Review: PAST CARING, Robert Goddard

• 
  This edition read on my Kindle as an e-book (AmazonAU)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08JMFFCYL
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Joffe Books crime thriller and mystery, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 20 September 2020
• first published 1986
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 530 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1789313178  

 Synopsis (AmazonAU)
A BEST-SELLING NOVEL WHICH WILL HAVE YOU UTTERLY ENTRANCED TILL ITS THRILLING CLIMAX.

At a luxurious villa on the sun-soaked island of Madeira, unemployed historian Martin Radford is given a second chance. Martin is shown the leather-bound journal of another ruined man, former British cabinet minister Edwin Strafford.

Martin is offered a job—to return to England and investigate the rise and fall of Strafford, an ambitious young politician whose downfall, in 1910, is as mysterious as the strange deaths that still haunt his family.

Martin is intrigued. Strafford resigned at the height of his career, disappearing from the public eye. The woman he loved, for whom he was willing to sacrifice everything, suddenly and coldly rejected him. All the reasons for his fall from grace are shrouded in darkness.

Martin’s investigations trigger a violent series of events, throwing him straight into the path of those who believed they had escaped punishment for crimes long past but never paid for . . . And Martin himself may find that he must risk his life to discover the truth.

DON’T MISS THIS ABSOLUTELY BEGUILING TALE WEAVING PAST AND PRESENT. ONE OF THOSE BOOKS YOU JUST CAN'T PUT DOWN.

My Take

This is a very solid and intricate read, covering a period of over 50 years, almost a family saga. There are several unexpected twists in the plot, several murders, and a number of truly evil and unprincipled characters.

In some ways it is a style of novel that we rarely see these days, recalling historical events, although swathes of history are dealt with cursorily. 

My rating: 4.4

I've also reviewed

 NAME TO A FACE

4.5, LONG TIME COMING

4.4, FAULT LINE

4.3, BORROWED TIME

4.0, ONE FALSE MOVE

4.5, THE FINE ART OF INVISIBLE DETECTION

Review: THE TAILOR, Tim Sullivan

• 
  this edition read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
  
• Series: DS Cross Mystery #8
• Publisher: Grove Atlantic, Release 11 August 2026 

 Synopsis (publisher)

Measure twice. Cut once.

Detective Sergeant George Cross is nothing if not precise. When a man is found dead in the first-class toilet of a train—his throat cut, a plastic bag over his head—the grisly scene shocks his fellow officers. Cross registers every detail, but it's not the blood that interests him. It's the victim's exquisite suit.

The dead man is a tailor by the name of Billy Titcomb, trusted by clients around the world for his meticulousness and discretion. Who would want a tailor dead? 

With his new partner, DC Alice Mackenzie, Cross starts pulling at the threads. There's a widow grieving in peculiar ways. A dead scientist whose suicide doesn't add up. And two South Korean tourists with embassy connections who keep showing up in places they shouldn't. The deeper Cross digs, the less this looks like a simple murder, and the more it looks like a professional operation.

DS Cross has the highest conviction rate in the force. But in the world of spies and state secrets, the rules are different—and for the first time, the people trying to stop him may be on his own side. Can Cross stitch it all together before the case unravels him?

My Take

Another challenging case for DS George Cross. His former partner has been promoted and so he has to learn to work with someone else, or rather, she has to learn to work with him.

In addition his parents have recently moved in together and things are not going all that well.

Woven through the story are the elements of humor that we have come to expect. 

For the first time George himself is in danger, abducted, a new experience for him. 

My rating: 4.5

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

4.6, THE BASKETCASE 

Review: BLOOD WATER FALLS, T. G. Reid

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B098JYHLW6
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Glass Work Press Ltd, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 29 November 2021
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 389 pages
• Book 2 of 10 ‏ : ‎ DCI Bone Scottish Crime Thrillers  

 Synopsis (AmazonAU)

A TEACHER IS FOUND DEAD AT BLOOD WATER FALLS.
Nailed to the rockface. Behind the waterfall.
In a town where everyone knows everything. And nobody's talking.

For DCI Duncan Bone, it looks straightforward. A murder in a small community — someone always talks. Someone always knows.

But the forensic evidence doesn't fit. The timeline doesn't fit. And the community has closed ranks. Nobody is talking.

Small towns keep their secrets buried deep. This one has been waiting years for someone to dig.

My Take

Another gripping read. The characters in DCI Duncan Bone's team are being fleshed out nicely and their personalities add to the story.

Bone is still haunted with PTSD from his earlier case, but his trauma is heightened by the collapse of his marriage and the fact that his wife regards his career as a threat to his small son's safety. The killer compounds this by setting fire to Bone's house.  

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.5, DARK IS THE GRAVE - #1

Review: DARK IS THE GRAVE, T.G. Reid

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B096MN4WRX
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Glass Work Press Ltd, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 July 2021
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 319 pages
• Book 1 of 10 ‏ : ‎ DCI Bone Scottish Crime Thrillers  

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

A POLICE OFFICER IS BURIED ALIVE. JUST LIKE BEFORE.
But the killer has been dead for years.
So who knows how he killed?

DCI Duncan Bone nearly died stopping the Peek-a-boo killer. It cost him everything — his health, his career, his mind.

Now someone is hunting police officers again. The latest victim was found six feet under with dirt in his lungs. Same method. Same ritual. Details that were never made public.

Bone is dragged back to lead the hunt. But every answer he finds connects back to the original case — and to things only the dead man should have known.

The original case nearly broke him. This one might finish the job.

My Take

This one really hit the spot. The beginning of a series too. I can feel addiction coming on.

DCI Bone is haunted by a killer who is long dead but has left him with nightmares. And now it is happening again. Bone has been on extended leave but his old boss persuades him to return to work to lead the team as he is the one who knows the past cases really well. His counsellors say he should be ready. But is he?

And the copy-cat killer has decided to target Bone.

This author does tension very well. 

My rating: 4.5

About the author

TG Reid (aka Tom Gillespie) is a Scottish-born novel and short story writer. His award-winning novels and stories been published worldwide. TG Reid also writes critically acclaimed, award-winning, dark literary thrillers under the pen name of Tom Gillespie.The DCI Bone series is set in Tom's hometown, among the hills and glens of the Scottish Campsie Fells. This is Tom's first foray into the murky, pulse-pounding world of police thrillers.

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  

Review: THE PEAK, Sam Guthrie

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Borrow Box through my local library
  
• Imprint: HarperCollins
• ISBN: 9781460718384
• Pages: 352
• Publication Date: 2nd July 2025
• Shortlisted for the John Creasey First Novel Dagger 2026
• Shortlisted for Best Debut Fiction, Ned Kelly Awards 2026  

Synopsis (publisher)

A nailbiting and unputdownable read, The Peak is a powerfully taut, gripping and fast-moving international thriller that weaves a story of friendship, love and betrayal together with the ruthless geopolitics of China's rise, set in the last 24 hours of the world as we know it.

'Now I'll tell you what happened, as best I can. No spin. No agenda. If I get something wrong, it's not because I'm being evasive. It's simply because I'm still trying to understand what happened today ... It's to explain, as best I can, what Sebastian has done, and why tomorrow when you wake up, it will be the end of the world.'

Political hatchet man Charlie will do anything to protect Sebastian, government minister and his best friend since their brutal private school days. Rising to power and prominence through international diplomatic postings and then the rough and tumble of Australian politics, they are as close as brothers - or so Charlie thinks - while both keep the secret that lies at the very heart of their relationship - a secret that in one way or another will change the world.

But then a single phrase in Mandarin is spoken in Sebastian's ear and he does the unthinkable. As Charlie tries to piece it all together - from their youth spent in Hong Kong to the recent past in Beijing and Washington - things in the outside world start to fall apart too. Planes can't land, the phone lines go down and the power is out. Then the secret intelligence services comes knocking. Charlie wonders, what the hell did Sebastian do?

From the jostling streets of Hong Kong to Beijing's shadowy halls of power and the backstabbing Machiavellian workings of Parliament House in Canberra, The Peak is a powerful, propulsive and nailbitingly tense international thriller. Written with an extraordinary insider knowledge of China, the realities of global power and the inner dealings of the Australian Government, The Peak has the authenticity and moral complexity of a Le Carre novel and the narrative power of an Australian Robert Harris.

My Take

A political thriller, not really my genre of choice, but nevertheless an impressive and thought provoking piece of work. It uses a background of Australian/Chinese relationships, in particular those between a Chinese operative and Sebastian, who over a period of years holds a range of consular positions, and is manipulated through his love for a Chinese woman.

A bit of a slap in the face for those who think that on the world stage Australia does not matter. 

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Sam Guthrie writes international political thrillers based on his experience working at the nexus of business, politics, and international diplomacy. His character-driven fiction explores the human desires and frailties that shape world-altering events, drawing on an insider's knowledge of the machinations of power, political intrigue, and the geostrategic challenges confronting the global order.

Prior to publishing his first novel, The Peak, Sam had a twenty-five-year career in international relations serving as a trade envoy to China, an Asia Pacific corporate affairs adviser and political lobbyist and a senior government official. He has worked extensively across Europe, the US and Asia, and has spent close to a decade living and working in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Prague. He has a master's degree in international relations. He splits his time between Canberra and Sydney.  

Review: THE BLUFF, Joanna Jenkins

• 
  This edition made available to me by my local library as an e-book on Libby
• ISBN 9781761470646
  
• Publisher Allen & Unwin, 4 March 2025
• #2 in Ruth Dawson series

Synopsis (publisher) 

From the bestselling author of How to Kill a Client comes a page-turning rural thriller of loyalties and lies, murder and greed.

People like Dash didn't die. He was only what? Mid-thirties? Well off. Adored. By some anyway. World at his feet. Well, Myddle at his feet, which was his world.

Ruth Dawson has taken a break from big city law to fill in for a few months for an old mate in Myddle. How hard can it be? she thinks. Turns out, very hard.

So when Ruth hears the front door of her office open, she's expecting a weird demand, or a question she doesn't know the answer to... but it's Bea Baulderstone's mum, worried that she hasn't seen her seventeen-year-old daughter for five days, and Constable Gazza Parker is refusing to report the girl missing. Easily fixed, thinks Ruth, and heads off down Myddle's main street to charm Gazza into action.

But Victoria Baulderstone was right: Gazza doesn't care. That is until Dash Rogers is found at his farm gate, dead from a gunshot wound, and suddenly the town is very interested in Bea's whereabouts.

And it's not just Bea who can't be found. Dash's wife Evie is AWOL too.

Then Troy, Evie's protégé and Bea's only friend, also smoke-bombs.

An unputdownable thriller of deception and greed, The Bluff reveals an enmeshed web of family and community loyalties, set in the lush rural hinterland of east coast Australia. 

My Take

This story presents in a challenging fashion with multiple points of View (labelled) and a carefully structured timeline (also labelled), revealing the chronology of events in the manner of a jigsaw puzzle.

The second in the Ruth Dawson series, and Ruth is required to protect vulnerable young people against a charge of murder. She is holding fort for a colleague on sabbatical in the rural town of Myddle. His practice encompasses all aspects of the law rather than the corporate law that Ruth is accustomed to. Myddle is the town that Roscoe, her former boss and partner has retreated to after the collapse of their law firm in the first novel in this series.

A very engaging novel. 

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

4.5, HOW TO KILL A CLIENT - #1

4.7, BAD NEIGHBOURS - #3 

Review: THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition read on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0046RE5H2
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 14 October 2010
• Originally published 1952, THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS (aka MURDER WITH MIRRORS) -Miss Marple
• Book 6 of 12 
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 227 pages
• The foreword says that the original publication was used as the basis of this e-copy. I note here that it was appallingly produced, with passages repeated, and an incredible number of typos.

Synopsis  (AmazonAU)

A shocking crime
A mansion filled with suspects

Ruth Van Rydock can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is going to happen to her sister at Stonygates house.

Her old school friend Jane Marple decides it’s time to pay a visit.

But this grand Victorian mansion isn’t just a family home – it’s also a correctional facility for wayward young men.

And when something terrible does indeed happen, Miss Marple must face her most eccentric cast of suspects yet.

Never underestimate Miss Marple

From the Back Cover

Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in a Victorian mansion which doubles as a rehabilitation centre for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when a youth fires a revolver at the administrator, Lewis Serrocold. Neither is injured. But a mysterious visitor, Mr Gulbrandsen, is less fortunate – shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building.

Pure coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and vows to discover the real reason for Mr Gulbrandsen's visit.

Agatha Christie does it all with suspense in this intricately plotted mystery.

My Take

It is 14 years since I last read this title as part of Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and now I am re-reading it as part of this year's selection for my U3A Agatha Christie Reading group. After we meet to discuss the book we will watch the ITV production.

I think the group will find a number of things to discuss.
Among them:

• The setting - how does Christie establish this? What comments does she make about how the world has changed?
• What would Lewis Serracold like to establish? What do you think of his idea of "transportation"?
• What does the title of the book mean? Was it a phrase you were familiar with?
• How do the police treat Miss Marple?
• What does Miss Marple mean when she says the sitting room is like a "stage"?
• Are there too many red herrings? Too many characters?
• What "facts" are untrue?
• Why did Gulbrandsen come to Stonygates? Why was he killed and who killed him? How did he ensure his own murder?
• Was justice done? 

My rating: 4.4

My earlier review

Handy Wikipedia summary 

All my Agatha Christie reads.  

Review: THE WATER'S EDGE, Karin Fossum

• 
  This title made available as an e-book by my local library on Libby
  
• #8 in the Inspector Sejer series
• Published in 2009 by Random House
• Translated into English from Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund 

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)
A married couple, Reinhardt and Kristine Ris, are out for a Sunday walk when they discover the body of a boy and see the figure of a man limping away. They alert the police, but not before Reinhardt, to Kristine's horror, kneels down and takes photographs of the dead child with his cell phone. 

Inspectors Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre begin to make inquiries in the little town of Solberglia. But then another boy disappears, and an explanation seems more remote than ever. Meanwhile, the Ris's marriage starts to unravel as Reinhardt becomes obsessed with the tragic events and his own part in them.  

My Take

It is nearly 10 years since I have read a book by this author and I had forgotten how good they are. It was almost meeting up again with old friends.

Karin Fossum is a Norwegian author and her novels owe a lot to the atmospheric setting. In many ways the novels are police procedurals but they also are related to themes of modern times: in this case paedophilia, and what leads some men to target children. Sejer and Skarr are methodical and sensitive. In a side-theme Kristine Ris is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man she has come to both fear and hate.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

• BLACK SECONDS
• BROKEN
• THE WATER'S EDGE
• 4.9, BAD INTENTIONS
• 5.0, THE CALLER
• 4.7, I CAN SEE IN THE DARK
• 5.0, THE DROWNED BOY
• 4.7, HELLFIRE

Review: SOFTLY CALLS THE DEVIL, Chris Blake

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
  
• Publisher: Bonnier Books UK, 352 pages
• Release date: November 4, 2025
• Formats: OverDrive Read
• ISBN: 9781786585417 

Synopsis (publisher) 

Things are going well for Matt Buchanan. After some hard times, life is peaceful as sole-charge constable for the small, isolated settlement of Haast on New Zealand's wild West Coast. He's made friends among the locals, won their trust. He keeps their little world safe. And he's working in spectacular surroundings - the fierce Tasman Sea, the dense beech forest, the dark, cold swamps, the snowy Southern Alps.

But then his much-loved predecessor, Gus, is discovered beside a river with a bullet through his head. He'd been looking into a disturbing murder-suicide from 1978: the parents' bodies were found, but not their daughter's. Suspecting a darker truth, Matt is certain the answers can't be too far away in this close-knit community. 

How does former forest service ranger Liam, with his gang links, fit into the story? What about Joe, the alcoholic hermit whose knowledge and intelligence seem so at odds with his appearance and lifestyle?

Tensions rise, there are more deaths, people are threatened, memories surface of a cult that went horribly wrong ... Even when support arrives, Matt finds himself pursuing a case that's well outside his remit and is taking him to places he'd sooner not revisit. Also part of an increasingly terrifying situation are an over-curious journalist and a woman who could be someone special.

Matt has managed to shun his own demons, and is desperate not to face them again, but when confronted by the devil himself, he must take action, rediscover something of the person he was - for his own sake and to save those he loves.
This is the work of an award-winning master storyteller. Fast-moving, spare, compelling and rich in laconic humour, Softly Calls the Devil will grab you from the first page and refuse to let go. 

My Take

This is basically a police procedural with a distinctive rural New Zealand flavour. Matt Buchanan has been a metropolitan CIB detective but is now a sole-charge constable in an isolated rural community. 

His predecessor has been found dead and Matt discovers the case he was looking into was a cold case from 25 years earlier: a murder suicide where a young girl went missing and was never found. The case appears to have been linked to a nearby hippy community but the police investigation got nowhere.

The rural setting and the time frame of the original case provide tantalising elements which reach out into the present.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Chris Blake was born and raised in Auckland. He served briefly in the New Zealand Army's Reserve Force before joining the New Zealand Police in 2006.

His debut novel, The Sound of Her Voice (published under the pseudonym Nathan Blackwell), was a double finalist in the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards for best novel and best first novel. Chris was an assistant storyboarder for season two of the crime drama television series, The Gulf, released in 2021.

Review: DARK DESERT ROAD, Tim Ayliffe

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
  
• Pub Date: 6 January 2026, Echo Publishing Australia
• Extent: 400 pages
• Ebook ISBN: 9781786587220 

 Synopsis (publisher)

A fugitive sister. A dangerous father. A terror cell hiding in plain sight.

Kit McCarthy hasn't seen her identical twin sister, Billie, in more than a decade.

The sisters don't see eye to eye, which is understandable, considering Kit's a police officer and Billie followed their violent father into a life of crime.

Kit is no angel. Burnt out by years working in child protection, she has been accused of using excessive force in the arrest of a violent drunk. Kit has just been ordered to take time off work when she gets a frantic message from Billie, telling her she has a young son and that somebody is trying to kill her.

And then Billie disappears.

Determined to find her estranged sister, Kit's only lead comes after visiting their father in prison. Malcolm McCarthy claims Billie married a former United States Marine and has been living with a group of sovereign citizens in the desert country of the New South Wales Riverina.

Kit's journey to find Billie takes her through shuttered towns destroyed by drought, where everybody owns guns, nobody talks to cops, and people get lost for a reason.

Out here a war is brewing between a ruthless bikie gang and a separatist community that is re-engaging with society in the most violent way.

Kit will risk everything to find her sister and the nephew she never knew she had.

But does Billie really want to be saved?

My Take

A very confronting story, revealing to the reader a section of the Australian population that I am not familiar with.

Issues: extremism, sovereign citizens, social fracture, anti-government conspiracies. 

Tightly plotted. Most of the characters you would hope never to meet. It felt very credible. An author I have never read before.

My rating: 4.7

About the author

Tim Ayliffe is an award-winning author whose thriller novels have been informed by his 25-year global career as a journalist. He writes about crime, espionage, extremism and the global power games at play in the 21st Century. He has been the Managing Editor of Television and Video for ABC News and also Executive Producer of News Breakfast. He is the author of the ‘John Bailey’ series including The Greater Good, State of Fear, The Enemy Within, Killer Traitor Spy – which won the People’s Choice Award at the 2024 Danger Awards – and The Wrong Man. Tim's thrillers are also in development for TV. He lives in Sydney.  

REview: WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition read as an e-book
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0046A9MZO (AmazonAU)
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 14 October 2010
• Originally published 1934, (aka THE BOOMERANG CLUE)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 305 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0007422906 
• my earlier review 

 Synopsis (AmazonAU)

 When a man plunges down a cliff, two adventurous young friends decide to find his killer…

While playing an erratic round of golf, Bobby Jones slices his ball over the edge of a cliff. His ball is lost, but on the rocks below he finds the crumpled body of a dying man. With his final breath the man opens his eyes and says, ‘Why didn’t they ask Evans?’

Haunted by these words, Bobby and his vivacious companion, Frankie, set out to solve a mystery that will bring them into mortal danger…

My Take

 I have read this story for the umpteenth time for discussion with my U3A Agatha Christie discussion group.  I think I covered the main discussion points in my earlier review on this blog which I posted over 15 years ago.

The story has a large cast of characters and the plot gets quite complicated and messy.

The Wikipedia account is helpful. 

Here are the discussion points which I intend to raise:

• the rather obvious class differences between the characters
• the fact that both Bobby and Frankie are rather gullible in the way they react to other characters
• and the fact that eventually they owe their lives to the person they both have a pretty low opinion of.
• the romantic element - more than one romance.
• the irony that the character "Evans" is actually a person that Bobby should have thought of first (although, to be fair, she had changed her name) 
• what was the motive for the murder? 
• What did you think of the murderer getting away with it? Was justice done?
• When the book was first published what would readers have liked or not liked? 

After our discussion we  will watch a television version which introduced Miss Marple (portrayed by Julia McKenzie) into the story. 

My rating: 4.4 

All my Agatha Christie reviews.  

Review: PAPER CAGE, Tom Baragwanath

• 
  This edition an e-book from Borrowbox through my local library
  
• Published 30 August 2022, Text Publishing
• ISBN 9781922791023
• Extent 320pp 

 Synopsis (publisher)

Winner of the 2021 Michael Gifkins Prize, this thrilling debut unravels a series of mysterious child abductions in a small New Zealand town.

Masterton isn’t a big town. The community’s tight, if not always harmonious. So when a child goes missing it’s a big deal for everyone. And when a second kid disappears, the whole town’s holding their own children that little bit tighter.

Lorraine doesn’t have kids, but she has a nephew. She’s holding him a bit tighter, too, because she works for the police, and she knows they don’t have any idea.

Lo’s not a cop, she’s a records clerk. She sits out back among the piles of paper, making connections, remembering things. Working things out that the actual cops don’t want to hear about.

Until the new investigator, Hayes, arrives from Wellington, and realises Lo’s the only person there with answers to any of his questions. Which is just as well—because the clock is running down for the children of the town.

Both a nail-biting thriller and a beautifully written, acutely observed portrait of a community, Paper Cage is the prize-winning debut from young New Zealand novelist Tom Baragwanath.

My Take

Always difficult to write crime fiction set in your home town.  The community is concerned with the disappearance of three children and Lorraine knows the clock is ticking. 

Themes covered: low socio-economic effects, simmering race relations, gang-related violence and drug and alcohol-fuelled suburban culture. The abducted children are from fragmented families and haven't had the best start in life, but they are loved. Their families are bewildered by what has happened, and the police seem to think their abduction is the result of gang warfare. 

Sections of the story are narrated by different points of view, and the style and the language, particularly local idioms, were at times a challenge for the reader.

Lucky Thing by Tom Baragwanath (Text Publishing) is on the longlist for best novel 2026  Ngaio Marsh Awards.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Tom Baragwanath is originally from Masterton, New Zealand, and now lives in Paris with his young family. His first novel, Paper Cage, was published by Text to international acclaim. 

Review: EVIL IN HIGH PLACES, Rory Clements

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on BorrowBox through my local library 
  
• Published: 25 November 2025, by Viking Fiction
• ISBN: 9780241728178
•  Pages: 416  

Synopsis (Publisher)

THE CLOSER YOU GET, THE FURTHER YOU HAVE TO FALL.

Munich, 1936. All eyes are on the Bavarian capital for the upcoming Olympic games. As athletes fight for gold and the Nazis fight for power, Detective Sebastian Wolff faces a battle of his own.

A famous actress has disappeared and Wolff has been ordered to find her, fast. But Elena Lang is no ordinary film-star: she is the mistress of Joseph Goebbels - Hitler's right-hand-man in the party that Wolff despises.

But corruption runs deep in Munich and Elena is just the first to go missing. In a search that will take him from high society to the city's darkest corners, Wolff is about to learn just how easily the hunter becomes the hunted: this is a city on the brink of war, and some enemies are better left alone.

Walking the tightrope between justice and jeopardy, Evil in High Places is the gripping new historical thriller from the million-copy-bestseller, Rory Clements.

My Take

An excellent historical crime fiction set in 1936, Munich, in the lead up to and during the Olympics. Hitler has given orders that nothing is to detract from the image that Germany is attempting to display to the world of the success of Nazism: no violence, and particularly no crime  or murders.

So Detective Seb Wolff is faced with problems when first of all a famous actress goes missing, and then a body is discovered, brutally murdered in the nearby forest. His superiors re-iterate that no-one can learn of either events: nothing must contravene Hitler's orders.

There is a mixture of real and fictional characters, real and fictional events, but we come away with the feeling that we better understand how things were in 1936.

My rating: 4.8

About the author
Rory Clements writes full time in a quiet corner of Norfolk. He was raised all over the world while his father served in the Royal Navy, an experience that went on to inspire Rory's beloved historical thrillers.

Previously a journalist for various papers, he is now a Sunday Times bestselling author, two-time winner and three-time nominee of the CWA Historical Dagger Award. His books have sold over 1 million copies to date.