DOWNUNDER CRIME UPDATE, MARCH 2025: NEWS, REVIEWS AND PREVIEWS
Welcome to the March 2025 update of things happening in Australian and New Zealand crime fiction. There are a couple of reviews, previews of forthcoming books and some Chris Hammer news.
REVIEWS
Michelle Prak’s Rush was one of my favourite reads of 2023. A terrific ‘pedal to metal’ thriller, it made good use of a trio of female narrators, an outback setting and a slippery timeline to deliver some very good thrills.
Now with Barren Cape, (Simon & Schuster, 2 April 2025), Michelle dives into slightly different territory.
Barren Cape deserts the central Australia locales of Rush for a decidedly urban setting and a very contemporary problem. Former housemates Mac and Erika are homeless. Forced to move out of the apartment that they are renting, they struggle to find new place to live during the so called ‘accommodation crisis’ infecting most of capital city Australia. Erika is fine, she just has to live with her parents until she can find another rental. Mac’s situation, however, is much worse. Staying with her family is not an option, and she’s surfing the couches of increasingly exasperated friends. Driving around one lonely afternoon, Mac discovers Barren Cape. Once destined to be a luxury escape, now it’s just wire fence and grey cement. It’s stark, but quiet.
Mac decides to sneak into the abandoned resort and stay there until she can find somewhere more secure. Whilst checking out Barren Cape she stumbles across teenager Brex (short for Brexleigh – “the world’s worst bogan name”), who is also looking for a place to hide from her mother’s sleazy boyfriend. Mac thinks that she is safe, but she is not and things are only getting to get worse.
Barren Cape employs the same narrative technique as Rush, with Michelle frequently shifting the viewpoint between the three main females characters to good effect. The pace is a little slower, but Michelle skilfully builds up the suspense through the suggestion of danger and an unexpected flash of violence that changes everything. The final third of the book extrudes tension as the various storylines come together and the concluding pages are very hard to put down. Nothing plays out as expected and there is a good twist towards the end.
The three central characters are well formed and believable, and Michelle has them behave in a credible manner. All of them make mistakes, but their behaviours, for the most part, make sense. The secondary characters are also well done, especially Mac’s complex mother.
Michelle’s use of the housing crisis in Australia gives the book a nice contemporary feel and it is good to read a crime novel that deals with real urban issues. Other themes around poverty, mental health and misogyny also flesh out the novel and give it real substance.
In all, Barren Cape is a strong and enjoyable novel. Those expecting another Rush might be disappointed, but Barren Cape is a different type of thriller and none the worse for it. Recommended.
Barren Cape is released in Australia on 2 April 2025. Thanks to the publisher and the Canberra Weekly for an advanced copy of the book for review.
Maryrose Cuskelly tackles similar themes around homelessness and the clash between poverty and privilege in her semi-crime novel The Campers, (Allen & Unwin, 2 February 2025).
The Drove is a peaceful inner-city cul-de-sac where the neighbours look out for each other. That peace is disrupted, however, when a group of itinerants, led by the charismatic Sholto, set up camp in the park adjoining The Drove. Unsettled by the homeless people on their doorstep, the inhabitants of The Drove, known as Drovers, decide to fight back. Central to the story is the well-off Leah and her husband and children who live at one end of The Drove. For some reason Leah finds herself attracted to Sholto and this provides a lot of the emotional drama of The Campers.
Very different to Maryrose’s rural crime debut, The Cane, The Campers is a slow burning novel inspired by the current housing crisis and the dangers of well-meaning, but toxic, community groups. The drama unfolds gradually and there is plenty of reflection and sharp-eyed looks at Australian society.
Fans of contemporary societal novels and family drama, will enjoy The Campers and its reflections on current issues.
The Campers was released back in February 2025.
PREVIEWS
Rural crime fiction continues to dominate the Australian crime fiction landscape and there is a strong outback flavour to the forthcoming April and May releases, with only James Bradley’s futuristic Landfall and New Zealander Michael Bennett’s Carved In Blood offering urban alternatives.
One of the books that interest me the most is James Bradley’s Landfall, (Penguin, 23 April 2025).
Set in a vividly realised near future where the climate change warnings have come to fruition, Landfall sounds like a compelling read:
“In an already swamped city, a disastrous weather system looms, making the search to find a missing child urgent.
The world is in the grip of climate catastrophe. Sydney has been transformed by rising sea levels, soaring temperatures and rocketing social divide and unrest.
When a small girl on the margins goes missing, Senior Detective Sadiya Azad is assigned to find her. She knows exactly what it is to be displaced, and swallowed by the landscape. A murder at the site of the child’s disappearance suggests a connection and web of corruption, but fear keeps eyes turned and mouths closed.
With few leads to go on and only days until a deadly storm strikes the city, Sadiya and offsider Detective Sergeant Paul Findlay find themselves locked in a race against time.
Chilling and utterly compelling, Landfall is crime writing at its best – and a terrifying vision of the future bearing down on us.”
I have started reading Landfall and Bradley certainly quickly draws the reader into his near future world and makes it credible and scary. The descriptions of a sinking Sydney are evocative and the pending arrival of a new massive storm gives good impetus and a ticking bomb deadline to the plot. I am enjoying it and will be interested to see how it pans out.
Landfall is released in Australia on 23 April 2025.
From across the other side of the Tasman Sea comes Carved In Blood, (Simon & Schuster, 30 April 2025), by the very talented Michael Bennett.
Michael has quickly developed a strong following as the result of his first two novels about Auckland detective Hana Westerman, Better The Blood and Return To Blood, and seems set to cement his reputation with Carved in Blood.
“It’s a chilly Auckland winter, but for Hana Westerman and her family, it is a time of excitement. Matariki is approaching – the small cluster of stars also known as the Seven Sisters is a sacred constellation in Māori culture, heralding a time of new beginnings. Hana’s daughter Addison is getting engaged and Hana’s new role within her community is going well. For once, life is good, peaceful.
But this Matariki brings unwelcome change. When Hana’s ex-husband Jaye, a high-flying Detective Inspector, is shot in what looks like a random hold-up, Hana offers her help to the senior police officer spearheading the investigation, DI Elisa Grey. With access to police intelligence, Hana makes a breakthrough that leads to a potential suspect with links to a Chinese organised-crime syndicate. But then Addison receives a phone call telling her that the police have the wrong man.
Was Jaye really just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or is his shooting related to something else – an old undercover case deep in his past?”
Carved In Blood is released in Australia on 30 April 2025 and in the United Kingdom and the United States on 24 April 2025.
Leading off the stream of Australian bush noir novels is Shelley Burr’s Vanish, (Hachette, 30 April 2025).
The follow-up to Shelley’s impressive Wake and Ripper (Murder Town overseas), Vanish once more features the troubled Lane Holland who is out of prison, but none the wiser in his life choices:
“People go to the isolated Karpathy farm looking for a new life – and are never seen again.
Lane Holland’s crime-solving career ended the day he went to prison. With his parole hearing approaching, he faces the grim reality that as an ex-con can never work as a private eye. Yet one unsolved case continues to haunt him: the disappearance of Matilda Carver two decades ago.
Never one to follow the rules, Lane finds a lead – a mysterious farm community led by the enigmatic Samuel Karpathy. His farm attracts lost souls. People who want a more meaningful life. People who are hiding from their pasts. People with nowhere else to go.
But those who go to the farm seem to vanish without a trace.
Is it a commune? Is it a cult? Is it something even more dangerous? Lane goes undercover at the farm to find its dark secret – but could he too find himself intoxicated by the prospect of a new life on the land?”
Holland is an interesting, flawed character who was more richly developed in Wake than most characters in Australian crime fiction. The mixing of cold and current crime mysteries worked well in Shelley’s previous books and I am keen to see whether she can manage it as well this time.
Vanish, which has a great cover, is released in Australia on 30 April 2025 and on Kindle in the United States and the United Kingdom on the same day.
Darcy Tindale follows up her promising debut, The Fall Between, with a new rural crime story set in the Upper Hunter Valley region, Burning Mountain (Penguin, 29 April 2025).
Echoing Bronwyn Rivers’ recent The Reunion, Burning Mountain also deals with the aftermath of an old hiking trip gone wrong.
“In April 2006, fifteen-year-old Oliver went hiking to the lookout on Burning Mountain – and vanished without trace.
His schoolfriends – Bob, Bell, Phil and Paul – were the last ones to see him on the trek, yet the teenagers were never able to explain his disappearance.
Almost twenty years later, Detective Rebecca Giles is called to bushland on nearby Mount Wingen. There a skull has been dug up, reviving the mystery that has haunted the Upper Hunter area for years.
Giles is convinced that they have finally found the missing boy, and that his four friends, all now in their mid-thirties, have always known much more than they revealed. In particular, about the argument that caused Oliver to head down the mountain on his own.
But when she discusses the case with her father, retired Superintendent Benjamin Giles, another suspect is thrown into the mix. One that for Giles is uncomfortably close to home.“
I was quite impressed with The Fall Between and I am looking forward to Rebecca Giles’ new case. Burning Mountain is released in Australia on 30 April 2025.
Fans of romantic crime will enjoy the forthcoming release by leading rural romance author Fleur McDonald. Set in Kalgoorlie, The Prospect (Harper Collins, 2 April 2025), features a new set of characters for Fleur and a slightly more crime-oriented plot.
No matter how much or how little you find, you will never, ever own the gold. It will always own you.
After a scandal, investigative reporter Zara Ellison and her partner, policeman Jack Higgins, have moved to Kalgoorlie but they are each struggling with this fresh start. The wild mining town has its own rules, and its inhabitants – drawn by the lure of gold and riches – guard their secrets carefully.
Zara feels adrift in the swirling red dust of the lawless bush city, without sources or any leads for the hard-hitting stories she’s known for. Jack is out of the detective squad and trying to find his feet back in uniform.
On an isolated stretch of highway, a pair of grey nomads is involved in a devastating accident which leaves more questions than answers. Zara starts digging for her own kind of gold, while Jack’s investigation sends him on a parallel path towards a dangerous smuggling ring.
The Prospect is released on 2 April 2025.
Joan Sauers debut novel Echo Lake was at the cosy end of the crime fiction spectrum and her second novel Whisky Valley, (Allen & Unwin, 3 June 2025), promises more of the same.
“Rose McHugh, curious historian-turned-detective, returns to solve her next compelling mystery in the moody Southern Highlands.
After nearly being murdered last year, Rose battles anxiety as she uses her investigative skills to find her son’s best friend, a famous violinist who is missing along with his priceless violin.
As floodwaters rise, Rose uncovers secrets and lies among the missing man’s fellow musicians, as well as their patron and her enigmatic psychologist husband.
But when a body is found, can Rose shield her son from suspicion?”
Whisky Valley is released in Australia on 3 June 2025.
NEWS
- I had the pleasure of bumping into Chris Hammer the other week at a charity bookfair and he said that he was in the final editing stages of a new book, which will be out later this year. No details, but certainly one to look out for!
- Also on Chris Hammer, the streaming service Stan have announced a follow-up to their successful series based on the Chris Hammer book Scrublands. The new series Scrublands: Silver is based on Chris’ second novel Silver and is set in Port Silver, a coastal town where Martin Scarsden returns to find his childhood friend murdered and his partner the prime suspect. Scrublands was well done and I am looking forward to seeing what they do with Silver.
- Here is a link to my review of Silver from 2019: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/silver-by-chris-hammer-allen-unwin-32-99/
- Finally, entries for the 2025 Ned Kelly Awards opened 15 March 2025 and will close on 15 April 2025. The Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest and most prestigious recognition honouring published crime fiction and true crime writing. The categories are Best Crime Fiction, Best Debut Crime Fiction, Best True Crime and Best International Crime Fiction. Entries are accepted for books published in the 12 months prior to 1 March each year. The entries for the Awards seem to get stronger each year and I am looking forward to being involved in the Awards again in 2025.
Well, hopefully you found that interesting and that there are some books above that you will be interested in. Happy reading!