MYSTERIES in PARADISE

Review: THE TAILOR, Tim Sullivan

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 05:28:55 +0000

this edition read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
Series: DS Cross Mystery #8
Publisher: Grove Atlantic, Release 11 August 2026

Synopsis (publisher)

Measure twice. Cut once.

Detective Sergeant George Cross is nothing if not precise. When a man is found dead in the first-class toilet of a train—his throat cut, a plastic bag over his head—the grisly scene shocks his fellow officers. Cross registers every detail, but it's not the blood that interests him. It's the victim's exquisite suit.

The dead man is a tailor by the name of Billy Titcomb, trusted by clients around the world for his meticulousness and discretion. Who would want a tailor dead?

With his new partner, DC Alice Mackenzie, Cross starts pulling at the threads. There's a widow grieving in peculiar ways. A dead scientist whose suicide doesn't add up. And two South Korean tourists with embassy connections who keep showing up in places they shouldn't. The deeper Cross digs, the less this looks like a simple murder, and the more it looks like a professional operation.

DS Cross has the highest conviction rate in the force. But in the world of spies and state secrets, the rules are different—and for the first time, the people trying to stop him may be on his own side. Can Cross stitch it all together before the case unravels him?

My Take

Another challenging case for DS George Cross. His former partner has been promoted and so he has to learn to work with someone else, or rather, she has to learn to work with him.

In addition his parents have recently moved in together and things are not going all that well.

Woven through the story are the elements of humor that we have come to expect.

For the first time George himself is in danger, abducted, a new experience for him.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.5, THE DENTIST- #1

4.6, THE CYCLIST - #2

4.6, THE PATIENT - #3

4.6, THE POLITICIAN -#4

4.5, THE MONK - #5

4.7, THE TEACHER - #6

4.6, THE BOOKSELLER - #7

4.6, THE BASKETCASE

Review: BLOOD WATER FALLS, T. G. Reid

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:53:48 +0000

This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B098JYHLW6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Glass Work Press Ltd, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 29 November 2021
Print length ‏ : ‎ 389 pages
Book 2 of 10 ‏ : ‎ DCI Bone Scottish Crime Thrillers

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

A TEACHER IS FOUND DEAD AT BLOOD WATER FALLS.
Nailed to the rockface. Behind the waterfall.
In a town where everyone knows everything. And nobody's talking.

For DCI Duncan Bone, it looks straightforward. A murder in a small community — someone always talks. Someone always knows.

But the forensic evidence doesn't fit. The timeline doesn't fit. And the community has closed ranks. Nobody is talking.

Small towns keep their secrets buried deep. This one has been waiting years for someone to dig.

My Take

Another gripping read. The characters in DCI Duncan Bone's team are being fleshed out nicely and their personalities add to the story.

Bone is still haunted with PTSD from his earlier case, but his trauma is heightened by the collapse of his marriage and the fact that his wife regards his career as a threat to his small son's safety. The killer compounds this by setting fire to Bone's house.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.5, DARK IS THE GRAVE - #1

Review: DARK IS THE GRAVE, T.G. Reid

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:24:44 +0000

This edition read as an e-book on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B096MN4WRX
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Glass Work Press Ltd, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 July 2021
Print length ‏ : ‎ 319 pages
Book 1 of 10 ‏ : ‎ DCI Bone Scottish Crime Thrillers

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

A POLICE OFFICER IS BURIED ALIVE. JUST LIKE BEFORE.
But the killer has been dead for years.
So who knows how he killed?

DCI Duncan Bone nearly died stopping the Peek-a-boo killer. It cost him everything — his health, his career, his mind.

Now someone is hunting police officers again. The latest victim was found six feet under with dirt in his lungs. Same method. Same ritual. Details that were never made public.

Bone is dragged back to lead the hunt. But every answer he finds connects back to the original case — and to things only the dead man should have known.

The original case nearly broke him. This one might finish the job.

My Take

This one really hit the spot. The beginning of a series too. I can feel addiction coming on.

DCI Bone is haunted by a killer who is long dead but has left him with nightmares. And now it is happening again. Bone has been on extended leave but his old boss persuades him to return to work to lead the team as he is the one who knows the past cases really well. His counsellors say he should be ready. But is he?

And the copy-cat killer has decided to target Bone.

This author does tension very well.

My rating: 4.5

About the author

TG Reid (aka Tom Gillespie) is a Scottish-born novel and short story writer. His award-winning novels and stories been published worldwide. TG Reid also writes critically acclaimed, award-winning, dark literary thrillers under the pen name of Tom Gillespie.The DCI Bone series is set in Tom's hometown, among the hills and glens of the Scottish Campsie Fells. This is Tom's first foray into the murky, pulse-pounding world of police thrillers.

Review: NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH, Lauren Williams

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:44:33 +0000

This edition read as an e-book through my local library on BorrowBox
Publisher: Affirm Press (June 30, 2026)
Length: 384 pages
ISBN13: 9781761637230

Synopsis (publisher)

The annual Curlew Street scarecrow competition is back, and the residents of Melbourne’s inner north have never seen an entry like it. Shirt bloody, head and arms slumped over a scarecrow crucifix: Victoria’s most conservative Supreme Court Judge, Harry ‘The Pope’ Somerton, is dead.

Priyanka Pal, a former psychologist turned homicide detective, is disturbed when her investigation uncovers corruption close to home. Forced to confront the abuses of powerful men – the very reason she left psychology – Priyanka’s faith in the justice system falters.

Emma Bloom is sophisticated, intelligent, and seems to have it all together. But her prickly, estranged sister, Margot, knows the truth. Their attempts at reconciliation spiral into crisis with the death of Emma’s abusive husband, The Pope.

As secrets unravel and Priyanka’s investigation cuts close to home, the sisters risk losing what fragile family ties they have left, and Priyanka’s career is on the edge. None of them will ever feel the same way about themselves (or their neighbours) again.

P.S. Mind the cat.

My Take

A thoroughly intriguing first novel, lots to keep the reader busy. A very different read.

A very unpopular Supreme Court Judge is found dead in the front yard of a Melbourne suburban house, part of a Scarecrow competition display. But it is not immediately obvious who was responsible for his murder: someone who had suffered at his hands, or an immediate member of his family, like his wife who was a victim of his abuse?

The story explores family relationships and community links, as well as police corruption. Highly recommended.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Before turning to fiction, Lauren worked as a lawyer, diplomat, actor, arts journalist and museum communications manager (not all at once). This is her first novel

Review: 29 SECONDS, T. M. Logan

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 23:05:59 +0000

this edition read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
ISBN:9781785770807
Publisher:Bonnier, Pub Date:28 Mar 2018
Page Extent:320

Synopsis (overdrive)

From T.M. Logan, the bestselling author of Lies, comes 29 Seconds, a sensational new thriller that explores what happens when a split second thought of revenge takes on a life of its own.

"Give me one name. One person. And I will make them disappear."

Sarah is a young professor struggling to prove herself in a workplace controlled by the charming and manipulative Alan Hawthorne. A renowned scholar and television host, Hawthorne rakes in million-dollar grants for the university where Sarah works — so his inappropriate treatment of female colleagues behind closed doors has gone unchallenged for years. And Sarah is his newest target.

When Hawthorne's advances become threatening, Sarah is left with nowhere to turn. Until the night she witnesses an attempted kidnapping of a young child on her drive home, and impulsively jumps in to intervene. The child's father turns out to be a successful businessman with dangerous connections—and her act of bravery has put this powerful man in her debt.

He gives Sarah a burner phone and an unbelievable offer. A once-in-a-lifetime deal that can make all her problems disappear.
No consequences. No traces. All it takes is a 29-second phone call.
Because everyone has a name to give. Don't they?

My Take

This certainly is a gripping read.

Here is a puzzle for you though. In the version I read the Professor's name is Lovelock. I think there is a NetFlix adaptation of the story that changes his name to Hawthorne.

The central theme is the way the professor uses sexual abuse to control women who work as lecturers but are on short term contracts. The Professor uses their need for security of employment to extract sexual favours from them. When he refuses to give her an extension to permanency, Sarah, whose husband has recently left her, is at her wit's end. She is lucky to have a supportive father and friends but that is not enough.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

Review: THE HIGHLAND DEAD, Morag Pringle

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:56:39 +0000

This edition read as an e-book on Kindle
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CWKDWBG2
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Storm Publishing. Publication date ‏ : ‎ 21 June 2024
Print length ‏ : ‎ 340 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1805083603
Book 2 of 3 ‏ : ‎ A Rachel McKenzie Mystery

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

The death of a school friend forces Rachel McKenzie to confront a remorseless killer in her Highland hometown…

Rachel is no stranger to the darkness in the hearts of men. When the body of a young woman is found, tragically killed in her own home, Rachel is devastated to discover she knew the victim. Gillian helped her when she was at her lowest; now Rachel vows to find her friend’s murderer.

When the killer strikes again, frighteningly close to home, Rachel sees a chilling pattern to his victims. As she races to decipher the clues, she unravels a twisted plan years in the making. And when a young girl is taken, Rachel knows it’s reaching its terrible conclusion. As the clock counts down, how far can she push herself to stop this ruthless killer in his tracks?

My Take

For me this title didn't quite live up to the promise of the first in the series THE LIAR'S BONES

Rachel McKenzie is a procurator fiscal in Inverness. She finds a link between the death of a former friend and other deaths of young women, and then calls in favours from contacts in the police force. I guess my main criticism of the plot is that the solution of the mystery comes out of a case that the reader does not hear about until half way through the story.

There is further development in the story of the murder of Rachel's mother years earlier, and it looks as if we might finally get the truth in the third book in the series.

My rating: 4.4

I've already read

4.5, THE LIAR'S BONES - #1

Review: THE LIAR'S BONES, Morag Pringle

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 05:47:38 +0000

This edition read on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CY5BVT9Q
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Storm Publishing, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 20 May 2024
Print length ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1805083122
Book 1 of 3 ‏ : ‎ A Rachel McKenzie Mystery

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

A murder on an isolated Scottish island brings investigator Rachel McKenzie face-to-face with a terrible secret from the past…

Rachel McKenzie has trust issues. It’s only natural, being the daughter of a killer. When she hears about a woman drowned in suspicious circumstances on the windswept island where her estranged family lives, Rachel is driven to look deeper.

The tight-lipped local sergeant wants Rachel off his island and out of his investigation. But Rachel’s presence is stirring old ghosts and new, and when she makes the connection between the drowned woman and a decades-old murder, she’s stepped right into the sights of a killer who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets safe…

My Take

A promising start to a new series, with a likeable central sleuth, a procurator fiscal with an intriguing past, someone who is willing to go with their instincts, and all the elements you expect from an engaging Scottish mystery: isolation, a storm, and a body or two.

My rating: 4.5

About the Author
Although I have been writing for several years and have had nineteen medical romances and four historical novels published, I have always wanted to write crime. The Liar's Bones is the first. Chunks of my life have inevitably found their way into all my books: jobs - temporary and permanent, places I have visited and lived, stories in the press that have caught my interest people passed on the street or served in a bar. Ultimately however my stories are the product of my imagination.I currently live in Glasgow with my husband. Five interesting facts about me that not everyone knows (and that may have crept into my books): I went to school in South Africa and speak Afrikaans. I spent seven months in the frozen north of Canada where temperatures could plummet as low as -40c. My parents were native Gaelic speakers: my father was a nuclear scientist, my mother a midwife and Health Visitor, or a 'Green lady' as they were known in Glasgow. My mother and her parents and three siblings lived alone on an otherwise uninhabited island for four years. My first job was creating information boards for archaeological sites across Uist in the Outer Hebrides.

Review: THE BASKETCASE, Tim Sullivan

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 05:27:05 +0000

This edition read on my Kindle
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FNWV6DQ7
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Head of Zeus -- an Aries Book, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 4 December 2025
Print length ‏ : ‎ 47 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1804545690

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

Three go up. Two come down...

Detective George Cross receives a very bizarre call from a distressed family after their picnic was horribly interrupted. Just as they were about to tuck into their sandwiches, a human arm landed unceremoniously next to them. Soon, another limb followed.

As they looked up, they were horrified to see a decaying, disarticulating body perched at the top of a very tall tree.

DS George Cross is an exceptional detective but it doesn't take a genius to work out what needs answering first:

How on earth did it get up there?

Discover why everyone loves George Cross in this puzzling short story that can be read as a standalone mystery within the bestselling series.

My Take

A quick reminder of how good these stories are.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.5, THE DENTIST- #1

4.6, THE CYCLIST - #2

4.6, THE PATIENT - #3

4.6, THE POLITICIAN -#4

4.5, THE MONK - #5

4.7, THE TEACHER - #6

4.6, THE BOOKSELLER - #7

Review: THE CURFEW, T. M. Logan

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 02:48:12 +0000

this title read as an e-book on Libby through my local library
Publisher: Bonnier Books UK, Release 17 March 2022
ISBN 9781838776718

Synopsis (Overdrive)

Your son said he was home. WHY DID HE LIE?

The utterly gripping up-all-night thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mother, The Dream Home and The Holiday

The curfew
Andy and Laura are good parents. They tell their son Connor that he can go out with friends to celebrate completing his exams, but he must be home by midnight.

The lie
When Connor misses his curfew, it sets off a series of events that will change the lives of five families forever.

The truth?
Because five teenagers went into the woods that night, but only four came out. And telling the truth might mean losing everything...

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

My Take

This is the second novel I have read by this author, but it won't be the last.

The story kept me involved (and guessing) right to the very end. It truly was heart in the mouth stuff, and I found myself taking sides!

My rating: 4.8

I have read

4.5, THE HOLIDAY

About the author

T.M. Logan is a Sunday Times bestseller whose thrillers have sold more than 1 million copies in the UK and are published in 18 countries around the world. The Holiday was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and will soon be a major TV drama. Formerly a national newspaper journalist, he now writes full time and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children. Follow him on Twitter @TMLoganAuthor

Review: THE IMPOSSIBLE THING, Belinda Bauer

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 02:19:09 +0000

this edition read as an e-book on BorrowBox through my local library
Published: 9 June 2026, Penguin
ISBN: 9781804997888
Pages: 416
Awards
2026 Barry Award for Best Novel (nominee)
2026 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (longlist)

Synopsis (Penguin)

What could be so important that even a child will risk her life for it?

On a summer’s evening in 1926, six-year-old Celie Shepherd is hungry and desperate and not where a six-year-old should be. Instead she is dangling from a cliff, far above the sea, reaching out to pocket an impossibly beautiful thing.

This bold theft will change the course of Celie’s life, and the lives of others.

One hundred years later, a house is ransacked. The only thing missing: a dusty case containing that same impossible thing.

What could conceivably be so important that it is stolen again and again (and perhaps yet again . . . )?

So begins this extraordinary mystery from award-winning Belinda Bauer.

A taut, wonderfully imagined novel brimming with skulduggery at every turn, The Impossible Thing is a blazing testament to Belinda Bauer’s status as one of our greatest living crime writers.

My Take

This novel combines the historical with crime. The historic theme is one that most readers would not be familiar with: the trade in bird's eggs in the 20th century, now outlawed in the 21st. The fact that some eggs were so highly prized because of their size and their colour and because they were so difficult to get to.

In 1926, a young girl named Celie finds an "impossible" rare scarlet/red guillemot egg on the Yorkshire cliffs. A century later, Patrick Fort (the neurodivergent protagonist returning from Bauer's previous novel Rubbernecker) and his friend Nick set out to track down the historical red egg after Nick's home is ransacked and the artifact is stolen.

An intriguing and entertaining read.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

5.0, BLACKLANDS
4.8, THE SHUT EYE
4.8, SNAP

Review: THE DIVORCE, Freida McFadden

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 01:34:56 +0000

this edition supplied by my local library
published by Poisoned Pen Press 2026
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1464280184
354 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

What is a happily ever after really worth?

Naomi was living the quintessential love story.

Boy meets girl. They fall in love, get married, buy a dream house, start a family...

Then-he kicks her out, hires the city's best divorce lawyers, drains their accounts, and takes up with a 20-something.

It's a brutal end to the story. Naomi should accept defeat: move into a dingy apartment, get back into the workforce, and piece together the shattered remains of her life.

Except, why should she?

Instead, Naomi fixates on her husband's new girlfriend. What begins as cynical curiosity soon twists into obsession-and then into something far darker. As Naomi uncovers secrets she never imagined, she realizes her own life may be in danger.

But if it keeps her perfect family intact, isn't it worth it?

In The Divorce, #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a razor-sharp, subversive thriller where love curdles into vengeance, and survival becomes the most dangerous game of all.

My Take

I never cease to be amazed at this author's ability to suck the reader in. And here is a story with a number of twists.

It comes as a shock that not every narrator in this story is reliable but it is very hard to decide who you should trust and who not?

As always an excellent read.

For those with books clubs, there are some questions at the end to challenge you. And here is one from me: who is the narrator in The Prologue?

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.5, THE TENANT

4.5, DO NOT DISTURB

4.5, WANT TO KNOW A SECRET?

Review: TELL ME SOMETHING TRUE, Michael Robotham

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 02:22:35 +0000

this edition published by Letterwing (Hachette Australia 2026)
ISBN 978-0-7336-5289-9
421 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

The astonishing, emotional epic from Michael Robotham: a mystery, a coming-of-age tale and a love story wrapped into one, set against the simmering tensions of a small Australian town.

'Do you think this town will ever forgive me?' I ask.
'Not in a million years.'

Small towns are quick to anger and slow to forgive, but Arlo Hackett doesn't expect mercy when he emerges from a twelve-year prison sentence and makes his way back to Yulara, a waypoint on Australia's Great Southern Road. The last time Arlo was home, his brother Luke was charged with a terrible crime and Arlo was found guilty by association.

His return to the former goldrush town is like cracking open a time capsule full of hatred and violence, along with memories of the people he loved - the ones he couldn't save.

Yulara wants Arlo gone, or worse, but every insult and humiliation pushes him to confront what really happened all those years ago.

The truth will shock you, surprise you, and break your heart.

My Take

At last, the book from Michael's "bottom drawer"; the one set in Australia that friends and followers have been hoping to see one day. And it is a story that will stay with you as you rethink some of the plot lines. For me it was about inaction, prejudice, taking the easy way out, and the sort of miscarriage of justice that we all know exists and we hope never to see.

The characters are strongly drawn, the setting strongly Australian country town. Thank you Michael for a great read.

My rating: 5.0

About the author

Michael is the only Australian to twice win the UK's prestigious Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel, for Life Or Death and Good Girl, Bad Girl as well as the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for When She Was Good. Lying Beside You was shortlisted for the Australian Crime Writers Association's Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction 2023. Storm Child, his fourth novel in the globally bestselling Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac series, was a No. 1 national bestseller in Australia. It was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction 2025. The White Crow, published in 2025, is the second book in his Philomena McCarthy series, following on from the internationally bestselling When You Are Mine.

Arlo's story, at the centre of Michael Robotham's 20th novel, Tell Me Something True, has held a special place in his heart since he first dreamt of becoming a writer. Four decades later, he's ready to share it with readers for the first time.

Michael lives in Sydney.

I've also read

BOMBPROOF

SHATTER #3

SHATTER (audio)

BLEED FOR ME #4

5.0, THE WRECKAGE #5

4.8, SAY YOU'RE SORRY #6

5.0, WATCHING YOU #7

4.8, IF I TELL YOU... I'LL HAVE TO KILL YOU (edit)

5.0, LIFE OR DEATH Shortlisted for the 2015 CWA Gold Dagger

4.8, CLOSE YOUR EYES #8

5.0, THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS

5.0, THE SUSPECT #1 (audio)

4.8, LOST #2 (audio)

5.0, THE OTHER WIFE #9

4.8, GOOD GIRL, BAD GIRL -Cyrus Haven #1

4.8, WHEN SHE WAS GOOD -Cyrus Haven #2

5.0, WHEN YOU ARE MINE - Philomena #1

5.0, LYING BESIDE YOU - Cyrus Haven #3

5.0, THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS

5.0, STORM CHILD - Cyrus Haven #4

5.0, THE SECRETS SHE KEEPS

5.0, WHITE CROW - Philomena #2

Review: THE PEAK, Sam Guthrie

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 01:48:30 +0000

This edition read as an e-book on Borrow Box through my local library
Imprint: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9781460718384
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 2nd July 2025
Shortlisted for the John Creasey First Novel Dagger 2026
Shortlisted for Best Debut Fiction, Ned Kelly Awards 2026

Synopsis (publisher)

A nailbiting and unputdownable read, The Peak is a powerfully taut, gripping and fast-moving international thriller that weaves a story of friendship, love and betrayal together with the ruthless geopolitics of China's rise, set in the last 24 hours of the world as we know it.

'Now I'll tell you what happened, as best I can. No spin. No agenda. If I get something wrong, it's not because I'm being evasive. It's simply because I'm still trying to understand what happened today ... It's to explain, as best I can, what Sebastian has done, and why tomorrow when you wake up, it will be the end of the world.'

Political hatchet man Charlie will do anything to protect Sebastian, government minister and his best friend since their brutal private school days. Rising to power and prominence through international diplomatic postings and then the rough and tumble of Australian politics, they are as close as brothers - or so Charlie thinks - while both keep the secret that lies at the very heart of their relationship - a secret that in one way or another will change the world.

But then a single phrase in Mandarin is spoken in Sebastian's ear and he does the unthinkable. As Charlie tries to piece it all together - from their youth spent in Hong Kong to the recent past in Beijing and Washington - things in the outside world start to fall apart too. Planes can't land, the phone lines go down and the power is out. Then the secret intelligence services comes knocking. Charlie wonders, what the hell did Sebastian do?

From the jostling streets of Hong Kong to Beijing's shadowy halls of power and the backstabbing Machiavellian workings of Parliament House in Canberra, The Peak is a powerful, propulsive and nailbitingly tense international thriller. Written with an extraordinary insider knowledge of China, the realities of global power and the inner dealings of the Australian Government, The Peak has the authenticity and moral complexity of a Le Carre novel and the narrative power of an Australian Robert Harris.

My Take

A political thriller, not really my genre of choice, but nevertheless an impressive and thought provoking piece of work. It uses a background of Australian/Chinese relationships, in particular those between a Chinese operative and Sebastian, who over a period of years holds a range of consular positions, and is manipulated through his love for a Chinese woman.

A bit of a slap in the face for those who think that on the world stage Australia does not matter.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Sam Guthrie writes international political thrillers based on his experience working at the nexus of business, politics, and international diplomacy. His character-driven fiction explores the human desires and frailties that shape world-altering events, drawing on an insider's knowledge of the machinations of power, political intrigue, and the geostrategic challenges confronting the global order.

Prior to publishing his first novel, The Peak, Sam had a twenty-five-year career in international relations serving as a trade envoy to China, an Asia Pacific corporate affairs adviser and political lobbyist and a senior government official. He has worked extensively across Europe, the US and Asia, and has spent close to a decade living and working in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Prague. He has a master's degree in international relations. He splits his time between Canberra and Sydney.

Review: THE BODY IN SEVEN DIALS, H. L. Marsay

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:17:59 +0000

This title read as an e-book on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C5BTXTN9
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tule Publishing, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 11 October 2023
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1959988984
Book 1 of 4 ‏ : ‎ The Lady in Blue Mysteries

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

Inspired by the remarkable life of Dorothy Peto, the Metropolitan Police’s first female superintendent.

In 1914, the idea of a female police officer is dismissed as absurd, but to a small group of determined women, not impossible.

With men departing to fight for king and country, women have new opportunities at home. Dorothy Peto and her fellow suffragettes propose forming the Women’s Police Volunteers to assist police keep order. At first, the suggestion is derided, yet the force is stretched thin. As Dorothy and her friends train and organise to help refugees fleeing the war and guide terrorised Londoners to shelter during the Zeppelin raids, the ‘ladies in blue’ gain a grudging acceptance.

During one nightly bombing raid, Dorothy discovers the body of a beautiful, Belgian refugee in Seven Dials. Convinced the woman was murdered before the bombs fell, Dorothy’s determined to investigate even though the battle-scarred Scotland Yard Inspector remains skeptical of her ideas and enthusiasm. As the list of suspects grows—a British aristocrat, a Belgian gangster and a wealthy German industrialist—Dorothy must outwit the killer, and even some within the WPV.

My Take

An obvious point of comparison for me with this series is

4.4, THE DEATH OF DORA BLACK - #1

4.5, MURDER ON NORTH TERRACE - #2

These are books by Australian author Lainie Anderson based on stories about Kate Cocks, South Australia's first policewoman. Those books are also available as e-books. As with Dorothy Peto, World War One gave Kate Cocks and other women a chance to do meaningful work within the existing police force as more and more policemen enlisted and went to war.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read

4.4, A LONG SHADOW -#1

4.4, A VIKING SHADOW - #2

4.4, A GHOSTLY SHADOW -#3

4.4, A ROMAN SHADOW -#4

4.5, A FORGOTTEN SHADOW #5

4.5, A CHRISTMAS SHADOW #6

4.4, THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING FRENCHMAN

Review: THE BLUFF, Joanna Jenkins

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 07:03:19 +0000

This edition made available to me by my local library as an e-book on Libby
ISBN 9781761470646
Publisher Allen & Unwin, 4 March 2025
#2 in Ruth Dawson series

Synopsis (publisher)

From the bestselling author of How to Kill a Client comes a page-turning rural thriller of loyalties and lies, murder and greed.

People like Dash didn't die. He was only what? Mid-thirties? Well off. Adored. By some anyway. World at his feet. Well, Myddle at his feet, which was his world.

Ruth Dawson has taken a break from big city law to fill in for a few months for an old mate in Myddle. How hard can it be? she thinks. Turns out, very hard.

So when Ruth hears the front door of her office open, she's expecting a weird demand, or a question she doesn't know the answer to... but it's Bea Baulderstone's mum, worried that she hasn't seen her seventeen-year-old daughter for five days, and Constable Gazza Parker is refusing to report the girl missing. Easily fixed, thinks Ruth, and heads off down Myddle's main street to charm Gazza into action.

But Victoria Baulderstone was right: Gazza doesn't care. That is until Dash Rogers is found at his farm gate, dead from a gunshot wound, and suddenly the town is very interested in Bea's whereabouts.

And it's not just Bea who can't be found. Dash's wife Evie is AWOL too.

Then Troy, Evie's protégé and Bea's only friend, also smoke-bombs.

An unputdownable thriller of deception and greed, The Bluff reveals an enmeshed web of family and community loyalties, set in the lush rural hinterland of east coast Australia.

My Take

This story presents in a challenging fashion with multiple points of View (labelled) and a carefully structured timeline (also labelled), revealing the chronology of events in the manner of a jigsaw puzzle.

The second in the Ruth Dawson series, and Ruth is required to protect vulnerable young people against a charge of murder. She is holding fort for a colleague on sabbatical in the rural town of Myddle. His practice encompasses all aspects of the law rather than the corporate law that Ruth is accustomed to. Myddle is the town that Roscoe, her former boss and partner has retreated to after the collapse of their law firm in the first novel in this series.

A very engaging novel.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

4.5, HOW TO KILL A CLIENT - #1

4.7, BAD NEIGHBOURS - #3

Review: HENRIETTA WHO? Catherine Aird

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 08:15:21 +0000

this edition supplied in large print by my local library
Published in UK by Chivers Large Print 2000
ISBN 0-7540-4124-7
247 pages
#2 Sloan and Crosby series

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

After her mother is found dead on a quiet road, possibly the victim of a hit-and-run, events and revelations lead Henrietta to wonder if her mother's death was accidental or murder.

My Take

A short novel, almost a novella, but a police procedural from a much underestimated Golden Age author.

Henrietta Jenkins lives with a widowed mother in a small village. She is approaching her 21st birthday and is at university. Her mother is killed crossing a road and the police determine it is murder. Henrietta get a rude shock when she finds out the woman she has called her mother is not, and that there is some doubt about who she actually is.

A quick and interesting read.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.3, DEAD HEADING

4.4, HIS BURIAL TOO

4.3, A LATE PHOENIX

Review: THE MARGARET CODE, Richard Hooton

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 01:41:26 +0000

this edition from my local library
published 2025 by Sphere
ISBN 978-1-4087-3103-1
337 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

In this bittersweet, hilarious, and suspenseful crime debut, a grandmother with a failing memory teams up with her grandson to solve the mysterious murder of her friend and neighbor.

Margaret Winterbottom, 89, has lived on Garnon Crescent her entire life—except for a few years she never talks about. She knows all the neighbors: their lives, their hopes, their heartbreaks. Only recently, Margaret’s memory isn’t what it used to be. She’s sure Barbara, her best friend and neighbor, told her something very important . . . but what?
When Barbara is found dead in an apparent homicide, Margaret is determined to recover the missing memory. Margaret and her grandson, James, begin investigating, but soon strange things begin happening in her home—objects moving and cropping up in odd places, the television turning on by itself. Some believe her memory is worsening, but Margaret knows somebody wants her out of the way because she holds the key to solving the case—if only she could recall where she put it . . .

My Take

In some ways an amusing cozy, and in other ways Margaret's predicament gets very close to the bone. Margaret has a hidden past that she has not told her family about and a brother who has not been around for some time. But she keeps thinking that she is glimpsing him.

When her grandson James begins to work on a school project about his grandmother, Margaret and he begin an investigation into who killed Barbara, and also to recover Barbara's last words to Margaret.

A good read.

My rating: 4.4

About the author

Richard Hooton has received numerous prizes for his short fiction. After a career in journalism, Richard now works in communications. The Margaret Code, his debut novel, is inspired by the author’s relationship with his grandmother, who died of Alzheimer’s when he was a teenager. Richard lives in Manchester, England.

Review: THE WICKED SISTER, Karen Dionne

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 06:40:38 +0000

this edition supplied by my local library
published by Sphere (Amazon) 2020
ISBN 978-0-7515-6742-7
285 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

A startling novel of psychological suspense, as two generations of sisters try to unravel their tangled relationships between nature and nurture, guilt and betrayal, love and evil.

You have been cut off from society for fifteen years, shut away in a mental hospital as punishment for the terrible thing you did when you were a child.

But what if nothing about your past is as it seems?

For a decade and a half, Rachel Cunningham has chosen to lock herself away in a psychiatric facility, tortured by gaps in her memory and the certainty that she is responsible for her parents' deaths. But when she learns new details about their murders, Rachel returns, in a quest for answers, to the place where she once felt safest: her family's sprawling log cabin in the remote forests of Michigan.

As Rachel begins to uncover what really happened on the day her parents were murdered, she learns - as her mother did years earlier - that home can be a place of unspeakable evil, and that the bond she shares with her sister might be the most poisonous of all..

My Take

Several ghastly threads in this novel: at least one of the women in this story is a psychopath but which one? Other reviews have labelled it atmospheric, chilling, thrilling. It is all of those things and more. Is it credible? I hope not, but part of me suspects that is possible.

What do you do if you learn that your daughter is a psychopath? How do you protect and manage her? And others?

My rating: 4.5

I have already read 4.4, THE MARSH KING'S DAUGHTER

Review: THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS, Agatha Christie

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:43:24 +0000

This edition read on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0046RE5H2
Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 14 October 2010
Originally published 1952, THEY DO IT WITH MIRRORS (aka MURDER WITH MIRRORS) -Miss Marple
Book 6 of 12
Print length ‏ : ‎ 227 pages
The foreword says that the original publication was used as the basis of this e-copy. I note here that it was appallingly produced, with passages repeated, and an incredible number of typos.

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

A shocking crime
A mansion filled with suspects

Ruth Van Rydock can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is going to happen to her sister at Stonygates house.

Her old school friend Jane Marple decides it’s time to pay a visit.

But this grand Victorian mansion isn’t just a family home – it’s also a correctional facility for wayward young men.

And when something terrible does indeed happen, Miss Marple must face her most eccentric cast of suspects yet.

Never underestimate Miss Marple

From the Back Cover

Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in a Victorian mansion which doubles as a rehabilitation centre for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when a youth fires a revolver at the administrator, Lewis Serrocold. Neither is injured. But a mysterious visitor, Mr Gulbrandsen, is less fortunate – shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building.

Pure coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and vows to discover the real reason for Mr Gulbrandsen's visit.

Agatha Christie does it all with suspense in this intricately plotted mystery.

My Take

It is 14 years since I last read this title as part of Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and now I am re-reading it as part of this year's selection for my U3A Agatha Christie Reading group. After we meet to discuss the book we will watch the ITV production.

I think the group will find a number of things to discuss.
Among them:

The setting - how does Christie establish this? What comments does she make about how the world has changed?
What would Lewis Serracold like to establish? What do you think of his idea of "transportation"?
What does the title of the book mean? Was it a phrase you were familiar with?
How do the police treat Miss Marple?
What does Miss Marple mean when she says the sitting room is like a "stage"?
Are there too many red herrings? Too many characters?
What "facts" are untrue?
Why did Gulbrandsen come to Stonygates? Why was he killed and who killed him? How did he ensure his own murder?
Was justice done?

My rating: 4.4

My earlier review

Handy Wikipedia summary

All my Agatha Christie reads.

Review: THE DEPTHS, Yrsa Sigurdadottir

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:14:25 +0000

this edition supplied by my local library
first published in Icelandic in 2023
Translated from Icelandic to English by Victoria Cribb
Published by Hodder & Stoughton UK 2026
ISBN 9-781399-722964
363 pages
Black Ice #3

Synopsis (publisher)

Just how low do people sink to get away with murder?

A human skull unearthed on the outskirts of Reykjavík.
A neighbourhood dispute turned deadly.
A daughter, trapped at sea, looking for answers.

What police officers Týr and Karó don’t know is that these events are all linked through a terrible tragedy, many years ago, when a trawler caught fire on the waves, the crew trapped inside.

The answers lie buried at the bottom of the cold Icelandic Sea.

My Take

You always know that these three separate stories will coincide but part of the cleverness of the plot is that it is almost impossible until the last act to see how. And meanwhile the stories develop, get lives of their own. And you hang in there because you know somehow IT will happen.

Highly recommended.

My Rating: 4.7

I've also read

4.8, SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

5.0, THE SILENCE OF THE SEA

4.8, WHY DID YOU LIE?

4.9, THE PREY

4.5, THE DAY IS DARK

4.8, CAN'T RUN, CAN'T HIDE - Black Ice #1

4.8, THE WAKE - Black Ice #2

Review: TRUTH TRUTH LIE, Claire McGowan

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:04:25 +0000

this edition published by Thomas & Mercer 2024 (an imprint of Amazon Publishing)
supplied by my local library
ISBN-13: 9781662513862
330 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Everyone here has killed someone.

There is no way off this island.

You will all either kill or be killed here.

One of these statements is a lie. But which one?

Amira’s less than thrilled to be spending the weekend with her husband’s university friends. Two of them are hosting a joint fortieth on a private Scottish island, with vintage champagne, expensive gifts, and soaks in the wood-fired hot tub. Despite the luxury, Amira knows she’s going to feel left out, not to mention freezing cold and cut off.

When they decide to play ‘two truths and a lie’, anonymously posting three statements about themselves into a box, years of resentment start bubbling to the surface. And then an extra slip of paper emerges, scrawled with three chilling threats. Who wrote it? And are two of the statements really true—have they all been responsible for someone’s death?

With no phone reception and no way off the island, the group are trapped here until the end of the weekend. And as tension rises and secrets are spilled, they can’t shake the feeling that they’re not the only ones here. Is someone watching them? Someone who wants them dead? Or is it one of them who has murder in mind?

My Take

A variant of a plot used by Agatha Christie, and more recently a number of others. A group of people dropped on an island supposedly to enjoy themselves but right on the first night things begin to go wrong, plans backfire, and one dies. And then things get even worse.

A rather chilling thriller which has the reader guessing. For the record, I got most of it right but there was one little bit that I didn't "see".

My rating: 4.6

About the author
Born in Northern Ireland, Claire published her first novel in 2012, and has followed it up with many others in the crime fiction genre and also in women’s fiction (writing as Eva Woods). Writing thrillers for Thomas & Mercer, she has sold over a million books and has had several number-one bestsellers. She ran the UK’s first MA in crime writing for five years, and regularly teaches and talks about writing. Her first non-fiction project, the true crime book The Vanishing Triangle, was released in 2021. She also writes scripts and has several original projects in development for TV, as well as having four radio dramas broadcast. Several of her novels are in development as television series. She lives in London and would love to hear from readers via her website (www.clairemcgowan.co.uk) or on Twitter (@inkstainsclaire), Instagram (@clairemcgowanwriter) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/ClaireMcGowanAuthor)

Review: A DISORGANISED DEATH, Simon Brett

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 19:28:55 +0000

this edition from my local library
published by Severn House 2026
#5 in the Decluttering series
ISBN 987-1-4483-1469-0
178 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Ellen Curtis – professional declutterer, amateur sleuth and woman of a certain age – hunts for a missing will with a killer bequest in this gripping mystery from the original king of British cosy crime, Simon Brett.

Professional declutterer Ellen Curtis doesn’t do house clearances. So when Tamara Nicklin, owner of a local gastropub, asks Ellen to clear her late father’s house, she’s not interested . . . even when Tamara admits that the real reason she wants to hire Ellen is to find his missing will.

Then Ellen discovers Tamara’s husband has plans for the house. Plans Tamara doesn’t know about. And it’s clear to Ellen that this is the right job for her, after all.

Ellen dives in, and what she finds in the dead man’s house soon makes her wonder if Tamara’s father really fell down the stairs, or if he was pushed. Can she sort through the secrets and lies to find not just the missing will – but the truth?

My Take

This is another book that takes the reader into a world with which they are probably not all that familiar, but a scenario that is becoming more common in today's culture, where most of us have simply accumulated and accumulated. Many resort to a mini-skip on the front lawn, but for others willing to pay, the services of a declutterer are required to ensure that nothing important is lost.

There are two stories in this novel, both dealing with a search for a will, and then making sure the right will is actioned.

Perhaps once again I have come into this series from the wrong end. This is #5. My own advice to readers is always to start at #1 and to allow the author to share their character development with you. I didn't particularly "take to" the main character Ellen nor to the members of her immediate family. I can see where the author is laying ground for more in the series, so I should go back and read earlier titles some time.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read

BLOOD AT THE BOOKIES
THE POISONING IN THE PUB
4.4, THE SHOOTING IN THE SHOP
4.3, SO MUCH BLOOD
4.2, A DECENT INTERVAL
4.5, BONES UNDER THE BEACH HUT
4.2, GUNS IN THE GALLERY
4.6, THE CORPSE ON THE COURT
4.3, THE STRANGLING ON THE STAGE
4.2, THE CINDERELLA KILLER
4.5, THE TOMB IN TURKEY
4.4, CHARLES PARIS: MURDER UNPROMPTED
4.2, CHARLES PARIS: CORPORATE BODIES
4.4, THE KILLING IN THE CAFE
4.4, THE LIAR IN THE LIBRARY

Major Bricket series

Review: HOW TO KILL A CLIENT, Joanna Jenkins

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 18:57:26 +0000

this edition a paperback from my local library
published 2025 ( first published 2023)
Allen & Unwin
ISBN 978-1-76147-137-7
384 pages
2023 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Novel (nominee) : How to Kill a Client

Synopsis (publisher)

'Everyone is going to say what a great guy and a great lawyer he was. He wasn't. He was a prick … And a shithouse lawyer.'

Gavin Jones is dead at thirty-nine. As an in-house lawyer who controlled millions of dollars in fees per year, he was legal firm Howard Greene's biggest client and wielded that power with manipulative contempt. But he saved his worst behaviour for women, at work and at home.

The partners of Howard Greene relied on his favour to fund their lavish lifestyles. If sycophantic admiration of the man was all it took to secure work from Gavin, that's what they delivered.

But no one liked Gavin. The list of those who suffered from his cruelty was long enough to include pretty much everyone who had contact with him. So who actually killed him?

A fast-paced and wickedly funny thriller about power and revenge set in the pristine towers of capitalism, How to Kill a Client is a scorching debut straight out of tomorrow's headlines.

My Take

I am reading these books all out of order, having read #3 in the series first.

This novel is quite a heavy, almost academic read, the setting a world with which most of us are not familiar. Ruth Dawson is a founding member of a law firm Howard Greene, recently returned to work after the death of her husband when he is hit on the road while cycling.

Ruth agrees to move to Brisbane to the branch of the law firm, where some big projects will bring in millions. One of their clients is Gavin Jones, a mysogynist, who is not above appropriating the work of others and presenting it as his own. When he belittles the work of one of the newish female partners of Howard Greene she fantasises about a way to kill him and then shortly afterwards he dies. When the police investigators identify his death as murder, it becomes obvious that there are many who had a motive.

I can see that, having read #3 in the series first, I am going to have some problems in keeping Ruth's timeline straight.

There is no doubt that the author is one to add to my "watch" list.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.7, BAD NEIGHBOURS - #3

Review: THE WATER'S EDGE, Karin Fossum

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 07:17:11 +0000

This title made available as an e-book by my local library on Libby
#8 in the Inspector Sejer series
Published in 2009 by Random House
Translated into English from Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)
A married couple, Reinhardt and Kristine Ris, are out for a Sunday walk when they discover the body of a boy and see the figure of a man limping away. They alert the police, but not before Reinhardt, to Kristine's horror, kneels down and takes photographs of the dead child with his cell phone.

Inspectors Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre begin to make inquiries in the little town of Solberglia. But then another boy disappears, and an explanation seems more remote than ever. Meanwhile, the Ris's marriage starts to unravel as Reinhardt becomes obsessed with the tragic events and his own part in them.

My Take

It is nearly 10 years since I have read a book by this author and I had forgotten how good they are. It was almost meeting up again with old friends.

Karin Fossum is a Norwegian author and her novels owe a lot to the atmospheric setting. In many ways the novels are police procedurals but they also are related to themes of modern times: in this case paedophilia, and what leads some men to target children. Sejer and Skarr are methodical and sensitive. In a side-theme Kristine Ris is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man she has come to both fear and hate.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

Review: DEAD MED, Freida McFadden

noreply@blogger.com (Kerrie) — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 05:11:17 +0000

this title from my local library
published by AmazonAu 2024
460 pages
originally published Suicide Med

Synopsis (AmazonAu)

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes an electrifying medical thriller, Dead Med, originally published as Suicide Med.

"All I can think about is how pathetic it would be to die in the anatomy lab. The last thing I want is to become one of the dead bodies."

When Heather McKinley dreamed of becoming a doctor, she imagined curing sick kids and sporting pink stethoscopes. She never anticipated the sleepless nights, grueling exams, and endless labs. And she certainly never knew that her medical school earned the nickname Dead Med thanks to the tragic history of students overdosing on illegal drugs.

But Heather would never consider doing anything like that. That is, until her longtime boyfriend dumps her, she finds herself failing anatomy, and her world starts to crumble.

Everyone has a breaking point.

Then, on the night before the final exam in anatomy, a shot rings out through the hallways of Dead Med.

The school has claimed yet another casualty. One of Heather's classmates has done the unthinkable, and before her desperate 911 call even connects, it will happen again.

And the night is just beginning.

My Take

The story follows the lives and interactions of students studying a year of anatomy at the DeWitt Medical School. Five students are thrown together working on one cadaver. The school has the reputation of being riddled with drug abuse and stress brought on by the demands of their studies. We see the same events from a number of points of view.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.5, THE TENANT

4.5, DO NOT DISTURB

4.5, WANT TO KNOW A SECRET?