Book Reviews

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!

August brings two really good suspense thrillers to keep you happily reading well into the night! Steve Cavanagh’s books about New York ex-conman turned lawyer Eddie Flynn are always a twisty, fun read and his latest adventure, Two Kinds of Stranger (Headline, 29 July 2025), is no exception. Two Kinds Of Stranger is… Read more: DEADLY TWISTS AND TURNS: NEW AUGUST 2025 CRIME FICTION BY STEVE CAVANAGH AND KERRY WILKINSON

Matthew Spencer’s Black River stood out as one of the best Australian debuts of 2022, and he has now followed it up with the even better Broke Road, (Allen & Unwin, 1 July 2025). Broke Road once more features Homicide Detective Sergeant Rose Riley and crime reporter Adam Bowman, but moves the… Read more: NEW AUSTRALIAN RURAL CRIME: BROKE ROAD by MATTHEW SPENCER

My recent reading has been a real mix of styles and criminal approaches, with three of them exploring different historical periods and places. The only contemporary setting of the four books is provided by Lisa Jewell’s Don’t Let Him In, (Century, 1 July 2025). After her recent venture into the… Read more: RECENT READING: NEW BOOKS BY LISA JEWELL, TOM MEAD, RILEY SAGER and ALAN PARKS

Two times Gold Dagger winning, and twice Edgar short-listed author , Michael Robotham will be in conversation with Chris Hammer on 2 July 2025 on Michael’s new PC Phil McCarthy crime novel The White Crow. As the daughter of a London crime boss, Police Constable Philomena McCarthy walks a thin blue… Read more: MICHAEL ROBOTHAM IN CONVERSATION WITH CHRIS HAMMER: WEDNESDAY 2 JULY 2025 at 6:00 pm (AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY)

This week in the Canberra Weekly I reviewed two very good new crime novels by veteran authors Alex North and A. A. Dhand, and an exciting rural crime debut by Australian author Angie Faye Martin. Melaleuca, (HQ, 30 May 2025), by Angie Faye Martin is shaping up as being one of the… Read more: CANBERRA WEEKLY 19 JUNE 2025: NEW BOOKS BY A. A. DHAND, ANGIE FAYE MARTIN AND ALEX NORTH