Book Reviews

With just over two months to Christmas, the annual flood of new thriller and crime books is picking up momentum, with some great titles scheduled for release in the next few weeks. I have looked over the forthcoming releases, and picked out ten of the most promising ones from across… Read more: FORECAST FRIDAY: THE BEST NEW RELEASES OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2025

This week in the Canberra Weekly I reviewed three very good outback Australia crime novels by Garry Disher, Michael Brissenden and Alex Dook. First up is Mischance Creek, (Text, 30 September 2025), by the master of outback crime, Garry Disher. This is the fifth novel in Disher’s highly acclaimed series about struggling South… Read more: CANBERRA WEEKLY 2 OCTOBER 2025: NEW OUTBACK CRIME BY GARRY DISHER, ALEX DOOK and MICHAEL BRISSENDEN

October brings new books by two of the doyens of Australian outback crime. Few, if any, do outback noir consistently as well as Garry Disher. The first book in his series about struggling South Australian rural policeman Constable Paul (Hirsch) Hirschhausen, Bitter Wash Road (2013), set the standard for top… Read more: OUTBACK NOIR 2025: MISCHANCE CREEK BY GARRY DISHER and LAST ONE OUT BY JANE HARPER

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Thomas Perry on 15 September 2025. He was one of my favourite American crime writers, and I had been following his books from his debut in 1982, The Butcher’s Boy, through to his latest novel, Pro Bono. I have greatly enjoyed… Read more: THE RECENT PASSING OF THOMAS PERRY: LOOKING BACK AT THE BUTCHER’S BOY AND FORWARD TO THE TREE OF LIGHT AND FLOWERS (2026)

It is nice to come back from 7 weeks of holidays to find a large pile of review books waiting for you! Although over 50 review books is probably a bit too much! Especially as I also have a growing pile of advanced Kindle titles and PDFs to read! Fortunately… Read more: 2025 HOLIDAY BOOK HAUL!

Alex Dook’s debut novel, Gunpower Creek (Echo, 2 September 2025), is partially set in the Australian outback, but has a strong gritty, urban feel to it. Perth mother Emily Barnes is busily finishing her clerical work for the week, when she receives a panicked phone call, punctured by a gunshot,… Read more: DEADLY OUTBACK: GUNPOWDER CREEK by ALEX DOOK

While travelling around, I have been catching up on some good holiday reads by three very different, but talented, authors. Darcy Coates’ How Bad Things Can Get, (Poisoned Pen Press, 26 August 2025), is a good book to escape into for a few hours. It was supposed to be the… Read more: HOLIDAY READING: NEW 2025 BOOKS BY SULARI GENTILL, MIKE RIPLEY and DARCY COATES!

Just a short update this time – running out of time! A couple of short reviews and some quick highlighting of some of the many new releases coming out over the next few months. REVIEWS Tanya Scott’s Stillwater, (Allen & Unwin, 29 July 2025), makes for a refreshing change from… Read more: DOWNUNDER CRIME UPDATE, AUGUST 2025: REVIEWS AND PREVIEWS

This week in the Canberra Weekly I reviewed three new crime novels by ‘Downunder’ authors P. A Thomas, D. V. Bishop and Margaret Hickey. First up is Carnival Of Lies, (Macmillan, 1 July 2025), by New Zealand author D. V. Bishop. This is the fifth novel in Bishop’s highly acclaimed… Read more: CANBERRA WEEKLY 24 JULY 2025: NEW CRIME FICTION BY D.V. BISHOP, MARGARET HICKEY and P. A. THOMAS

I am about to head off on a seven week holiday, and thought it would be a good time to look back over the books I have read so far this year and sort through some of the main releases for the rest of the year before I go. In… Read more: MID YEAR REVIEW: THE BEST CRIME AND THRILLER BOOKS OF 2025 … SO FAR!