Book Reviews

Night Without End was one of my favourite Alistair MacLean novels, and it instilled in me at a young age a liking for Arctic thrillers. In the early days authors like Desmond Bagley, Hammond Innes and even Gavin Lyall (The Most Dangerous Game) ventured into icy locales with good effect,… Read more: THROWBACK THURSDAY: THE ICE by JOHN KÅRE RAAKE

Quality spy fiction continues to trickle out in 2026, with these two new releases adding to the good books from James Wolff and Paul Warner earlier in the year. There are also some very promising new spy novels coming later in the year, some of which I have mentioned at… Read more: SPY FICTION 2026: SOLITARY AGENTS by DAVID GOODMAN and THROW AWAY THE KEY by JASON M. HOUGH

I had two columns in the Canberra Weekly in June 2026, which covered a range of crime fiction from international writers Michael Connelly, Jo Murray, and V. A. Vazquez, and local Australian authors Mark Smith and Inessa Jackson. There was also a powerful non-crime novel by Canberra writer Ayesha Inoon.… Read more: CANBERRA WEEKLY JUNE 2026: NEW BOOKS by JO MURRAY, MICHAEL CONNELLY, INESSA JACKSON, MARK SMITH, V. A. VAZQUEZ and AYESHA INOON

2026 has already seen a real smorgasboard of Australian crime fiction, from the almost obligatory outback crime to big city murder and a surprising number of cosy mysteries. There have also been some promising debuts, and books by established authors that head in new directions for them. So far, Tim… Read more: AUSTRALIAN CRIME FICTION JUNE 2026: RED LAKE by JASON SUMMERS and FIND ME by HOLLY CRAIG

Happy Publication Day! Happy Publication Day to Mike Ripley for his crime novel Played To Death, (Severn House, 2 June 2026). According to Mike, it is possibly his 35th book! Below is a review of Played To Death that I did earlier this year: Last year Mike Ripley moved away… Read more: PLAYED TO DEATH by MIKE RIPLEY

The steady stream of new Australian crime fiction in 2026 has turned into a torrent, making it hard to keep up with it all. I have managed, however, to find time to read two of the more recent releases by Mark Smith and debutant Inessa Jackson. They are very different… Read more: AUSTRALIAN CRIME FICTION JUNE 2026: DEVIL MOUNTAIN by INESSA JACKSON and WHERE TRUTH ENDS by MARK SMITH

Over the course of his long career, James Hadley Chase (pseudonym of Rene Lodge Brabazon Raymond) wrote nearly ninety novels. They covered the spectrum of thriller writing from spy novels to private eyes to tough American gangster tales to a whole host of books about men falling for sexy women… Read more: TRASHY TUESDAY: JAMES HADLEY CHASE FEMME FATALES

A quick wrap up of three recent British releases that offer very different takes on the crime novel. C. B. Everett, aka Martyn Waites, has followed up last year’s dream-like The Other People, with another highly original tale about identity and crime, which will keep you curiously turning the pages… Read more: BRITISH CRIME WRAP-UP: MAY 2026 – NEW BOOKS FROM CHRIS BROOKMYRE, C. B. EVERETT & STUART MACBRIDE

Popular Australian paperback publisher Horwitz usually focussed their war story output on salacious tales of military endeavours, often involving the violation of pretty Australian nurses by Japanese soldiers or notorious Nazi sex camps. As well, they produced a lot of less sensational war stories, primarily penned by ‘Australia’s Greatest Novelist… Read more: TRASHY TUESDAY: “TRUE TALES OF COURAGE AND DARING” – 1960S AUSTRALIAN PAPERBACK MILITARY HISTORY FROM HORWITZ

This week in the Canberra Weekly I reviewed two dark crime novels by John Connolly and New Zealander Gavin Strawhan, and an engaging non-crime book by Anna Johnston. First up of the crime novels is Gavin Strawhan’s Slash, (Allen & Unwin). I really enjoyed Strawhan’s first novel, The Call, and was not… Read more: CANBERRA WEEKLY 21 MAY 2026: NEW CRIME THRILLERS by JOHN CONNOLLY and GAVIN STRAWHAN