You know you’ve found a terrific book when you can’t wait to get to the end, and then are bereft that it’s all over. Lying in Wait by acclaimed Irish writer Liz Nugent is terrific. It was first published in 2016 but only landed in my book pile when a neighbour…
Costa Award winners 2019 announced
If, like me, you can’t resist checking out literary prizes from around the world, mainly to either catch up with books I might have overlooked or else to rail against the absurdity of the judges’ choices, here are the five category winners in the newly announced 2019 Costa Awards. The…
To pigeon-hole Sujata Massey’s fascinating new novel A Murder at Malabar Hill would be a crime
Whilst classified as a crime novel it’s a shame to pigeon-hole A Murder at Malabar Hill the latest offering by prize-winning author Sujata Massey. Certainly there are several intriguing crimes, and villains aplenty, but like many of her previous cross-cultural novels, it offers much more. Its meticulous plotting, rich and…
2019: A year in books
In 2019 I read a total of 68 books written by 42 female authors and 28 men (note two books were jointly authored hence the seemingly poor mathematics.) The authors came from 22 different countries although several had left, or been forced out of their country of origin but still…
My Top Ten books from 2019
It’s always hard to pick your own Top Ten books of the year. What criteria do you set yourself? What is more worthy, the one that made you laugh, or the one that left you truly fearful for the future? Originality? Writing style? Characterisation? Plot? Or the fact that as…
A quartet of crime for Christmas holiday reading
Heather Rose’s Bruny, set in the Australian island state of Tasmania, begins with a real bang. A controversial new bridge between sleepy Bruny Island and the main Island of Tasmania is blown up just months before completion, and the headlines immediately scream Terrorism. Seen by some, including the Premier John…
Crime File: Three page-turners to set you thinking
It is impossible to separate the fictional character of British cop Jane Tennison from the actor Helen Mirren who played her so brilliantly in the Prime Suspect series. And from the first pages of author Lynda La Plante’s latest Jane Tennison book, The Dirty Dozen, Mirren is instantly conjured up by…
Crime File: A murdering sister, a missing schoolgirl, and a new Superintendent Jury mystery.
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite: All her life Nigerian nurse Korede has been in the shadow of her beautiful, charismatic younger sister Ayoola. While Korede is a diligent and hard worker at a prestigious Lagos hospital, nurturing a secret love for one of the doctors, Ayoola gets…
Two debut novels get 2019 off to a crackling start
Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey: When acclaimed Brazilian author Beatriz Yagoda disappears (last seen sitting up a tree smoking a cigar) her American translator Emma Neufeld feels compelled to leave snowy Pittsburgh and dour live-in boyfriend to try and find her. And whilst Beatriz’s daughter Raquel, who has never…
Review: Flight Risk by Michael McGuire
I have a rule to never read a thriller that centres on airports, airplanes or terrorism whilst flying anywhere. Call it tempting fate. But luckily I was on terra firma, in this case sun-drenched Sydney, when I read Flight Risk the new novel by Australian journalist Michael McGuire. Not so long ago,…