Review: THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME, Laura Dave

• 
  this edition published by VIPER Simon & Schuster 2021
• ISBN 9781788-169271
  
• 305 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

The “page-turning, exhilarating” (PopSugar) and “heartfelt thriller” (Real Simple) about a woman who thinks she’s found the love of her life—until he disappears.

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated.

With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a “page-turning, exhilarating, and unforgettable” (PopSugar) suspense novel.

My Take

There was no warning in the morning that Owen Michaels wouldn't be coming home after work that night. A child turns up on Hannah's doorstep with a note from Owen and it becomes obvious he is on the run. That is quickly followed with a message from a friend, and then a story on the news, that the company he works for are in trouble, and that Owen's boss has been arrested for fraud and embezzlement.

Two days on and an FBI Marshall turns up on Hannah's doorstep and then the police come knocking.  Owen's daughter Bailey finds a sack of money in her locker at school with another brief note.

Hannah realises that Owen is on the run and she and Bailey start to put together clues about where he is and why. A real page turner.

Reading Group Guide available.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Laura Dave is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me, Eight Hundred Grapes, and other novels. Her books have been published in thirty-eight countries and have been chosen by Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club, Book of the Month Club, and the Richard and Judy Book Club. The Last Thing He Told Me was chosen as the Goodreads Mystery & Thriller of the Year for 2021. It is now a limited series on Apple TV+, cocreated by Laura. She resides in Santa Monica, California. 

Review: THE COVENT GARDEN MURDER, Mike Hollow

• 
  this edition available from Amazon as a Kindle e-book
• #8 in the Blitz Detective series
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BWPNK6NG
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allison & Busby (October 19, 2023)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 328 pages

Synopsis (publisher) 

December, 1940. Christmas is coming, but the season of goodwill is overshadowed by the death and destruction of the Blitz. In London's Covent Garden, where the glamour of theatreland rubs shoulders with the bustle of the capital's biggest fruit and vegetable market, the war has closed the theatres and ruined the market trade.

When a daylight air raid hits the Prince Albert Theatre in Drury Lane, rescuers find a man dying in the wreckage. But it wasn't the bomb that's ending his life - he's been stabbed, and with his dying breath he whispers what sounds like a fragmented confession. As Detective Inspector John Jago begins to investigate, there's an underlying question he must grapple with: was the murdered man himself a killer?

My take

This series began with the beginning of the Blitz in London at the beginning of September 1940, and here we are in the last book in the series, the 8th, at Christmas nearly 4 months later. 

All the cases have been murder mysteries, cases that could have been attributed to the Blitz, except, as in most of the cases, for the obvious presence of a murder weapon. We have learnt little snippets of what it was like to be in London in the Blitz, also little bits about the legacy of World War One, and what was done by the authorities to try to keep life in London "normal" for its population.

The cases have been meticulously investigated by Detective Inspector Jago, originally of the Metropolitan Police force, but recently of Scotland Yard. His offsider/bagman has been Detective Constable Peter Cradock, plucked summarily from uniform and put into plain clothes. We have met a range of regular characters, including Dorothy, an American correspondent for the Boston Globe based at the Savoy Hotel.

The characters have been well developed and the plots plausible and the scenarios intersting.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.5, THE BLITZ DETECTIVE - #1
• 4.6, THE CANNING TOWN MURDER -#2 
• 4.5, THE CUSTOM HOUSE MURDER - #3
• 4.5, THE STRATFORD MURDER - #4 
• 4.5, THE DOCKLAND MURDER, - #5
• 4.5, THE CAMDEN MURDER - #7
• 4.5, THE PIMLICO MURDER - #6

Review: BRUNY, Heather Rose

• 
  this edition from my local library
  
• first published 2019, Allen & Unwin
• ISBN 978-1-76087-516-9
• 406 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Why is a massive bridge being built to connect the sleepy island of Bruny with the mainland of Tasmania? And why have terrorists blown it up?

When the Bruny bridge is bombed, UN troubleshooter Astrid Coleman agrees to return home to help her brother before an upcoming election. But this is no simple task. Her brother and sister are on either side of politics, the community is full of conspiracy theories, her mother is fading and her father is quoting Shakespeare. Only on Bruny does the world seem sane. Until Astrid discovers how far the government is willing to go.

Bruny is a searing, subversive novel about family, love, loyalty and the new world order. It is a gripping thriller with a jaw-dropping twist, a love story, a cry from the heart and a fiercely entertaining and crucial work of imagination that asks the burning question: what would you do to protect the place you love? 

My Take

Astrid Coleman's twin JC is the Liberal Premier of Tasmania, coming up to an election in less than 6 months. Their old sister is the leader of the Labor opposition. The focus of JC's activity has been a huge bridge to connect mainland Tasmania to the island of Bruny. But now someone has bombed the nearly completed bridge. JC asks Astrid to come home. He wants her to manage public relations while he gets the re-building of the bridge agreed to. Initially she refuses but then gets an instruction from her bosses to go.

People find it very difficult to understand why the bridge is being built. It has Federal Government backing, and then JC announces that he has secured a workforce of about 300 Chinese workers to be available for the re-build immediately, and Astrid wonders what the Chinese are getting out of the deal.

This is a thought provoking novel in many ways. Astrid's parents are suffering from dementia and final-stage cancer and this adds another dimension to the story.

Rose has some interesting comments on Australian attitudes.

Awards:

• Shortlisted, Best Fiction, Indie Book Awards, 2020, AU
• Longlisted, Best Designed Commercial Fiction Cover, Australian Book Design Awards, 2020, AU
• Winner, General Fiction Book of the Year, ABIA Awards, 2020, AU
• Shortlisted, Adult Fiction Book of the Year, ABA Booksellers' Choice Awards, 2020, AU
• Shortlisted, Best Crime Fiction, Davitt Awards, 2020, AU
• Longlisted, Nib Literary Award, 2020, AU

My rating: 4.8

About the author 

Heather Rose is the Australian author of eight novels. Her seventh novel The Museum of Modern Love won the 2017 Stella Prize. It also won the 2017 Christina Stead Prize and the 2017 Margaret Scott Prize. It has been published internationally and translated into numerous languages. Both The Museum of Modern Love and The Butterfly Man were longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. The Butterfly Man won the Davitt Award in 2006, and in 2007 The River Wife won the international Varuna Eleanor Dark Fellowship. Heather writes with Danielle Wood under the pen-name Angelica Banks and their Tuesday McGillycuddy children's series has twice been shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards for best children's fantasy. Angelica Banks is also published internationally. Heather lives by the sea in Tasmania.

Review: THE TEA LADIES, Amanda Hampson

• 
  this edition made available by my local library
  
• ISBN 9-78176-04385
• 368 pages
• Penguin Random House 2023   
  

Synopsis (publisher) 

A wickedly witty cosy crime novel set in Sydney in the swinging sixties, ideal for fans of Richard Osman and Bonnie Garmus.

They keep everyone's secrets, until there's a murder...

Sydney, 1965: After a chance encounter with a stranger, tea ladies Hazel, Betty and Irene become accidental sleuths, stumbling into a world of ruthless crooks and racketeers in search of a young woman believed to be in danger.

In the meantime, Hazel’s job at Empire Fashionwear is in jeopardy. The firm has turned out the same frocks and blouses for the past twenty years and when the mini-skirt bursts onto the scene, it rocks the rag trade to its foundations. War breaks out between departments and it falls to Hazel, the quiet diplomat, to broker peace and save the firm.

When there is a murder in the building, the tea ladies draw on their wider network and put themselves in danger as they piece together clues that connect the murder to a nearby arson and a kidnapping. But if there’s one thing tea ladies can handle, it’s hot water.

My Take

Angela Hampson is obviously an accomplished writer but this is my first outing with her. It takes us back into the 1960s in Sydney with a bunch of observant tea ladies who become accidental detectives. 

The glue who holds together a group of tea ladies who work in adjacent buildings is Hazel Bates. Hazel also provides an observant link between all levels of workers and management in Empire Fashionwear. It is Hazel who first notices "the woman at the window" in the bond store next door. It is Hazel who reports her observations to the police and raises the alarm when the bond store is torched.

Hazel is the ring leader of a group of tea ladies who work for neighbouring firms, and organises meetings where they compare notes on their observations.

There are lovely character sketches of each of the tea ladies, and touches of humour too. A satisfying read. I can see myself looking for more by this author..

My rating: 4.4

About the author

Amanda Hampson grew up in rural New Zealand. She has lived in London and Sydney, and now lives in Melbourne. Writing professionally for more than 20 years, she is the author of The Olive Sisters, Two for the Road, The French Perfumer, The Yellow Villa, Sixty Summers, Lovebirds, and the bestselling cosy crime novel The Tea Ladies. Her forthcoming novel is The Cryptic Clue.

Review: MURDER ON FRIDAY STREET, Russell Cooper

• This edition read on my Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CJBCR7K4
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Red Balloon Press (September 19, 2023)
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 394 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1919602178
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1919602172
• #1 Friday Street Murder Mysteries
  

Synopsis (publisher) 

If you love Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, you’ll love this.

Eccentric twin brothers, Cedric and Ambrose, retire from MI6 to make honey and tackle crosswords at Tanglefoot Farm in England’s Surrey Hills.

The unsolved brutal murder of their long-lost friend drags them back into the secret life they left behind.

Can Cedric and Ambrose, along with Charlie, their dead friend’s daughter, and the seventy-five year old mystery woman who lives in a campervan, unravel the clues and crack the cold case before the killer strikes again?

The chase is on to solve the mystery and catch the murderer.

Murder on Friday Street is the highly entertaining first book in the Friday Street Murder Mystery series. If you like witty, feisty women, a tangle of clever clues, and hilarious adventures, then you’ll love Russell Cooper’s gripping murder mystery.

My Take

While I enjoyed reading this latest outing in the geezer lit genre, I am just a little uncomfortable with its close proximity to that other very successful series by Richard Osman. It feels a little to0 close to a spoof on a spoof, an author saying "I can do a little better.  ... instead of one retired spy lets put a few of them together and see what happens." (although I am sure this sort of thing happens more than I indicate in my reviews)

In the middle of it there is some serious plotting, a serious cold case, some delightfully drawn characters, some humorous and not-so humorous situations.

However, if you read it then come back here and tell me if you think I've been unduly harsh with my coattails analogy.

My rating: 4.0

About the author

Russell Cooper...grew up on a rich diet of spy novels and Sunday afternoon television dramas. Following a hectic career in the restaurant business I did a couple of undisclosed stints (nothing dangerous) with NATO & GCHQ. Today I live in Surrey UK and when I’m not writing, editing or reading, I support the demands of Winnie, my toy poodle.

Review: THE SILENT INHERITANCE, Joy Dettman

• 
  this edition from my local library
  
• published 2016 by Pan Macmillan Australia
• ISBN 978-1=74354-014-5
• 405 pages

Synopsis (publisher) 

Sarah Carter, mother of twelve-year-old Marni, is raising her daughter alone in a small granny flat in suburban Melbourne. A serial killer, dubbed 'The Freeway Killer', is headline news and when Marni's classmate is abducted from the mall where Sarah and Marni shop, their city no longer feels safe.

Detective Ross Hunter's investigation into the abduction leads him to dead ends - until an unrelated incident sends him to the door of Freddy Adam-Jones, an unscrupulous barrister, who is guarding a secret that could ruin his life.

When an unexpected windfall changes the lives of Sarah and Marni, their sudden wealth opens doors long closed, and threatens to cast light on history better left buried.

What might Sarah's past reveal? What is her connection to Freddy? And can Detective Ross Hunter discover the link in time to save a young girl's life?

My Take

This novel had all the makings of a good 'un but I came away with strong feelings of dissatisfaction. On reflection I've ended up thinking that the author tried to do too much, tried to create too much mystery. It seemed that there were too many plot strands and that they never finally got wound together. At the end I had strong feelings that I had missed something. The story seemed to finish but I had a number of confusions and unanswered questions.

My rating: 3.2

About the author

Joy Dettman was born in country Victoria and spent her early years in towns on either side of the Murray River. She is an award-winning writer of short stories, the complete collection of which, Diamonds in the Mud, was published in 2007, as well as the highly acclaimed novels Mallawindy, Jacaranda Blue, Goose Girl, Yesterday's Dust, The Seventh Day, Henry's Daughter, One Sunday and the bestselling Woody Creek series.

Review: THE PIMLICO MURDER, Mike Hollow

• 
  This edition read on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• #6 in the Blitz Detective series
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B093PHTGBL
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allison & Busby (18 November 2021)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 345 pages

Synopsis (publisher) 

Armistice Day, 1940. The nation remembers the Great War while a new and harrowing conflict rumbles on. The Blitz Detective, John Jago, must set aside his own painful memories to investigate a suspicious death in Pimlico, south-west London. The body of a young man has been discovered in an Anderson shelter, with two white poppies in his pocket.

As the investigation progresses, Jago and his assistant, DC Cradock, find themselves knee-deep in Pimlico's shady underworld and connections with Mosley's fascist party. It will take all their skills to uncover the truth behind the young man's brutal death.

My Take

These stories are a reminder that even when there is a war as catastrophic as the Blitz of 1940, life goes on, and the deaths that occur are not necessarily the result of war: the usual crimes continue to be committed too.

In this one, Jago and Cradock are seconded to Scotland Yard to solve the murder of a young man whose body is found in an Andersen shelter. As usual they investigate a range of characters and unearth other crimes being committed. 

So far these stories have actually taken place in a very short period of time: the second half of 1940 in London with Hitler's planes attacking it almost every night. The amount of research behind the stories lend a feeling of authenticity. There are a number of "personal interest" threads too which provide ongoing interest.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.5, THE BLITZ DETECTIVE - #1
• 4.6, THE CANNING TOWN MURDER -#2 
• 4.5, THE CUSTOM HOUSE MURDER - #3
• 4.5, THE STRATFORD MURDER - #4 
• 4.5, THE DOCKLAND MURDER, - #5
• 4.5, THE CAMDEN MURDER - #7