Review: DAUGHTERS OF BATAVIA, Stefanie Koens

• 
  
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby supplied by my local library
  
  
  
• ISBN: 9781460766163
• ISBN-10: 1460766164
• Published: Harper Collins Publishers, AU, 29th July 2025
• Number of Pages: 384
• winner Banjo Prize for fiction
• Longlisted for Best Debut Fiction in the Indie Book Awards 2026 

Synopsis (publisher)

A woman searching for answers in her own life finds them - and much more - in the wreckage and haunting stories of the Batavia shipwreck. The powerfully moving historical debut from the winner of the Banjo Prize for Fiction. 

Two women. One shipwreck. And four centuries of secrets.

Shortly before Christmas in 2018, Tess McCarthy, a hard-working English teacher who never does anything out of the ordinary, flies to Western Australia's remote Abrolhos Islands. She is in search of answers - both to the infamous Batavia shipwreck and her personal family crises.

Amsterdam, 1628. Saskia, an orphaned young Dutchwoman, boards Batavia with relatives, bound for a new and potentially dangerous life in the East Indies - only for her world to first collide with Aris Jansz, the ship's reluctant under surgeon.

Tess, Saskia and Aris - their lives linked by secrets that span generations - carry the baggage of past losses and the uncertainty of their futures. And, in the most unlikely circumstances, they find qualities that echo through centuries: faith, acceptance, and love. 

My Take

The story of the wreck of the Batavia on Houtman's Abrolhos was told to me when I was quite young. I thoroughly enjoyed this re-telling with its dual time frames. We slipped easily between the present and 400 years ago. The characters in both were well presented and the stories were credible.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Stefanie Koens grew up in Perth, reading, writing and dreaming of stories. As a teenager she won prizes in the Mary Durack Young Writers Award, then studied English, History and Education at Notre Dame University. She loves bringing local history to life and capturing family stories.  

 

 

The counting game OR 10 most important questions

I'm basing this meme on those you can find at various blogs:

• The Game's Afoot
• Petrona
• Books Please
• Stuck in a Book

Ten questions

The book I’m currently reading:

Oh, this is easy. I've found that really I can only read one book at a time. I've recently got hooked on Sally Spencer books and so I'm currently reading THE DARK LADY which is #4 in the Inspector Woodend series. These books are very nearly cozies, police procedurals without a lot of blood and gore, and some acceptable mysteries. Very palatable without being too stunning or mind stretching.

The last book I finished:

I'm going to talk about a made-from-paper book here. It was another Sally Spencer. #1 in her Monika Paniatowski series, THE DEAD HAND OF HISTORY.
I didn't mention in my review how clever I think the cover is.


The next book I want to read:


This ought to be an easy one to answer but, you see, I've got so many to choose from and I can hear them all calling out to me.
But I've really been letting the side down with my Australian crime fiction reading and so I think it will be Garry Disher's WHISPERING DEATH. There's a Fair Dinkum Crime review by Bernadette here.

The last book I bought:

It is rather sad that I can't remember when I last bought a made-from-paper book. Yesterday I bought NEXT OF KIN by Danish (?) author Elsebeth Egholm for my Kindle.

The last book I was given:

Hakan Nesser's THE UNLUCKY LOTTERY arrived for review the other day. It looks great, but I think I've got a couple of earlier ones from the Inspector Van Veeteren series to read first. Where to get the time though? Looks great - blurb is intriguing.

The last book I borrowed from the library:

I borrow a lot of books from my local library which is part of a network of 7 public libraries that pool their resources. The most recent book was AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Agatha Christie.

The most recent e-book I read was 13, RUE THERESE by Elena Mauli Shapiro

Through her main character, an American researcher visiting Paris, the author pieces together the life story of a woman who left behind a box of momentoes. Not crime fiction, but a mystery nonetheless.


The last translated book I read:

was OUTRAGE by Arnaldur Indridason
I didn't feel OUTRAGE had the flair of earlier novels in the series, but is nevertheless still a very acceptable police procedural. It does also explore a number of contemporary issues: the pain that occurs when children leave home, the growing urbanisation of Iceland and the social dislocation that can occur, and how life in Iceland has changed in the last part of the twentieth century.

The book at the top of my Christmas list:

I think I'd like my own made-from-paper copy of AGATHA CHRISTIE'S SECRET NOTEBOOKS by John Curran. I borrowed it from the library recently and thought I might read it through, but it more a book you dip into. It is full of fascinating stuff but resembles delving into an encyclopaedia.

The so-far unpublished book are I'm most looking forward to reading:

I don't want to be a disappointment here but I'm quite happy to wait until I hear that something has been published and don't much follow "what's next".

My top crime fiction reads so far for 2011

It would be nice to say this is my "top 10" or "top 15" or top "20", but numbers don't always work out so simply do they?

I do try, as I record my ratings, to put the books in a sort of ranked list but the truth is that these are all good reads, some just a little better than others.
They are, pretty well, all fairly recently published books except for THE MAN WHO WENT UP IN SMOKE.
But they also include quite a number of translated books and there's a mixture of Canadian, English, American, and Australian authors. There are police procedurals, amateur sleuths, and a couple with historical settings.
What I'm finding don't rate so highly with me at present are the cozies. They do come high in the next batch though. See all I've read this year at 2011 Reviews
There really are few duds amongst the lot.

How many of the list below have you read?

5.0, BURY YOUR DEAD, Louise Penny
5.0, A THOUSAND CUTS, Simon Lelic 
5.0, THE RULE BOOK, Rob Kitchin
4.9, THE BRUTAL TELLING, Louise Penny
4.9, BAD INTENTIONS, Karin Fossum
4.8, COLD JUSTICE, Katherine Howell
4.8, CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER, Tom Franklin
4.8, BOUND, Vanda Symon
4.8, THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE, Alan Bradley
4.7, DYING GASP, Leighton Gage 
4.7, PRIME CUT, Alan Carter 
4.7, WYATT, Garry Disher 
4.7, THE MAN WHO WENT UP IN SMOKE, Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo
4.7, WHERE MEMORIES LIE, Deborah Crombie
4.6, RELICS OF THE DEAD, Ariana Franklin  
4.6, STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG, Kate Atkinson 
4.6, THREE SECONDS, Roslund & Hellstrom
4.6, SARAH'S KEY, Tatiana de Rosnay
4.6, THE JANUS STONE, Elly Griffiths

Why do you read crime fiction?

Last week, when I ran the post When did you begin to read crime fiction? at least one commenter suggested a follow up post should ask why.

So here it is.

Now I'm a naturally squeamish person and blood, in the flesh so to speak, puts me right off.
I can't hold the cat's paw at the vet's, let alone deal with grazed knees, deep cuts (or even shallow ones) etc. And graphic TV programmes such as Silent Witness have me hiding my eyes at the worst bits.

So why does crime fiction have such a hold on me? Here are a few thoughts.

• I love puzzles
• I believe that events in the present often have causes in the past
• I can escape into a world that I won't ever inhabit, or hopefully have to deal with in real life
• There is such variety in the genre that I never get bored
• I have discovered some really great authors

OK - I'm not going to do all the work - over to you! Why do you read crime fiction?

Review: MAIGRET & the MAN on the BOULEVARD, Georges Simenon

Originally published in 1953 as Maigret et l'homme du banc
English titles:
Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard
Maigret and the Man on the Bench
The Man on the Boulevard 
This edition, DALES Large Print Books, 2002
ISBN 1-84262-096-7
263 pages

Product description (Amazon)
Simenon's tenacious detective pieces together the life of a man who for three years lived a secret life-until he is found stabbed to death in an alleyway.

My take:

The concept of a murder victim having a secret life that his family knew nothing of is one that plenty of writers since Simenon have explored. But once Louis Thouret's wife states that her dead husband is wearing shoes and a tie that she has never seen, and then Maigret discovers that the firm that he supposedly works for has been out of business for three years, then there are other questions that Maigret absolutely must have answers to. What does Louis Thouret do during the day? Where does he keep the clothes he wears during the day, because he certainly doesn't leave home in them in the morning. Does he have another job? Where is his income coming from? Why was he in the dead-end alley where he was murdered? And finally - who murdered Louis Thouret and why?

By today's standards MAIGRET & the MAN on the BOULEVARD is a relatively short novel, and thus a quick read. Maigret is chafing a bit at the idea that as the Chief he should be giving the orders, and planning the investigation, rather than doing the spade work which he loves to do.

MAIGRET & the MAN on the BOULEVARD comes roughly in the middle of Simenon's publishing career, and for me epitomised what he was well known for - an economy of style, at the same time as masterful written dialogue.

It didn't feel dated either. My rating: 4.4

Other reviews:
Books to the Ceiling

I'll be using MAIGRET & the MAN on the BOULEVARD in the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge and other challenges.

Review: AN UNHALLOWED GRAVE, Kate Ellis

First published in Great Britain by Judy Piatkus (Publishers) Ltd., 1999
ISBN 0-7505-1627-5
395 pages (large print)
source: my local library

#3 in the Wesley Petersen series.

When the body of a middle-aged woman is found hanging from a yew tree in Stokeworthy churchyard, the police suspect foul play.  But the victim is an unlikely one.   Pauline Brent was the local doctor's receptionist and well-liked.  She seems to have had no real enemies.  And yet someone killed her.
The case is investigated by Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson, his boss, Inspector Gerry Heffernan, and archaeologist Neil Watson, who is excavating on the site of a proposed holiday development nearby when he discovers an ancient corpse. 
Local legend has it that many centuries ago a young woman was hanged from the yew in the churchyard.  Has Neil discovered her body buried at the crossroads in an unhallowed grave?  Why was she hanged?  And why is she sharing her last resting place with a set of rare medieval statues? It seems an unlikely coincidence - two women hanged from the same tree many centuries apart. 
Wesley is forced to consider the possibility that the killer also knows the tree's history.  Has Pauline Brent been "executed" rather than murdered?   And if so, for what crime?

I have read another book from this series and remember thinking at the time that I should read more. I enjoyed my re-acquaintance with amateur archaeologist Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson and those he works with. The relationships between characters are well explored and there is a historical thread running throughout.

My rating 4.4

mini-review of THE FUNERAL BOAT - my rating 4.5
The Tradmouth area of Devonshire is the location this Kate Ellis’ police procedural in which Wesley Peterson, a young black detective plays a prominent role. Wesley and his superior, Inspector Gerry Heffernan, had both chosen a rural setting in which to pursue their law enforcement careers, thinking criminal activity would be considerably less than in London. However, of late, things are anything but peaceful on their turf. A rash of burglaries targeting isolated farms in the district, the disappearance of a young Danish tourist, and the discovery of a skeleton who had met his death apparently violently are keeping Heffernan and his staff busy round the clock.

Wesley Peterson series (courtesy Fantastic Fiction)
1. The Merchant's House (1998)
2. The Armada Boy (1999)
3. An Unhallowed Grave (1999)
4. The Funeral Boat (2000)
5. The Bone Garden (2001)
6. A Painted Doom (2002)
7. The Skeleton Room (2003)
8. The Plague Maiden (2004)
9. A Cursed Inheritance (2005)
10. The Marriage Hearse (2006)
11. The Shining Skull (2007)
12. The Blood Pit (2008)
13. A Perfect Death (2009)
14. The Flesh Tailor (2010)
15. The Jackal Man (2011)

Review: A CANTERBURY CRIME, Brian Kavanagh

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 386 KB
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: BeWrite Books (October 19, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00480ODQU
• Published by BeWrite Books 2010 ISBN 978-1-906609-42-9
• source: I bought it.

This novel begins with a brief background to the history of Canterbury and in particular to the murder of its Archbishop in the Cathedral just after Christmas in 1170.

Antiques dealer Hazel Whitby and her Australian companion Belinda Lawrence have been asked to catalogue and value the contents of a deceased estate, the Manor House. It is just a few days to Christmas and Hazel and Belinda will be spending Christmas in Canterbury.

Professor de Gray died nearly six months earlier, supposedly from a heart attack. But Hazel and Belinda hear stories of there having been "blood on his head" and the Professor's body was cremated with almost indecent haste, the day after his death.

They have been commissioned by Miss Mowbray (who reminds Belinda of a modern Mrs Danvers) to evaluate the contents of the Manor House, which turns out to be a virtual Aladdin's Cave. Shortly after they begin work, Miss Mowbray goes up to London, and there meets with an accident.

As with the other 3 titles in this series, I enjoyed the historical background that Kavanagh uses to give depth to the story. Belinda's romance with the handsome Mark (who appeared in #2) and her partnership with Hazel provide continuity from one novel to the next. (If oyu are new to the series, I strongly suggest you read them in order). Like its predecessors A CANTERBURY CRIME is a pleasant whodunnit in the true cozy tradition.

There is a growing sub-genre of mystery crime fiction known as "geezer lit" (the term is not mine). Some of them are mysteries in which "old geezers" are the principal characters, usually as amateur sleuths. Mike Befeler's RETIREMENT HOMES ARE MURDER and LIVING WITH YOUR KIDS IS MURDER are good examples of these.

There is though another side to "geezer lit" mysteries where the writer could (kindly) be said to be an "old geezer" - and surely Brian Kavanagh could lay claim to this status. Again, hoping Brian is not offended here, there are books where the main audience will be "old geezers" who love their reading.
A CANTERBURY CRIME will appeal to this audience. It is a cozy that is strongly part of the tradition. It will also appeal to those who on their travels have been to Canterbury and to the Cathedral in particular, and who enjoyed this taste of English history.

A CANTERBURY CRIME is a light enjoyable read, with a murder investigation by a couple of likeable amateur sleuths.

My rating 4.3

My reviews of earlier titles.

Review: BAIT, Nick Brownlee

Published 2009
Source: bought by me and read on my Kindle

Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books, July 2009
ISBN: 978-0-312-55021-9, ISBN10: 0-312-55021-9,

Publisher's blurb:
Ex-Scotland Yard cop Jake Moore’s career was cut short by a bullet; ten years later, he runs a game fishing business that is about to go broke. But old habits die hard, and when cerebral Mombasa detective Daniel Jouma—seemingly the only good policeman in a city where corruption is king—asks for his help in solving a baffling murder case, the two men find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy involving local hoodlums, murderous ex-pats, and a mysterious and psychopathic kingpin who presides over a sickening trade in innocent human life.

I picked up BAIT because I needed a crime fiction novel set in Africa for my 20th title in the 2010 Global Reading Challenge. And it fitted my requirements very well.  I must admit until I read BAIT my idea of where Kenya was was very hazy indeed. (I didn't even realise it had a coastline!)

In Jake Moore, ex Scotland Yard Flying Squad, and Daniel Jouma, Nick Brownlee has created a very attractive duo. The main story is told at a cracking pace and for the most part quite believable. There were a couple of bits that were a bit predictable, but very readable.

My rating: 4.3

Nick Brownlee was a published non-fiction author with numerous titles to his name by the time BAIT was published.
SeriesJake and Jouma
1. Bait (2008)
2. Burn (2009)
     aka Blood and Fire
3. Machete (2010)
4. Snakepit (2010)

Interview with Chris High

Review: THE BLOOD DETECTIVE, Dan Waddell

Michael Joseph (Penguin) 2007
ISBN 978-0-7181-5416-5
291 pages
Source: borrowed from my library

Publisher's blurb
When the naked, mutilated body of a man is found in a Notting Hill graveyard and the police investigation led by Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster and his colleague Detective Superintendent Heather Jenkins yields few results, a closer look at the corpse reveals that what looked at first glance like superficial knife wounds on the victim's chest is actually a string of carved letters and numbers, an index number referring to a file in city archives containing birth and death certificates and marriage licenses. Family historian Nigel Barnes is put on the case. As one after another victim is found in various locations all over London, each with a different mutilation but the same index number carved into their skin, Barnes and the police work frantically to figure out how the corresponding files are connected. With no clues to be found in the present, Barnes must now search the archives of the past to solve the mystery behind a string of 100-year-old murders. Only then will it be possible to stop the present series of gruesome killings, but will they be able to do so before the killer ensnares his next victim? Barnes, Foster, and Jenkins enter a race against time - and before the end of the investigation, one of them will get much too close for comfort.

THE BLOOD DETECTIVE was Dan Waddell's debut crime fiction novel although he is an established non-fiction writer. I found it an interesting and engaging read that moved at a good solid pace. A genealogist is an unusual person to be part of a detective trio, particularly when the other two are police officers.
The story line appealed to that part of my psyche that likes history. In the main we follow genealogist Nigel Barnes as he works out the links between the past and the present. Both he and the police are working against a 100 year old time line, tracking incidents in a London whose topography has changed greatly in a century that has seen the growth of the Underground, the bombing in World War II, and the demolition of old houses for the building of motorways and high rise housing.

I thought that in particular, for a debut novel, THE BLOOD DETECTIVE, was written with great assurance. On the cover Reginald Hill recommends the novel with "Elegant writing, engaging characters, a cracking climax", and he's right.  Recommendations on the back cover from Val McDermid and Kate Moss comment on what an original and intriguing story this is. Again they are right.
Never mind that I had worked out what the climax was about 30 pages before it happened. It was still a great read.

My rating: 4.5

Like Bernadette at Reactions to Reading, I read this for our face to face discussion group on the coming weekend. 
THE BLOOD DETECTIVE was nominated for Macavity Awards First Novel nominee (2009).
It was also shortlisted for the 2009 CWA New Blood Dagger.

My library has the sequel, BLOOD ATONEMENT, that apparently sees a continuation of the partnership. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Dan Waddell has a website
There is a pdf extract of THE BLOOD DETECTIVE  here, or else you can read the same extract on Amazon, where it is also available for Kindle.

Review: THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST BRITISH CRIME 2010, edited by Maxim Jakubowski

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 839 KB
• Print Length: 544 pages
• Publisher: Robinson (April 29, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

Product Description

The must-have annual anthology for every crime fiction fan - the year's top new British short stories selected by leading crime critic Maxim Jakubowski.This great annual covers the full range of mystery fiction, from noir and hardboiled crime to ingenious puzzles and amateur sleuthing. Packed with top names like Colin Dexter, Christopher Fowler, Alexander McCall Smith, Robert Barnard, Peter James, Natasha Cooper, Sophie Hannah, and many more.


This looks like a who's who of  British crime fiction - a real treat. I have read full books by most of these authors, and for the most part enjoyed re-acquaintance through these tasters.


I've included a full list of the 38 stories at the bottom of the page.
From my point of view the ones I enjoyed most were

• finding out why Morse didn't get his degree: MR E. MORSE, BA OXON (FAILED),Colin Dexter
• an Australian one: THE BLOOD PEARL, Barry Maitland
• THE RAT IN THE ATTIC BY Brian McGilloway was quite clever
• A BLOW ON THE HEAD by Peter Lovesey was up to expectations, as was
• WALKING THE DOG by Peter Robinson
• ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE, Alexander McCall Smith
• 12 BOLINBROKE AVENUE, Peter James
• FUNERAL WEATHER, Kate Ellis

I didn't much enjoy ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT ALREADY by Tony Black although it did have an unexpected ending which redeemed it a little. I struggled with HOGMANAY HOMICIDE by Edward Marston both in terms of length (it made me impatient for it to finish) and because I don't think it would have had any context for me if I hadn't read Martin Edwards' DANCING FOR THE HANGMAN earlier this year.

Overall, there was the usual problem you have with a collection of short stories: some are excellent, while others just didn't seem worthy of the space.  It is quite a long book.

My rating: 4.3
List of stories
MR E. MORSE, BA OXON (FAILED),Colin Dexter
GHOSTS,John Harvey
THE BLOOD PEARL, Barry Maitland
THE COMMON ENEMY, Natasha Cooper
BLOODSPORT, Tom Cain
THE RAT IN THE ATTIC, Brian McGilloway
ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT ALREADY, Tony Black
HOGMANAY HOMICIDE, Edward Marston
FRUITS, Steve Mosby
A PLACE FOR VIOLENCE, Kevin Wignall
FOUR HUNDRED RABBITS,Simon Levack
HISTORY!,Toby Litt
THE MASQUERADE,Sarah Rayne
TAKE DEATH EASY, Peter Turnbull
THE PARSON AND THE HIGHWAYMAN, Judith Cutler
SPECIAL DELIVERY, Adrian Magson
A BLOW ON THE HEAD, Peter Lovesey
CHICAGO, Jon Courtenay Grimwood
THE HOUSE THAT GOT SHOT, Barbara Nadel
THE OCTOPUS NEST, Sophie Hannah
WALKING THE DOG, Peter Robinson
THE VELOCITY OF BLAME, Christopher Fowler
SOMEONE TAKE THESE DREAMS AWAY, Marc Werner
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE, Alexander McCall Smith
12 BOLINBROKE AVENUE, Peter James
APPETITE FOR MURDER, Simon R. Green
THE OTHER HALF, Mick Herron
SWORD LILIES, Sally Spedding
LOVE HURTS, Bill Kirton
FUNERAL WEATHER, Kate Ellis
A YEAR TO REMEMBER, Robert Barnard
TIME OF THE GREEN,Ken Bruen
VIVISECTION, Bernie Crosthwaite
STAR’S JAR, Kate Horsley
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A VICTIMLESS CRIME, Paul Johnston
AND HERE’S THE NEXT CLUE . . ., Amy Myers
FRECKLES, Allan Guthrie
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, Val McDermid

Read on my Kindle

So far this year I have read 106 books, with approximately 1 in 4 read on my Kindle, which I must confess goes almost everywhere with me. Sadly there are only 3 Australian books on the list. Hopefully the balance will eventually get better.
Here they are (I've included my ratings)
They are all linked to the reviews I've written.

Belinda    Bauer    BLACKLANDS     5
Chester D.    Campbell    THE MARATHON MURDERS     4.1
Agatha    Christie    THE LABOURS OF HERCULES     4.3
William    Dietrich    DARK WINTER     4.2
Barbara    Fister    ON EDGE     4.5
Leighton    Gage    THE BLOOD OF THE WICKED     4.9
Tess    Gerritsen    THE SURGEON     4.7
Heather    Graham    GHOST SHADOW     4.2
Kerry    Greenwood    FORBIDDEN FRUIT    4.3
Kerry    Greenwood    DEAD MAN'S CHEST     4.3
Noel    Hynd    MIDNIGHT IN MADRID    3.8
Brian    Kavanagh    BLOODY HAM     4.2
Stephen    King    UR    4.3
Henning    Mankell    THE MAN FROM BEIJING    5
Peter    May    FREEZE FRAME     4.6
Peter    May VIRTUALLY DEAD    4.2
Peter    May    THE RUNNER    4.6
Alexander    McCall Smith    THE DOUBLE COMFORT SAFARI CLUB     4.3
Rick    Mofina    THE PANIC ZONE    4.8
Jacob    Ritari    TAROKO GORGE    4
Luis Miguel    Rocha    THE LAST POPE    4.3
Santiago    Roncagliolo    RED APRIL     4.6
Maria    Schneider    EXECUTIVE RETENTION     4.2
Jon    Talton    DEADLINE MAN    4.4
Joseph    Teller    OVERKILL     4.4

Review: NECESSARY AS BLOOD, Deborah Crombie

published William Morrow, 2009
ISBN 978-0-06-128753-4
378 pages
borrowed from my library

#13 in the Duncan Kincaid / Gemma James series.

Publisher's Blurb

Now the hippest neighborhood in London; historic Brick Lane in the East End is known as much for its delicious curries as its vintage clothing boutiques, its fashion designers, and its avant-garde artistic community.

But as always with revitalization and influx of wealth, there comes a clash of cultures, and the dark side of change. Artist Sandra Gilles has made a name for herself and a secure place for her mixed-race family in this vibrant community. But then Sandra disappears without a trace, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, and her shocked and grieving husband is the prime suspect. When he vanishes as well, lives are shattered, bringing Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid into an examination of the terrible and irreparable consequences of greed and temptation--and into a case that will change their own family forever.

The action in NECESSARY AS BLOOD plays out against a very rich background that includes not just the disappearance of a young mother, and then the death of her husband three months later, but also the ongoing stories in the lives of Scotland Yard detectives Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid, their families and friends, as well as those they work with.

Blended in with those stories are the changes happening in one of London's oldest communities, where old buildings are being refurbished and repurposed, new families move in, right alongside those who have little.

Very readable, but I find it hard to assess how much my enjoyment was dependent on having known some of the back story from an earlier novel (#11) WATER LIKE A STONE reviewed some time ago. See my mini- reviews below. You'll see that NECESSARY AS BLOOD is actually the 5th title that I've read in this 13 title series, so I guess in some ways that speaks for itself. I have decided that I need to track down #12.

My rating: 4.6

In the edition of NECESSARY AS BLOOD a detailed map was provided as part of the end papers. It showed quite clearly the confined locale in which the action takes place.

NECESSARY AS BLOOD nominated for Macavity Best Novel 2010
Deborah Crombie's website
Read the first chapter online

Mini-reviews

A FINER END, #7, my rating 4.3
Jack Montfort is an architect living in Glastonbury, England. He has struck up a friendship with Winnie Catesby, the vicar of an outlying church. Jack has become a conduit for ""automated writing"" - someone, a dead priest called Edmund, is using Jack to convey to the present a story from the past to do with the Abbey at Glastonbury.  It is not the first example of automated writing linked to the old Abbey. It happened to a 19th century historian too and he was totally discredited. But now those associated with Jack are in danger. Winnie is struck by a car and lies in hospital in a coma. Jack doesn't believe it was an accident and contacts his cousin Scotland Yard's Duncan Kincaid. Duncan and his partner Gemma James decide to spend a few days in Glastonbury and the action accelerates. I wasn't prepared for the woo-woo nature of the first part of this book but really enjoyed it after Kincaid and James make their appearance. The presentation of Glastonbury as a gateway to the next world and a portal to old religions is also interesting. This is #7 in the series.

NOW MAY YOU WEEP, #9, my rating 4.4
DI Inspector Gemma James is taking a trip to the Highlands with her friend Hazel. The purpose is a relaxing weekend at a Scottish B& B that offers cooking classes. The trip is not what Gemma thinks it is. Hazel says that it is to give Gemma a rest, but Hazel has another agenda: to meet up with Donald brodie, a lover whom she nearly married over a decade ago, and the manager of a whisky distillery. This is another book that has two stories told in parallel. There is one in italics that is placed in Carnmore, November 1898 and the present day one involving the current generation of the same family,  Hazel's family, the Urqharts. This is the 9th in Kincaid & James series and the book explores the relationships in Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid's personal life as well as unravelling the mystery revealed by the murder of Donald Brodie, finally uncovering a secret hidden for over a century.

IN A DARK HOUSE, #10, my rating 4.8
An abandoned warehouse burns next door to a women's shelter for victims of spousal abuse, an apparent case of arson. But it is the charred corpse within -- a female body burned beyond all recognition -- combined with the political sensitivity of the case, that entangles Superintendent Duncan Kincaid in its twisted skein.
At the same time, Kincaid's lover and former partner, Gemma James, is coping with twin crises of her own, one personal and the other professional. Gemma must put her private concerns aside to investigate the disappearance of a hospital administrator, a beautiful, emotionally fragile young woman who vanished without a trace. Yet neither Gemma nor Kincaid realizes how closely their cases are connected -- or how important the resolutions will be for a young child who was a victim of parental abduction.
In an old, dark, rambling house, nine-year-old Harriet worries about her feuding mum and dad, her friends, her schoolwork. Most of all, she worries about the strange woman who is her only companion in this scary, unfamiliar place. The events that led her there happened too quickly and are too complicated for a child to fully comprehend. But despite her youth and innocence, Harriet's awful fears will not be silenced: that she may never see her parents again ... and that her own life is in serious peril.
I liked the way you get an in depth view of characters other than Kincaid and James - Rose the firefighter, Kincaid's sergeant Cullen, the locum priest Winnie, Fanny the young Asian woman fighting a debilitating disease. Lots of lovely strands all meshed together in  a plausible yarn.

Crime Fiction takes you travelling - update October

I was reminded yesterday that it is 3 months since I updated my "countries visited" map.
In reality not a lot has changed in 3 months despite reading 36 books

Here is the map so far this year



Here is the map for the first half of the year - you've got to look very carefully to see the differences :-)



create your own visited country map

Review: BLACKLANDS, Belinda Bauer

WINNER of Gold CWA Dagger 2010

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 493 KB
• Print Length: 352 pages
• Publisher: Transworld Digital (January 22, 2010)
• I bought this one myself.

In Steven Lamb's house where he lives with his gran, his mother, his little brother, and a succession of "uncles", there is a room that has been a shrine for nineteen years. It is his Uncle Billy's room. Steven is 12 years old and his Uncle Billy disappeared on a trip to the corner shop when he was just a little younger than Steven. 

For three years Steven has been digging on the moor behind his house. The authorities had assumed that Billy had been killed by paedophile Arnold Avery, but Billy's body was never found, while a number of Avery's other victims were. Avery was charged with six counts of murder, but not Billy's. However Steven is convinced that he will be lifting a burden from his gran if he can find Billy's body.

Steven decides to write to Avery, now serving a life sentence in Longmoor prison, to see if he can learn where Billy is buried. When Avery replies to Steven's letter, the game subtly changes.

It is not often that the suspense in a book literally gets to me, but BLACKLANDS almost gave me palpitations at the end. I really can't reveal any more, other than to highly recommend this debut novel.

I had resolved to be very parsimonius in meting out any more perfect scores this year, but BLACKLANDS gave me no choice: my rating: 5.0

Belinda Bauer says in her Author's Note at the end:

Blacklands was never intended to be a crime novel. I thought it was going to be a very small story about a boy and his grandmother.

Read Chapter 1 from Blacklands

Blurbs and reviews to check

• Simon & Schuster (publishers)
• Highly recommended for a CWA Debut Dagger 2009
• Guardian review by Laura Wilson

This is book 100 for this year.

Review: A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE, Malla Nunn

Macmillan 2008
ISBN 978-1-405-03877-5
397 pages
Borrowed from my library.

From Wikipedia:
Apartheid was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and minority rule by white people was maintained.
New legislation classified inhabitants into racial groups ("black", "white", "coloured", and "Indian"), and residential areas were segregated, sometimes by means of forced removals.

It is against this background that Malla Nunn sets A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE.
It is September 1952. A white man's body has been found in deep country, in the river that separates South Africa from Mozambique. The body floats face down within reach of the river's edge on the South African side. Some kaffir boys found the body, and now it is being guarded by a nineteen year old Afrikaner constable. Three Afrikaner men, built like rugby players, stand a little way off, waiting for the investigating team from Johannesburg to arrive. For the dead man is their father, Captain Willem Pretorius, the local police chief. And the investigating "team" is Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper, sent out solo on the murder of a white police captain.

Cooper had been investigating another murder only an hour away and had been despatched to check the "possible" homicide. At the scene also is the man Pretorius had grown up with, Constable Shabalala, a Zulu. The opening scene gives Cooper a lesson in how the social structure works around here. The Pretorius sons think  their father has been killed by Mozambique smugglers, but Cooper is not so sure.

Finding a doctor who can sign a death certificate leads him to meet "the Jew", Zweigman, who is an elderly  German living with his wife in a shanty town where there are no English or Afrikaners.

Things become even more complex when Cooper's boss in Johannesburg tells him that the Security Branch has decided that the murder may be political, and that they are sending a team to take over the investigation. Cooper will be expected to co-operate.

A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE is a fascinating exploration of relationships in an area where white supremacy is already an acknowledged way of life. However the newly passed racial segregation laws are about more than who rules. Emmanuel Cooper can't be sure that even he is going to get out alive.

This was an impressive debut book, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, LET THE DEAD LIE.
If  you'd like to read some opening pages click on the image to the right.

My rating: 5.0

Emmanuel Cooper has recently returned from Europe, from the war, leaving behind his English wife, but not leaving behind his sergeant major, a Scotsman, who gave soldiers advice on how to kill before they were killed, who lives on in his mind. This, his sometimes blurred vision, and the headaches, indicate a man who is still suffering from post traumatic stress. He reminded me of the central character created by Charles Todd, Ian Rutledge, who is constantly reminded of the war (in this case World War One) by the ever present voice of Hamish MacLeod, "Hamish in his head".

Other reviews to check:

• Petrona: "this book is more than a crime novel, and it is one that will rest in the mind for a while."
• Reactions to Reading: "yet another book that has everything I look for in my crime fiction"
• Reviewing the Evidence: "an extraordinarily powerful novel"

A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE won the 2009 Sisters in Crime (Australia) Davitt Award for Best Adult Crime Novel,  and was shortlisted in 2010 for Edgar Award and is also shortlisted for Macavity Award for Best First Novel

About Malla Nunn
Malla Nunn grew up in Swaziland before moving with her parents to Perth in the 1970s. She attended university in WA, and then the US. In New York, she worked on film sets, wrote her first screenplay and met her American husband-to-be, before returning to Australia where she began writing and directing short films and corporate videos. Fade to White, Sweetbreeze and Servant of the Ancestors have won numerous awards and have shown at international film festivals from Zanzibar to New York. Malla and her husband live in Sydney with their two children.

Malla Nunn & Others Talk About The Stories Behind Their Stories

See also the Simon & Schuster site.

Review: TALKING ABOUT DETECTIVE FICTION, P.D. James - audio

UNABRIDGED
Read by Diana Bishop
BBC Audio Books 2010
Text P.D. James 2009
ISBN 978-1-4084-6490-8
Playing Time 4 hrs 20 mins

Publishers Blurb
To judge by the worldwide success of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Poirot, an appetite for murder, mystery and mayhem is universal. Talking about the craft of detective writing and sharing her personal thoughts and observations, P. D. James examines the challenges, achievements, and potential of a genre which has fascinated her for nearly 50 years. From the tenant of 221b Baker Street to the Village Priest from Cubhole in Essex, from the Golden Age of detective writing between the wars to the achievements of the present and a glimpse at the future, P. D. James explores the metamorphosis of a genre which has gripped and entertained the popular imagination like no other type of novel.

What this book illustrated for me more than anything else is what an encyclopaedic knowledge P.D. James has of the history of detective fiction. She is particularly strong on its beginnings and on the writers of the Golden Age, particularly the "big three" of Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and Agatha Christie. Her love of, and study of the genre, comes through very clearly. I felt that when it comes to her contemporaries, and younger writers, then her knowledge is not quite as deep, although she has quite clearly read very widely. As she herself points out, she is writing about detective fiction, not the whole gamut of crime fiction.

But while she mentioned in passing the "new" crop of writers we are reading in translation like Henning Mankell, and other unique contributors like Alexander McCall Smith, and paid tribute to her contemporary Ruth Rendell, she omitted a number of 21st century female writers like Ann Cleeves, Pauline Rowson, and Aline Templeton. Australian creators of detectives simply don't appear in her scan, although New Zealander Ngiao Marsh does, albeit as somewhat of a disappointment, someone who didn't fulfil her potential.

By the time I got to disc 4, I was feeling a bit as if I was attending a lecture, as well as that James is more comfortable in talking about the distant history of the genre, and hasn't got a lot to say about the 2000s onwards.

Nevertheless, if you are interested in learning quite a lot about the history of the genre, this narration by Diana Bishop is a good one to pick. If you are a writer of detective fiction, then there is something in this book for you too, particularly when she talks about genre rules that earlier writers have tried to set in stone.

My rating 4.5

See interview with P.D. James

Review: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, Kerry Greenwood

Read on my Kindle
e-book supplied for review by US Publisher Poisoned Pen Press. through NetGalley.com
US Publication date:  late 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1590587997
Australian publication date: October 2010
#18 in the Phryne Fisher series.

Publisher's blurb
Phryne Fisher needs a rest. It's summer. She packs up her family and moves to Queenscliff, a quiet watering place on the coast. Where she meets with smugglers, pirate treasure and some very interesting surrealists, including a parrot called Pussykins. What is the  mysterious Madame Selavy hiding? Where are the Johnsons, who were supposed to be in the holiday house? 

Phryne has promised everyone a nice quiet holiday by the sea but when they arrive at the holiday house to find the live-in help missing, along with all the pantry supplies, the fun is just beginning. The house belongs to an anthropologist, and acquaintance really, who is travelling some where in the Far North of Australia. He has assured Phryne that the missing couple are very reliable, which makes their absence all the more puzzling. Phryne has with her her companion Dot, and her two foster daughters Ruth and Jane, and so they all decide to see if they can fend for themselves. They soon acquire another member of the household in the form of Tinker, a young boy loaned from the house next door. Her search for the missing Johnsons results in Phryne being mugged on her way home one night and so she becomes even more determined to solve the mystery. Tinker shows he has a real aptitude for sleuthing, Ruth delights in cooking for the family, and Jane is in seventh heaven when she manages to get into a locked room in the house.

The Phryne Fisher series are generally set in Victoria in the 1920s. In DEAD MAN'S CHEST a film is being made about a local legend, Benito's Treasure.

Pirate Benito Benita is said to have buried plundered Spanish treasure in a cave in the cliffs of Swan Bay in 1798. Other aspects of the legend entail Benita being caught in the act by the British navy and sealing the cave entrance with gunpowder.  more

In many ways the Phryne Fisher books are cozies. There is a development of characters from one book in the series to the next, although they can also be read as standalones. In DEAD MAN'S CHEST there is a range of credible and incredible characters and enough mystery to whet the appetite.

My rating: 4.3

I should point out that, though I read this review copy on my Kindle,  it does not appear from Amazon that there is any intent of releasing this title on Kindle at the moment.
However if you have a Kindle, and are willing to review books, why not join Netgalley yourself and request a review copy from the Poisoned Pen Press listings? You don't have to have a blog to submit reviews - they have a very nice submission form too.

My review of the previous book in the series: MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT

Kerry Greenwood also writes the Corinna Chapman series
TRICK OR TREAT
FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher website.is well worth exploring.

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)

Review: UNSPOKEN, Mari Jungstedt

Corgi Books
Translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally 2007
(completed in Swedish 2004)
ISBN 978-0-552-15613-4
366 pages

Publishers Blurb:
It is winter on Gotland, and fourteen-year-old Fanny is missing. She had no friends to speak of other than the horses she took care of at the local racing stable, and seems to have been an unhappy and isolated teenager, the daughter of an absent Jamaican musician and an instable Swedish mother. Is her disappearance somehow connected to the recent brutal murder of alcoholic photographer Henry Dahlström, who had won a large sum of money at the racetrack right before his death? Inspector Anders Knutas and his team investigate under pressure from the media.

#2 in Jungstedt's Anders Knutas series is at once a Swedish police procedural set on the island of Gotland, as was the first in the series UNSEEN, and at the same time an exploration of how little people often know about each other, even in situations when they should. It is a book I've had on my mental list for some time.

UNSPOKEN is a clever interweaving of three stories: firstly the disappearance of Henry Dahlstrom whose friends know almost nothing about him, and whose wife and daughter have long rejected.  As is often the case it seems in modern murder mysteries Dahlstrom has sources of income that those closest to him knew nothing about.
Fanny Jannsom was not yet fifteen and yet already her mother was assuming that she could be left alone overnight or even for weekends. Again, here is a person with no real friends, and with a secret life well hidden from view. but it is a life that Fanny really wanted to be rescued from.

The third element was one that I had not expected. Reporter Johan Berg had a significant role in UNSEEN, and he became entangled with Emma, a friend of one of the victims. The continuing relationship between the two provides an interesting backdrop to the police investigation in UNSPOKEN, while Johan is constantly prompting Knutas for results.

Jungstedt's is a lighter, almost uncomplicated style when you compare it to other Swedish writers like Henning Mankell and Nesbo, whose novels seem much darker. That isn't to say that Jungstedt isn't dealing with dark situations. I am tempted to compare it with Helene Tursten's particularly in the treatment of the domestic life of the central police character.

My rating: 4.5

Other Reviews to check:

• Maxine Clarke thought it was a great read. Her review is on Euro Crime.
• UNSPOKEN sent Crime Scraps off on a search for the 3rd in the series: UNKNOWN
• Scandinavian Books:  "a book with crisp prose, steady suspense, and flesh-and-blood characters".

Mari Jungstedt (1952 - ) is a Swedish journalist and popular crime fiction author.

Jungstedt worked as a reporter on Swedish national public radio and television, and is still an occasional presenter on TV4's daily talk show Förkväll.

Her first three novels are set on the island of Gotland and feature Detective Superintendant Anders Knutas and the journalist Johan Berg. Two of her novels were filmed for Swedish TV, and her work has been translated into English by Tiina Nunnally.

Mari Jungstedt lives in Nacka, near Stockholm. Her husband comes from Visby, Gotland, and during the summer they stay on Gotland. 

Review: ALL THE COLOURS OF DARKNESS, Peter Robinson

Hodder & Stoughton,2008
ISBN 978-0-340-83693-4
407 pages

A group of children playing in the woods in the Yorkshire Dales discovers a man's body hanging from a tree. Mark Hardcastle, theatre set designer, appears to have committed suicide after killing his lover Laurence Silbert.

DI Annie Cabbot's investigation is complicated by the fact that her boss DCI Alan Banks is having a weekend in London with his girlfriend, and that the Chief Constable, a friend of Silbert's, wants unsavoury details hushed up. Banks is not happy when Superintendent Gervaise insists he is called back early. However when he begins to uncover details, Gervaise is far from happy about the direction the investigation is taking.

The Chief Constable, in response to pressure from higher up, insists that the investigation be wrapped up quickly. Banks however becomes convinced that he is under observation, that there is more to know about Silbert, and, as Gervaise knows, telling him to stop just ensures he will ignore orders. She tells Banks to resume his holidays, and to leave the final details to Annie Cabbot. Which of course he can't do.

It occurred to me, as I read on, that the plot line of the high level detective coming under threat because he won't abandon an investigation is wearing a bit thin. We've seen it used in many other novels - Frost, Harry Hole, and Kurt Wallander, just to name a few that come quickly to mind. But somehow for me that doesn't really detract from the fine plotting in this novel. Banks eventually comes up with a plausible explanation for the murder/suicide after a couple of stuttering and implausible theories. Annie Cabbot, as usual, is drawn in by the charisma of her boss, and puts her career, and her life, on the line.

It always amazes me that Robinson, after all a Canadian, writes such an English novel. And what is it about Yorkshire? Robinson novels are set largely in Yorkshire and London, Reginald Hill's Dalziel & Pascoe are set in Yorkshire. And also, Wingfield's novels are set nearby in the Midlands.Yorkshire must rival Midsomer for murder capital of the world!

ALL THE COLOURS OF DARKNESS seems even more littered than usual with references to Banks' musical taste, and even with references to other writers and their novels. Here are the songs mentioned.

A very acceptable read. My rating: 4.6

Other reviews to check:

• Books to the Ceiling "found it in some degree wanting."

ALL THE COLOURS OF DARKNESS was longlisted for the 2010 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.
See also my review of  FRIEND OF THE DEVIL

Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks site.

Review: CUT & RUN, Alix Bosco

Publisher Penguin Books NZ 2009
ISBN 978-01-4301-191-0
281 pages

Publisher's blurb

When he lifts his arms to point the camera at me, the shirt bunches around the muscles of his biceps and his shoulders.'What's this about? Who sent you?''There's a simple message: back off.'The photograph has printed. He holds it up, shakes it dry and looks at it appraisingly.  'Not bad,' he says, turning the photo so I can see it. I look at myself, smiling at the camera, reflexively. 'This is for you,' he says, giving it to me. 'Keep it handy, so you can show the plastic surgeon what you used to look like.'

When a rugby star, who began life on the city streets, is murdered in the arms of a beautiful celebrity, it seems to be an open and shut case of a drug deal gone wrong. But Anna Markunas, legal researcher for the prime suspect's defence team, begins to uncover a far more sinister truth - a truth that could destroy everything and everyone she cares about most. And could, ultimately, destroy her.

Anna negotiates with Paul Malone QC  for her son Jamie, a legal graduate, to get a start in his chambers. Paul and Anna go back quite a way, as far as law school, and so he is really doing her a favour. Jamie has had some trouble with drugs and that makes it even more of a favour.
Anna quickly discovers that she has known the mother of the murder suspect for a number of years, in fact she has a memory of him as ten year old. So her relationship with the family begins to feel a bit personal. And then to complicate things Malone QC is brought in as the defence for Anna's client, and her son Jamie becomes part of the defence team.

Plot complexity was one of the big problems I had with this book. Anna's own past is very complex, some sort of break down that means she has really only just resumed work. At times CUT & RUN felt like it had a cast of thousands and I really had trouble separating the characters out.
And then there was the multiplication of possible motives for the murder. The plot lacked incisiveness. Although I really wanted to know who did what and why, I felt at times I was wading through treacle. Amongst its redeeming features are some excellent descriptive passages, and tight passages of suspense. I did however fell the final solution came a bit out of left field.

My rating: 4.2

In case you are wondering what the picture on the right is - I realised early in the book that Anna's house is set in the area this picture that I have on my wall above my desk depicts. I bought it in Auckland in 1977. How's that for coincidence?

CUT & RUN is Alix Bosco's debut novel and she has in 2010 published a second, SLAUGHTER FALLS.

You may like to check out what Crime Watch has to say.

CUT & RUN is one of the finalists for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh award to be decided next Friday 10 september at the Christchurch Writer's festival