Review: BOXED, Richard Anderson

• this edition published by Scribe 2019
• ISBN 978-1-935713-65-7
• 275 pages
• source: review book from publisher

Synopsis (publisher)

‘I jump back, curse in rapid fire, and then lean forward and shove the box hard, off the bench, and away from me. It thuds on the floor. Is this a nasty trick?’

Dave Martin is down on his luck: his wife has left him; his farm is a failure; his house is a mess; he has withdrawn from his community and friends; and tragedy has stolen his capacity to care. He passes the time drinking too much and buying cheap tools online, treating the delivered parcels as gifts from people who care about him.

And then boxes begin to arrive in the mail: boxes that he didn’t order, but ones that everyone around him seems to want desperately. As he tries to find out the secret of the boxes, Dave is drawn into a crazy world of red herrings and wrong turns, good guys and bad, false friends and true, violence, lust, fear, revenge, and a lot, lot more. It’s not a world he understands, but is it the only one Dave can live in?

My take

Dave Martin's friends and neighbours all worry about him - he has had more than his fair share of knocks, lives on his own on a remote farm, and feels a bit sorry for himself. He orders machinery to be delivered through the post, generally small cheap machines, but then some boxes arrive that he hasn't ordered. Then two of his neighbours ask him if boxes they were expecting have accidentally been delivered to him. Soon after that a neighbour is attacked.

Woven through the other sometimes quirky threads is the story of what has happened to his son James.

Richard Anderson is an astute observer of Australian rural life. His accounts of the hardships of living on the land have a ring of truth.

One of the threads of this story (No! I'm not going to tell you which one it is, just that it is a bit macabre ) - will probably send readers scuttling to Google to see if it is possible.

This is the second of Anderson's crime novels, and I will certainly be reading the first.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Richard Anderson is a second-generation farmer from northern New South Wales. He has been running a beef-cattle farm for twenty-five years, but has also worked as a miner and had a stint on the local council. Richard is the author of two rural-crime novels, Retribution and Boxed, both published by Scribe. He lives with his wife, four dogs, and a cat.

Review: THE GOOD TURN, Dervla McTiernan

• format : e-book, Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 1014 KB
• Publisher: HarperCollins (March 1, 2020)
• Publication Date: February 24, 2020
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English
• ASIN: B07XDN3KPN 
• #3 in the Cormac Reilly series

Synopsis

Police corruption, an investigation that ends in tragedy and the mystery of a little girl's silence - three unconnected events that will prove to be linked by one small town.

While Detective Cormac Reilly faces enemies at work and trouble in his personal life, Garda Peter Fisher is relocated out of Galway with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head. But even that is not as terrible as having to work for his overbearing father, the local copper for the pretty seaside town of Roundstone.

For some, like Anna and her young daughter Tilly, Roundstone is a refuge from trauma. But even this village on the edge of the sea isn't far enough to escape from the shadows of evil men.

Setting: north west Ireland

My Take

Very readable - slips down like silk.

Cormac Reilly has certainly upset Sergeant Brian Murphy. A crisis comes when a little girl is snatched from the streets and Murphy refuses to give Reilly any officers to help him look for her, because something big is going down on the wharfs. Reilly goes out to interview the parents and back at the station there is a skeleton crew left. Peter Fisher gets a tip off about the car involved in the abduction, and, unable to contact Cormac, follows the tip on his own initiative. The end result is dire and Peter is banished to his father's station north of Galway.

For most of this novel, it looks as if Cormac Reilly has sunk his own boat, and taken Peter Fisher with him.

There are some interesting threads in this novel, mainly centering around police corruption, but also some murders that Peter Fisher uncovers. Some very well drawn characters too.

If you haven't met this series then it is not too late to get started. Do read them in order!

My rating: 4.8

I've also read
4.8, THE RUIN
4.8, THE SCHOLAR 

Review: THE PORTRAIT OF MOLLY DEAN, Katherine Kovacic

• this edition published by echo (Bonnier Publishing Australia) 2018
• ISBN 978-1-76040-978-4
• 273 pages
• source: my local library
• #1 in the Alex Clayton & John Porter series

Synopsis

An unsolved murder comes to light after almost seventy years…

In 1999, art dealer Alex Clayton stumbles across a lost portrait of Molly Dean, an artist’s muse brutally slain in Melbourne in 1930. Alex buys the painting and sets out to uncover more details, but finds there are strange inconsistencies: Molly’s mother seemed unconcerned by her daughter’s violent death, the main suspect was never brought to trial despite compelling evidence, and vital records are missing.

Alex enlists the help of her close friend, art conservator John Porter, and together they sift through the clues and deceptions that swirl around the last days of Molly Dean.

My Take

The author tells us in notes at the back of the book that "The events in this novel are based on the 1930 murder of Mary 'Molly' Winifred Dean... While Alex Clayton and her contemporaries were all entirely fictitious, most of Molly's close associates were real people."

So I guess you would label this as "faction" - a true crime, a real setting, but many fictitious characters, and action, and an imagined resolution.

I initially found the book slow reading - I attributed that to a style that made you want to ensure that you understood everything. We knew from the very beginning that Molly had been murdered.

The action comes in two time frames: 1999 when Alex Clayton buys a painting and decides to find out more about the subject Molly Dean; and 1930 before Molly died. The text switches back and forth as we weigh the evidence that Alex gives us.

Here is chance to get in on the ground floor of a new Australian series with an intriguing pair of investigators. Two more titles have been published to date, and I shall certainly be following them up.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Katherine Kovacic is a former veterinarian turned art historian who works with a wide variety of museums, galleries and historic houses. She lives in Melbourne with a Borzoi and a Scottish Deerhound. The Portrait of Molly Dean was her debut novel and the first Alex Clayton art mystery.

Review: RIGHT BEHIND YOU, Rachel Abbott

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 2389 KB
• Print Length: 409 pages
• Publisher: Black Dot Publishing Ltd (January 16, 2020)
• Publication Date: January 16, 2020
• Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B082SWCGG5
• #9 in the DI Tom Douglas series

Synopsis (Amazon)

Some doors should not be opened.
Some can never be closed.

Jo Palmer’s peaceful and happy life is about to end.

Ash – the man she loves – will be arrested by the police.
Millie – her precious daughter – will be taken from her.

She will lose her friends.
She will doubt her sanity.

Someone is stealing everything Jo loves, and will stop at nothing.

But right now, Jo is laughing in her kitchen, eating dinner with her family, suspecting nothing.

It’s raining outside.

There’s a knock at the door. They are here.

My take

A police procedural/thriller set in Manchester, the characters are vivid, and the underlying plot believable.

Like most of the books in the series, this book can be read as a stand-alone, although there are threads that connect the book to earlier titles, mainly to do with the personal life of Tom Douglas. If you are new to the series, this one will send you looking for earlier titles.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read
4.8, ONLY THE INNOCENT #1
4.9, THE BACK ROAD #2
4.6, SLEEP TIGHT #3
4.5, STRANGER CHILD #4
4.6, COME A LITTLE CLOSER #7
4.6, THE SIXTH WINDOW #6
4.5, KILL ME AGAIN #5
4.4, THE SHAPE OF LIES - #8

Review: PEACE, Garry Disher

• format - e-book - Libby (Overdrive)
• Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
• ISBN: 9781922268150
• Publication Date: 04/11/2019
• Pages: 336
• source: my local library
• #3 in the Hirsch series

Synopsis (Dymocks)

Constable Paul Hirschhausen runs a one-cop station in the dry farming country south of the Flinders Ranges. He’s still new in town but the community work—welfare checks and working bees—is starting to pay off. Now Christmas is here and, apart from a grass fire, two boys stealing a ute and Brenda Flann entering the front bar of the pub without exiting her car, Hirsch’s life has been peaceful.

Until he’s called to a strange, vicious incident in Kitchener Street. And Sydney police ask him to look in on a family living outside town on a forgotten back road.

Suddenly, it doesn’t look like a season of goodwill at all.

My Take

Garry Disher introduced us to Constable Paul Hirschhausen in BITTER WASH ROAD and he makes a welcome return in PEACE.

Hirsch has settled well into life in the mid-north South Australian town of Tiverton. He has a girlfriend, a local school teacher, and has worked hard to become part of the local community. Christmas is coming up and he is judging the town's Christmas lights competition, and putting on the Santa suit to give out gifts to the local kids. He works hard keeping tabs on local problems, but there are some who feel he doesn't pay them enough attention.

I loved the description of small town politics. It all felt so real, and the description of the setting is superb.

When a mother accidentally locks her child in her car, and a video posted by a local goes viral, things change rapidly. NSW police arrive in the town and things look very different.

This is #2 in the Hirschhausen series and I strongly suggest you read BITTER WASH ROAD - Hirsch ( - aka HELL TO PAY) first. See Amazon

My rating : 5.0

I've also read
4.7, WYATT
4.8, WHISPERING DEATH
4.7, BLOOD MOON
4.2, THE HEAT
4.5, SIGNAL LOSS
4.7, HER
4.9, UNDER THE COLD BRIGHT LIGHTS
4.7, KILL SHOT
5.0, BITTER WASH ROAD - Hirsch #1 - aka HELL TO PAY

Another review you might enjoy

What I read in March 2020

Travel and self-isolation have contributed to a bumper reading month, with lots of very good reads.

1. 4.5, DAY OF THE DEAD, Nicci French
2. 4.5, EVEN DOGS IN THE WILD, Ian Rankin
3. 4.7, DEATH IS NOW MY NEIGHBOUR, Colin Dexter - audio book  
4. 4.5, THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ, Heather Morris - not crime fiction 
5. 4.5, NINE PERFECT STRANGERS, Liane Moriarty - Australian author 
6. 4.5, MR NOBODY, Catherine Steadman
7. 4.3, CHICKEN FEED, Minette Walters
8. 4.5, THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW, Christian White - Australian  
9. 4.5, THEIR LITTLE SECRET, Mark Billingham
10. 4.6. THE LONG CALL, Ann Cleeves
11. 4.5, GONE BY MIDNIGHT, Candice Fox - Australian 
12. 4.4, THE AU PAIR, Emma Rous  
13. 4.4, A MATTER OF MOTIVE, Margot Kinberg
14. 4.2, DARKNESS FOR LIGHT, Emma Viskic - Australian 
15. 4.8, BLOOD RIVER, Tony Cavanaugh - Australian 

See what others have read in the last month

Pick of the Month March 2020

Crime Fiction Pick of the Month 2020

Many crime fiction bloggers write a summary post at the end of each month listing what they've read, and some, like me, even go as far as naming their pick of the month.

This meme is an attempt to aggregate those summary posts.
It is an invitation to you to write your own summary post for March 2020, identify your crime fiction best read of the month, and add your post's URL to the Mr Linky below.
If Mr Linky does not appear for you, leave the URL in a comment and I will add it myself.

You can list all the books you've read in the past month on your post, even if some of them are not crime fiction, but I'd like you to nominate your crime fiction pick of the month.

That will be what you will list in Mr Linky too -
e.g.
ROSEANNA, Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo - MiP (or Kerrie)

You are welcome to use the image on your post and it would be great if you could link your post back to this post on MYSTERIES in PARADISE.

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