Karen from AustCrime's Blog (430)

Review - Blood in the Cotswolds, Rebecca Tope

Book Title: BLOOD IN THE COTSWOLDS

Author: Rebecca Tope

Publisher: Allison and Busby

Copyright: 2008

ISBN: 978-0-7490-7911-6

No of Pages: 349

Book Synopsis:

Thea Osborne and her faithful spaniel, Hepzie, have taken on a house-sitting assignment in the charming Cotswold village of Temple Guiting. But as always, an idyllic village can harbour a disquieting number of secrets and when a skeleton is discovered at the roots of an old beech tree, Thea is… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on August 13, 2010 at 11:05am — No Comments

Review - Nest of Vipers, Luke Devenish

Book Title: NEST OF VIPERS

Author: Luke Devenish

Publisher: Bantam

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-86325-623-0

No of Pages: 504

Book Synopsis:

Rome is bathed in blood as the Emperor Tiberius is tormented by drug-fuelled terrors of treason. The innocent are butchered while the guilty do evil in darkness. None are guiltier than the Emperor's devoted and deluded 'son', Sejanus.

In this city of poison three beautiful women are locked in a lethal… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on August 12, 2010 at 9:11pm — No Comments

Review - Silk Chaser, Peter Klein

Book Title: SILK CHASER

Author: Peter Klein

Publisher: Pan MacMillan Australia

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-405-03976-5

No of Pages: 318

Book Synopsis:

A serial killer is stalking young, female strappers. No one knows who it is, why he's doing it, or who is next. The police and the racing fraternity seem powerless to do anything. The women are terrified and the union is threatening to go on strike and close down the entire racing industry unless security… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on August 12, 2010 at 2:04pm — No Comments

Review - Dark Matter, Juli Zeh

Book Title: DARK MATTER

Author: Juli Zeh

Publisher: Harvill Secker

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-846-55208-3

No of Pages: 322

Book Synopsis:

Sebastian and Oskar have been friends since their days studying physics at university, when both were considered future Nobel Prize candidates. But their lives took divergent paths, as did their scientific views. Whenever Oskar comes to visit from his prestigious research post in Geneva, there is tension in the air, and… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on August 6, 2010 at 11:05pm — No Comments

Review - Murder in Utopia, Philip McLaren

Book Title: MURDER IN UTOPIA

Author: Philip McLaren

Publisher: Cockatoo Books

Copyright: 2009

ISBN: 978-0-646-50382-0

No of Pages: 195

Book Synopsis:

Doctor Jack Nugent never liked looking at dead people and he hated touching them. In spite of this, he acquired detailed knowledge as to what happened to human remains. In the small community of Utopia, in the middle of Australia, he'd picked up skills he simply never could have learned by staying in New… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 27, 2010 at 3:04pm — No Comments

Review - Mosquito Creek, Robert Engwerda

Book Title: MOSQUITO CREEK

Author: Robert Engwerda

Publisher: Penguin

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-0-670-07371-9

No of Pages: 338

Book Synopsis:

Under ceaseless rains, the Murray has burst its banks and engulfed the remote Mosquito Creek goldfield. Life on the diggings just got even tougher.

As disease adds to the camp's miseries, a suspiciously abandoned tent suggests frictions have turned murderous. The experienced Sergeant Niall Kennedy knows that… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 23, 2010 at 12:49pm — No Comments

Review - Watch the World Burn, Leah Giarratano

Book Title: WATCH THE WORLD BURN

Author: Leah Giarratano

Publisher: Random House Australia

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-74166-814-8

No of Pages: 389

Book Synopsis:

Miriam Caine is dining with her son in an up-market restaurant when she bursts into flames.

The restaurant's manager, ex-cop Troy Berrigan, is first to Miriam's aid, but she later dies of her injuries. When police find accelerants on the victim, attention is turned to their… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 15, 2010 at 3:00pm — No Comments

Review - King of the Cross, Mark Dapin

Book Title: KING OF THE CROSS

Author: Mark Dapin

Publisher: Pan MacMillan Australia

Copyright: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4050-3962-8

No of Pages: 308

Book Synopsis:

King of the Cross is a dazzling novel that explores the criminal world of Jacob Mendoza: legendary Godfather of Kings Cross and for more than four decades, Australia's most powerful and notorious crime figure. Now in his eighties, Mendoza believes it's time to record his epic life story - although… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 12, 2010 at 9:17pm — No Comments

Review - The Troika Dolls, Miranda Darling

Book Title: THE TROIKA DOLLS

Author: Miranda Darling

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-74175-915-0

No of Pages: 401

Book Synopsis:

Called to Moscow by an old friend to assess the security risk to the head of the Russian Central Bank, Stevie Duveen arrives to find the bank regulator's teenage daughter has been kidnapped. Valery Kozkov has been a fearless crusader against widespread corruption in Russia and organised crime's… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 5, 2010 at 6:46pm — 2 Comments

Review - Conspiracy 365 - February - Gabrielle Lord

Book Title: CONSPIRACY 365 - FEBRUARY

Author: Gabrielle Lord

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-74169-034-7

No of Pages: 183

Book Synopsis:

Cal's old life ended as soon as the deadly 365-day countdown began. So far he's been attacked by sharks, blamed for a vicious assault on his family, kidnapped by two criminal gang, and left to drown in a fast-filling oil tank.

Book Review:

From Him:

**Note - it is… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 5, 2010 at 1:54pm — No Comments

Review - The Secret Speech, Tom Rob Smith

Book Title: THE SECRET SPEECH

Author: Tom Rob Smith

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Copyright: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-84737-129-4

No of Pages: 449

Book Synopsis:

The Soviet Union 1956: after Stalin's death, a violent regime is beginning to fracture. It leaves behind a society where the police are the criminals, and the criminals are innocent. Stalin's successor Khrushchev pledges reform. But there are forces at work that are unable to forgive or forget the… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 1, 2010 at 8:02pm — No Comments

Review - Sharp Shooter, Marianne Delacourt

Book Title: SHARP SHOOTER

Author: Marianne Delacourt

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Copyright: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-74175-931-0

No of Pages: 311

Book Synopsis:

Tara Sharp should be just another unemployable, twenty-something, ex-private schoolgirl... but she has the gift - or curse as she sees it - of reading people's auras. The trouble is, auras sometimes tell you things about people they don't want you to know.

When a family friend recommends Mr… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 30, 2010 at 8:33pm — No Comments

Review - Where Have You Been? Wendy James

Book Title: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

Author: Wendy James

Publisher: UWA Publishing

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-921401-46-6

No of Pages: 250

Book Synopsis:

Susan and Ed Middleton are perfectly content with their lives. Two kids, two cars, a solid brick bungalow in a respectable northern beaches suburb. They're good people, model citizens. There's barely a ripple in the surface of their happy existence. But when Susan's older sister, who vanished as a teenager,… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 26, 2010 at 10:44pm — No Comments

Review - Conspiracy 365 - January - Gabrielle Lord

Book Title: CONSPIRACY 365 - JANUARY

Author: Gabrielle Lord

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-74169-033-0

No of Pages: 185

Book Synopsis:

On New Year's Eve Cal is chased down the street by a staggering sick man with a deadly warning.

They killed your father. They'll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days!"

Book Review:

Conspiracy 365 is a series of 12 novels, released one per month, following the… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 21, 2010 at 9:31pm — No Comments

Review - Gunshot Road, Adrian Hyland

Book Title: GUNSHOT ROAD

Author: Adrian Hyland

Publisher: Text Publishing

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 9781921656309

No of Pages: 369

Book Synopsis:

Emily Tempest is small, black, as snaky as a taipan's tooth and is the woman least likely ever to embark on a career in policing. But her old mate Superintendent Tom MacGillivray has persuaded her to sign on as the Aboriginal Community Police Officer for the outback (not to mention throwback) township of… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 15, 2010 at 9:35pm — No Comments

Interview with Louise Welsh

I was lucky enough to catch up with Louise Welsh on the phone recently and chat to her on behalf of the local Sisters in Crime chapter. We talked about her latest book - NAMING THE BONES, crime fiction, education and that ongoing question - so what is it about Scotland and all those fantastic writers (amongst a lot of other things).

NAMING THE BONES is the latest book from Louise Welsh and it is ostensibly the story of Murray Watson and his research into the life of poet Archie Lunan.… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 15, 2010 at 6:16pm — No Comments

Review - A Few Right Thinking Men, Sulari Gentill

Book Title: A FEW RIGHT THINKING MEN

Author: Sulari Gentill

Publisher: Pantera Press

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-0-9807418-1-0

No of Pages: 349

Book Synopsis:

Rowland Sinclair is an artist and a gentleman. In Australia's 1930's, the Sinclair name is respectable and influential, yet Rowland has a talent for scandal.

Even with thousands of unemployed lining the streets, Rowland's sheltered world is one of exorbitant wealth, culture and impeccable… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 11, 2010 at 5:37pm — No Comments

Review - The Diggers Rest Hotel, Geoffrey McGeachin

Book Title: THE DIGGERS REST HOTEL

Author: Geoffrey McGeachin

Publisher: Penguin

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-0-670-07273-6

No of Pages: 316

Book Synopsis:

In 1947, two years after witnessing the death of a young Jewish woman in Poland, Charlie Berlin has rejoined the police force a different man. Sent to investigate a spate of robberies in rural Victoria, he soon discovers that World War II has changed even the most ordinary of places and people.

An… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 8, 2010 at 10:10pm — No Comments

Review - Eye of the Red Tsar, Sam Eastland

Book Title: EYE OF THE RED TSAR

Author: Sam Eastland

Publisher: Allen & Unwin/Faber

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-0-571-24534-5

No of Pages: 334

Book Synopsis:

Inspector Pekkala - known as the Emerald Eye - was once the most famous detective in all Russia, the favourite of the Tsar. Now he is the prisoner of the men he once hunted.

Like millions of others, he has been sent to the gulags in Siberia and as far as the rest of the world is concerned,… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 7, 2010 at 8:27pm — No Comments

Review - Ravens, George Dawes Green

Book Title: RAVENS

Author: George Dawes Green

Publisher: Little & Brown

Copyright: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-84744-289-5

No of Pages: 325

Book Synopsis:

When grifters Shaw and Romeo pull up at a convenience store in Georgia, their only thought is to fix a faulty tyre and be on their way to Florida.

But this happens to be the store from which a $318 million jackpot ticket has just been sold - and when the pretty clerk accidentally reveals the identity… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 4, 2010 at 5:48pm — No Comments