AustCrimeFiction - Crime Fiction from Australia, New Zealand and everywhere

Ice Cold

sunniefromoz — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:13:55 +0300

Cover Image

Author

Andrea Maria Schenkel

Publisher

Quercus

Copyright

2009

ISBN

9781847245656

No of Pages

186

Price

Book Synopsis

Andrea Maria Schenkel's first novel, THE MURDER FARM won considerable acclaim for its clever orginality. While it's not exactly factual, it's not entirely fiction either. Rather it's the fictionalised story of a real case cleverly interwoven with witness statements taken at the time of the murder.

Schenkel's second novel ICE COLD does something very similar with the rape/murders of a number of young women in Munich just months before the outbreak of World War II.

The main focus of the book is Kathie. A young country girl who comes to Munich wanting to get away from the restrictions of her life with her family. She discovers getting a job is harder than she thought and finds herself in a somewhat sleazy world of late night bars, casual sex and occasional prostitution.

Kathie's story is the thread that ties the narrative together. In between learning Kathie's story is a series of witness statements taken from people who knew or had contact with other young woman who were murdered at the same time as Kathie is making her way in Munich.

Book Review

Somehow the format that worked so well in "The Murder Farm" doesn't seem to have quite the same impact in ICE COLD. Whether it's because of the story of that the novelty of the unusual format isn't as fresh, I'm not sure.

Perhaps it was the blurb on the book jacket which asked the question, "but is he really guilty?" It is a question that maybe leads to false expections about the ending. I found myself none the wiser at the end of the book than I did when I first opened it. It could be more the fault of the publicists and powers that be who decide what goes on the blurbs, than the writer's. Whatever the reason I was left feeling quite unsatisifed by the ending of ICE COLD which wasn't present in "The Murder Farm".

How I Turned to a Life of Crime - Carmel Shute at the Union of Australian Women

Karen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:31:20 +0300

Start: 25/11/2009 - 10:30am

End: 25/11/2009 - 12:00pm

Timezone:

UNION OF AUSTRALIAN WOMEN - Victorian Section

“How I turned to a life of crime (fiction).”

SPEAKER

CARMEL SHUTE

National Co-Convenor Sisters in Crime.

Long time activist in the left

and women’s movement.

Currently operates PR Business “Shute the Messenger”

10.30 am, Wednesday, 25 November

Ross House

247 Flinders Lane

4^th Floor meeting Room

Delicious Morning Tea $5.00

uawv@vicnet.net.au Ph 9654 7409

16th Annual Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stilleto Awards

Karen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:28:46 +0300

Start: 27/11/2009 - 8:00pm

End: 27/11/2009 - 10:00pm

Timezone:

Note - bookings necessary

8pm Friday November 27, 2009 : Catherine McClements presents the 16th Scarlet Stiletto Awards & talks to Sue Turnbull about her life in crime

Catherine stars as Inspector Kerry Vincent in Network Ten's drama Rush (2008-). She started on her life of crime in the lead role of Rachel Goldstein on Water Rats (1996 to 1999).

Catherine has worked extensively in film, television and theatre since her graduation from NIDA in 1985.

She has received AFI awards for her work in The Secret Life of Us and Weekend With Kate and AFI, Logie and Green Room nominations for roles in Call Me Mum, Water Rats and the MTC production of Angels in America. Last year Catherine received a Helpmann nomination for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Catherine’s credits also include the feature Floodhouse, telemovies The Falls and Call Me Mum and TEN's series Mary Bryant and After the Deluge as well as major theatre productions including Martin Crimp's Cruel and Tender, Macbeth, Stephen Sewell's It Just Stopped and Appetite with Kage Physical Theatre. She is also currently starring in the series Tangle on Showtime.

This year, 134 short stories compete for the coveted Scarlet Stiletto trophy and $4200 in prize money. Prizes kindly donated by HarperCollins, Kill City, Readings Books & Music, Allen & Unwin, Olvar Wood Writers Retreat, Scriptworks, Benn’s Book Shop, Pulp Fiction Book Shop, Kerry Greenwood, Cate Kennedy, and Andrea Goldsmith.

The awards are also supported by Spinifex Press.

Fashionista Sally Brown is now the Scarlet Stilettos’ patron, offering an on-going supply of scarlet stilettos in which she’s been photographed in all over the world, including the peak of Mt Kilimanjaro. She will briefly introduce the awards with a story of one of the photos.

Bell’s Hotel, 157 Moray St., South Melbourne (cnr Coventry). Mel 57, G1. Try 112, 55 or St Kilda Road trams. Free on-street parking after 6pm.

$5/$10 (non-members) 10% discount from Benns Books stall.

Please book for both dinner (from 6.30pm) and event (8pm) as each table is being decorated by flower-filled Scarlet Stilettos loaned by Sally Browne.

Bookings: Rose Mercer on 03 8060 2737 or rose@grahammercer.com.au

Info: Carmel Shute on 0412 569 356 or go to: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sincoz/

HEDGEBURNERS - Goldie Alexander (review by Carmel Shute)

Karen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:20:35 +0300

Cover Image

Author

Goldie Alexander

Publisher

Interactive Publications

Copyright

2009

ISBN

9781921479267

No of Pages

Price

Book Synopsis

Who is setting fire to the old cypress hedges?

Anna Simpson insists that her best friend Zach Santisi help her find the culprits. However, Zach must also care for his numerous pets and cope with his dad threatening to sell them if his next report card isn’t better. Just about everyone these young detectives come across has a motive and as time goes on there are more and more fires and more serious confrontations...

Book Review

Old cypress hedges are going up in smoke all over Grevillia, a leafy Melbourne suburb and thirteen-year-old Anna,who’s been crazy about detective work since she uncovered the culprit pinching art materials in Year 5, is determined to track down the firebugs.

Her sometimes reluctant sidekick and best friend since kindergarten is Zach, the ‘Z’ to her ‘A’ in A-Z PIs. Zach, who narrates the story, already has lots on his plate – it’s just him and his dad, his homework is never done and he has to tend a hungry and demanding menagerie of birds, chooks, fish, cats, a dog and a pet rat called M whom he drapes around his neck.

The birds will go, his dad thunders, unless he catches up with his homework but with persistent nightmares and Anna dragging him out night after night to watch over neighbourhood hedges, Zach can hardly make it to school most days.

The problem is that the fledging detectives come across all sorts of potentially suspicious activities and a secret or two but lack any firm evidence. Anna, who is prone to lecture Zach on the importance of picking up gossip (right on sister), knows which of the neighbours is having affairs, who’s got unexplained money in the bank and who’s got financial problems but burnt hedges lower property values so how does that fit?

Are the real culprits Year 9s playing chicken and burning down hedges as dares? Or is it Bob the local homeless man or local petty crims Jack Nelson and Stinky Holway? And what about Zach’s other best friend, Ruby? How come she’s wearing expensive perfume and offering Zach a ticket to World Wide Wrestling but can’t afford a pet?

Clues and red herrings abound but the sudden disappearance of Brett, the cadet journalist with The Grevillea Times, suddenly makes A~Z PIs’ investigations all that more urgent. Brett was investigating the arson attacks and, had in Anna’s and Zach’s view, been unfairly named as a suspect by the police.

Hedgeburners is a pacy, fun read. You feel you know these young detectives. They sound and behave like the thirteen year olds of our acquaintance. And the crime is real. Burning hedges in well-to-do older suburbs of Melbourne became the favourite pastime of certain private school boys for a number of years.

Anna and Zach rub along well as partners in detection most of the time. Anna is a bossy-boots but good hearted. The patient and sometimes put-upon Zach has his own peculiar way of interpreting people. Anna is a ‘pony’ because she’s all legs, the short but strong Ruby a ‘red-haired hippo’, and his dad a ‘balding gorilla’.

Compared to previous generations of young detectives, Anna and Zach have some technological advantages. Texting enables them to keep in touch in ways which would have sounded like science fiction to the likes of the Famous Five in the forties and fifties. But, solving the mystery still ultimately demands the same powers of observation, the ability to tie disparate pieces of information together, an understanding of people and their motivations plus lots of smarts. Anna and Zach have all these qualities in spades.

Hedgeburners treads lightly over lots of issues – mums who have affairs, dads (including Zach’s) who are looking down the barrel of bankruptcy and those who have lots and those who don’t – without ever being preachy. Alexander’s snappy turn of phrase and humour propel the twosome’s adventures down some interesting paths.

This is the first in the series. Let’s hope it’s not the last. The younger generation needs books like this. As I always say, it’s never too young to start on a life of crime.

Carmel Shute (review published with her kind permission)

Children's Author Fired up over Neglect of 'Tweens' Literature

Karen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:08:42 +0300

CHILDREN’S AUTHOR FIRED UP OVER NEGLECT OF ‘’’TWEENS’ LITERATURE

Melbourne children’s writer, Goldie Alexander, is so fired up about the lack of media and critical attention to ‘‘tweens’ books – for readers between eight and twelve – that she’s surprised hedges all over Melbourne haven’t gone up in smoke in sympathy .

Alexander’s latest novel, Hedgeburners: An A~Z PI Mystery, was inspired by the spate of real-life hedge-burnings in Melbourne leafy suburbs in the last decade and is aimed squarely at ‘tweens but such books are rarely reviewed or promoted, says says.

"There are lots of books for youngsters like Hedgeburners being published but reviews are as rare as proverbial hens’ teeth. One notable exception is The Sunday Age’s Under Age column. Picture books and young adult novels get some media and critical attention but when it comes to books that appeal to ‘‘tweens’, kids, parents and teachers are pretty much left in the dark,” Alexander said.

“Kids establish their reading habits for life in the years between eight and twelve so it’s paramount we get them excited by reading then.

“Boys are currently the biggest losers with the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics study finding girls were more avid readers than boys with 80% reading for pleasure compared to 69% of boys. Girls also read for longer than boys. It’s the same story overseas.”

Hedgeburners is narrated by thirteen-year-old Zach, the sometime reluctant sidekick of his best friend and bossy-britches Anna who’s been crazy about detective work since she uncovered the culprit pinching material from the Art and Design Block in Year 5.
“I didn’t deliberately choose a male narrator,” Alexander says. “Zach just started speaking – and he emerged with a pet rat on his shoulder! In retrospect, I’m glad Hedgeburners is in Zack’s voice as boys that age are more likely to identify with a male narrator.

“I did, however, deliberately choose to make Hedgeburners a whodunnit. Despite growing up in a household where English wasn’t spoken (my parents were Polish immigrants), I got hooked on reading thanks to Enid Blyton’s Famous Five. More recently, I wrote two ‘cozies’ for adults.

“With Hedgeburners, the first in a series, I tried to recapture the excitement of the uncovering the mystery in the Famous Five but with an Australian crime, an Australian setting and Australian kids finding out whodunnit. Like adults, kids love a good mystery.
“Mine follows the same pattern as an adult crime novel with the commission of the crime and its investigation by detectives with the usual red herrings and long list of suspects. I opted for short sentences and avoided long descriptions. I tried to keep the writing short, snappy and above all, funny. Some subplots fuelled the action – and that what kids, especially boys love – action and lots of it.”

Alexander has written a number of books specifically for boys: Starship Q, Trapeze, Cowpat$, and Killer Virus and Other Stories. Both Gallipoli Medal and Space Footy and Other Stories will appear in 2010.

Alexander is calling for Australia’s newspapers, magazine and other media to rethink their approaches and give ‘’tweens’ – and the authors of ‘’tween’ books – their due.

“Australian authors Shaun Tan, Morris Gleitzman and Hazel Edwards, have been nominated for the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Award which is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Children’s Literature and carries prize money amounting to around A$79,000. It’s such a great honor even to be shortlisted but hardly anyone knows. It’s as if there been a media blackout,” Alexander says.
Goldie Alexander has written more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books together with many short stories and articles. These days she works full time as a writer, teaches creative writing and lectures and takes workshops in Universities, TAFE colleges, clubs and schools.

She writes historical, science fiction and mystery novels, plus short stories, non fiction, articles and scripts. She is best known for the first of the My Australian Story series and Surviving Sydney Cove, now in its 9th edition and due to appear in March with a new cover. Her YA novel Mavis Road Medley was chosen by the State Library of Victoria and the Australian Centre for Youth Literature as one of their 150 'treasures' to celebrate 150 years of their library.

Goldie Alexander is available for interview: goldie@goldiealexander.com

Hedgeburners. An A~Z PI Mystery. Illust: Marjory Gardner. Interactive Publications (http://ipoz.biz) PB. RRP $16.95

GOLDIE ALEXANDER
goldie@goldiealexander.com
http://www.goldiealexander.com/

P.O.Box 5208
MIDDLE PARK, 3206
613 95346102/0413 408 468

Other recent books:

Lame Duck Protest. Illust. Michele Gaudion
(http://ipoz.biz)
My Horrible Cousins and Other Stories
(http://www.teachingsolutions.com.au/)

Coming in 2010:
My Australian Story: Surviving Sydney Cove (new cover)
Gallipoli Medals
Space Footy and Other Stories

Hedgeburners

Karen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:02:15 +0300

ISBN 9781921479267

Blurb from the Book

Who is setting fire to the old cypress hedges?

Based on actual crimes committed by youngsters, this is the first of a series featuring Anna and Zach, Private Eyes (A~Z PIs).

Illustrated by Marjory Gardner

Currently Reading - The Billionaire's Curse, Richard Newsome

Karen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:42:29 +0300

Text have started an annual prize to be awarded to an outstanding unpublished manuscript, aiming to discover wonderful new books for young adults and children by Australian and New Zealand writers. The Billionaire's Curse is the first winner.

From the Blurb:

Gerald has become the richest thirteen-year-old on the planet. The world's most valuable diamond has been stolen, and it seems there has been a murder. Now Gerald's life is in danger.

Opening Lines:

'Nothing ... is ... certain!'

Gerald raised his head at the blood-freezing roar that boomed through the dank dungeon tunnels.

Currently Reading - Innocent Blood, Elizabeth Corley

Karen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:30:27 +0300

Having really enjoyed an earlier book by this author, I'd been looking at this one on the review stack for a while now. (And I have read it now, I'm doing a spot of catching up around here).

From the Blurb:

DCI Andrew Fenwick is on a tough case. The Choir Boy investigation, a project outside ordinary police jurisdiction, aims to expose an infamous and increasingly powerful paedophile ring. Moreover, with eleven-year-old schoolboy Sam Bowyers missing every second counts.

Opening Lines:

He edged back into a dusty seat on the last train from London to Harlden and let go a sigh that he seemed to have been controlling for the whole of his life.

Currently Reading - Wonderful Today, Pattie Boyd

Karen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:47:29 +0300

This is a review book I was sent forever ago, which I've been meaning to pick up.

From the Blurb:

Pattie Boyd was at the heart of the Sixties revolution; the most famous muse in the history of rock 'n' roll. She married both George Harrison and Eric Clapton - two of the most addictive, promiscuous musical geniuses of the twentieth century - and inspired Harrison's Something and Clapton's Lalya.

Opening Lines:

My earliest memory is of sitting in a high chair, spitting out spinach - strange for someone who turned into such a passionate foodie.

DEATH OF BUNNY MUNRO, THE - Nick Cave

Karen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:13:55 +0300

Cover Image

Author

Nick Cave

Publisher

Text Publishing

Copyright

2009

ISBN

978-1-921520-63-1

No of Pages

278

Price

Book Synopsis

Bunny Munro sells beauty products and the scent of adventure to the lonely housewives of England's south coast. Set adrift by his wife's death, he hits the road one last time - with his young son in tow.

Book Review

Despite the title, THE DEATH OF BUNNY MUNRO is not a novel from my preferred genre of crime fiction. Defining exactly what it is, however, is a lot harder. Nick Cave is one of my favourite musicians, despite so much of his subject matter being somewhat more biblical than would normally be of any particular appeal. With this novel he's moved from the overtly biblical, southern gothic feel of AND THE ASS SAW THE ANGEL released in 1989, but not completely away from some of all of its core themes. THE DEATH OF BUNNY MUNRO explores human frailty, fanaticism and vengeance, set this time within the confines of a small family, over which Bunny Munro's behaviour casts a sad, reflective, self-interested and yet strangely touching pall.

Bunny is a man who gives into his natural urges. Constantly. He's utterly obsessed with sex, his every waking moment seems to be devoted to the pursuit of casual sex. He gives nobody a second thought - his conquests, his wife, their young son. All he thinks about, all he can do is pursue sex. When his wife finally gives up the constant pain of their marriage - and her life - and kills herself with Bunny Junior in the flat with her - Bunny is still unable to grasp the message she leaves him. He's also not quite able to grasp the ramifications of being a sole parent to a sad and lost little boy, even though somewhere inside his self-obsessed, pleasure-obsessed, mindless behaviour something human, something beyond himself, is tantalisingly close to being reached by Bunny Junior. But Bunny Senior isn't able / willing / open enough to change, to let go of his own, to stand aside from his pleasure, to look outside of himself. Or at least not in time he isn't.

There were aspects of this book that made me profoundly uncomfortable. Not the sexual descriptions - which are prolific, and explicit, but rather the starkness of Bunny's obsession with sex. The starkness in which pursuit became predation, pleasure became cruel, made me wince. A lot. Especially as what little control there had been simply gave way. The violence implicit in that one person's complete disregard for everyone around him, writ large against his little boy's unconditional love, acceptance, sorrow, understanding. The finale in which everything, all pleasure, all pursuit, is revealed as pointless.

There were also aspects of this book that soared, that were hilarious. Gallows humour maybe, certainly absurdist, THE DEATH OF BUNNY MUNRO grabs you, shakes you, slaps you to make sure you're still paying attention, then tugs your heart-strings. Then it wraps them around your ears and tweaks like crazy until your heart aches and your ears ring.

I could not get the lyrics from INTO MY ARMS out of my head as I read this book, which didn't help as THE DEATH OF BUNNY MUNRO made me cry. A lot. I read it a second time. Laughed, winced, lost my temper with Bunny, cried a lot all over again.

OUTSIDE THE LAW 2 - Lindy Cameron (editor)

Karen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:13:26 +0300

Cover Image

Author

Lindy Cameron (ed)

Publisher

Five Mile Press

Copyright

2008

ISBN

978-1-74178-893-8

No of Pages

281

Price

Book Synopsis

In OUTSIDE THE LAW 2 some of our best crime writers take you on a trip into the shadows of Australian society. You'll meet croos who just can't help themselves; killers with twisted logic or hearts of darkness; and cops who daily walk the thinnest of lines to keep the evil at bay, and away from the rest of us.

Book Review

I often wonder why authors get involved in True Crime writing. Surely there must be a component of it that's just soul destroying. Writing about the sad, mad, bad, idiot, evil, opportunist criminals who commit the most senseless acts. Then again, there are a lot of us that read True Crime. I know there's all the analysis of "why" - the voyeurism, the thrill, readers getting a glimpse into a world that luckily most won't ever experience first hand, the readers searching for the why behind so many acts.

OUTSIDE THE LAW 2 fits into the middle of the three current OUTSIDE THE LAW books neatly. It's the first of the books edited by Lindy Cameron, and it features stories by a wide range of well known true crime writers such as Robin Bowles, John Kerr, Vikki Petraitis, Paul Kidd, Dr Shelley Robertson and more.

This set of books is made up of a series of chapters, each one touching on an individual event / story. There are some lighter hearted moments, and definitely a wide variety of styles of story-telling and of the stories being told. There isn't necessarily a theme to what's included, and there's a wide range of timeframes for when the crimes were committed. It's that aspect that I find so particularly interesting - the way that no matter how "advanced" our society allegedly becomes - the more things supposedly "improve" - the more so much of it stays the same. Those sad, mad, bad, idiot, evil and opportunistic people are still out there - commmitting acts that just make you wonder.

If you're a fan of True Crime, the whole of the OUTSIDE THE LAW series comes highly recommended.

Harper Collins Releases - March

Karen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:51:28 +0300

Start: 01/03/2010 - 6:00pm

End: 01/03/2010 - 6:59pm

Timezone:

FLORENCE & GILES - John Harding
Goth mystery standalone

A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of Usher 1891. In a remote and crumbling New England mansion, 12-year-old orphan Florence is neglected by her guardian uncle and banned from reading. Left to her own devices she devours books in secret and talks to herself - and narrates this, her story - in a unique language of her own invention. By night, she sleepwalks the corridors like one of the old house's many ghosts and is troubled by a recurrent dream in which a mysterious woman appears to threaten her younger brother Giles. Sometimes Florence doesn't sleepwalk at all, but simply pretends to so she can roam at will and search the house for clues to her own baffling past. After the sudden violent death of the children's first governess, a second teacher, Miss Taylor, arrives, and immediately strange phenomena begin to occur. Florence becomes convinced that the new governess is a vengeful and malevolent spirit who means to do Giles harm. Against this powerful supernatural enemy, and without any adult to whom she can turn for help, Florence must use all her intelligence and ingenuity to both protect her little brother and preserve her private world.

THE YIDDISH POLICEMAN'S UNION - Michael Chabon
Comic crime

STILL MIDNIGHT - Denise Mina

Karen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:53:16 +0300

Cover Image

Author

Denise Mina

Publisher

Orion

Copyright

2009

ISBN

978-1-4091-0094-2

No of Pages

356

Price

Book Synopsis

It's the case that could make DS Alex Morrow's career, it would make any cop salivate. A home invaded in the dead of night, deep in the heart of the cosy suburbs, a hard working family at the heart of it and a vulnerable old man taken hostage. It's high profile: a black-and-white case and it shouldn't be too hard to solve...

The attackers were slovenly. The two strangers who forced their way into the warm comfortable home demanded millions the family didn't have and shouted for a man nobody had hear of. It had to be a mistake, and a bad one at that.

Book Review

According to the famous names quoted on the back of STILL MIDNIGHT, Denise Mina is the crown princess of crime, past winner of the John Creasey Memorial Prize for her first crime novel GARNETHILL. She certainly is a writer that deserves a wide fan base, as she is undoubtedly one of the great writers of the nuanced central character.

STILL MIDNIGHT introduces one such new character - DS Alex Morrow. Morrow is prickly, raised by a single mother suffering from chronic depression, there but for the grace she's somehow kept herself out of trouble. She's somebody who the hierarchy think can't be trusted - she shoots from the hip too often, offends people, loses her temper, has a mouth on her and is simply not able to not use it, despite the need for politics and tact. What the hierarchy don't seem to realise is that she's way harder on herself than they could ever be. But she's badly rattled when she's not given responsibility for the sort of case that Detectives dream about. She would have been the perfect officer - a home invasion and the kidnapping of an elderly man - has happened right on her childhood stomping ground. She's knows a lot of the criminals in that area, she still has contacts, yet she somehow finds herself reporting to DS Bannerman - would-be surfer dude, political player, bosses mate. Morrow does what she does best, setting out pretty much on her own, doling out the snarling and insults as she proceeds, she rides roughshod over anyone who gets in the way. All the while struggling with the problems in her personal life.

The interesting thing about STILL MIDNIGHT is that there's a lot of ground in here that it seems frequent readers of crime fiction will have travelled before. Difficult central police characters; unthinking / unsupportive hierarchy; family problems; racism; troubled youth; lone wolves. Put these elements in the hands of a writer with the skill of Mina however, add a villain with an almost whimsical view of the world; a cock-up that puts the villains in a nothing to lose scenario and you have something that's edgy, involving and really really good.

Fans of Mina's GARNETHILL trilogy will find something vaguely familiar in STILL MIDNIGHT. There's something all too real in all of Mina's characters that might make you squirm just a little bit! Sure Alex and Maureen come from different sides of the law, but they are both flawed, complicated and frequently annoying characters who seem somehow familiar and extremely sympathetic. Add to that strong procedural elements, a great sense of place and pace, and STILL MIDNIGHT is a terrific book - let's hope it's the start of a new series.

SINGING TO THE DEAD - Caro Ramsay

Karen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:30:27 +0300

Cover Image

Author

Caro Ramsay

Publisher

Penguin

Copyright

2009

ISBN

978-0-14-102925-2

No of Pages

510

Price

Book Synopsis

Two seven-year old boys have been abducted from the streets of Glasgow. Both had already endured years of neglect and betrayal - but for Detective Inspector Colin Anderson the case is especially disturbing, because the boys look so much like his own son Peter...

Then, with police resources stretched to breaking point, a simple house fire turns into a full-scale murder hunt.

Book Review

Caro Ramsay's second book - SINGING TO THE DEAD - has a lot to live up to. ABSOLUTION was just a fantastic book, with a particularly brave ending. That ending means SINGING TO THE DEAD starts out looking back to some of that story, and with a need to shift the focus to many of the lesser characters from the first book, as well as introduce new ones.

The disappearance of two seven-year-old boys starts an investigation which finds itself stretched to the limit when a house fire turns into a full-scale murder hunt as well. Then another seven-year-old boy disappears and this time it's the son of DI Colin Anderson.

ABSOLUTION was undoubtedly one of my favourite debut books from last year, so SINGING TO THE DEAD was always going to be interesting reading - particularly as I was keen to see if Ramsay would continue to be as bold as she had been first time around. The start of SINGING TO THE DEAD did seem to be a little unfocused, and there was a rather hefty concentration on the personal aspects of some of the team members - but once a lot of the setup is cleared away, and Ramsay gets down to the core of the investigations the pace picks up markedly.

Ramsay handles the multiple threads of these investigations - and ultimately - the team members really well. She also addresses their reactions to the events at the end of ABSOLUTION well, solidly giving the book a sense of history, without dwelling on the past. I don't think you would have to read the first book to understand events in SINGING TO THE DEAD - it's probably enough to realise that there is history for many of this team and that each of them is reacting to that history in varying ways. The chacterisations are great, the police procedural aspects of the book solid, and there's a real skill to the way that the various threads are interwoven. SINGING TO THE DEAD threw me a little at the start, but I ended up liking this as much as I did the author's first book.

SUFFER THE CHILDREN - Adam Creed

Karen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:06:18 +0300

Cover Image

Author

Adam Creed

Publisher

Faber and Faber

Copyright

2009

ISBN

978-0-571-24364-8

No of Pages

321

Price

Book Synopsis

DI Will Wagstaffe - Staffe to friends and enemies alike - is a man with many burdens. On the eve of leaving for a personal trip abroad he is called to the scene of a horrific crime, a known paedophile has been butchered in his own home.

Book Review

SUFFER THE CHILDREN is the first book introducing DI Will Wagstaffe. A confession early on - I try not to read blurbs on books so the first few chapters referring alternatively to Wagstaffe and Staffe left me mildly confused, a feeling that came back to visit me on a few occasions throughout the book.

Staffe is a workaholic, that or he doesn't trust the team he works with. Either way, as one of his past cases resolves leaving him threatened by the perpetrator and his gang of thugs, Staffe is planning a holiday. Which he cancels, or avoids, when somebody starts killing known sex offenders. Paedophiles keep dying, bizarrely, violently and Staffe and his colleagues find themselves in the invidious position of trying to find the killer of people that, well, does anybody really care. Guy Montefiore has a young teenage daughter of his own and he's not impressed with the bad habits her mother is handing onto her, but then he's also busy stalking teenager Tanya. Meanwhile Staffe mourns for his broken marriage, tries to help an old friend, and support a sister who is the victim of domestic violence (and who has moved into his house).

SUFFER THE CHILDREN has a very complicated plot line. It's overly complicated to be frank, which is a pity, as lurking within the complication, and slightly over dramatic goings on, there's a character set that had some promise. Mind you, yet another paedophile / vigilante / should anyone care because the victim's not a nice person - well it seemed very much like it had been done before and, even with all the ancillary goings on, there was nothing particularly startling or surprising. I think that's probably my biggest problem with SUFFER THE CHILDREN, predictable and a little boring and I wasn't all that shocked, or surprised, or disturbed or even particularly interested by the end.

Currently Reading - Stonedogs, Craig Marriner

Karen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:55:38 +0300

I was alerted to this writer by somebody who dropped in here a while ago with a comment and, needless to say, had to get hold of a copy.

I'm really behind with review writing at the moment and I promise to extract that digit later in the week - but in the meantime I'm churning through some book reading!

From the Blurb:

In between drug deals and binge-drinking, reckless driving and street fights, the delinquents of the Brotherhood wage the holiest of wars. Yes, they will derail the Juggernaut before it can suicide ... or have a ball trying at least. But when one of them falls prey to Roto-Vegas gang memebers, the cultural terrorists mobilise in earnest.

Opening Lines:

They're at it again. Flexing muscle, that is. Hardly surprising really: the sun's been down for hours. Hardly disappointing either: it's what we've been waiting for.

Currently Reading - The Tourist, Olen Steinhauer

Karen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:23:41 +0400

I wonder if anyone else has "one of those authors that I've never read and know I should have"? Olen Steinhauer's definitely in that category for me - I've been hoarding his books for years now (I think 4_Mystery_Addicts got me interested in the first place) and ever since then I've never had a chance to pick one up. I was particularly chuffed to get a copy of THE TOURIST as a review book because I just had to pick it up... didn't I!

From the Blurb:

In the global age of the CIA, there are hotspots everywhere. And wherever there's trouble, there's a Tourist: the men and women who do the dirty work. They're the Company's best agents - and Milo Weaver was the best of them all.

Opening Lines:

Four hours after his failed suicide attempt, he descended toward Aerodrom Ljubljana. A tone sounded, and above his head the seat belt sign glowed.

DEAD-END ROAD - Richard Kunzmann

Karen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:47:53 +0400

Cover Image

Author

Richard Kunzmann

Publisher

Pan MacMillan

Copyright

2008

ISBN

9780330446488

No of Pages

Price

Book Synopsis

After two years' absence, Detective Harry Mason has rejoined the South African Police Service, but is now moved to the Serious and Violent Crimes unit.

Book Review

DEAD-END ROAD is third novel Detective Harry Mason novel from South African author Richard Kunzmann - the earlier books are BLOODY HARVESTS and SALAMANDER COTTON. It was the first of this series that I've read, and I'm not sure that was necessarily a wise move.

It's been a couple of years since Harry's last outing and since then he has joined the elite Serious and Violent Crimes unit. They have been assigned to the investigation of the slaying of a minor politician and his family in a township west of Johannesburg. Unsolvable, until a tip sends the unit in pursuit of a vigilante group known as the Guardians headed by two notoriously violent brothers. Things get personally bad for Harry when he is shot during a dawn raid on a remote village in pursuit of the gang.

Part of the reason I picked up this book out of order was for a group read on a discussion list, and one of the participants in that discussion had read the earlier books - which was just as well, as this book didn't seem to work as a stand-alone. Harry, I'm told is a great central character, but as he was shot very early on in this book and didn't really make much of a return appearance he was very hard to assess. Perhaps it was this act that made the book seem to lack purpose or a single focus, but for much of the action I had absolutely and utterly no idea what was going on, who was who and what the whole point was. I actually had to read the blurb to remind myself what this investigation was supposedly all about as cameo appearances from a range of characters who appeared to have no context whatsoever kept coming and going and my grip on the whole thing got fuzzier and fuzzier.

Luckily I've now got the 2 earlier books in the series so I'll pick them up when I get a chance and see if the problem was just this book (which I suspect may have been the case). And the problem with this book could very well have been me - perhaps I wasn't working hard enough, having said that, I'm not sure I want to raise a sweat just to read a book.

Harper Collins Releases - February

Karen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:03:06 +0400

Start: 02/02/2010 - 6:00pm

End: 02/02/2010 - 6:59pm

Timezone:

MAFIA PRINCESS - Marisa Merico
True crime
Twenty-five years ago Marisa Merico travelled to Italy to see her Dad in prison. She was just a curious 14-year old determined to learn more about the man her mum had always described as a no-good petty thief, who had failed them and left the pair with no choice but to flee Italy for the UK. But Marisa was being shielded from a secret which would change her life forever. The man staring back at her from across the prison table was a Mafia godfather. Now, in a groundbreaking new book, Marisa has broken the sacred code of Cosa Nostra silence to tell her extraordinary lifestory which has seen her dubbed ‘mafia-princess’.

PRETTY LITTLE THINGS - Jilliane Hoffman
A terrifying new standalone psychological thriller from the bestselling writer of 'Plea of Insanity' Special Agent Bobby Dees knows what grief feels like. He understands the pain of losing a child. And he'll do whatever he can to prevent it from happening again. The phone call that comes on a Sunday morning will take him away from his insular world of grief and sleepless nights -- and into a far darker place. A young girl, Elaine Emerson, has gone missing and only Dees has a chance of finding her. It seems that Elaine was last seen waiting to meet her boyfriend - a mysterious figure she met secretly on the internet, who goes by the name of "Boogeyman", and whose reality is as cruel and chilling as the worst thing Dees can imagine!

Re-release/re-format
CITY OF FEAR - Alafair Burke

VWC - Crime Writing Workshop with acclaimed writer Marele Day

Karen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:57:49 +0400

Start: 14/11/2009 - 11:00pm

End: 15/11/2009 - 11:59pm

Timezone:

Crime Writing

with acclaimed author Marele Day

Special offer to non VWC members.

Please mention “VWC PROMO DEAL” to receive a special discount at the VWC membership rate of $230/$210 concession.

OFFER CLOSES MIDDAY 30 October!

Bookings are essential to receive this offer.

Please phone 9654 9068.

Crime Writing

With Marele Day

Weekend Workshop: The appeal of crime fiction is its ability to tell a ripping good yarn while also taking us through mean streets to the dark places of the heart. This course focuses on bringing characters to life on the page, structure and plotting, the unobtrusive planting of clues, research, and blending fact with fiction to make a plausible story.

Marele Day is the author of four crime novels, The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, The Case of the Chinese Boxes, The Last Tango of Dolores Delgado , The Disappearances of Madalena Grimaldi, a collection of crime-comedy stories, Mavis Levack, PI, and editor of How to Write Crime. Other novels include the highly acclaimed Lambs of God, and Mrs Cook: The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain’s Wife. Her latest, The Sea Bed, will be published in 2009. A highly experienced teacher, Marele conducts creative writing courses throughout Australia, and mentors emerging writers. She has won several awards including the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement, 2008.

When: Saturday & Sunday 14-15 November, 10am-4pm

Cost: $290, VWC members $230/$210

Booking deadline 30 October

Unless stated otherwise, all courses are held at the VWC @ the CBWI, 176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.

Please note Bookings are essential for all events. Phone 9654 9068.

For full details about our courses and events please visit http://www.vwc.org.au/what-s-on