dipping. (both outback and in Norway)
27. Done a Tim Tam Slam.
28. Ridden in a tram in Melbourne.
29. Been at an ANZAC day Dawn Service. (an annual thing)
    
30. Held a wombat.
31. Been on a roadtrip of 800km or more
32. Seen the Great Australian Bight in person.(from the sea on a cruise)
33. Had a really bad sunburn.
34. Visited an Aboriginal community.
35. Seen a redback spider
36. Have watched Paul Hogan.
37. Seen Blue Poles in person.
38. Wandered barefoot in the bush/outback.
39. Eaten Vegemite.
40. Thrown a boomerang
41. Seen the Kimberleys (from the air).
42. Given a hitch-hiker a lift.
43. Been to Perth.
44. Have tried Lemon, Lime and Bitters.
45. Tried playing a didgeridoo.
46. Seen dinosaur footprints.
47. Eaten Tim Tams.
48. Been to Darwin.
49. Touched a kangaroo.(easy to do at Cleland wild life park)
50. Visted the Great Barrier Reef.
51. Listened to Kevin Bloody Wilson.
52. Killed a Cane Toad. (ran over it)
53. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
54. Have read and own books by Australian authors
55. Visited Adelaide. (I live there)
56. Know the story behind “Eternity”
57. Been camping.
58. Visited Brisbane.
59. Been in an outback pub.
60. Know what the term “Waltzing Matilda” actually means.
61. Gone whale watching.
62. Listened to Slim Dusty.
63. Own five or more Australian movies or TV series.
64. Sang along to Down Under.
65. Have stopped specifically to look at an historic marker by the side of the road.
66. Eaten a 4′n’20 pie.
67. Surfed at Bondi.
68. Watched the cricket on Boxing Day.
69. Visited Hobart.
    
70. Eaten kangaroo.
71. Seen a quokka.
72. Visited Canberra.
73. Visited rainforests.
74. Used a Victa lawnmower.
75. Travelled on a tram in Adelaide.
76. Used a Hills hoist 
77. Visited Kata Tjuta
78. Used native Australian plants in cooking.
79. Visited the snow
80. Chosen a side in Holden VS Ford
81. Visited the desert.
82. Been water skiing - someone tried to teach me, hopeless case though
    
83. Read The Phantom.
84. Visited Parliament House
85. Gone spotlighting or pig-shooting.
86. Crossed the Nullarbor (on the train)
87. Avoided swimming in areas because of crocodiles.(in the NT)
88. Listened to AC/DC.
89. Called someone a dag.
90. Voted in a Federal Election.
91. Have been swimming and stayed between the flags.
92. Had a possum in your roof. (and invading our holiday cabin)
    
93. Visited the outback.
94. Travelled over corrugated roads.
95. Hit a kangaroo while driving
96. Been well outside any mobile phone coverage.
97. Seen an emu.
98. Have woken to the smell of bushfires.
99. Subscribed to RRR
100. Patted a pure-bred dingo
101. Seen the Oils live

Feel free to play along and if you need any translations let me know.

3 Acts of Murder coming to ABC TV

In 1928 Arthur Upfield, Australia’s premier crime writer, plotted the perfect murder for his novel THE SANDS OF WINDEE.

Meanwhile, one of his friends, stockman Snowy Rowles, put the scheme into deadly effect, even before the book was published. This true story resulted in one of Australia’s most sensational murder trials of the 1930’s and catapulted Upfield’s name onto the world stage.

The ABC are screening a 95 minute telemovie on June 14. Check the website.

Here is the first of 5 short Youtube snippets about the making of 3 Acts of Murder.




If that link doesn't work for you then try this.

Australian Made, Born, Bred, and Written

My friend Bernadette over at her newly created blog Reactions to Reading has reminded me of what hurdles we sometimes have to jump to locate a specific book in Australian crime fiction.

At yet we demonstrably have world-class writers, and a number of writers who are stretching the boundaries of crime fiction.
Bernadette recommends Aust crime fiction as a starting point because it lists several hundred Australian writers and almost all of them have written at least one mystery. As it happens, Aust crime fiction is one of the sites that I contribute reviews to as do Helen of It's Criminal, Sunnie on her Book Blog, and Sally who "lives" at Books and Musings from DownUnder.

If you want some starting points in my blog, click on the "Australian made" logo for links to all mentions of "Australian author" in my blog.
Earlier this year Karen Chisholm (of the Aust Crime Fiction weblog), Damien Gay (of Crime DownUnder) and Perry Middlemiss (of Matilda) produced Australian Crime Fiction Snapshots in which they interviewed 36 Australian crime fiction authors. They certainly made me aware of authors I had never even heard of, and it was refreshing to read interviews with those who were already favourites. Start with my final blog posting about the project, and it will lead you to the others.

At the beginning of July I hosted Carnival of Criminal Minds #18 and produced quite a comprehensive list for you to explore. Since then we've had the Davitt Awards, and the Ned Kelly Awards.

And then, if you'd really like to be part of a group that discusses Australian crime fiction, then you could join oz_mystery_readers, a Yahoo group that focusses on crime fiction available in Australia, and highlights Australian authors and books.

Children's Book Council of Australia shortlist

http://cbca.org.au/shortlist.htm
A friend's book is listed in the Eve Pownall shortlist - Peter Macinnis
See also the list of notable books: http://cbca.org.au/notables.htm

The awards will be announced at the beginning of Book week: Friday 15 August 2008

Older Readers Shortlist 2008

NOTE: Some of these books may be for mature readers

Author	Title	Publisher
FRENCH, Jackie	PHARAOH: THE BOY WHO CONQUERED THE NILE	Angus&Robertson (HarperCollins Australia)
HARTNETT, Sonya	THE GHOST’S CHILD	Viking (Penguin Group Australia)
HEFFERNAN, John	MARTY’S SHADOW	Omnibus Books (Scholastic Australia)
McDONALD, Meme	LOVE LIKE WATER	Allen & Unwin
METZENTHEN, David	BLACK WATER	Penguin Books (Penguin Group Australia)
NORRINGTON, Leonie	LEAVING BARRUMBI	Omnibus Books (Scholastic Australia)

Top

Younger Readers Shortlist 2008

Author	Title	Publisher
CLARK, Sherryl Illustrated by Elissa CHRISTIAN	SIXTH GRADE STYLE QUEEN (NOT!)	Puffin Books (Penguin Group Australia)
FRENCH, Jackie Illustrated by Bruce WHATLEY	THE SHAGGY GULLY TIMES	Angus & Robertson (HarperCollinsPublishers Australia)
HIRSCH, Odo	AMELIA DEE AND THE PEACOCK LAMP	Allen & Unwin
METZENTHEN, David Illustrated by Stephen AXELSEN	WINNING THE WORLD CUP	Puffin Books (Penguin Group Australia)
RODDA, Emily	THE KEY TO RONDO	Omnibus Books (Scholastic Australia)
WILKINSON, Carole	DRAGON MOON	Black Dog Books

Top

Early Childhood Shortlist 2008

Author	Title	Publisher
ALLEN, Pamela	SHHH! LITTLE MOUSE	Viking (Penguin Group Australia)
BLABEY, Aaron	PEARL BARLEY AND CHARLIE PARSLEY	Viking (Penguin Group Australia)
DUMBLETON, Mike Illustrated by Craig SMITH	CAT	Working Title Press
GRAHAM, Bob	THE TROUBLE WITH DOGS!	Walker Books
HURST, Elise	THE NIGHT GARDEN	ABC Books
WILD, Margaret Illustrated by Ann JAMES	LUCY GOOSEY	Little Hare Books

Top

Picture Book of the Year Shortlist 2008

NOTE: Some of these books may be for mature readers

Author	Title	Publisher
SPUDVILAS, Anne Text: Li CUNXIN	THE PEASANT PRINCE	Viking (Penguin Group Australia)
GREDER, Armin	THE ISLAND	Allen & Unwin
HUXLEY, Dee Text: Leonie NORRINGTON	YOU AND ME: OUR PLACE	Working Title Press
INGPEN, Robert Text: Liz LOFTHOUSE	ZIBA CAME ON A BOAT	Viking (Penguin Group Australia)
OTTLEY, Matt	REQUIEM FOR A BEAST	Lothian (Hachette Livre Australia)
THOMPSON, Colin and 13 other illustrators	DUST	ABC Books

Top

Eve Pownall Shortlist 2008

NOTE: Some of these books may be for mature readers

Author	Title	Publisher
CERMAK, Michael	AUSTRALIA'S DEADLY AND DANGEROUS ANIMALS	Steve Parish Publishing
COOKE, Kaz	GIRL STUFF: YOUR FULL-ON GUIDE TO THE TEEN YEARS	Viking (Penguin Group Australia)
MACINNIS, Peter	KOKODA TRACK: 101 DAYS	Black Dog Books
NORMAN, Mark	THE ANTARCTICA BOOK: LIVING IN THE FREEZER	Black Dog Books
WATTS, Frances Illustrated by David LEGGE	PARSLEY RABBIT’S BOOK ABOUT BOOKS	ABC Books
WILKINSON, Carole (editor) Illustrated by Dean JONES	NED KELLY’S JERILDERIE LETTER	Black Dog Books

Top

DEATH DELIGHTS, Gabrielle Lord

Does history repeat itself? Do patterns recur in families from one generation to the next? For forensic scientist Jack McCain, recently moved from Sydney to Canberra, it certainly seems to.

The disappearance of his daughter Jacinta two years ago after an argument with her mother seems to have a lot in common with the abduction of his little sister Rosie when he was a teenager.

As Jack becomes involved in the investigation of the grisly murders of two elderly paedophiles, the police at Kings Cross, Sydney, take an anonymous call from a woman who knows where Jacinta is. Jack blames ex-wife Genevieve for Jacinta leaving, and she him. A second anonymous call from the same woman claims that Jacinta is working in a brothel. Jack discovers both the murdered paedophiles had been released from gaol early, and yet another is due to be released within days. Will he also be in danger?

As the complexity of this novel escalates, with layer piled upon layer, you can't help wondering if Australian author Gabrielle Lord will manage to bring it all to a satisfactory resolution. I can report that she does, but you'll have to read it for yourself to find out how.

This is the first in the Jack McCain series, and regrettably I read them out of order. It is always a little disconcerting to know what happens in the second book in a series when you are reading the first, so take my advice, read DEATH DELIGHTS before you take on #2 DIRTY WEEKEND. DEATH DELIGHTS won the 2002 Ned Kelly Award for best novel.

My rating 4.7

Set in Australia

Just thought I'd bring some books set in Australia to your attention.

There is of course Adrian Hyland's DIAMOND DOVE, currently raising a storm in the US under the title of MOONLIGHT DOWNS.

Western Australian author Felicity Young has had two books published so far

A CERTAIN MALICE
Senior Sergeant Cam Fraser accepts an appointment to run the police station in a small country town in West Australia to get away from the trauma that he and his 15 year old daughter have experienced in the last 3 years. He was brought up in this town, but his expectations of a quiet life are shattered with the discovery of a charred body after a bushfire in the grounds of a local school. To complicate matters the police at the station are mainly young and inexperienced, apart from Vince against whom there have been many complaints by locals. And what are the school principal and her husband hiding? The story moves at a good pace and the plot is well woven. Young makes good use of the uniqueness of her Australian setting.
My rating 4.5

AN EASEFUL DEATH
Somebody is killing young women in Perth, Western Australia, and then, post-mortem, posing their painted bodies carefully in relatively public places. The first body is painted bronze, the second silver ... you get the picture. False clues are left stuck to the bodies, and each has AN EASEFUL DEATH written down one leg. This is the second novel by Felicity Young. It features D.S. Stevie Hooper newly seconded to the Serious Crime Squad in Perth. She is young, un-married with a young daughter, keen to do well, and working with a boss who is also a good friend. In this case Stevie is the liaison with the eminent profiler who is helping the squad with the case. Quotes from publications by the profiler appear as tag lines in each of the chapters (but I must confess, didn't always seem significant to me). The action of the book mainly seems to happen over a one week period and comes thick and fast. There are plenty of candidates offered for the serial killer and I must confess I punted for the wrong one! Felicity says her third book, HARUM SCARUM, also featuring Stevie Hooper, will be published in March 2008
My rating 4.6

One I really enjoyed was THE WHISPERING WALL by Patricia Carlon
60 year old Sarah Oatland has had a stroke and is laid out in her bed 'like a fish on a slab' having lost the ability to speak or move. And then the walls begin to talk. Sarah hears occupants of the house plan a murder and there is nothing she can do to tell anybody about it or to warn the victim. Or is there?… This is an ingenious story, an Australian classic that has weathered the test of time very well. The style is cosy, but there is also nail-biting tension.
My rating 4.8
Patricia carlon wrote her most popular books in the 1960s
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/patricia-carlon/

Another you could look for is MALICIOUS INTENT by Kathryn Fox
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 friendsin 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!
My rating 4.7
Kathryn Fox has 2 more books out now.
WITHOUT CONSENT
SKIN AND BONE
Her website is at http://www.kathrynfox.com/

Celebrating Australia Day

For those of you who don't live downunder, you may not be aware that January 26 is Australia Day.
It commemorates the date in 1788 that the British flag was hoisted at Botany Bay, roughly where Sydney grew to be.

If you need some Australian history, you can probably find what you want at http://www.australia.gov.au/Australian_History

For Australian "stories" try http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/stories/category.htm

If you want to see what your knowledge of Australia is like, try the self marking quizzes at one of my other places. There's an easy and a harder version with questions developed by a good friend.
Start at http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/kasmith/easy_oz_quiz.htm

But then if you want Book reviews etc. try http://www.austcrimefiction.org/node/31

Some blogs to follow:
Crime Down Under
Matilda There's a good list of other sites to visit in the right hand margin
Sally"s Musing DownUnder
Reading Adventures

And of course if you want to read and discuss Australian crime fiction there's oz_mystery_readers
While we discuss a range of books the members are mainly Australian, but don't let that put you off.

Do you need help with strine? See http://www.austcrimefiction.org/node/2603
Hear it spoken at http://www.convictcreations.com/culture/strine.htm
And even more words you can use: http://ozbird.com/oz/OzCulture/yarns/strine/default.htm

And what can you eat?
How about lamb chops or prawns on the barbie, vegemite, and pavlova?
Whatever you do, enjoy it!

Gabrielle Lord

In mid February, oz_mystery_readers is having a quarterly activity called Quiz an Author. Our guest next month will be Australian author Gabrielle Lord. I am to be the host of that event, and we spend the week with the author replying to a bunch of pre-prepared questions, and spontaneous questions from members. So far in this activity we've quizzed Brian Kavanagh, P.D. Martin, and Adrian Hyland. Quiz and Author begins on 17 February.

By early next month I hope to have read 3 of her novels, DEATH DELIGHTS (2002), DIRTY WEEKEND (2005), and SHATTERED (2007) and sent off some qeneral questions to Gabrielle. I've made a head start because I actually read SHATTERED last year, but I'll have to do a light skim-read to get the grey cells working again on it. I began DIRTY WEEKEND yesterday, and am enjoying it. DEATH DELIGHTS awaits on my bookshelf.

Gabrielle Lord's first novel WHIPPING BOY was published in 1998, which really isn't so long ago when you think about. There is a complete list of her books in date order at Australasian Crime Fiction.

13 titles in 10 years is no mean feat, and in that time she has collected 2 awards: The Ned Kelly Award for best novel in 2002 for DEATH DELIGHTS, and a Davitt Award in 2003 for the best Australian crime novel by an Australian woman in the previous year for BABY DID A BAD, BAD THING. Another interesting thing about Gabrielle is that she has written not only stand-alones, but also with a male protagonist, Jack McCain, and a female one, Gemma Lincoln. Another Australian author who has done something similar is Michael Robotham, but more of that another time.

If you'd like to find out more about Gabrielle Lord, check her website out at http://www.gabriellelord.com
Currently she is writing CONSPIRACY 365 - a 12 volume YA crime/thriller/mystery/series for Scholastic Publishing.

Gabrielle Lord will also be coming to Adelaide Writer's Week and I'm looking forward to hearing her speak there.

Writers Week - Adelaide

Adelaide Writers week occurs biennally as part of the Adelaide Festival of Arts. It basically an outside event held in city, in the Pioneer Women's Memorial Gardens, in 2 large outside tents and a book tent.

It is a wonderful event, mainly free. The only things that you need to pay for are 2 evenings, this year held in Adelaide Town Hall, usually with a panel of writers.

It is a wonderful week, and this year I am having the whole week off, 2-7 March, so will have plenty of chance to wallow in the discussions, readings and panels.

Among other writers there will be
Peter Carey/Aust
Thomas H Cook/USA
Ian McEwan/UK
Denise Mina/Scotland
Kirsty Gunn/Scotland
Gabrielle Lord
Geraldine Brooks
Marshall Browne
Peter Corris
Garry Disher
Dorothy Porter

See all the details at here

Adrian Hyland

Debut author Adrian Hyland topped the oz_mystery_readers 2007 best reads list with DIAMOND DOVE with 5 people recommending it. The group discussed it in September when Adrian was the group's guest on Quiz an Author, an event when an author is invited to be an online guest for a week, and questions and answers fly thick and fast. Fresh from being named the Ned Kelly best first fiction novel of the year winner at Melbourne Writers Festival, Adrian was frank and eloquent in his replies and has remained an active member of the list.
DIAMOND DOVE was given a rating of 5 by the members, a rare achievement in itself. The only other book to be given a rating of 5 was RAVEN BLACK by Ann Cleeves.

DIAMOND DOVE has been published in the US as MOONLIGHT DOWNS and will be discussed on another list I belong to, 4_Mystery_Addicts, at the beginning of March.

My review of DIAMOND DOVE:
Emily Tempest returns to Moonlight Downs, a scatter of corrugated iron hovels nine hours from Alice Springs out in the spinifex desert, 14 years after leaving to go to secondary school in Adelaide. The daughter of a local miner, Motor Jack, she is welcomed home by Lincoln Flinders, the head of the community. The Moonlight mob have only recently returned to their land themselves. The Moonlight mob are Emily's community by adoption - her mother was a Wantiya woman from the Gulf Country. Unmistakably aboriginal in appearance, Emily has not yet decided which world she belongs to - aboriginal or white. She meets up with Lincoln's daughter Hazel, her best friend in the past. The morning after Emily arrives, Lincoln is found dead, unmistakably murdered, and Emily finds it impossible to rest until she knows who killed him. Adrian Hyland's debut novel. Very polished writing and a feel of authenticity about the setting and customs. I came away feeling I had learnt quite a lot.

Peter Temple comes out tops

If you add the oz_mystery readers best reads for 2006 and 2007 together an interesting picture emerges
The top 5 are
BROKEN SHORE (THE), Peter Temple, 4+6
DIAMOND DOVE, Adrian Hyland, 5
DEVIL'S STAR (THE), Jo Nesbo, 3+2
RAVEN BLACK, Ann Cleeves, 1+3
ABOVE SUSPICION, Lynda La Plante, 4

Top by a long way is THE BROKEN SHORE with which Peter Temple has won the Ned Kelly award for Best Novel in 2006, and then the 2007 CWA Duncan Lawrie Award

oz_mystery_readers best for 2007

oz_mystery_readers follow the same practice as many online groups of asking members to submit their 10 or so best reads for the year. The results are than collated to give members books to look out for.

Here is the short list for 2007 of those that were mentioned more than once.
In all 112 titles were submitted by a dozen or so list members
The numbers after the authors names indicate the number of times the title occurred
*** indicate Australian authors

*** DIAMOND DOVE, Adrian Hyland, 5

ABOVE SUSPICION, Lynda La Plante, 4

*** BROKEN SHORE (THE), Peter Temple, 4

*** CROOK AS ROOKWOOD, Chris Nyst, 3

DEATH OF DALZIEL (THE), Reginald Hill, 3

DEVIL'S STAR (THE), Jo Nesbo, 3

*** BODY COUNT, P. D. Martin, 2

EXIT MUSIC, Ian Rankin, 2

HOUSE SITTER (THE), Peter Lovesey, 2

*** NIGHT FERRY (THE), Michael Robotham, 2

PRIEST, Ken Bruen, 2

REDBREAST (THE), Jo Nesbo, 2

SILENCE OF THE GRAVE, Arnaldur Indridason, 2

TIN ROOF BLOW DOWN (THE), James Lee Burke, 2

VOICES, Arnaldur Indridason, 2

WOODS (THE), Harlan Coben, 2

Some authors were mentioned more than once too
- more than one title that is

==============================

Alexander McCall Smith

Arnaldur Indridason

*** Brian Kavanagh

Colin Watson

Giles Blunt

Hakan Nesser

Harlan Coben

Karin Fossum

Ken Bruen

Louise Penny

Lynda La Plante

Peter Lovesey

*** Shane Maloney

Tess Gerritsen

Thomas H. Cook

Oz_Mystery History

oz_mystery_readers, an Australian group on Yahoo, turns 5 in about a month's time.
I created it in Feb 9, 2003
We have gained and lost members over that time, but the head count is now 114

We first began discussing books in December 2004
The first book we discussed was Ian Rankin's FLESHMARKET CLOSE.
7 people participated in the discussion, and we gave it a ranking of 4.7

At first we discussed books only every 2 months, but from June 2005 we began a monthly schedule

In the last 4 years we have discussed 44 books, with an average of 6.6 people joining in each discussion.
Once we got up to 13
15 of the books have been by Australian authors, and 9 of those have been in the last year.
The average rating is 4.25

We have given 2 ratings of 5
RAVEN BLACK by Ann Cleeves
DIAMOND DOVE by Adrian Hyland

Here are our top 10, with Australian authors marked ***
RAVEN BLACK, Ann Cleeves
***DIAMOND DOVE, Adrian Hyland
ABOVE SUSPICION, Lynda La Plante
FLESHMARKET CLOSE, Ian Rankin
SLEEPYHEAD, Mark Billingham
***THE BROKEN SHORE, Peter Temple
FLESH AND BLOOD, John Harvey
RED LEAVES, Thomas H Harris
***NO TRACE, Barry Maitland
THE DEVIL'S STAR, Jo Nesbo

Writers Festivals - Perth

Perth Writers Festival will be held 22-24 Feb
http://www.perthfestival.com.au/perthwritersfestival/

Seems a little light on crime/mystery writers but I found these in the "reading List":

• Douglas Kennedy, WOMAN IN THE FIFTH
• Shane Maloney, SUCKED IN
• Marion Halligan, MURDER ON THE APRICOT COAST
• Victoria Hammond, THE DEVIL AND MARIA D'AVALOS
• Christopher Koch, THE MEMORY ROOM
  

22 February, 2-3 pm, Shane Maloney and Marion Halligan discuss The Scene of the Crime
unfortunately set against a panel with Christopher Koch and others on Secrets and Lies

23 February, 12.30-1.30, Christopher Koch and others give readings from their latest novels.
2-3 pm, Douglas Kennedy is on a panel called Suspenseful Tales

24th February, 12.30-1.30, Victoria Hammond on a panel called Blurring the Lines

Now I haven't read any of those and I'm pleased to report that my local library network has them all in their catalogue (not that I need any more books to read)