Aussie mysteries

[Will Parish]

I am currently reading "The Broken Shore" by Peter Temple. I admit I was a little slow getting into it, but I am now completely hooked. At first, I was afraid that I would be bogged down by the slang, but there is a handy Aussie glossary in the back. Next, I want to tackle Arthur Upfield's classic Bony series and some Shane Maloney.

I was fortunate enough to visit the land Down Under in the early 1980s while I was in the Navy and have never forgotten my brief time there.

I know there are some Aussies out there in Crimespace. Who are some of your favorite Aussie crime writers?

Will

[Daniel Hatadi]

Not only are there Aussies on Crimespace, there are Aussie authors, too. Leigh Redhead, Katherine Howell, Michael Robotham, and Adrian Hyland all have member pages here. Almost all of them have won awards for their work, too.

Otherwise, if you want to be overwhelmed by Aussie authors, check out Crime Down Under and AustCrime. Both have extensive lists and reviews.

Peter Temple is one of my faves, too. It's worth checking out all of his work. Haven't read Maloney or Upfield yet, but I do plan to. From what I've skimmed, Upfield's language is particularly beautiful to my ear. Peter Corris is the Aussie Godfather of private eye fiction, and he's another one of my faves. Garry Disher and Gabrielle Lord also come highly recommended, but I haven't read their work yet, either.

So many books, so little ...

[Karen from AustCrime]

Peter Temple is writing something with such an Australian voice it's magnificent. For the more comic side of that voice then you can't go past Shane Maloney, but that does have a Victorian (as in the State not the time period) political setting but personally I don't think that makes it difficult for others to follow - machinations being machinations no matter where they occur :)

Garry Disher has a police procedural series set on the Mornington Peninsula just outside Melbourne - the latest one of those was a fabulous book. Gabrielle Lord has a good ongoing series, as had Claire McNab.

I'm not a fan of Upfield - I prefer SH Courtier who is of a similar era and much less "inaccurate", but if you can get hold of Fergus Hume's books - they are from the 1800's and very good still.

But for some general "if you like.. try" suggestions you could wander over to:

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/index.php/Suggestions

Where I've tried to throw together some ideas.

[Daniel Hatadi]

You can read Fergus Hume's work for free over at Project Gutenberg.