Why MYSTERIES? Because that is the genre I read. Why PARADISE? Because that is where I live.
Among other things, this blog, the result of a 2008 New Year's resolution, will act as a record of books that I've read, and random thoughts.
This edition published by Soho Press 2010
ISBN 978-1-56947-636-9
372 pages
When Tom McGillivray, superintendent of the Bluebush Police and an old friend of the Tempest clan, came up with some paid employment for Emily as an Aboriginal Community Police Officer, she was happy to accept. The deal was that she would spend a month in Bluebush in training and then she'd be based at Moonlight Downs as its ACPO.
Emily's just come back from a short training course in Darwin in time to catch the tail end of the Bluebush aboriginal community's Young Man's Time. On her way from the women's camp to work she stops and washes off her body art under a garden hose, and dons her oversize police uniform. That in itself seems symbolic, as she attempts to bridge two cultures.
She arrives at work to find that there's been a murder: One oldie has killed another out at Green Swamp Well, and McGillivray is in hospital, his place taken by a new senior sergeant Bruce Cockburn. On their way to the crime scene Emily senses something out of place and discovers a Range Rover that's gone off the road, its occupants spilled into the gully and in need of help.
When they eventually make it to Green Swamp Well, Emily finds that she knows both the victim, and the apparent perpetrator, two eccentrics who had a history of argumentation, but were underneath it all the best of mates.
Emily was never going to get on with Senior Sergeant Cockburn: where he tries to simplify things, she sees complications. Emily's aboriginal background gives her a heightened sense of disturbed balance. He reminds her that she is simply meant to be a liaison officer not an investigator, but Emily really can't help herself.
There is such a lot to like about this book: starting with Emily herself and her unexpected sense of humour, and then there is such a range of interesting and intriguing characters, and description that takes you right into the heart of the outback. I like the way Hyland layers our introduction to people and events. One or two characters from his earlier novel DIAMOND DOVE make an appearance. Emily herself seems more certain of who she is, and she has a status with the locals that I didn't pick up in the earlier novel.
The author says, in the blog post he wrote for Readings: Takes a little time for the country to get to know you. ..... It is this world-view, and its ongoing clash with the threshing machine of Western materialism, that lies at the heart of Gunshot Road. I find this conflict utterly compelling, and of great significance;
I have no hesitation in recommending that you find a copy of GUNSHOT ROAD.
My rating: 5.0
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.
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.
Tomorrow is the day at Left Coast Crime when our little panel swings into action, item 67, 9-9.45 am on Thursday morning, 12 March to be precise.
I thought participants might appreciate the handout being on line, and those of you unable to be there, would appreciate also being able to see what we are talking about.
I hope I will be able to post later a photo of our accumulated loot for the panel, which includes our own version of "tasting Australia". In true Australian tradition of beer and chook raffles, participants will be given a raffle ticket as they come in the door, so hopefully each will have something apart from a sheet of paper to take away with them.
Recommendations from oz_mystery_readers taken from top books 2007 and 2008: Adrian Hyland, DIAMOND DOVE Peter Temple, THE BROKEN SHORE Barry Maitland, NO TRACE Chris Nyst, CROOK AS ROOKWOOD Garry Disher, CHAIN OF EVIDENCE Michael Robotham: SHATTER, BOMBPROOF P.D. Martin: BODY COUNT, FAN MAIL, THE MURDERER'S CLUB Leah Giarratano: VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE, VOODOO DOLL Katherine Howell: FRANTIC, THE DARKEST HOUR Leigh Redhead: CHERRY PIE, RUBDOWN Felicity Young: A CERTAIN MALICE, AN EASEFUL DEATH Adrian McKinty: DEAD I WELL MAY BE, THE DEAD YARD
Ned Kelly Winners
Best Novel 2008: SHATTER, Michael Robotham 2007: CHAIN OF EVIDENCE, Gary Disher 2006: CROOK AS ROOKWOOD, Chris Nyst & THE BROKEN SHORE, Peter Temple 2005: LOST, Michael Robotham 2004: DEGREES OF CONNECTION, Jon Cleary 2003: WHITE DOG, Peter Temple 2002: DEATH DELIGHTS, Gabrielle Lord 2001: DEAD POINT, Peter Temple & THE SECOND COMING, Andrew Masterson 2000: SHOOTING STAR, Peter Temple 1999: AMAZE YOUR FRIENDS, Peter Doyle 1997: THE BRUSH OFF, Shane Maloney 1996: THE MALCONTENTA, Barry Maitland & INSIDE DOPE, Dope Paul Thomas
Best First Novel 2008: THE LOW ROAD, Chris Womersley 2007: DIAMOND DOVE, Adrian Hyland 2006: OUT OF THE SILENCE, Wendy James 2005: A PRIVATE MAN, Malcolm Knox 2004: THE WALKER, Jane R Goodall & JUNKIE PILGRIM, Wayne Grogan 2003: BLOOD REDEMPTION, Alex Palmer 2002: APARTMENT 255, Bunty Avieson & WHO KILLED ANGELIQUE?, Emma Darcy 2001: LAST DRINKS, Andrew McGahan 2000: THE WOODEN LEG OF INSPECTOR ANDERS, Marshall Browne 1999: THE LAST DAYS, Andrew Masterson 1997: BAD DEBTS, Peter Temple & GET RICH QUICK, Peter Doyle 1996: DARK ANGEL, John Dale
Authors (or their publishers) who gave us books:
Michael Robotham Felicity Young P. D. Martin Brian Kavanagh Adrian Hyland Katherine Howell Chris Womersley Lenny Bartulin Tony Berry Jane R. Goodall
Audio Books (checked by Kathy) SKIN AND BONE, by Kathryn Fox, and VOODOO DOLL, by Leah Giarratano, and THE CORONER’S LUNCH, by Colin Cotterill are available in audible from amazon.co.uk. I can’t find them in the U.S.
All the remaining books are available through audible.com here in the U.S.: Gary Disher: CHAIN OF EVIDENCE Peter Temple: THE BROKEN SHORE, DEAD POINT Peter Carey: THE TRUE STORY OF THE NED KELLY GANG, HIS ILLEGAL SELF, THEFT: A LOVE STORY, JACK MAGGS, MY LIFE AS A FAKE Katherine Howell: FRANTIC Michael Robotham: SUSPECT, LOST, THE NIGHT FERRY, and, in March of 2009 SHATTER Steve Toltz: A FRACTION OF THE WHOLE, Kerry Greenwood: MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT, MURDER IN MONTPARNASSE, AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES: A PHRYNE FISHER MYSTERY, THE CASTLEMAINE MURDERS: A PHRYNE FISHER MYSTERY, DEVIL’S FOOD, MURDER IN THE DARK: A PHRYNE FISHER MYSTERY, TRICK OR TREAT, DEATH BY WATER: A PHRYNE FISHER MYSTERY, RUDDY GORE: A PHRYNE FISHER MYSTERY Sydney Bauer: UNDERTOW Adrian McKinty: THE BLOOMSDAY DEAD, THE DEAD YARD, HIDDEN RIVER, DEAD I WELL MAY BE Sara Douglass: HADES' DAUGHTER: THE TROY GAME, BOOK I (UNABRIDGED) Emma Darcy: WHO KILLED ANGELIQUE, WHO KILLED BIANCA, WHO KILLED CAMILLA Geoffrey McGeachin: D-E-D DEAD! Tara Moss: COVET, FETISH, HIT Michael MacConnell MALESTROM Kerry McGinnis THE WADI TREE Gabrielle Lord WHIPPING BOY Sonya Hartnett OF A BOY Jane R. Goodall: THE WALKER; THE VISITOR.
Australian authors available in Canada (Ann’s research)
Bauer, Sydney Corris, Peter Darcy Emma Disher, Garry Douglass Sara Fox, Kathryn Gott, Robert Greenwood Kerry Howell, Katherine Hyland, Adrian Lord, Gabrielle Maitland, Barry Maloney, Shane Martin, P.D. McGeachan, Geoffrey McKinty Adrian Moss, Tara Peter Carey Redhead, Leigh Robotham Michael Rowe, Jennifer Temple, Peter Toltz Steve Upfield, Arthur
An open road. A dead cop. A killer in the hills ...I flicked on the torch, swept the surrounds. Nothing. Then I directed the beam into the trees on the other side of the road.
Up on a high, jutting branch, something moved. It may have been a white face, a pale body, a curved leg. Or it may have been none of those things. Was it human? Too quick for me to tell. A ripple, a blink and it was gone. But it seemed to leave an afterglow, an impression upon the fabric of the night.
I took a deep breath. What had I seen? It had appeared to be a pair of piercing eyes in a pale visage. It could almost have been an owl, so compelling was its gaze, so swift its departure. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, a distorted shadow?
There was a crunch of leaf in the litter below and it was gone.
Whatever it was, it sent a chill through me.
It's the festive season in the Windmark Ranges and Sergeant Jesse Redpath's day is going from bad to worse. It begins with her having to arrest the usual drunks and troublemakers and ends with the death of a colleague out on the Redline road. A death which may or may not have been an accident.
Jesse learns there have been other deaths and disappearances in the ranges, and that the local rumour mill suggests the perp is an elusive, semi-mythical character who goes by the name of 'Anarchy'.
Beneath the charm of a close-knit community, a darker truth festers, and Jesse's driven to expose it, no matter the disruption to the valley's fragile tranquillity.
My Take
Three years since we have had a novel from Adrian Hyland.
Jesse Redpath is filling in for a colleague on leave and is a little older than we last met her but no less enthusiastic about her job. This novel turns out to be a fast pace thriller.
The Redline is the third in Adrian Hyland’s Australian regional crime series featuring Sergeant Jesse Redpath. The books are is set in a group of small towns in the fictional Windmark Ranges, a few hours drive from the centre of Melbourne. This entry is named after a local road that has earned the nickname “the redline” due to the drivers who redline their cars while speeding along it.
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.
I am more than delighted with the acclamation for these authors, but in particular for Australian authors Adrian Hyland, recommended by 9 out of 23 participants, and Peter Temple, recommended by 4.
For me it affirms that Australian writers are a force to be reckoned with.
Interesting too that of the other 5, all are translated crime fiction, and 4 are Scandinavian.
In the middle of the year I collected a list of best crime fiction reads for 2010 from readers of this blog.
Hyland's popularity has made its running in the latter part of the year.
Tomorrow I'll will publish the tops in authors and then sometime next week the full list.
I read 10 books, including one on the Kindle, a couple of Australian authors (***), an Agatha Christie, a couple of New Zealand (NZ) authors, and a couple of audio books.
You will see from my ratings that all ranked fairly highly.
My pick of the month had to be GUNSHOT ROAD by Adrian Hyland.
The Carnival has come to Paradise, hurtling at 100 kph along the O-Bahn to the home of Mysteries in Paradise.
Adelaide's North-East busway, commonly known as the O-Bahn, was the second of its kind in the world. Built in 1985, the concrete O-Bahn busway has since sparked a series of similar style roads in other major cities across the world. With limited access points and grade separated junctions, the road is only built for specially fitted buses. So get your ticket and ride!
The Carnival has already visited a number of very entertaining locations. Most recently it was at Do You Write Under Your Own Name with host Martin Edwards. I just hope your reading sack still has room for just a few more authors and titles, especially for some with an antipodean flavour. It is my pleasure to list for your delectation some wonderful crime fiction authors from the land of Oz.
Under the Big Top A selection of my reading for the last 3 years giving you authors and titles to look out for. Sydney Bauer, UNDERTOW Marshall Browne, INSPECTOR ANDERS and THE SHIP OF FOOLS, INSPECTOR ANDERS and THE BLOOD VENDETTA Patricia Carlon, THE WHISPERING WALL Caroline Carver, BLOOD JUNCTION, BENEATH THE SNOW Lauren Crow, BYE BYE BABY Sandy Curtis, DANGEROUS DECEPTION Garry Disher, CHAIN OF EVIDENCE Kathryn Fox, MALICIOUS INTENT Leah Giarratano, VODKA DOESN’T FREEZE Jane R. Goodall, THE VISITOR, THE CALLING Robert Gott, GOOD MURDER Kerry Greenwood, MURDER IN MONTPARNASSE, DEATH BY WATER, MURDER IN THE DARK Katherine Howell, FRANTIC Fergus Hume, THE MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB Adrian Hyland, DIAMOND DOVE (aka MOONLIGHT DOWNS) Nicholas Jose, ORIGINAL FACE Brian Kavanagh, THE EMBROIDERED CORPSE Gabrielle Lord, DEATH DELIGHTS, BABY DID A BAD BAD THING, DIRTY WEEKEND, SHATTERED Barry Maitland, ALL MY ENEMIES, NO TRACE, SPIDER TRAP PD Martin, BODY COUNT, THE MURDERERS' CLUB, FAN MAIL John Misto, THE DEVIL'S COMPANION Kate Morton, THE SHIFTING FOG (aka THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON) Kel Robertson, DEAD SET Michael Robotham, SUSPECT, LOST, THE NIGHT FERRY, SHATTER Jennifer Rowe, THE MAKEOVER MURDERS Angela Savage, BEHIND THE NIGHT BAZAAR Caroline Shaw, CATCH CATCHER Peter Temple, THE BROKEN SHORE Felicity Young, A CERTAIN MALICE, AN EASEFUL DEATH, HARUM SCARUM
Spectacular Grand Parade: The Ned Kelly 2008 Long List
These Australian awards, presented by the Crimewriters Association of Australia will be announced during Melbourne Writers' Festival in late August, and at some stage before that a short list will be announced. (Who was Ned Kelly anyway? More)
The following list is linked, where possible, to reviews on Aust Crime Fiction to which a coven of friends contribute.
2006: Best First Novel: OUT OF THE SILENCE Wendy James, Random House Best Novel (Tie): CROOK AS ROOKWOOD, Chris Nyst, Harper Collins and THE BROKEN SHORE, Peter Temple, Text
2005 Best First Novel: A PRIVATE MAN, Malcolm Knox Best Novel: LOST (aka THE DROWNING MAN), Michael Robotham
2004 Best First Novel (Joint Winners): THE WALKER,Jane R. Goodall and JUNKIE PILGRIM, Wayne Grogan Best Novel: Degrees of Connection Jon Cleary
2003 Best First Novel: BLOOD REDEMPTION, Alex Palmer Best Novel: WHITE DOG, Peter Temple
2002 Best First Novel (Tie): APARTMENT 255, Bunty Avieson and WHO KILLED ANGELIQUE?, Emma Darcy Best Novel: DEATH DELIGHTS,Gabrielle Lord
2001 Best First Crime Novel: LAST DRINKS,Andrew McGahan Best Crime Novel (tie): DEAD POINT, Peter Temple and THE SECOND COMING, Andrew Masterson
2000 Best First Novel: THE WOODEN LEG OF INSPECTOR ANDERS,Marshall Browne Best Novel: SHOOTING STAR, Peter Temple
1999 Best First Novel: THE LAST DAYS, Andrew Masterson Best Novel: AMAZE YOUR FRIENDS, Peter Doyle
1997 Best First Novel (tie): BAD DEBTS, Peter Temple and GET RICH QUICK, Peter Doyle Best Novel: BRUSH OFF, Shane Maloney
1996 Best First Novel: DARK ANGEL, John Dale Best Novel (tie) THE MALCONTENTA, Barry Maitland and INSIDE DOPE, Paul Thomas
Two bodies. One long hot summer. A town that will never be the same.
When Adam Lawson's wrecked car is found a kilometre from Daisy Baker’s body, the whole town assumes it’s an open and shut case. But Jesse Redpath isn’t from Canticle Creek. Where she comes from, the truth often hides in plain sight, but only if you know where to look. When Jesse starts to ask awkward questions, she uncovers a town full of contradictions and a cast of characters with dark pasts, secrets to hide and even more to lose.
As the temperature soars, and the ground bakes, the wilderness surrounding Canticle Creek becomes a powderkeg waiting to explode. All it needs is one spark.
A twisty crime thriller set in small town Australia perfect for readers of The Dry and Scrublands.
My take
It is over 10 years since I have read anything by Adrian Hyland and CANTICLE CREEK demonstrates that he still has the touch.
Jesse Redpath is a Northern Territory outback cop. She is the officer in charge of the station at Kulara. One of the local boys Adam Lawson has gone off the tails a bit and Jesse has put in a word for him with the local magistrate and has set him up with a job at the roadhouse, and boarding with her artist father. Despite getting on well with Jesse's father Ben, Adam takes off for the south and ends up going to Melbourne. The next Jesse hears is that he has been killed in a road crash near Canticle Creek after killing his girlfriend. This doesn't sound like the Adam that Jesse and her father knew.
Ben Redpath is a highly regarded artist. He has been invited to Melbourne to participate in a joint art exhibition and Jesse decides to accompany him and to go to Canticle Creek to satisfy herself that everything had been done to investigate Adam's death.
This was a very believable book. I really like the new character Jesse Redpath, who always seems to ask those extra questions. Here also is a writer who seems to have a special connection to "country" which he acknowledges himself at the end of the book.
When I was a child my grandfather used to go round the traps, meaning he checked the rabbit traps for what had come in over night. My RSS reader is a bit like that. Here are some crime fiction postings that I've caught recently.
Crime Scene NI talks about Declan Burke's self-published internet novel, A Gonzo Noir. Declan himself tells us The Big O will be released in the US on September 22.
Crime Scraps asserts Jo Nesbo has moved into the top spot in the hierarchy of European crime fiction writers with NEMESIS (my review). If Crime Scraps and I lived closer to each other, we could easily lend each other books, so close is our reading DNA!
In Reference to Murder, in the spirit of the Olympics, lists some crime fiction news tidbits spanning the globe ( a bit like what I'm doing here) - some new titles to look out for.
Pattinase thinks about what a book blogger should do about about reviewing a book that you don't like. This was an issue that I faced just recently.
Petrona talks about the success of Linwood Barclay's NO TIME FOR GOODBYE and Swedish crime fiction to look out for.
Weekly Geeks #14 will be all about book photos. For WG#13 I ran a competition related to Australian authors, even gave tips, like a list of the authors to be matched with the photos, but it wasn't very successful - too few entered!
Now this is by no means all that has come in through my RSS reader this week, so don't feel too badly if your most recent posting isn't there. I'm not sure if I will write "Around the Traps" on a regular basis. Perhsap you can let me know if you think it is useful/interesting.
A murder made to look like an accident. A disgraced cop trying to forget his past.
My eyes sprang open. What was wrong? Something had been hovering down in the backwoods of my brain. A disturbing image that only rose to the surface when I began to relax. Wild winds, wet hair, black bark, blood. A crushed body. The poor bastard killed by the falling tree at Wycliff Rise. Something about that scene wasn’t right.
Nash Rankin is a disgraced cop trying to escape his past – his career was destroyed when he chose to take justice into his own hands. Now he’s living a quiet life in a small town, caring for the local wildlife and trying to stay away from trouble.
Jesse Redpath has a new job in a new town: Satellite. The stormy weather that greets her first few days on the beat seems like a sign of what’s to come. A local has died in what looks like an accident, but Jessie isn’t so sure that the ‘accident’ wasn’t planned. All the evidence points to Nash, but Jesse’s not sure about that either.
Seems like Nash has enemies. And what looks like a close-knit community might just be a cover for dark secrets.
No amount of rain will wash this town clean.
The new Jesse Redpath crime thriller from the bestselling author of CANTICLE CREEK.
My Take
Readers looking for authentic Australian crime fiction will not be disappointed.
Central protagonist Jesse Redpath is an interesting character who brings intuition to a police procedural set in a compelling Australian landscape. The setting is in the northern Victorian highlands not far from Canticle Creek where Jess has family. Her new appointment as a police station head gives Jesse a chance to show what she is made of, but before long she has has a new man in her life, has blotted her copy book, is suspended, and being targetted by those she has been investigating.
Back on 9 Feb 2003, when had I tried and tasted a number of online book discussion groups, and not found any that really did what I wanted, which was to discuss murder mystery books available in Australia, I decided to launch out and create one. I had already floated the idea with friends in a face-to-face group here in Adelaide, and so oz_mystery_readers was born.
I advertised the group among friends and email lists and it gradually grew. As happens with such groups, membership changes over time with people subscribing and unsubscribing. Some people get overwhelmed by email as a group grows, go "nomail" and promptly forget the group exists, others get the digest of daily mails, while still others just lurk. oz_mystery_readers has really grown very slowly, but I'd guess that over time about twice as many have subscribed as are members now. It helps also to develop a strong core of active members, which I believe we have now, and also for others to take on tasks in the group, whether it be as co-moderators or as discussion leaders.
I thought a lot about the good and bad features of other groups that I'd joined and left, and of those I'd stayed with. I must admit that a much larger US group 4MA that I discovered after I'd created oz_mystery_readers has been a constant source of inspiration and a good model of what a group can be like.
Some statistics: Currently there are 117 members (but among them are 15 "bouncing" email addresses) Between us, over 5 years, we have generated 9765 messages June 2007 was our most "active" month with 418 messages - that is just over 10 a day. Since beginning regular scheduled book discussions in December 2004 we have discussed 46 books.
We rate all discussion books and our top 10 books, in order, have been On 5.0 (maximum points) RAVEN BLACK by Ann Cleeves, and DIAMOND DOVE by Adrian Hyland then ABOVE SUSPICION by Lynda La Plante (4.75) Then on 4.7 FLESHMARKET CLOSE by Ian Rankin SLEEPYHEAD by Mark Billingham FLESH AND BLOOD by John Harvey RED LEAVES by Thomas H. Harris THE BROKEN SHORE by Peter Temple On 4.6 THE DEVIL'S STAR by Jo Nesbo NO TRACE by Barry Maitland
Our discussion books are suggested and voted on by members. We have selection criteria for the books: January: General suggestion February: Non-British, Non-Australian writer March: 1-10 General suggestion 24-30 Quiz an Author: we ask an author to join us April: Awards month 1-10 Ned Kelly winner for best crime novel for previous year 21-30 a prize winner - the book must have won a prize for crime/mystery fiction in the last 5 years. May: General suggestion June: British crime - British author or British setting or both July: General suggestion August: Classics month - the book should be written by a writer considered a "classic" - e.g. Agatha Christie, Simenon, Arthur Upfield, Dorothy L. Sayers September: 1-10 General suggestion 24-30 Quiz an Author: we ask an author to join us October: Australian writer in an Australian setting November: General suggestion December: Christmas, set in and around Christmas
As well as the scheduled discussions, we have a number of regular weekly activities such as Friday Recommendation, Telling Title, Peeves, Middle of the Month, Author Chat, and Who Have you Met? At the end of each month we encourage members to tell others what they've read in the last month, with title, author, short description and rating if they've kept that much detail. These lists are great sources of suggestions for books to look out for or avoid.
We have an activity called Quiz an Author which takes place approximately every 3 months. Our guest for a week is an Australian author who is asked to answer a mixture of pre-set and spontaneous questions. So far our guests have been Brian Kavanagh - author of CAPABLE OF MURDER, THE EMBROIDERED CORPSE, and recently released BLOODY HAM P. D. Martin - author of BODY COUNT, THE MURDERERS CLUB, and recently released FAN MAIL Adrian Hyland - author of DIAMOND DOVE (aka MOONLIGHT DOWNS), winner of the Ned Kelly best First Novel award in 2007 Our guest on 17 February will be multiple award winner Gabrielle Lord. Author of 15 books published since 1980. Books to think about: DEATH DELIGHTS, DIRTY WEEKEND and SHATTERED.
Our reading/discussion schedule for the coming months March 1-10, EXIT MUSIC by Ian Rankin April: Awards Month 1-10, 2007 Ned Kelly Award Winner: Best Novel CHAIN OF EVIDENCE by Garry Disher 21-30, 2007 Duncan Lawrie International Dagger Award WASH THIS BLOOD CLEAN FROM MY HAND by Fred Vargas
Despite the fact that this group is an Australian one, and we do promote Australian murder mystery and crime fiction, we don't read/discuss exclusively that as you can see, and our members come from all over the world. So if you are looking for a group to join, why not oz_mystery_readers?
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
The Winter Solstice edition of the Carnival camped at the Rap Sheet and is a very hard act to follow. My focus once again will be on Antipodean contributions to the genre.
There's a school of thought that says crime comes easily to those DownUnder because of our convict origins, exiled as we were to the ends of the earth, where the seasons are all wrong, there's not enough rain, and the land is unbelievably harsh. Be sure to watch the end of this video for impeccable and characteristic Aussie behaviour.
I hasten to point out however that this blog lives in that Australian state whose anthem proudly boasts "no shackled slave can breathe the air", in a city of churches, and pubs, in a state that has spawned its share of serial murders.
The land Downunder boasts amongst its icons a sheep stealer who commits suicide to avoid capture
and a bushranger
who has been immortalised in our most prestigious crime fiction awards, the Ned Kelly Awards.
Our fondness for crime fiction showed up early in our history, at a time when we were almost totally a frontier society. As history has moved on, the outback has basically moved inland, and those of us who read crime fiction have almost become fringe dwellers.
In most crime fiction, there are close connections with real life events, and in the case of Australian crime fiction there are also the extra elements of a harsh climate and antipathy to the law.
Colonial Australian crime fiction Crime fiction was popular in 19th century Australia and there was plenty of raw material to inspire writers - bushrangers, convicts, lawlessness on the goldfields, mysterious outback deaths. Australian crime writing has had an international presence since its earliest days.
ROBBERY UNDER ARMS, 1888, Rolfe Boldrewood At the beginning of this novel the narrator, Dick Marsden, is awaiting execution for crimes committed whilst a bushranger. He goes on to tell the story of his life and loves and his association with the notorious Captain Starlight. Some of the exploits recounted are based on actual incidents carried out by Daniel Morgan, Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner and John Gilbert all of whom are notorious historical figures. This "ripping yarn" has, since its first publication in book form in 1888, remained popular and has been filmed three times and serialised on radio.
FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE, 1870-1872, Marcus Clarke "For the Term of his Natural Life" is a 'ripping yarn', which at times relies on unrealistic coincidences, the story follows the fortunes of Rufus Dawes, a young man transported for a murder which he did not commit. The harsh and inhumane treatment meted out to the convicts, some of whom were transported for relatively minor crimes, is clearly conveyed. The conditions experienced by the convicts are graphically described. The novel was based on research by the author as well as a visit to the penal settlement of Port Arthur. The racy style and constant development of events ensures that this novel will continue be of interest to modern readers.
Arthur Upfield 34 novels 1926-1966, with "Bony" making his first appearance in 1929, and then subsequently in 29 novels. Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte was the son of an unknown white man and an aboriginal mother, a gentleman and genius of criminal science, who has an M.A. degree from Brisbane University. In his work Bony frequently faces race prejudices but wins them with his wit and smile.
Adrian Hyland, 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.
Felicity Young, A CERTAIN MALICE Felicity Young, new West Australian author, hits the spot with her debut book. 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.
Robert Gott, GOOD MURDER Set in Maryborough in Queensland in 1942 and war is raging in Europe and the Pacific. Will Power is doing his bit for the war effort with a troupe of incompetent actors, the Power Players, who are bringing culture to rural Australia. The Power Players propose to perform Titus Andronicus in a local hall, but before they set foot on the stage, a young woman goes missing and is found dead in the town's water supply. Will seems to have been one of the last to see her alive and becomes the prime suspect. There is delightful humour in this story as well as a series of horrifying crime. Will Power is not only an inept actor but an inept investigator.
Janet Turner Hospital, OYSTER Stories do insist on being told. Even the stories of hidden lives and towns and opal reefs. By cunning intention, and sometimes by discreet bribery (or other dispatch) of government surveyors, the opal-mining town Outer Maroo has kept itself off maps. And yet people do stumble into town, because the seduction of nowhere is hard to resist. Two strangers reach Outer Maroo, population 87, searching for a stepdaughter and son who have mysteriously disappeared. There is a heavy, guilty feeling to the hot, parched-dry town. Mercy Given and Old Jess (everyone calls her Old Silence) watch from Ma and Bill Beresford's store. On the verandah of Bernie's Last Chance, the drinkers wait to take stock of the foreigners, before they return to their cattle properties or their sheep stations or to their stake-outs in the opal fields. Dukke Prophet crosses the street from The Living Word Gospel Hall. Young Alice Godwin whimpers.
Tom Kenneally, THE CHANT OF JIMMY BLACKSMITH This novel was shortlisted for the 1972 Booker Prize. Jimmie Blacksmith is the son of an Aboriginal mother and a white father. A missionary shows him what it means to be white - already he is only too aware of what it means to be black. Exploited by his white employers and betrayed by his white wife Jimmie cannot take any more. He must find a way to express his rage.
Emma Darcy, WHO KILLED BIANCA? Reviewed by Sally Murphy Murder on the Ghan express. SuccesSful romance novelist K. C. Gordon is looking forward to her trip on the Ghan from Sydney to Alice Springs. Part research opportunity, part relaxation, she has no desire to be caught up in a murder investigation. Unfortunately for K.C., it seems she might have little choice. Among her fellow travellers is a group of eight of Sydney's elite, all of them with dramas, pasts and secrets they don't want to see exposed. They are dogged by another passenger, the infamous gossip columnist, Bianca Bernini, who has joined the trip purely to dig dirt and expose the secrets of her eight adversaries. She does not forsee that the trouble she is about to cause will result in her murder. K.C. finds herself drawn into this group and into trying to figure out who the murderer is.
Kate Lyons, THE WATER BENEATH Book Review by Sally Murphy A unique literary piece which is part murder mystery and part social exploration. When a young woman and her baby go missing, gossip abounds in the small mining town where she lives. Twenty years later, the local lake yields human bones. The woman’s daughter, Ruth, returns to the town of her birth, ostensibly to see her dying Uncle Frank. He has carried secrets through those two decades which have rendered him a shadow of the man he once was. The Water Underneath, by Kate Lyons, is a superb piece of literature. Its style, coupled with its water and journeying motifs, lend it satisfactory tones of Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing. The gripping mystery of the disappearance and the family’s history is seen through the eyes of three women of different generations who, while not close, share the common bond of their love for Frank, the man at the head of the family. The Water Underneath, Lyon’s first novel, was a deserving runner-up in the 1999 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. It paints a vivid picture of the town and countryside in which it is set – both the physical surrounds and the social backdrop to the tale – at the same time exploring some of the issues which have divided Australian society.
Robert Gott, GOOD MURDER Set in Maryborough in Queensland in 1942 and war is raging in Europe and the Pacific. Will Power is doing his bit for the war effort with a troupe of incompetent actors, the Power Players, who are bringing culture to rural Australia. The Power Players propose to perform Titus Andronicus in a local hall, but before they set foot on the stage, a young woman goes missing and is found dead in the town's water supply. Will seems to have been one of the last to see her alive and becomes the prime suspect. There is delightful humour in this story as well as a series of horrifying crime. Will Power is not only an inept actor but an inept investigator.
Ian Moffit, DEAD ADDER DREAMING Tony Grant, part-Aboriginal Lawyer, is murdered on an outback station and his body moved to a meat locker beside the main station house. Where and why he was murdered seems to be something that the local police just can't work out. Ex-policeman and adoptive brother of Tony, Rod comesback to Alice Springs when their father asks for his help. Darren Williams, ANGEL ROCK After a week lost in the Australian outback, thirteen-year-old Tom Ferry makes his way back to Angel Rock. To the horror of everyone in the small town, he is alone. Exhausted and traumatized, he can't remember what happened to Flynn, his little brother. Shortly thereafter, another child of Angel Rock is found dead in Sydney, the apparent victim of suicide. But it is only with the arrival of Gibson, the investigating detective from Sydney, that the intertwining questions surrounding the fate of the two children, the silence of the townsfolk, and the mysteries of the land itself begin to unravel.
Bronwyn Parry, AS DARKNESS FALLS AS DARKNESS FALLS is set in the isolation of a small town on the edge of the New South Wales *outback*. Haunted by her failures, country police officer Detective Isabella O'Connell is recalled to duty by Detective Alec Goddard to investigate the abduction of yet another child from her home town. With the killer playing a game of cat and mouse and targeting Bella, they have only days in which to find the girl alive, but theyhave very few clues, a whole town of suspects, and a vast wilderness inwhich to search. For Bella, this case is already personal; for Alec with his best intentions to keep it purely professional soon dissolve. He starts off thinking of the missing child as if she were his own, and his anguish over Bella's safety moves beyond than just concern for a colleague. Their mutual attraction leaves them both vulnerable to theirprivate nightmares - nightmares that the killer ruthlessly exploits.
A.E. Martin, SINNERS NEVER DIE The time is the mid 1890s. The setting, a small outback town. Harry Ford, the postmaster, is opening other people's mail. They say nothing happens in small towns, but there's plenty to set tongues wagging in this neighbourhood of sinners; adultery, blackmail, disappearances, poisonings. And then the Great Boldini comes to town.
Clare McNabb, DEATH UNDERSTOOD When a brutal murder threatens national security, Intelligence Agent Denise Cleever must follow the bloody trail deep into the Australian outback.
S. H. Courtiev, ONE CRIED MURDER The scene of this novel is the remote interior desert of Australia; the characters' assorted anthropologists, interested dilettantes and hangers-on, and local denizens of both sexes. The problem isn't how, when the scientific expedition was supposed to uncover aboriginal remains, did a twenty-five-year-old skeleton of a modern white man turn up?
Philip McLaren, SWEET WATER, STOLEN LAND Sweet Water Stolen Land is intriguing. Completely fictional with elements of true history interwoven, the book delves immediately into the issues of black resettlement and the church's involvement in removing Indigenous people from their traditional lands for the purposes of rural development.
Patricia Carlon, PRICE OF AN ORPHAN Johnnie is a nine-year old city orphan (his mother is dead, his father in prison). He has recently been placed with Stuart and Kay Heath, a childless couple who live in the Australian outback on a cattle station which Stuart manages for its wealthy owner. Hoping for a "real" boy, they are bitterly disappointed. Johnnie is not quite the foster child they had in mind: he is "cheeky and lazy, cowardly and stubborn." So when he claims to have witnessed a murder they remind him of the boy who cried wolf. But then Johnnie and Kay are invited on a camping trip. A special treat to give Johnnie another chance to adjust to life in the outback? Or a cunning trap by a ruthless killer?
Robert Barnard, DEATH OF AN OLD GOAT The very elderly Professor Belville-Smith from Oxford is contributing to the education of antipodean students of English with a lecture tour to Australia. Basically he is delivering the same lectures for which he gained a reputation 50 years ago. However someone at Drummondale, an outback New South Wales university town obviously doesn't like him and he ends up dead in his motel room with his throat cut from ear to ear. Local police inspector Royle has to interrupt his weekly schedule of local cuckolding to investigate the death. This was Barnard's first novel and apparently based on a sojourn he had in Australia. It is semi-satirical and contains some very unkind observations about Australian life in general.
Phillip Gwynne, THE BUILD-UP For Detective Dusty Buchanon, a female cop in the very male world of the Northern Territory Police Force, it always pays to expect the unexpected.When the body of a young Thai prostitute is found in a billabong near a camp of disaffected Vietnam Veterans, Dusty knows this is what she’s been looking for — a spectacular case to get her back on top after the debacle of an infamous British backpacker murder trial that almost destroyed her career.But when the body disappears and her colleagues turn against her, Dusty gets help from an unlikely source: a handsome German bird-watcher holidaying in the Northern Territory, who just happens to be a cop.And soon, the case becomes much more than just another step on her career ladder…
Acknowledgements I am indebted to members of oz_mystery_readers for their help in compiling this posting and I have incorporated a large number of their crime fiction suggestions, leaving the true crime titles for another day.
If you want more then you need look no further than the wonderful Australian Crime Fiction - just search there and ye shall finde. Here is quick search link: Outback Australia
The Carnival of Criminal Minds is the creation of Barbara Fister. Links to all the posts can be found here. In about a fortnight's time the Carnival will be travelling to Illinois to Julia Buckley's Mysterious Musings for a repeat visit.
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.
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
