Book Reviews

Two good new British releases to see September out! Peter James’ series about Brighton police detective Roy Grace has become a mainstay of the British crime scene, both in books and on television, over the past decade or so, and the latest entry in the series, Stop Them Dead (Macmillan, 26 […]

2023 has seen a wealth of good crime fiction being released by Australian authors and now there are two more stellar titles to add to your reading list. Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone was the wittiest and most original crime novel I read last year, and, in my […]

It is nice to come back from 5 weeks of holidays to find a large pile of review books waiting for you! Although nearly 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 […]

Ava Glass’s debut thriller about British secret agent Emma Makepeace, Alias Emma (aka The Chase), drew considerable praise from around the world and was a very exciting, fast paced tale. Ava has now followed up Alias Emma with a new Makepeace novel, The Traitor (Penguin, September 2023). The story opens […]

There is a pleasing diversity to contemporary Australian crime fiction. This is once more demonstrated by these new releases by Shelley Burr and James Dunbar. Shelley Burr’s Wake was one of my favourite Australian crime novels of 2022, and recently won the 2023 Ned Kelly Award for best Debut Crime […]

September is always the month that publishers start to ramp up their releases for the lead up to Christmas. This year is no exception, and there are a stack of good new books coming out in September and early October. I have set out the main ones that I am […]

I am about to head off on a six week trip, and have been doing some pre-spring cleaning, sorting through the books I have read so far this year and excitedly picking out the most promising books to be released before the end of the year. Later this week I […]

Australian author Matthew Reilly is best known for his wild, over-the-top thrillers that have captivated readers around the world. However, with Mr Einstein’s Secretary (Macmillan), due out in October, he steps back from the fantastical themes of his recent books, and heads into the realm of the historical spy fiction […]

August brings new releases from two of Australia’s best crime writers, Megan Goldin and Gabriel Bergmoser. Megan Goldin seems to be one of those authors whose books are more appreciated overseas, especially in America, than they are in Australia. This is possibly because of their settings, but I think it […]

In my recent book scavenging I have come across some rare early Australian pulp paperbacks and digests. They have not been in the best of condition, but they are interesting additions to my collection. Of the Australian paperback publishers of the 1950s and 60s, Horwitz is probably best known for […]