Took about 3 years, with lots of books in between, but I’m coming to the end of ‘The cold six thousand ‘ by James Ellroy. Hardest book to get into that I’ve ever come across. But the last dozen or so chapters I’ve been stretching out because I don’t want it to finish now. I’ll probably start it again now that I know the characters.
He’s not an easy read, is he?
He was in Melbourne down at the Palais many moons ago. He speaks like writes.
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Trivia snippet: Richard Osman’s brother Mat is a founding member and bass player for UK band Suede and is also a published author.
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Love that.
I had a go at one of his books but gave up pretty early in the piece.
I can only assume that’s he an acquired taste and I didn’t acquire it.
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A long time since i read one.
I think The Black Dahlia was the first of his I read back in the early 90s to break me away from the twee English novels where the only crime was the vicar farting when he dropped around for tea and cucumber sandwiches.
He tries a bit too hard to be cute.
We had the Port Fairy Literary Weekend on on the weekend.
I went to 2 sessions…the first was Thrilling Women and had Jane ■■■■ and Louise Milligan. Margaret Hickey, who has local roots, is having treatment and couldn’t attend. Jane ■■■■ talked about her second crime novel, Lyrebird, which I highly recommend. It’s centred on climate dangers and is based in the Barrington Tops, said to be the most southerly temperate rainforest in the world. The one in the Otways and those in Tasmania must have a different geographical classification as they’re all rainforests and must further south. All of course suffering under lack of rain.
Louise Milligan, better known for her Pell exposé and Four Corners, talk about her second crime novel, Shellybanks, a beach area in Dublin, near where Louise’s family are based. It’s a sequel to Pheasant’s Nest and highlights some of the atrocious behaviour of bodies connected to the Catholic Church.
Yesterday’s session was Garry Disher, Mark Smith and Lorena Carrington, whose first adult fiction sounds interesting. She’s written a lot of children’s and YA books, often with puzzles and Penguin Books asked her to do an adult crime fiction book based on puzzles so this is a travelogue around Australia needing to solve 100 puzzles to solve a murder.
Garry Disher talked about his rural noir books based around Burra in SA and Mark Smith’s book Where Truth Ends is based on extreme climate activists.
I bought A Puzzling Pursuit and while being signed by the author, managed to tell Garry Disher about how I was introduced to his work. I was in LA in 1997, specifically at the Mysterious Bookshop in Beverly Hills and asked the owner for advice on new authors. He asked if I’d read this Australian author, Mr Disher. I’ve read most of his Wyatt, Peninsula Procedurals and Hirsh novels, but he has written over 50 novels.
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I don’t think I guessed who did it, but by the end, I didn’t particularly care.
Finished it this arvo and moved onto Vikki Petraitis and her third Antigone Pollard book, The Reckoning. Two rapists from her previous novel have had their convictions overturned and returned to Deception Bay, determined to make Antigone pay.
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Finally finished the Audible copy of A Spy and a Traitor by Ben McIntyre.
It’s the story of Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB spy who was exfiltrated by MI6 after being told to return to Moscow after being exposed by CIA traitor Aldrich Ames.
Gordievsky was critical in defusing tensions in the early 80s when the Soviets panicked about NATO war games, fearing the West would pre-emptively strike Russia with nuclear weapons. He was made the KGB rezident in London before being recalled, interrogated and mysteriously released. The British had planned for years what to do if he needed to escape from Russia, calling it Operation Pimlico. The main MI6 agent who helped him escape was the great-grandson of H H Asquith, the British PM during WW1 who was the object of Robert Harris’s novel, Precipice.The Soviets put a sentence of death on Gordievsky in absentia, but missed out as he died of natural causes in London a year or so back.
Now onto the Audible version of Robert Harris’s Agrippa, who was the Emperor Octavian’s best buddy (no, not like that, they were Roman, not Greek). Octavian was the first emperor of Rome. succeeding his great-uncle, Julius Caesar in charge.
The escape is a great story. I like its emphasis on the importance of babies in international espionage.
Krithia (The Forgotten Anzac Battle of Gallipoli) by Mat McLachlan
Found this little gem in the local library.
It tells the story of the 2nd Battle of Krithia during the Gallipoli Campaign.
I’ve read a lot of books over the years that deal with Gallipoli but this one was the first time I saw reference to Australian’s fighting in the Cape Helles region.
Just like every other book I’ve read on Gallipoli, this one also highlights the sheer incompetence, stupidity and arrogance of the British Leadership during the campaign.
Lack of supplies, lack of sensible planning, failure to use air reconnaissance to assist the troops on the ground, moving troops in broad daylight (even after night movement was recommended)…just one ■■■■■■■■■■■ after another.
It’s a good read if you’re interested in Gallipoli…as long as you can get past the frustration/outrage that comes with reading it.
Reading BIG DUNC.
One of the better sports bios.
Just finished The Reckoning by Vikki Petraitis. The two rapists from The Unbelieved have returned to Deception Bay after their conviction was quashed on appeal, and are feted on Australia Day at a BBQ. Unfortunately (?) they’re fed poisonous mushrooms and are in hospital but while the kerfuffle is on, Antigone’s mum and nan are taken by a sov cit and a siege takes place.
Reading the acknowledgments, the ABC have commissioned a series on The Believed called Dustfall (with Anna Torv wanting to play Antigone). Hopefully the portray the shock jocks as the contemptible scum as written which might upset Anna Torv’s Uncle Rupert. Hopefully they don’t screw it up like they did Treasure and Dirt. (Sorry, @Shelton10, it was utter hinky sh!te with the worst possible casting as Nell)
Hmm. I don’t think I said anything about Treasure and Dirt because so far as I can remember I haven’t watched it. But thanks for the apology anyway.
As i recall, you were asking for assurance that it wasn’t crap. After 2 episodes, I decided that it was, but didn’t bother posting.
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Mrs Wim has read 35 books so far this year. Only one she tossed half way.
The Calamity Club by Katheryn Stockett. 4.62 rating on good reads. 0.5 rating from Mrs Wim.
Chris Hammer has a new one out called ‘Full Circle’ which is a standalone crime thriller that doesn’t feature any of his regular protagonists. You bet your sweet bippy I’m buying it.
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Pre-ordered it a while back and it was delivered to my kindle during the week. Looking forward to getting stuck into it.
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Got it at the House of Tarzhay yesterday.
I’m still scarred by Nell in Treasure and Dirt.
I had started Petronella McGovern’s latest, but it’s a bit weird, so swapped over the Hammer novel, which is a smidge more linear.
The early part is all financial stuff, with one company trying to destroy Murtrie Corp (via short-selling) which would seem to be a likeness for News Corp, without the right-wing BS but with added thuggery. The good thing is that the boss of Murtrie Corp drops the C-bomb on Rupert Murdoch.