Highlights were a most unusual read in Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, getting to review Going Zero by Andrew McCarten and starting in on a couple of excellent #AusCrime books - one part of a series, the other a debut.
THE TEA LADIES by Amanda Hampson is one of those interesting sort of novels that tippy toes a line between its cosy(ish) setting and some considerably more ruthless plot lines with a deftness that made for a really enjoyable reading experience.
1911, on a winter's night in arid New South Wales wool country, mounted trooper Augustus Hawkins discovers the bodies of three young people. They are scions of the richest family in the district...
AustCrime update for week ending 22nd March - in which rather a lot of #yeahnoir / New Zealand #CrimeFiction arrived, some reviews were written (#auscrime), and some books were read.
There's potential here for the start of a very interesting new series - Jack Harris has all the makings of a very good investigative reporter, and Caitlin O'Shaughnessy would be a very able partner in pursuit.
... there have been quite a few crime fiction books recently that delve into the world of cults, the people that get caught in them, and those trying to get them out. DEEP IN THE FOREST is a slightly different twist on that.
An outstanding debut novel back in 2022 (good grief has it really taken this long to post this ...), it's very very hard to look past an Australian rural noir novel called DIRT TOWN.
Just posted - review of Halfway House by Helen FitzGerald:
Helen FitzGerald is one of those authors who really knows how to write engaging and very offputting central characters that you care about, despite their obvious failings, flaws, and downright stupidity from time to time.
But I did manage to review a couple of books, and nearly made it to the end of an #auscrime book, and next weekend we're expecting another stinker of a day (and it hasn't rained much here for months so.. fires).
Posted yesterday - my review of To the River by Vikki Wakefield:
An interesting combination of a psychological thriller, with a couple of flawed, but engaging and very sympathethic central female characters, TO THE RIVER ticks many required boxes but does so in a unique form.