Book Reviews

This week in the Canberra Weekly I reviewed three very good new crime novels by Anthony Horowitz, Darcy Tindale and Michael Bennett. The exquisitely produced Moonflower Murders was one of my favourite television shows from 2024. Based on Anthony Horowitz’s eponymous novel, it was a delightful mystery featuring book editor Susan Ryeland… Read more: CANBERRA WEEKLY 8 MAY 2025: NEW BOOKS BY ANTHONY HOROWITZ, DARCY TINDALE AND MICHAEL BENNETT

In the late 1960s/early 1970s Spanish syndicated artwork became a common feature of generally lower end book covers across the globe. These syndicated covers, which were presumably cheaper for publishers to use than specially commissioned artwork, tended towards generalised action scenes featuring cowboys, guns, bikinis and stylised violence. They adorned… Read more: SPANISH COVER ARTISTS: GUNS, BIKINIS, LARRY KENT AND STEVE McQUEEN

Small rural towns continue to be the crime centres of Australia, at least in terms of locally produced crime fiction. The enthusiasm of writers and publishers for outback Aussie noir seems to show no sign of waning, as two recent examples show. Shelley Burr really hits the mark with Vanish,… Read more: OUTBACK NOIR MAY 2025: VANISH By SHELLEY BURR and BURNING MOUNTAIN By DARCY TINDALE

A new Michael Connelly novel is always a reason to celebrate, and this year we have two! Coming out later in the year (October), we have a new Lincoln Lawyer book, The Proving Ground, but the more immediate release is Nightshade (20 May 2025). Nightshade introduces a new character for… Read more: LOOKING FORWARD FRIDAY: NIGHTSHADE By MICHAEL CONNELLY

Spies, lies and a missing person finder have dominated my recent reading. All are good reads, even if the Gerald Seymour and the John Lawton books have strangely similar cover designs and images! Charles Beaumont’s A Spy Alone (late 2023) was an outstanding piece of credible espionage fiction that held attention from… Read more: SPIES AND LIES: MY RECENT MAY 2025 READING – SIMON MASON, GERALD SEYMOUR, JOHN LAWTON and CHARLES BEAUMONT

After a five year break, Dervla McTiernan returns to her popular series about Galway detective DS Cormac Reilly with a fourth book in the series, The Unquiet Grave (Harper Collins, 30 April 2025). When a mutilated corpse is found in a bog, it is initially assumed to be a historical… Read more: THE UNQUIET GRAVE By DERVLA McTIERNAN

If you are after a briskly paced, morally ambivalent, crime thriller with a spiky female protagonist and an unexpected plot line, then Elizabeth Kaufman’s Ruth Run, (Penguin, 15 April 2025), is for you. Twenty-six-year-old Ruth is a thief who excels at microchip design. She has spent the past five years… Read more: SHORT REVIEW: RUTH RUN By ELIZABETH KAUFMAN

Just heard that Kerry Greenwood passed away on 26 March 2025. She was 70 years old. Her funeral was today, 7 April 2025. Best known for her Phryne Fisher stories, Kerry was a veteran of the Australian crime writing scene. Her first Phryne book appeared in 1989 during that first… Read more: VALE KERRY GREENWOOD

April brings us two clever British crime novels that play around with the conventions of the genre! The exquisitely produced Moonflower Murders was one of my favourite television shows from 2024. Based on Anthony Horowitz’s eponymous novel, it was a delightful mystery featuring book editor Susan Ryeland and the fictional amateur… Read more: NEW BRITISH CRIME FICTION 2025: MARBLE HALL MURDERS By ANTHONY HOROWITZ and THE OTHER PEOPLE By C. B. EVERETT

This week in the Canberra Weekly, I reviewed three enjoyable books for an Australian autumn read. Included in the mix are two good contemporary thrillers by Harlan Coben and Michelle Prak, and a historical war novel by Susan Neuhaus. Former distinguished Australian army officer and surgeon Susan Neuhaus, has produced… Read more: CANBERRA WEEKLY 3 APRIL 2025: NEW BOOKS BY HARLAN COBEN, MICHELLE PRAK AND SUSAN NEUHAUS