Review: MISTAKE CREEK, Rachel Amphlett

• 
  this edition a library book(large print) from my local library
  
• Saxon Publishing 2015
• ISBN 978-0-6483664-1-6
• 376 pages
• Author website 

Synopsis (author website)

One road out. Six strangers. And a killer who hasn’t finished yet.

Nina O'Brien returns to the remote Mistake Creek Truck Stop to settle her father’s affairs and sell the crumbling remains of her childhood home. She doesn't expect to be fighting for her life.

As a savage, drought-breaking storm lashes the Central Valley, triggering flash floods and landslides, Nina and a small group of travellers barricade themselves inside the truck stop’s walls, cut off from the rest of the world.

The phone lines are dead, the power is out, and the only road to safety is submerged.

The fragile sanctuary shatters when a bloodied, incoherent stranger collapses across the threshold. He brings more than just his injuries – he carries a chilling warning.

Don't trust anyone.

After the discovery of a murdered traveller and trapped with strangers who all have something to hide, Nina realises that the most dangerous element isn’t the storm – it could be the person standing right next to her.

On a night defined by suspicion and betrayal, Nina must outmanoeuvre a killer who is just getting started…

Street‑sharp crime thriller with pressure that never lets up and knife‑clean turns. Ideal for readers who want page‑turning suspense with a strong sense of place. Perfect for fans of Jack Gatland, Andrew Turpin and Jack Slater. 

My Take

Set in California, this story is a fast paced thriller, focussed on a plot to release a poison into the air breathed by citizens of a city, by disgruntled ex-soldiers. The execution of the plot takes place during a storm which brings flooding and the collapse of communications. FBI agents have infiltrated a cell of dissidents.

I see that the author has dual American and Australian citizenship and thought there were many Australian overtones in the writing (although there were no direct references to Australia). Very readable.

My rating: 4.6

About the author Author website 

Before turning to writing, USA Today bestselling crime author Rachel Amphlett played guitar in bands, worked as a TV and film extra, dabbled in radio as a presenter and freelance producer for the BBC, and worked in publishing as an editorial assistant.

USA Today bestselling crime author Rachel Amphlett has published over 40 titles featuring detectives, vigilantes and assassins. Her fast paced, gripping reads have readers hooked from page one, and are available from major retailers and libraries worldwide.

Rachel’s stories are available in eBook, print and audiobook formats from libraries and retailers as well as her own shop on this website.

A keen traveller and accidental private investigator, Rachel has both Australian and British citizenship. 

Review: THE WOLF, Samuel Bjork

• 
  This edition read on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BZV2P3QY
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Transworld Digital, 2 November 2023
• Charlotte Barslund (Translator) 
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 415 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781787636996
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529193039
• Book 4 of 5 ‏ : ‎ Holger Munch & Mia Kruger  

Synopsis  (AmazonAU)

It was one of Sweden's most notorious unsolved cases: two young boys abducted and murdered, their bodies brutally, artistically arranged.

But eight years later, when two other boys are found in similar circumstances, it looks like the killer might be back - this time in neighbouring Norway.

Led by veteran detective Holger Munch, the investigating police are baffled. There are no clues, no leads to follow. In desperation, Munch drafts in a trainee from the Police Academy, Mia Kruger, a young woman with an uncanny ability to see beyond the facts. Little does he know that Mia is battling her own demons and will soon find that her life and that of the case are entwined in ways no one could have imagined....

My Take

Although this novel is listed as #4 in the Munch & Kruger series, in chronological terms it is the first in which Mia Kruger makes an appearance. A lecturer at the Police Academy alerts Holger Munch to unusual nature of one of his trainees, Mia Kruger. Munch invites her to join his newly created homicide team even though she is only in her early 20s and has not completed her police training.

In her first case Mia takes on the role of a profiler, in a case where two 11 year old boys have been murdered and their bodies have been posed symbolically. Munch gives Mia a lot of latitude because she is obviously able to see patterns which most detectives miss. The novel is very complex and comes to a conclusion when another two 11 year old boys go missing. 

My rating: 4.7

I've also read  4.4, I'M TRAVELLING ALONE #1 

About the author
Samuel Bjork is the pen name of Norwegian novelist, playwright and singer/songwriter Frode Sander Øien. 

Series
Holger Munch & Mia Kruger
   1. I'm Travelling Alone (2015)
   2. The Owl Always Hunts at Night (2017)
   3. The Boy in the Headlights (2019)
   4. The Wolf (2023)
   5. Dead Island (2024)
   6. The Bomber (2026) 

Review: HOME BEFORE DARK, Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir

• 
  This edition a hardback from my local library
  
• First published in Iceland by Verold Publishing 2023
• First published in UK by Orenda Books in 2025
• English translation by Victoria Cribb
• ISBN 978-1-916788-60-2
• 305 pages 

Synopsis (publisher)

Struggling to separate her dreams from reality, a young woman investigates the disappearance of her sister ten years earlier … worried that she might be next. A breathtaking, twisty standalone thriller from the international bestselling author of the Forbidden Iceland series…

November, 1967, Iceland. Fourteen-year-old Marsí has a secret penpal – a boy who lives on the other side of the country – but she has been writing to him in her older sister’s name. Now she is excited to meet him for the first time.

But when the date arrives, Marsí is prevented from going, and during the night her sister Stína goes missing – her bloodstained anorak later found at the place where Marsí and her penpal had agreed to meet.

November, 1977. Stína’s disappearance remains unsolved. Then an unexpected letter arrives for Marsí. It’s from her penpal, and he’s still out there…

Desperate for news of her missing sister, but terrified that he might coming after her next, Marsí returns to her hometown and embarks on an investigation of her own.

But Marsí has always had trouble distinguishing her vivid dreams from reality, and as insomnia threatens her sanity, it seems she can’t even trust her own memories.

And her sister’s killer is still on the loose…

My Take

Other reviewers have called this book a "twisty thriller" which it certainly is. It has a characteristically complex Icelandic plot. Two time frames set against family trauma and the unsolved disappearance ten years before of Marsi's older sister.  Marsi's mother struggles to cope with mental problems resulting from what happened to her during World War II.  Unsettled family life has led to Stina, the older sister, a talented artist, resolving to leave home as soon as she can and when she disappears, no-one is sure that she hasn't gone voluntarily. 

The plot is complex with a cast of players. And in the end, a surprising resolution.

My rating: 4.8

About the author: Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva moved to Trondheim, Norway to study my MSc in Globalisation when she was 25. After moving back home having completed her MSc, she knew it was time to start working on her novel. Eva has wanted to write books since she was 15 years old, having won a short story contest in Iceland. Eva worked as a stewardess to make ends meet while she wrote her first novel, The Creak on the Stairs. The book went on to win the CWA Debut Dagger, the Blackbird Award, was shortlisted (twice) for the Capital Crime Readers’ Awards, and became a number one bestseller in Iceland. The critically acclaimed Girls Who Lie (book two in the Forbidden Icelandseries) soon followed, with Night Shadows (book three) following suit. You Can’t See Me (book four) is out in 2023. Eva lives with her husband and three children in Reykjavík. 

Review: THE IN CROWD, Charlotte Vassell

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CLKZMT6D
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 2 April 2024
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 433 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0571376247
• Book 2 of 3 ‏ : ‎ Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp
• WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL 2025  

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

Being in is everything.

Calliope Foster is standing, Pimms in hand, under tasteful bunting at a Richmond garden party. She's here to toast her best friend's engagement.

Being out is murder.

Meanwhile, just a stone's throw away, police are pulling a body out of the river Thames. The drowning appears to be a tragic accident - but as Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp is about to discover, the death is connected to this gathering of who's who in a way that could very well spell scandal.

There may be a wedding to plan, but a dead body will unravel even the best-laid plans . . .

My Take

 

Perhaps my enjoyment of this novel was too drastically affected by the fact that it is #2 in in the series, but to be honest I think I was too much turned off by the disclaimer "Agatha Christie meets Made in Chelsea in this witty and addictive whodunnit". Those of you who follow my blog know that I object particularly to the "coat-tails" syndrome, and in this case I saw little in this novel to remind me of, or to pay tribute to, Agatha Christie.

In fact I found this novel tedious reading. Hence my rating.

 

My rating: 3.3

 

About the Author
Charlotte Vassell studied History at the University of Liverpool and completed a Masters in Art History at SOAS, University of London, before training as an actor at Drama Studio London. Other than treading the boards Charlotte has also worked in advertising, executive search, and as a purveyor of silk top hats.

Review: NOT QUITE DEAD YET, Holly Jackson

• 
  This edition a trade paperback supplied by my local library
  
• Published by Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House UK, 2025
• ISBN 978-0-241-75369-9
• 430 pages 

Synopsis (publisher)

In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.
Twenty-seven years old, she’s back living with her parents, waiting for her life to begin. She’ll do it later, she always says. Her parents have their doubts. Until, on the night of Halloween, Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder. She suffers a catastrophic brain injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, she’ll suffer a deadly aneurysm.

Jet never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new light: her family, her ex-best friend turned sister-in-law, her former boyfriend. She may only have seven days – if she even makes it that long – but Jet is absolutely determined to finally prove her doubters wrong.
Jet is going to solve her own murder.

My Take

Effectively Jet Mason is dead, or she will be about 7 days after an assailant struck her on the head in her own home. And Holly is determined to find out who "killed" her. Time is short, and the search is not something that Jet can put off which is what she usually does.

So we the readers are along with Jet for the ride, piecing the evidence together, willing her to live long enough to solve the mystery. An unusual scenario.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Holly Jackson (born 6 December 1992) is a British author of mystery novels. She is best known for her A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series. 

Review: CUT SHORT, Leigh Russell

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00796E1IA
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ No Exit Press, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 23 May 2012
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 435 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1842435830
• Book 1 of 24 ‏ : ‎ DI Geraldine Steel  

 Synopsis  (AmazonAU)

When D.I. Geraldine Steel relocates to the quiet rural town of Woolsmarsh, she expects to find her new home to be somewhere where nothing much ever happens; a place where she can battle her demons in private.

But when she finds herself pitted against a twisted killer preying on local young women she quickly discovers how wrong she is...

My Take

We know who the murderer is from about half way through this story, but we spend a lot of time learning about Geraldine Steel, as is appropriate for the beginning of a series, and also about the team she is working in.

Geraldine is a very thorough detective, willing to go over the evidence countless times. There are clues within the story about the nature of the killer, and the reason why he is attacking young women. 

A series with promise. 

My rating: 4.4

About the author

Leigh Russell has sold over a million crime fiction novels. Her Geraldine Steel titles published by No Exit Press have appeared on many bestseller lists, and reached #1 on kindle. Leigh's work has been nominated for several major awards, including the CWA New Blood Dagger and CWA Dagger in the Library, and her books have been optioned by major television production company Avalon Television. She chairs the CWA Debut Dagger Award judges and is a Consultant Royal Literary Fellow.

Leigh has also written stand alone thrillers, a dystopian novel, and a historical novel for Bloodhound Books, and the Lucy Hall international mystery series published by Thomas and Mercer.

Find out more about Leigh on her website http://www.leighrussell.co.uk where news, reviews and interviews are posted, with a schedule of Leigh's appearances. You can contact Leigh via her website, where you can subscribe to her newsletter and follow her on Twitter and FaceBook. 

Review: WINTER DEAD, Lynne McEwan

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby, provided by my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Canelo Crime, Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 6, 2025
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1835980699
• Book 6 of 6 ‏ : ‎ Detective Shona Oliver  

Synopsis (publisher)

How do you solve a murder when you don't have the body?

A blood-soaked hammer is discovered in a lorryload of wood delivered to a local pub. DI Shona Oliver appears to have a murder weapon, but where is the victim?

Then a call comes in that local forest ranger and ex-soldier John MacFarlane isn't answering his phone. There's no sign of MacFarlane at his cottage, and the only clue the team have to go on is a bloody trail in the snow which ends abruptly and leads to nowhere. A manhunt begins.

It seems something from MacFarlance's past may have caught up with him. But what exactly is unclear. And Shona has her own past to contend with when someone from long ago makes an unexpected reappearance. Can she keep her head in the game? 

My Take

I've gone against my usual principles and have plucked this novel from the end of a series. The plot is provoking. A blood stained hammer seems to indicate there may be a body somewhere. A missing ranger is identified. And then a popular poet goes missing and Shona needs to organise a search for him too. 

Resources are stretched with the arrival of a huge coastal storm, a hang glider crashes against a cliff, and the personal problems intervene. Well constructed and involving. 

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Glasgow-born Lynne McEwan is a former newspaper photographer turned crime author. She’s covered stories including the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War in addition to many high profile murder cases. Her DI Shona Oliver series is set on the beautiful Solway Firth which forms the border between Scotland and England, and where Shona is also a lifeboat volunteer. Lynne is an alumni of the University of East Anglia's Creative Writing programme with an MA (Crime Fiction). She splits her time between Lincoln and Scotland. 

Review: DAUGHTERS OF BATAVIA, Stefanie Koens

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

Synopsis (publisher)

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

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

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

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

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

My Take

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

My rating: 4.6

About the author

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

 

 

Review: THE SEA HOUSE, Louise Douglas

• 
  This edition a large print version from my local library
  
• First published in Great Britain in 2024 by Boldwood Books
• ISBN 978-1-83751-649-0
• 472 pages  

Synopsis (Publisher)

A mysterious bequest and the legacy of a tragic love – only one person can unravel the hidden secrets of the past before it’s too late…

When Elisabeth Quemener dies she leaves a small parcel with the instructions that it must only be opened by Astrid Oake. The trouble is, no one knows who Astrid Oake is…

Elisabeth’s family turn to Touissants detective agency for help but, when Mila Shepherd and Carter Jackson try to track Astrid down, their frustration soon mounts. Their only clue is a photo of two young women holding the hands of a tiny child. The women are smiling but Mila is haunted by the sadness in their eyes. Is this Astrid and Elisabeth and if so, who is the child? And why are there signs everywhere in Elisabeth’s home that the old woman was frightened despite her living a quiet life with no known enemies?

As Elisabeth and Astrid’s story slowly unfolds, Mila feels the walls of her home The Sea House closing in. And as the secrets finally begin to reveal themselves, she is ever more determined to carry out Elisabeth’s final wishes. Because what is inside that unprepossessing parcel might just save a life…

Louise Douglas is back in the Brittany seaside town of Morranez with a heart-stopping, heart-breaking, brilliantly written and utterly compelling mystery!

My Take

In many ways a romantic thriller.  I struggled at first to get my head around the background to this story. Mila Shepherd has come to Brittany to look after her niece Ani whose parents died mysteriously at sea two years earlier. Mila's sister's body was found soon after the disaster but her brother in law's body has turned up recently in a local cave. The evidence found in the cave raises questions about how he died.

Mila is working for her stepmother at the Touissants detective agency which specialises in tracking people down. 

When Elisabeth Quemener dies she leaves a small parcel with the instructions that it must only be opened by Astrid Oake. The trouble is, no one knows who Astrid Oake is… 

The search for Astrid Oake takes Mila to England where Astrid's family was killed in a tragedy nearly 20 years earlier.

The plot gets better as it goes on, and eventually I really became invested in working everything out. 

My rating: 4.4

About the author
Louise was born in Sheffield but has lived in North Somerset for the past 20 years. She has three beautiful sons, and lives with her partner, who works in construction. 

Review: I AM PILGRIM, Terry Hayes

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00D3NSDVO
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Transworld Digital, originally published 2013
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 705 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1448170609
• An Amazon Best Book of the Month, June 2014
• a bestselling Richard & Judy Book Club pick  

 Synopsis (Amazon)

The astonishing story of one man's breakneck race against time to save America from oblivion.

A FATHER PUBLICLY BEHEADED. Killed in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square.

A YOUNG WOMAN DISCOVERED. All of her identifying characteristics dissolved by acid.

A SYRIAN BIOTECH EXPERT FOUND EYELESS. Dumped in a Damascus junkyard.

SMOULDERING HUMAN REMAINS. Abandoned on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan.

PILGRIM. The codename for a man who doesn't exist. A man who must return from obscurity. The only man who can uncover a flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity.

My Take

I seem to be reading long books lately. Here is another one.

I would classify it as a thriller rather than my usual crime fiction.  But despite its length, there wasn't a moment when I considered stopping. Those who have called it a page turner are right.

It brings together a number of seemingly disconnected stories against a background of events that we are very familiar with and that have shaped our world in the last thirty or so years. 

Highly recommended. 

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Terry Hayes is a highly reputed English-born author from the United States, who likes to write mystery and thriller novels. He is also a noteworthy screenwriter and producer, best known for his collaborations with the production house of Kennedy Miller. 
Author Terry was born on October 8, 1951, in England. Before getting worldwide recognition as a writer of mystery novels, author Terry used to originally work as a journalist in New York. He was involved in this profession for a considerable amount of time. On one occasion he got the chance to meet the popular Hollywood director named George Miller while he was doing the novelization of the plot of the 1979 famous movie Mad Max. After a few more unexpected meetings, the two began going along well. When they became acquainted with each other very well, author Terry was hired by George Miller to help him in developing the script for the sequel of Mad Max, called Mad Max 2.
Author Terry also wrote an unused screenplay of the popular Hollywood film called Planet of Apes in the year 1994. The script was titled as ‘Return of the Apes’. 

As an author, Terry made his debut in the year 2013 with the release of his novel titled as ‘I Am Pilgrim’. This book was published by the Transworld publication. Just after one month of the release of the book, its film rights were acquired by the production company of Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The production also hired author Terry for adapting the plot of the novel into the screenplay of the film. 

Review: THE HITWOMAN'S GUIDE TO REDUCING HOUSEHOLD DEBT, Mark Mupotsa-Russell

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle 
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D9GKWJ87
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Affirm Press, Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 27, 2024
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 313 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1923046962 

Synopsis (Amazon)

"I met my husband on the same day I committed my very last murder. There's a joke in there somewhere, about ending two men's lives.'
Olivia Hodges used to do horrible things - back when she worked for a Spanish crime syndicate - but she fled that life and moved home to Australia, building a family in the hippie, hipster community of the Dandenong Ranges.

When a small-time criminal gang brings tragedy to her family, superstitious Olivia believes it's the universe demanding payment for her crimes. She wants revenge, but has to get it without adding to her karmic debt. So she creates situations where these bad men get themselves killed through their anger, ego and greed - all while trying to mislead the cops long enough to finish what she started.

My Take

Olivia Hodges is a retired assassin living a life of seeming innocence with her family in the Dandenong Ranges, when she learns what it is like to be a victim. Her elder daughter is a accidentally killed, collateral in a robbery that goes wrong. Olivia decides to take revenge, using her skills to track down the driver and passengers in the car that caused her daughter's death. The police become suspicious that she is not telling them all that she knows, and then the tables turn and she becomes the hunted. 

Hard to say that I enjoyed this book. 

My rating: 4.5

About the author

Mark Mupotsa-Russell is a writer living on Wurundjeri Country in the Yarra Ranges. His debut noir thriller, The Hitwoman's Guide to Reducing Household debt, won the 2023 Affirm Press Mentorship Award and is out now! Before writing novels, he was a screenwriter, film reviewer, cocktail columnist, PR consultant and communications adviser in the suicide prevention sector.

Mark was previously shortlisted for the Text Prize, won a screen development grant from Screen Australia and had screenplays optioned. He lives among the trees with his Therapist-superstar wife, hilarious son and a moodle majestically-named ‘Mufasa’. When not writing he obsesses about movies and martial arts.

Review: MELALEUCA, Angie Faye Martin

• This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle
• 
  ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DPGPBPG5
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HQ Fiction, Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 1, 2025, Harper Collins
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 419 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1867270898 

Synopsis (Amazon)

A country town, a brutal murder, a shameful past, a reckoning to come... The injustices of the past and dangers of the present envelop Aboriginal policewoman Renee Taylor, when her unwilling return to the small outback town of her childhood plunges her into the investigation of a brutal murder.

Renee Taylor is planning to stay the minimum amount of time in her remote hometown - only as long as her mum needs her, then she is fleeing back to her real life in Brisbane.

Seconded to the town's sleepy police station, Renee is pretty sure work will hold nothing more exciting than delivering speeding tickets. Then a murdered woman is found down by the creek on the outskirts of town.

Leading the investigation, Renee uncovers a perplexing connection to the disappearance of two young women thirty years earlier. As she delves deeper and the mystery unfurls, intergenerational cruelties, endemic racism, and deep corruption show themselves, even as dark and bitter truths about the town and its inhabitants' past rise up and threaten to overwhelm the present...

Authentic, gripping crime drama from a bright new voice in fiction.

My Take

A detective in Brisbane, Renee Taylor has taken an appointment as a constable in the small outback Queensland town she grew up in, coming home to care for her mother.

She is only back at work for a few days when a young woman's body turns up near a creek on the outskirts of town. Nobody comes forward to identify the girl, no-one has seen her before. Doing some research Renee comes across the story of two aboriginal girls who disappeared thirty years earlier, and from then on the story continues in two time frames. Renee becomes the detective in charge of the current murder case and the author presents the story of the two missing girls. In some ways Renee doesn't know as much as we the readers do.

 Although the camp that the girls had lived in has long gone, their families are still in the town, and in some ways attitudes have not changed much over the thirty years.  An engaging novel with some interesting threads.

Be sure to read the Author Note at the end of the novel. 

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Angie Faye Martin is a writer and editor of Kooma, Kamilaroi and European heritage. With a Bachelor of Public Health from the Queensland University of Technology and a Masters of Anthropology from the Australian National University, Angie spent many years working in policy roles in state and federal government before launching Versed Writings in 2019. Her work has been published in Meanjin, Garland, The Saltbush Review and The Rocks Remain. She is a member of the First Nations Australia Writers Network and accredited with the Institute of Professional Editors. Melaleuca is her debut novel. 

Review: THE BODY IN THE MARSH, Nick Louth

• 
   this edition read as an e-book on Libby, supplied by my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Canelo, Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 1, 2018
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 380 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1788631455
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788631457
• Book 1 of 12 ‏ : ‎ DCI Craig Gillard Crime Thrillers 

Synopsis

A woman goes missing - and for the detective, this time it's personal.

Criminologist Martin Knight lives a gilded life. But then his wife Liz disappears. There is no good explanation and Martin goes on the run.

To make things worse, Liz is the ex-girlfriend of DCI Craig Gillard who finds himself drawn into the investigation.

Is this a missing-person case or something more sinister? How dark can the truth be?

My Take

This novel is anything but straightforward. At times it strains the bounds of credibility but nevertheless the plot engages. Plenty of red herrings, plenty of times when you can say what if? and definitely not a cosy.

My rating: 4.5

About the author

Nick Louth is a bestselling writer of thriller novels, investment commentator, and an award-winning financial journalist, hailing from Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. He is famous for writing humor, comedy, thriller, mystery, and nonfiction stories. Louth is particularly well known for writing the Bernard Jones diaries series, the DCI Craig Gillard series, several standalone novels, and one widely popular nonfiction book. He is known to have sold more than half a million copies of his books. Louth’s books have appeared on top of the Kindle charts in the UK multiples times and have been translated into as many as 6 different languages. Before making his debut in the field of writing fiction in 2007, he worked as a foreign correspondent for the news agency Reuters. He was also a frequent contributor to MSN, Financial Times, and many other financial magazines on a freelance basis.

Author Louth graduated from the London School of Economics in 1979. After working as a freelancer for a few years, he joined Reuters in 1987. While catering to his duty in foreign correspondence, Louth came across an experience at a 1992 Amsterdam medical conference that inspired him to write his first fiction novel. It was eventually published in 2007 under the title of Bite and reached the top spot of the UK Kindle bestseller in 2014. The book remained on the number one spot for several weeks and sold nearly 500 thousand copies. In the area of financial journalism, Louth has been working freelance since 1998. He has contributed to Investors Chronicle, Money Observer, Financial Times, etc., and has published 7 books based on finance. Author Louth is happily married and currently resides in Lincolnshire. He spends most of his time writing thriller novels and manages some time off from his writing projects to be with his family. 

Review: LYREBIRD, Jane Caro

• 
  this edition a paperback published 2025 by Allen & Unwin Australia
  
• 360 pages
• ISBN 978-1-76147-153-7 

Synopsis (publisher)

Lyrebirds are brilliant mimics, so if they mimic a woman screaming in terror and begging for her life, they have witnessed a crime. But how does a young, hung over PHD student and a wet behind the ears new detective, convince anyone that a native bird can be a reliable witness to a murder, especially when there is no body and no missing person?

And what happens when they turn out to be right?
A sound froze her blood. A woman. A woman screaming in pure terror. Screaming and sobbing—begging—out here, in this desolate place.

Twenty years ago, ornithology student Jessica Weston panicked when she heard a woman screaming for her life in the remote Barrington Tops. Her relief, when she discovers that it is a lyrebird making the sounds, is profound. She is thrilled to have caught his display on video. Then she remembers—lyrebirds are mimics. Whatever the wild creature has heard must have really happened, and happened nearby.

Jessica takes her video to the police. Despite support from newly minted detective, Megan Blaxland, with no missing person reported and no body, her evidence is ridiculed and dismissed.

Twenty years later, a body is unearthed, just where Jessica said it would be.

Horrified they let the case go cold, Jessica, now an associate professor, and Megan, recently retired but brought back to head up the investigation, reunite and join forces. They are determined to find the killer, whatever it takes. What they don't realise is that they are not just putting their lives in danger, but also the lives of those close to them . . . 

My Take

This is my first novel by Jane Caro and I can tell already it won't be my last. I read this one in one day which is unusual for me.

The starting point is arresting: a lyrebird imitating the cries of a murder victim. No body found at the time. And then twenty years on, a body is found at that location. And the realisation that what the lyrebird imitated really happened.

The plot becomes much more complex than we might have predicted: the original cop is called out of retirement to take on the case, the person who first recorded the lyrebird's mimicry is involved, and their personal lives are explored. 

A satisfying read.

My rating: 4.8 

About the author

Jane Caro AM is a Walkley award-winning Australian columnist, author, novelist, feminist, public education activist and social commentator. She was awarded the B&T Women in Media Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. Once upon a time, she was a multi-award-winning advertising copywriter and an academic. These days, she is a full-time writer, novelist, speaker, MC and TV, radio and media pundit. She has published thirteen books, including the bestselling novel The Mother. Lyrebird is her second novel for adults. 

Review: HIGHWAY 13, Fiona McFarlane

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CYZKF3C1
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen & Unwin, July 30, 2024
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1761189234 
• WINNER - 2025 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction
• WINNER - 2025 Story Prize
• SHORTLISTED - 2025 Australian Book Industry Award for Literary Fiction Book of the Year
• SHORTLISTED - 2025 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction

Synopsis (Amazon) 

In 1998, an apparently ordinary Australian man is arrested and charged with a series of brutal murders of backpackers along a highway. The news shocks the nation, bringing both horror and resolution to the victims' families, but its impact travels even further - into the past, as the murders rewrite personal histories, and into the future, as true crime podcasts and biopics tell the story of the crimes.

Highway 13 takes murder as its starting point, but it unfolds to encompass much more: through the investigation of the aftermath of this violence across time and place, from the killer's home town in country Australia to the tropical Far North, and to Texas and Rome, McFarlane presents an unforgettable, entrancing exploration of the way stories are told and spread, and at what cost. 
In overlapping stories, Highway 13 explores the reverberations of a serial killer's crimes in the lives of everyday people. A brilliant and illuminating account of loss and its extended echoes across an entire society.

My  Take

An intriguing collection of 12 overlapping stories all related in some way to the murder of backpackers along an Australian highway. The stories vary in methodology and style, nor are they presented sequentially, although we are given years to place them in, and at times the author makes the reader work hard to establish the connection to the original backpacker-murder scenario.

I don't think it would really matter what order you read the stories in, although perhaps I am mistaken there.  What is interesting to me is the way each story contributes to the reader's knowledge and understanding of how people were affected by the (fictional) backpacker murders.

Highly recommended. 

My rating: 4.9 

About the author

Fiona McFarlane’s first novel, The Night Guest, won several prizes including the Voss Literary Prize and a New South Wales Premier’s Award. It was also shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, Miles Franklin Literary Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction, among others. She is also the author of a short-story collection, The High Places, which won the International Dylan Thomas Prize. Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Zoetrope: All-Story, and Best Australian Stories. Her second novel, The Sun Walks Down, will be published in Australia (October 2022), the United States (February 2023), and the UK (March 2023).

McFarlane grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. Her website

Review: I WILL FIND THE KEY, Alex Ahndoril

• 
  This title read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DXY1FG5D
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Zaffre, November 7, 2024
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 252 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1804187302 

Synopsis (Amazon)

A man walks into a private investigator's office, holds up a photograph and says: 'I want you to find out if I killed this man.'

Private investigator Julia Stark receives an unannounced visit at the office. The man at the door is one of the owners of a successful family business. The day before, he was present at a board meeting and dinner at his estate in the northwestern part of Sweden. The following morning, he finds a photograph in his phone of a bloody man, tied up with a bag over his head.

Due to alcohol-related amnesia, the man has no idea where the picture comes from and wants to hire Stark Detective Agency to clear his name before the police get involved. Julia asks her ex-husband Sidney Mendelson to take time off from the City Police and assist her in the investigation. There is still a glimmer of hope left in Julia that this might be her chance to win him back.

Welcomed as guests at the opulent estate, Julia and Sidney begin to search for the truth while dining and socializing with each of the family members that could theoretically be involved in the murder.

She's solved every mystery.
But none like this . . .

My Take

Julia Stark, Swedish private investigator, apparently has a history of investigative success, but also has a case of PTSD resulting from a nasty accident.  

Per Gunter (PG) Mott comes to see her with a photo on his phone which be believes might indicate he has murdered someone during an alcoholic fugue, and that the photo is proof. He is the head of a very successful Swedish timber family. Julia and her ex-husband begin investigating Per Gunter and his very dysfunctional family.   

It is hard to see what some areas of Julia's investigation of the family has to do with the problem she is trying to solve, but we get used to the fact that in this story not everything is shared with the reader.

Eventually the mystery is resolved but it is an odd story. 

My rating: 4.4

About the author

the new pseudonym for the No.1 international bestselling author, Lars Kepler.  The novel seems to me to have been originally written in German and translated into English.

Review: DEATH IN BRITTANY, Christophe Villain

• 
  This edition an e-book from Amazon on Kindle
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FF9WLRPN 
  
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 23, 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 298 pages
• Book 1 of 8 ‏ : ‎ Sandrine Perrot - The Brittany Mystery Series  
• Translated by Terry Laster 

Synopsis (Amazon)

Sandrine Perrot's investigation takes her from the picturesque fishing towns to the rural hinterland of Brittany's Emerald Coast.

Police Lieutenant Sandrine Perrot is on leave from her post in Paris and has settled in Cancale, the oyster capital of Brittany. She is temporarily assigned to the Saint-Malo police station for this case. The body of an unidentified woman is discovered on the Brittany coast path along the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel.

With her new assistant, Adel Azarou, she takes on the investigation, which leads them to a cold case from Paris, but also deep into the tragic history of a venerable hotelier family.

This novel is a revised new translation of ‘Emerald Coast Murder’.

My Take

This appears to be a new publishing of a novel originally published in 2023. Essentially I think the plot must be the same.

Sandrine has left her post in Paris and is ostensibly on leave but is called in because there has been a murder victim discovered on a nearby coastal path. Sandrine appears to have left Paris under some sort of cloud and the person whom she has had some sort of altercation with turns up in Brittany and interferes with the investigation she is being asked to conduct. I thought here the author has tried to create too much mystery.

Too many times in this novel the author swaps the narration from third person to first person and vice versa. I'm not sure that that wasn't an error in translation. There are also instances where a verb is in the wrong tense. It also seemed to me that the author had a change of mind about the plot. The original mystery of who the dead woman is, and why she is in Brittany, is all explained and then the plot changes.

In the long run there is a sort of resolution at the end but I found the culprit a most unlikely selection - too old for what she is supposed to have done.

I will read the second in the series but I certainly hope it is not such hard work. 

My rating: 4.1

About the author

website

I am an author with a penchant for travelling to France, good food and exciting crime stories.
As a teenager, I regularly spent my holidays in our twin town in the south of France. After graduating, I worked for several years in Paris and along the Atlantic coast, from Calais to Biarritz. Since then, I have loved travelling and, above all, the excellent and varied cuisine that the country has to offer.
I write crime novels about France under the pseudonym Christophe Villain. 

So is Christophe Villain actually a German author? I'd like there to be a little less cloak and dagger about his real identity.

Review: GABRIEL'S MOON, William Boyd

• 
   This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle
  
• An Amazon Best Book of the Month (Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense)
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CW1B7PC7
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking, September 5, 2024
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 263 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241542095 

Synopsis (Amazon)

Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a tragedy: every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing changing landscapes in the grip of the Cold War. When he’s offered the chance to interview a political figure, his ambition leads him unwittingly into the shadows of espionage.

As Gabriel’s reluctant initiation takes hold, he is drawn deeper into duplicity. Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthless MI6 handler, he becomes ‘her spy’, unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, it will be the revelations closer to home that change the rest of his story . . .

In his most exhilarating novel yet, William Boyd transports you from the vibrant streets of sixties London to the sun-soaked cobbles of Cadiz and the frosty squares of Warsaw in this thrilling adventure. 

My Take

Here is one slightly outside my comfort zone, not really crime fiction but a tale of espionage, the story of how a man becomes trapped into becoming a spy, a conveyor of packages and messages, working for MI 6, a carefully layered story.

I enjoyed the historical references too, to a period of that I remember quite well. 

My rating: 4.7

About the author

William Boyd was born in 1952 in Accra, Ghana, and grew up there and in Nigeria. He is the author of sixteen highly acclaimed, bestselling novels and five collections of stories. Any Human Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into a TV series. His books have won many literary awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Fiction, and the Costa Book Award. He was named a Granta Best Young Novelist in 1983, and in 2005, he was awarded the CBE. Boyd is married and divides his time between London and southwest France.

Review: THE BOOKSHOP MYSTERIES, A BITTER PILL, S.A. Reeves

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D9W3VBGG
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stephen Haunts Ltd, Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 19, 2024
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 306 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1068720925
•  Book 1 of 4: The Bookshop Mysteries
  
  ★★★★★
  WINNER of the 2024 Firebird Book Awards in the Cozy Mystery Category
  WINNER for the Literary Titan Book Awards
  GOLD WINNER for the Global Book Awards (Women's Crime Fiction)
  FINALIST for the Reader Choice Awards for Best Adult Book
  SHORT LIST nomination for the Murder and Mayhem 2024 Awards
  ★★★★★ 

Synopsis (Amazon)

When a book signing turns deadly, two bookshop owners turn detectives.

Gemma loves the quiet life of her bookshop, the Bookworm—a haven for book lovers in a quaint town in the heart of Derbyshire. But everything changes when Gemma discovers the body of local author Dominic Westley during the shop’s latest book signing event.

When the police rule the death as an accidental overdose, Dominic’s estranged widow points the finger at one of his past lovers. Gemma and her trusty assistant, Mavis, won’t rest until they uncover the truth. Was it an accidental overdose or something more sinister?

Fans of cozy mysteries will delight in The Bookshop Mysteries - A Bitter Pill, a charming and suspenseful read that will keep you guessing until the very end. If you enjoyed books like The Thursday Murder Club or The Missing Maid, then this is the perfect book for you to curl up with.

My Take

A new cozy series to read on my Kindle: featuring two ladies who work in a bookshop. A local author who appears to be a rising star is invited to give a presentation at  the bookshop to an avid group of readers, and then collapses and dies in the middle of his presentation. A couple of likeable sleuths, and a variety of plausible characters. At times the scenario felt a bit "soft", but in general it was credible and all the loose ends were tied off. I'll be reading another. 

My rating: 4.4

About the author
S. A. Reeves is the pen name of a husband and wife writing duo, who have been married for over twenty years. They are based near the Peak District in Derbyshire (United Kingdom).

They both like to read and watch murder mysteries, and will frequently stand in front of a whiteboard, plotting the perfect murder—for creative Fiction purposes, of course.

Review: BLACK LIES, Mercedes Mercier

• 
  This edition read on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BNSBKM8H
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 1, 2023 

Synopsis (Amazon)

Longlisted for the 2024 Davitt Best Adult Novel Prize

Only a handful of inmates in Westmead Prison have committed crimes so atrocious that they've been locked away for life, and for fifteen years, convicted murderer Tomas Kovak has refused to disclose where he hid the body of his victim, a vulnerable young woman.

When Kovak is diagnosed with terminal cancer, intense pressure is put on Dr Laura Fleming, criminal psychologist, to find the location of Kovak's victim so her grieving family can find some sort of closure.

Laura has to use all of her training, skills and instinct to form a connection with the cold, remorseless killer, a man who has refused any psychological assessment since the day he confessed to the murder.

With every session, Laura becomes more and more convinced that something about Kovak's story doesn't ring true, and as his health rapidly deteriorates, the pressure on Laura ramps up. She becomes increasingly desperate, resorting to unconventional methods to find out what she can from the secretive man.

As she inches closer to the truth, she discovers some people will stop at nothing to keep the past hidden ... and the people Laura cares most about are fair game.

Love can make you do terrible things.

My Take

An unusual setting and plot.  Dr Laura Fleming, criminal psychologist working in an Australian prison with convicted criminals is asked to see if she can get convicted murderer Tomas Kovak to talk to her. For 15 years Kovak has refused to talk but now he has terminal cancer and only weeks to live. 

A well thought out scenario. Laura manages to get Kovak to see her and she wheedles some information from him but then he clams up again. Through another of her clients she finds people who knew Kovaks before the murder but his confession makes even less sense to her.

An excellent read.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Mercedes Mercier writes 'just-one-more-page' crime with twisting plots and relatable characters. As well as writing books, Mercedes works in the criminal justice system, providing her unique insight into the world of prisons, crime and offenders.
After a brush with death, Mercedes decided to throw herself into life. She lived overseas, became a black belt in Karate, skydived, and volunteered with animals. When she doesn't have her nose in her laptop and her mind in a story, she loves to read, travel, try new restaurants, and listen to podcasts (true crime of course).

Mercedes lives in Adelaide, in a tree-top home surrounded by nature and animals, with her partner and beloved dog.