Review: NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH, Lauren Williams

• 
  This edition read as an e-book through my local library on BorrowBox
• Publisher: Affirm Press (June 30, 2026)
  
• Length: 384 pages
• ISBN13: 9781761637230

 Synopsis (publisher)

The annual Curlew Street scarecrow competition is back, and the residents of Melbourne’s inner north have never seen an entry like it. Shirt bloody, head and arms slumped over a scarecrow crucifix: Victoria’s most conservative Supreme Court Judge, Harry ‘The Pope’ Somerton, is dead.

Priyanka Pal, a former psychologist turned homicide detective, is disturbed when her investigation uncovers corruption close to home. Forced to confront the abuses of powerful men – the very reason she left psychology – Priyanka’s faith in the justice system falters. 

Emma Bloom is sophisticated, intelligent, and seems to have it all together. But her prickly, estranged sister, Margot, knows the truth. Their attempts at reconciliation spiral into crisis with the death of Emma’s abusive husband, The Pope.

As secrets unravel and Priyanka’s investigation cuts close to home, the sisters risk losing what fragile family ties they have left, and Priyanka’s career is on the edge. None of them will ever feel the same way about themselves (or their neighbours) again. 

P.S. Mind the cat.

My Take

 A thoroughly intriguing first novel, lots to keep the reader busy.  A very different read. 

A very unpopular Supreme Court Judge is found dead in the front yard of a Melbourne suburban house, part of a Scarecrow competition display. But it is not immediately obvious who was responsible for his murder: someone who had suffered at his hands, or an immediate member of his family, like his wife who was a victim of his abuse? 

The story explores family relationships and community links, as well as police corruption. Highly recommended. 

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Before turning to fiction, Lauren worked as a lawyer, diplomat, actor, arts journalist and museum communications manager (not all at once). This is her first novel

Review: 29 SECONDS, T. M. Logan

• 
   this edition read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
  
• ISBN:9781785770807
• Publisher:Bonnier, Pub Date:28 Mar 2018
• Page Extent:320 

Synopsis (overdrive)

From T.M. Logan, the bestselling author of Lies, comes 29 Seconds, a sensational new thriller that explores what happens when a split second thought of revenge takes on a life of its own.

"Give me one name. One person. And I will make them disappear."

Sarah is a young professor struggling to prove herself in a workplace controlled by the charming and manipulative Alan Hawthorne. A renowned scholar and television host, Hawthorne rakes in million-dollar grants for the university where Sarah works — so his inappropriate treatment of female colleagues behind closed doors has gone unchallenged for years. And Sarah is his newest target.

When Hawthorne's advances become threatening, Sarah is left with nowhere to turn. Until the night she witnesses an attempted kidnapping of a young child on her drive home, and impulsively jumps in to intervene. The child's father turns out to be a successful businessman with dangerous connections—and her act of bravery has put this powerful man in her debt. 

He gives Sarah a burner phone and an unbelievable offer. A once-in-a-lifetime deal that can make all her problems disappear.
No consequences. No traces. All it takes is a 29-second phone call.
Because everyone has a name to give. Don't they?

My Take

This certainly is a gripping read.

Here is a puzzle for you though. In the version I read the Professor's name is Lovelock. I think there is a NetFlix adaptation of the story that changes his name to Hawthorne.

The central theme is the way the professor uses sexual abuse to control women who work as lecturers but are on short term contracts. The Professor uses their need for security of employment to extract sexual favours from them. When he refuses to give her an extension to permanency, Sarah, whose husband has recently left her, is at her wit's end. She is lucky to have a supportive father and friends but that is not enough.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

• 4.8, THE CURFEW
• 4.5, THE HOLIDAY 

Review: THE HIGHLAND DEAD, Morag Pringle

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle 
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CWKDWBG2
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Storm Publishing. Publication date ‏ : ‎ 21 June 2024
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 340 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1805083603
• Book 2 of 3 ‏ : ‎ A Rachel McKenzie Mystery 

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

The death of a school friend forces Rachel McKenzie to confront a remorseless killer in her Highland hometown…

Rachel is no stranger to the darkness in the hearts of men. When the body of a young woman is found, tragically killed in her own home, Rachel is devastated to discover she knew the victim. Gillian helped her when she was at her lowest; now Rachel vows to find her friend’s murderer.

When the killer strikes again, frighteningly close to home, Rachel sees a chilling pattern to his victims. As she races to decipher the clues, she unravels a twisted plan years in the making. And when a young girl is taken, Rachel knows it’s reaching its terrible conclusion. As the clock counts down, how far can she push herself to stop this ruthless killer in his tracks?

My Take

For me this title didn't quite live up to the promise of the first in the series THE LIAR'S BONES

Rachel McKenzie is a procurator fiscal in Inverness. She finds a link between the death of a former friend and other deaths of young women, and then calls in favours from contacts in the police force. I guess my main criticism of the plot is that the solution of the mystery comes out of a case that the reader does not hear about until half way through the story.

There is further development in the story of the murder of Rachel's mother years earlier, and it looks as if we might finally get the truth in the third book in the series.   

My rating: 4.4

I've already read

4.5, THE LIAR'S BONES - #1   

Review: THE LIAR'S BONES, Morag Pringle

• 
  This edition read on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CY5BVT9Q
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Storm Publishing, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 20 May 2024
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1805083122
• Book 1 of 3 ‏ : ‎ A Rachel McKenzie Mystery

 Synopsis (AmazonAU)

A murder on an isolated Scottish island brings investigator Rachel McKenzie face-to-face with a terrible secret from the past…

Rachel McKenzie has trust issues. It’s only natural, being the daughter of a killer. When she hears about a woman drowned in suspicious circumstances on the windswept island where her estranged family lives, Rachel is driven to look deeper.

The tight-lipped local sergeant wants Rachel off his island and out of his investigation. But Rachel’s presence is stirring old ghosts and new, and when she makes the connection between the drowned woman and a decades-old murder, she’s stepped right into the sights of a killer who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets safe…

My Take

A promising start to a new series, with a likeable central sleuth, a procurator fiscal with an intriguing past, someone who is willing to go with their instincts, and all the elements you expect from an engaging Scottish mystery: isolation, a storm, and a body or two.

My rating: 4.5

About the Author
Although I have been writing for several years and have had nineteen medical romances and four historical novels published, I have always wanted to write crime. The Liar's Bones is the first. Chunks of my life have inevitably found their way into all my books: jobs - temporary and permanent, places I have visited and lived, stories in the press that have caught my interest people passed on the street or served in a bar. Ultimately however my stories are the product of my imagination.I currently live in Glasgow with my husband. Five interesting facts about me that not everyone knows (and that may have crept into my books): I went to school in South Africa and speak Afrikaans. I spent seven months in the frozen north of Canada where temperatures could plummet as low as -40c. My parents were native Gaelic speakers: my father was a nuclear scientist, my mother a midwife and Health Visitor, or a 'Green lady' as they were known in Glasgow. My mother and her parents and three siblings lived alone on an otherwise uninhabited island for four years. My first job was creating information boards for archaeological sites across Uist in the Outer Hebrides.  

Review: THE BASKETCASE, Tim Sullivan

• 
  This edition read on my Kindle
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FNWV6DQ7
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Head of Zeus -- an Aries Book, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 4 December 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 47 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1804545690  

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

Three go up. Two come down...

Detective George Cross receives a very bizarre call from a distressed family after their picnic was horribly interrupted. Just as they were about to tuck into their sandwiches, a human arm landed unceremoniously next to them. Soon, another limb followed.

As they looked up, they were horrified to see a decaying, disarticulating body perched at the top of a very tall tree.

DS George Cross is an exceptional detective but it doesn't take a genius to work out what needs answering first:

How on earth did it get up there?

Discover why everyone loves George Cross in this puzzling short story that can be read as a standalone mystery within the bestselling series. 

My Take

A quick reminder of how good these stories are.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.5, THE DENTIST- #1

4.6, THE CYCLIST - #2

4.6, THE PATIENT - #3

4.6, THE POLITICIAN -#4

4.5, THE MONK - #5

4.7, THE TEACHER - #6 

4.6, THE BOOKSELLER - #7

Review: THE CURFEW, T. M. Logan

• 
  this title read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
  
• Publisher: Bonnier Books UK, Release 17 March 2022 
• ISBN     9781838776718 

Synopsis (Overdrive)

Your son said he was home. WHY DID HE LIE?

The utterly gripping up-all-night thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mother, The Dream Home and The Holiday

The curfew
Andy and Laura are good parents. They tell their son Connor that he can go out with friends to celebrate completing his exams, but he must be home by midnight.

The lie
When Connor misses his curfew, it sets off a series of events that will change the lives of five families forever. 

The truth?
Because five teenagers went into the woods that night, but only four came out. And telling the truth might mean losing everything...

WHAT WOULD YOU DO? 

My Take

This is the second novel I have read by this author, but it won't be the last. 

The story kept me involved (and guessing) right to the very end. It truly was heart in the mouth stuff, and I found myself taking sides! 

My rating: 4.8

I have read

4.5, THE HOLIDAY   

About the author

T.M. Logan is a Sunday Times bestseller whose thrillers have sold more than 1 million copies in the UK and are published in 18 countries around the world. The Holiday was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and will soon be a major TV drama. Formerly a national newspaper journalist, he now writes full time and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children. Follow him on Twitter @TMLoganAuthor

Review: THE IMPOSSIBLE THING, Belinda Bauer

• 
  this edition read as an e-book on BorrowBox through my local library
  
• Published: 9 June 2026, Penguin
• ISBN: 9781804997888
• Pages: 416 
• Awards
  2026 Barry Award for Best Novel (nominee)
  2026 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (longlist) 

Synopsis (Penguin)

What could be so important that even a child will risk her life for it?

On a summer’s evening in 1926, six-year-old Celie Shepherd is hungry and desperate and not where a six-year-old should be. Instead she is dangling from a cliff, far above the sea, reaching out to pocket an impossibly beautiful thing.

This bold theft will change the course of Celie’s life, and the lives of others.

One hundred years later, a house is ransacked. The only thing missing: a dusty case containing that same impossible thing.

What could conceivably be so important that it is stolen again and again (and perhaps yet again . . . )?

So begins this extraordinary mystery from award-winning Belinda Bauer.

A taut, wonderfully imagined novel brimming with skulduggery at every turn, The Impossible Thing is a blazing testament to Belinda Bauer’s status as one of our greatest living crime writers.  

My Take

This novel combines the historical with crime. The historic theme is one that most readers would not be familiar with: the trade in bird's eggs in the 20th century, now outlawed in the 21st.  The fact that some eggs were so highly prized because of their size and their colour and because they were so difficult to get to. 

 In 1926, a young girl named Celie finds an "impossible" rare scarlet/red guillemot egg on the Yorkshire cliffs. A century later, Patrick Fort (the neurodivergent protagonist returning from Bauer's previous novel Rubbernecker) and his friend Nick set out to track down the historical red egg after Nick's home is ransacked and the artifact is stolen.

An intriguing and entertaining read. 

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

5.0, BLACKLANDS
4.8, THE SHUT EYE
4.8, SNAP