Review: WEEKENDS WITH THE SUNSHINE GARDENING SOCIETY, Sophie Green

• 
  this edition supplied by my local library
  
• published by Hachette Australia 2023
• ISBN 978-0-7336-4942-4
• 426 pages

Synopsis (Publisher)

A warm, uplifting story of female friendship, community and new beginnings from the beloved Sophie Green, the Top Ten bestselling author of The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle and The Bellbird River Country Choir.

Noosa Heads, 1987: Newly divorced Cynthia has returned to her home town from Los Angeles to reconnect with her 19-year-old daughter, who is pregnant and determined not to listen to her mother's advice. Cynthia's former best friend, Lorraine, has been stuck mowing lawns as part of a business she shares with her husband - his dream, not hers. When Cynthia convinces Lorraine to join the local Sunshine Gardening Society, they meet young widow Elizabeth, and rootless, heartbroken Kathy.

The four women soon discover the society is much more than an opportunity to chat about flowers. Rather, it offers them the chance to lend a helping hand to people whose lives need a bit of care and attention right along with their gardens.

Between pulling up weeds and planting natives, the women learn from each other that some roots go deep, and others shallow; that seeds can lie dormant for a long time before they spring to life, and that careful tending is the key to lives and friendships that reach their full potential. 

My Take

Let me point out first of all that this is not my usual fare of crime fiction.

I find that I can almost categorise Sophie Green's books as "comfort reads", realistic plots, focussed on life in Australian suburbs, women helping women cope with living quite ordinary lives, facing quite ordinary problems.

Mostly the characters in these books are verging on elderly and leading the sort of lives I see around me. The author seems to be able to focus on the nub of problems and suggest feel-good solutions.

My Rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.4, THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIES BOOK CLUB
4.6, THE SHELLY BAY LADIES SWIMMING CIRCLE

Review: CURTAIN, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition an e-book on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000FCK68Y
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (October 3, 2006)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0425173747
• my earlier review

Synopsis (Amazon)

The legendary detective saves his best for last as he races to apprehend a five-time killer before the final curtain descends in Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case, the last book Agatha Christie published before her death.

The crime-fighting careers of Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings have come full circle—they are back once again in the rambling country house in which they solved their first murder together.

Both Hercule Poirot and Great Styles have seen better days—but, despite being crippled with arthritis, there is nothing wrong with the great detective and his “little gray cells.” However, when Poirot brands one of the seemingly harmless guests a five-time murderer, some people have their doubts. But Poirot alone knows he must prevent a sixth murder before the curtain falls.

My Take

Published in 1975, and supposedly written about 35 years earlier, which puts it at the beginning of World War II, apparently during the blitz.  

I have read this before, when I was reading the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge. Now I have re-read it for my U3A Agatha Christie Reading Group.  However we intend to keep up our reading and discussion next year.

Nearing the end of his life Hercule Poirot has discovered 5 murders where he believes innocent people have borne the responsibility but at someone else's design. He calls this person X. The place where he met Hastings so many years ago, Styles, has now become a guest house, and one of the people now staying there is X. Poirot realises that X will never be tried in a court of law and he is determined that he will deal with X himself. He wants Hastings to be his eyes and ears because he himself is crippled with arthritis, and prone to heart attacks, and in a wheel chair. 

But Poirot understands the dangers to both Hastings and himself, as well as Hastings' daughter Judith who is also living at Styles.

This novel is a very fitting tribute to Poirot, obviously written while Christie was still enamoured with him, and not yet ready to kill him off.

My rating: 4.7 

All the Christie books I have reviewed. All the short stories.

Review: THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW, Christian White

• 
  this edition published 2020 by Affirm Press
• ISBN 978-1-925972-75-7
  
• 334 page 
• previous review
  

Synopsis (Publisher)

Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW is a mystery/thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband's secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside down when she's forced to confront the evidence that her husband is a murderer. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives.

Brilliant and beguiling, THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW takes you to a cliff edge and asks the question: how well do we really know the people we love? 

My Take

I previously read this over 3 years ago, and now I am re-reading it for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction group. 

I think now that, when I read it earlier, I seriously under-estimated the clever plot construct that the author builds in. I had forgotten the nature of this twist and began making notes because I actually thought the author had slipped up. And then of course I discovered that he hadn't!

This is an Australian story, set on an island off the coast of Victoria, a popular summer holiday destination, connected to the mainland by a ferry.

What would you do to protect your children? Something happened to John Keddie as a rebellious teenager that would stay with him for the rest of his life - affecting his mental health, giving him nightmares, and memories he can never escape. Eventually the dam overflows.

My Rating: 4.9

Previous reviews

• 4.4, THE NOWHERE CHILD
• 4.5, THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW 
• 4.6, WILD PLACE

 

Review: THE CULLING AT SINGING SANDS, G. R. Jordan

• 
  Publisher ‏ : ‎ Carpetless Publishing (31 October 2021)
  
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1914073606
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1914073601
• #15 in the Highlands and Islands Detective Thrillers
• author website
  

Synopsis (publisher)
A glamorous retirement village on an isolated island. A brutal killer culls the elderly starting with the oldest resident. Can Macleod discover the murderous motive and prevent the island graveyard from overflowing?

When the Isle of Eigg enjoys the opening of ‘The Singing Sands’ Later but Better Township’, little do they realise that death is only round the corner for the new arrivals. Joy turns to sorrow as old friends meet a bloody end, and DI Macleod and DS McGrath are dispatched to investigate. As a determined clientele and some unseasonal weather hamper the investigation, the detectives must look to the past to prevent the dispatching of those seen to be past their time.

Even in paradise you’re only one step from the grave!

My Take

Hope McGrath's Aunt Mary lived in this select retirement village until she apparently committed suicide.  She apparently jumped into the sea and her remains have never been found. And then Hope finds her shawl and an arm. She also learns that her aunt was the 3rd person to disappear in this way. 

This very select retirement home has only 8 residents and now 3 of them have gone in a matter of months. With the discovery of the arm all of Hope's alarm bells are ringing and a full investigation is launched.

I really enjoyed this story and you can see from my rating that I think it is the best one yet. I think this one is a little blacker than the rest, but I am also enjoying the character exploration and varied scenarios. Each book is a little over 200 pages, so not long reads, but they do pack quite a punch.

But if you haven't read any of them, then you must make the effort to read them from the beginning. They are all available on Kindle and probably on other e-book platforms.

According to Fantastic Fiction there are now 29 in the series, and I am intending at this stage to read them all.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

• 4.5, WATER'S EDGE -#1
• 4.4, THE BOTHY - #2
• 4.4, THE HORROR WEEKEND - #3
• 4.5, THE SMALL FERRY - #4 
• 4.5, DEAD AT THIRD MAN  - #5
• 4.4, THE PIRATE CLUB  - #6
• 4.5, A PERSONAL AGENDA  - #7
• 4.6, A JUST PUNISHMENT - #8
• 4.5, THE NUMEROUS DEATHS OF SANTA CLAUS - #9
• 4.4, OUR GATED COMMUNITY - #10  
• 4.4, THE SATCHEL - #11 
• 4.3, CULHWCH ALPHA - #12
• 4.5, FAIR MARKET VALUE - #13
• 4.5, THE COACH BOMBER -  #14

Review: LAST SEEN ALIVE, Claire Douglas

• 
   this edition published by Penguin Books UK 2017
• ISBN 978-1-405-93252-3
  
• 378 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

She can run but she can't hide. Because someone knows her secret . . .

Libby and James Hall can't believe their luck when the leaflet comes through the door. Swapping their tiny city flat for a beautiful house by the sea? Who would say no? But once they arrive at The Hideaway Libby starts to get jittery and increasingly paranoid. She is sure that someone is watching them. Something here isn't right. And when she suspects their lives to be in danger they swiftly decide to return to Bath.

But they can't pick up their old life so easily. Because this isn't just a casual house swap. This is something much, much more sinister.

My Take

Libby and Jamie Hall seem to have had a real struggle since they married a few months earlier. So many things have gone wrong. But now Libby has two weeks holiday and the offer of a house swap comes just at the right moment. Libby is able to make all the arrangements by phone and two days later they are on their way to Cornwall. 

But the week in Cornwall doesn't go quite to plan and at the end they are happy to be on their way back to Bath.  But the return home brings only temporary relief. Because that's when we become aware that Libby isn't who we think she is, and the world as we know it is turned upside down

To quote a common phrase this novel has the potential to "do your head in." There are so many twists and turns the brain struggles to make sense of it all.

Very cleverly written.

I've discovered there are quite a few titles I haven't yet read by this author. They are now on my bucket list.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

• 4.6, THE COUPLE AT NO. 9
• 4.6, JUST LIKE THE OTHER GIRLS

Review: WAKE, Shelley Burr

• 
   this edition published by Hachette Australia 2022
  
• 363 pages
• ISBN 9-780733-647826
• winner CWA Debut Dagger 2019
• WINNER OF THE DEBUT CRIME ACWA NED KELLY AWARD 2023
  

Synopsis (publisher)

A Top Ten bestseller, WAKE is a searing debut crime novel where the grief and guilt surrounding an unsolved disappearance still haunt a small farming community . . . and will ultimately lead to a reckoning.

Evelyn simply vanished.

The small town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of New South Wales. Once a thriving outback centre, this ghost town now has one sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago from the bedroom she shared with her twin sister.

Mina McCreery's life has been defined by the intense and ongoing public interest in her sister's case. Now a reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her family's sunbaked, destocked sheep farm. The million-dollar reward her mother established to solve the disappearance has never been paid out.

Enter Lane Holland, a private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Lane has his eye on the unclaimed money, but he also has darker motivations.

WAKE is a powerful, unsparing story of how trauma ripples outward when people's private tragedies become public property, and how it's never too late for the truth to set things right. 

My Take

Lane Holland, private investigator, comes to Nannine to see if he can talk to Mina McCreery about the disappearance of her twin sister nineteen years before. He has done his homework and finds her fairly easily at the general store. But she doesn't, not surprisingly, doesn't want to talk to him. Lane also tries to talk to locals, but they are as reticent as Mina. So Lane uses plan B. He investigates another missing girl, the sister of a friend of Mina's, and her he eventually has some success.

The novel carefully takes readers over what happened nineteen years earlier, and then what has happened to Mina's family since. 

On the surface Lane appears to be mainly interested in the million dollar reward that Mina's mother established in a trust fund over a decade earlier. But what he doesn't reveal is his ulterior motive, that he suspects that he already knows who was responsible for the 9 year old's disappearance.

A very atmospheric book. The Australian setting comes through strongly. Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.8 

About the author

Shelley Burr is the winner of the CWA Debut Dagger award with Wake, an alumni of the ACT Writer's Centre Hardcopy program (2018) and a Varuna fellow. When not writing she works at the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. She lives in Canberra, but grew up splitting her time between Newcastle and Glenrowan, where her father's family are all sheep farmers. WAKE is Shelley's first novel.

Review: THE LAST DEVIL TO DIE, Richard Osman

• 
  This edition published by Viking 2023
• ISBN 978-0-241-51245-6
• 417 pages
  

Synopsis (publisher)

The fourth book in the record-breaking Thursday Murder Club series from British national treasure Richard Osman

Shocking news reaches the Thursday Murder Club.

An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.

As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home.

With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?

My Take

At their Boxing Day lunch the Thursday Murder Club learns of an online scam affecting new resident Mervyn. And then on December 27th, their friend in the antiques business, Kuldesh Sharma, is killed. These two incidents form the basis of most of the investigations the Club becomes involved in: convincing Mervyn that he has been "taken for a ride", and finding out who killed Kuldesh. The Kuldesh scenario leads them once more into close contact with local police Chris and Donna. Puzzlingly Chris and Donna are taken off the case by Jill Regan of the National Crime Agency.

I love the way these books are written, and the empathetic way these geriatic investigators are dealt with, with snippets of humour, and realistic scenarios. 

The book contains a tribute to those people, and their families, living with dementia. It is rare for reading a book to bring tears to my eyes, but, as Elizabeth and Stephen arrive at a solution, this one did. 

The author finally assures readers that there will be more in this series.

My rating: 4.8

I've already read

• 4.5, THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB  
• 4.3, THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE 
• 4.6, THE BULLET THAT MISSED