Isn’t We Solve Murders the first in a new series?
Could be. Any future instalments would need to improve on the first one.
This book should aspire to being as highly regarded as “total rubbish”.
It’s quite possibly the worst book I’ve ever tried to read. The kindest thing one might say is that it tries to be funny and tries to be philosophical and tries to be entertaining.
Did not finish. Would not recommend. Do not waste your time or, your deity of choice forbid, your money on this steaming pile of self-indulgent, pretentious garbage.
Yep…enjoying it, but don’t remember Hermit or Prisoner in much detail.
And, for the Brandon Jack book, does this apply…The sort of book you can not put down lightly, it should be hurled with great force.
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Finished White Ash Ridge now…a really good crime novel with an unexpected ending, but one I liked because of my prime prejudice.
Five people on the board of a charity are having a meeting in a rural hotel and everything seemed to hinge on the charity. During a break, one of the five is murdered and the other four are sequestered, not told that one had died and interrogated.
This is the essence of detective work and time pressure with pending ridicule on social media.
9/10
Now going onto a historical crime about a female detective in SA.
Half way through ‘Corporal Hitler’s Pistol’ by Thomas Keneally. Historical fiction set in Kempsey between the wars. Not a bad ‘small town’ yarn thus far. I like his imaginative approach (The Dickens Boy was similarly entertaining and well written, as you’d doubtless anticipate).
My take on this one from 12 months ago…
Five people who run a fledgling charity convene at a remote country hotel and one is found bludgeoned to death with a tree branch.
The story is the slowest of slow burns and there is no strong hint of who the murderer might be until close to the end of the book.
I enjoyed it and would recommend it to fans of outback noir / police procedurals. 8/10
Slightly varied.
Adelaide author Lainie Anderson has written the first in a prospective series about the first woman in South Australia’s police force, Katie ■■■■■, during the First World War in 1917. The stories are fiction but she is real. She and her fictional offsider, Ethel Bromley, are meant to be just doing minor work such as telling courting (i.e. rooting) couples to stay 3 feet apart, but come across a dead girl drowned off Glenelg Pier.
They’re told to keep away from the non-investigation but, being women, of course they won’t.
Quite a good read. 7.5/10
Finished Broke Road by Michael Spencer, a sequel to his Black River from 2023 set at a school on the Parramatta River.
Det Sgt Rose Riley is assigned to a young woman being murdered with no clues to how the killer got in and out, such that everyone thinks the husband did it. It’s set up near Cessnock in the middle of wine country and coal country, so that political skulduggery is rife.
Things change when similar shoe markings are found in unsolved crimes in Canberra and Adelaide and police searches change.
Very good police procedural.
8/10
Some more goodies to look forward to as the year rolls on:
1 - Chris Hammer ‘Legacy’, featuring Martin Scarsden who survives an assassination attempt and flees into the desert to evade the bad guys. Due out end of September.
2 - Benjamin Stevenson ‘Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief’, a locked room mystery with Ernest Cunningham investigating a bank heist where a hostage dies. Due out early October.
3 - Jane Harper ‘Last One Out’, set five years after a young man disappears in a dying country town on the evening of his 21st birthday. Due out mid October.
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Why does she not simply intervene?
Would be a short book I guess
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Are you suggesting that I didn’t complete the sentence.
OK…she was sent to investigate the murder. Adam Bowman, the journo from Black River, wrote a book about the case and about her, is still in the picture.
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Gutsy call young fella !
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Read the new Peter Grant book by Ben Aaronovitch. It was … ok. The series has been a bit aimless since the faceless man plot got resolved, there’s been a bunch of oneshots with no real theme or weight. They need to find a new major arc I think.
The Reunion by Bronwyn Rivers
Ten years ago, 6 school-leavers went out to Ed’s place in the Blue Mountains for a weekend bushwalking weekend, but Ed dies of thirst after leaving the other 5.
Ten years later, Ed’s mum, Martha, invites them back for a reunion, but Martha is by now a full-on bunny boiler obsessed with the idea that they have heavily contributed to his death. She empties their cars of petrol, drains all the water in the house etc. before they are to head off on their walk.
It just feels to me as if this is just a combination of horror stories, so I’m only going a 6.
The Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary
This is a crime novel set in 1863 Melbourne, but it’s more a social history of the red-light district of Little Lon(sdale Street). I knew of the archaeological discoveries of the late 20th century in that area to make room for buildings like Casselden Place (our old mate @Mendozaaaa will know that area).
The book is based around an upmarket brothel Papillon run by Madame Laurent and peopled by a young Irish immigrant Johanna Callaghan. Also figures an English family, the Gardiners, magistrate William, journalist Henrietta and brother Henry. There is also a Jack the Ripper type they call the Butcher, murdering sundry ladies of the evening. Interesting to read of the goings-on of the area.
I was interested to read of a number of geographic locations which have either been cleansed or had their name changed. Stephen Street is now Exhibition Street and the hangout for male prostitutes, Romeo Terrace, and female prostitutes, Juliet St. These are now called Crossley St (Pellegrinis is on the corner with Bourke St) and Liverpool St. Between those laneways was a particularly squalid area called Bilking Square, demolished late in the 19th.
Floods in 1864 destroyed a lot of that part of Melbourne.
The acknowledgments and afterword show that the author’s ancestors were part of this group, five generations back. There was a Phil Cleary involved, but not, I fear, the Phil Cleary of VFA fame who is an advocate of safety for women, his sister having been murdered by her partner.
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I just went back and re-read ‘Black River’ because I’d forgotten what happened and I’m glad that I did. It’s a ripper of a yarn and Matthew Spencer (an ex-journo) clearly knows how to write.
Onto ‘Broke Road’ now and looking forward to more of the same quality.
I just finished Stillwater by Tanya Scott, a Warrnambool-born doctor, now retired to the Surf Coast to write and this is a fine debut.
Luke Harris is a young bloke back from Sydney with a new name and working as a companion to Phil, the autistic son of a shady entrepreneur, Jason Wylie.
Luke unfortunately is discovered by the gang boss, Gus, a former Carlton footballer and Grade A thug. Gus wants Luke to recover debts from Quin, Luke’s dad, and his mate, Kevin. Gus had Luke working for him when Luke was a kid known as Jack.
Lots of thuggery and Luke falling for Wylie’s daughter, Emma, he was ordered to not root.
Satisfactory ending. Good debut. 8/10
Set in the southern suburbs of Melbourne.
The Acknowledgment section seemed to contain a lot of the authors involved with The Butterfly Women.
It was indeed more of the same quality and highly recommended. 8/10
Add Spencer to the burgeoning list of authors whose new books are an autobuy.
Ditto, ditto and ditto. I’m loving it.