User Profile

Karen from AustCrime

kcfromaustcrime@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 5 months ago

Reads a bit of crime fiction. Been reviewing with a focus on Australian and New Zealand works on www.austcrimefiction.org since 2006.

Also @kcfromaustcrime@mastodon.online

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Alexander Thorpe: Death Holds the Key (2024, Fremantle Press) No rating

Review - Death Holds the Key

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Just posted a review of Death Holds the Key, the 2nd Itinerant Mendicant novel by Alexander Thorpe:

Slightly on the cosier side, the personalities, and interactions between the two main characters is a big part of the attraction of DEATH HOLDS THE KEY.

www.austcrimefiction.org/review/death-holds-key-alexander-thorpe

Georges Simenon: Man's Head (2006, Penguin Books, Limited) No rating

Review - Man's Head

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This was well plotted, and whilst Maigret was his normal gloomy, introverted self, there was something spirited and committed about his determination that lifted this outing slightly. Set around the river Seine and the docks area, the sense of place was really strong as well.

www.austcrimefiction.org/review/mans-head-georges-simenon

reviewed Black Widow by Christopher Brookmyre (Jack Parlabane thriller)

Christopher Brookmyre: Black Widow (2016)

There is no perfect marriage. There is no perfect murder. Diana Jager is clever, strong …

Review - Black Widow, Christopher Brookmyre

No rating

Listening to the audio version of this, I'd sort of half expected that the multiple viewpoints might be a bit of a problem to keep track of, but the whole thing chopped and changed, moved around, and worked backwards and forwards through the plot elements really well. It kind of felt like a good investigative thriller "show" being played out in front of the listener. All in all, a bit of a high point in a very highly rated series.

www.austcrimefiction.org/review/black-widow-christopher-brookmyre

Christopher Brookmyre: Want You Gone (2017)

What if all your secrets were put online? Sam Morpeth is growing up way too …

Want You Gone - Christopher Brookmyre

No rating

This one is the story of nineteen year old Sam Morpeth. Left to care for her younger sister, who has Down's Syndrome, after their mother was sent to prison, she's an anxious, lonely and worried young woman.

www.austcrimefiction.org/review/want-you-gone-christopher-brookmyre

Nick McKenzie: Crossing the Line (2023, Hachette Australia) No rating

'There is no doubt the truth would have been concealed and our concerns buried without …

Review - Crossing the Line

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I read Chris Master's book bookwyrm.social/book/1432873/s/flawed-hero (Flawed Hero on the same defamation trial (as per the Federal Court's listing www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/access-to-files-and-transcripts/online-files/ben-roberts-smith):

Ben Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (NSD1485/2018) Ben Roberts-Smith v The Age Company Pty Ltd (NSD1486/2018) Ben Roberts-Smith v The Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd (NSD1487/2018) Ben Roberts-Smith v Johnathan Pearlman (NSD1826/2018) Ben Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd (NSD1440/2018)trial (Ben Roberts-Smith /

Whilst Master's was a more dispassionate and pointed telling of the trial, Nick McKenzie's take is considerably more personal. The book provided a clear outline of the lengths that all journalists had gone to in establishing the facts, and then it goes into the progression of the defamation action, and the affect it was having, in particular, on McKenzie.

Well worth reading both books on this trial, I'd hung onto this one for a time because we were due to read …

Hayley Scrivenor: Dirt Town (2022, Macmillan Publishers Limited)

When twelve-year-old Esther disappears on the way home from school in a small town in …

Review - Dirt Town

No rating

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 by Hayley Scrivenor.

www.austcrimefiction.org/review/dirt-town-hayley-scrivenor