Quick Review – The Wrong Man by Tim Ayliffe

On January 28, 2025 By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller3 Comments

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Trade Paperback – 3 July 2024)

Series: John Bailey series – Book Five

Length: 335 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

From one of my favourite Australian crime fiction authors, Tim Ayliffe, comes the fantastic 2024 novel, The Wrong Man, which sees the author’s damaged protagonist investigate a dark new crime in Sydney.

For the last few years, I have become a major fan of Australian author Tim Ayliffe, who has been producing some excellent books as part of his John Bailey series. Utilising his experience as a journalist, Ayliffe has pulled together a series of compelling and complex crime fiction novels as part of a series that follows his journalist protagonist, John Bailey, as he finds himself part of a series of dark crimes. Many of these books, which include The Greater Good, State of Fear, The Enemy Within and Killer Traitor Spy, cleverly reference or utilise real-world elements that have been impacting Australia, such as terrorism, espionage and the rise of right-wing extremism, to enhance their narratives, and I have really enjoyed the captivating Australian stories that emerge. The fifth book in this series, The Wrong Man, presents the reader with a cool new case as Ayliffe expands his series with an excellent new protagonist.

Plot Synopsis:

The fifth novel in the John Bailey thriller series. Bailey is trying to solve two murders, ten years apart – unfinished business from his former flame Sharon Dexter. But will it cost him his life?

When Sydney socialite Tottie Evans is found dead at a house in Palm Beach, Detective Holly Sutton is called in to investigate. She immediately suspects the boyfriend, a millionaire property developer and ex-mercenary soldier, who refuses to cooperate with police.

Across the city, old-school reporter John Bailey – still haunted by the death of his girlfriend, former cop Sharon Dexter – gets a call about a break-in. It leads to the unearthing of an old case file on a murder at the men-only Sydney Club that Dexter had been pursuing a decade earlier. Her notes reveal a link between that murder and the killing of Tottie Evans.

Suddenly, John Bailey and Holly Sutton have the same mission. And for Bailey, this is a chance to finish a job for the woman who saved his life.

The only problem: a serial killer is already serving a life sentence for the Sydney Club murder.

The Wrong Man was a very impressive addition to the John Bailey series that sees the protagonist dragged into a series of dark murders. Ayliffe pulls together an intense, compelling and character-focused narrative that makes great use of its protagonists to tell a layered and complex story of murder, secrets and redemption.

The plot of The Wrong Man is cleverly told from the perspective of three central characters, each of whom have their own unique contribution to the overarching story. The central character is John Bailey, Ayliffe’s damaged series protagonist who has managed to rebuild his life after the trauma of the earlier books and now serves as a mostly balanced figure, determined to uncover the truth no matter what. Forced to investigate two murders, including a recent slaying and an older killing that his dead former love interest solved, Bailey finds old pain coming to the surface again and must also face interference from one of his only friends, CIA spy Ronnie Johnson, who is trying to stop Bailey’s investigation into a prominent military contractor. Bailey is backed up in this book by his current love interest, reporter Annie Brooks, whose own journalistic interest in the case is supported by her connection to one of the suspects. The two of them prove to be an effective team, although I felt that the third central protagonist, Holly Sutton, was the one who stole the show.

Holly Sutton is a new police protagonist who is assigned to investigate the murders Bailey and Brooks are looking into. Another highly damaged protagonist who has issues with debts and her own past, Sutton proves to be a jaded figure in the investigation. This is enhanced by her realisation she has a dark connection to the case, especially when a cover-up she was inadvertently involved with forces her to keep key facts hidden from her boss. This adds an additional element of secrecy to the plot, which works well alongside the complimentary storylines of the other protagonists. Ayliffe presents a tight and exciting narrative for the entirety of The Wrong Man that goes in some intriguing directions. I felt that the compelling mystery comes together extremely well, and the character-driven storylines are brought together in an exciting and high-stakes manner. I felt that this was one of Ayliffe’s stronger stories, and I honestly powered through it in no time at all.

As with his preceding narratives in the John Bailey series, Ayliffe cleverly utilises some real-life Australian issues and themes in The Wrong Man, which I always enjoy, and which I feel gives some extra realism and impact. This includes some interesting references to current Pacific politics and alliances, with the protagonist’s ability to interrogate a potential suspect impacted by the CIA, who have a vested interest in the area. Ayliffe also provides some examinations of police corruption in the story, with the long-term impacts of cover-ups, conspiracies and other darker elements of the police, such as sexism, having a compelling role in the plot. Other compelling inclusions examine the roles and responsibility of journalists in modern society, as well as some interesting references to reality television stars. I really felt these elements worked well alongside the crime fiction storyline, and Ayliffe expertly utilises and explores these in the plot.

Overall, The Wrong Man was a fantastic and powerful piece of Australian fiction that once again highlights Tim Ayliffe’s ability to tell a compelling and intense narrative. Cleverly continuing the author’s series while also exploring cool new protagonists, The Wrong Man was an excellent and captivating read that I had an outstanding time getting through.

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High Wire by Candice Fox

On January 21, 2025 By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Thriller4 Comments

Publisher: Bantam (Trade Paperback – 24 September 2024)

Series: Standalone

Length: 480 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s top authors of crime fiction finishes of 2024 with a massive bang as Candice Fox presents the powerful thriller, High Wire.

Few authors had the awesome year that Candice Fox did in 2024, as the author released three impressive crime fiction reads. The first of these was the fast-paced crime fiction read, The Murder Inn, which Fox cowrote with the legendary James Patterson. The sequel to their previous book, The Inn, The Murder Inn was a fantastic book that once again highlighted how well Fox and Patterson work together (see my review for their other book 2 Sisters Detective Agency). Fox also released the intense character-driven thriller, Devil’s Kitchen, that saw two highly damaged characters attempt to uncover the secrets of a seemingly heroic group of firefighters with a true dark side to them. Both The Murder Inn and Devil’s Kitchen were outstanding reads, and I was very happy I checked them out. However, Fox decided to provide us with even more fun before the year was over with the standalone novel High Wire. Taking the author back to her home country, High Wire was a compelling and deeply intense Australian thriller that takes you hostage and refuses to let go.

Out in the outback of Australia lies a notorious unmarked track known as the High Wire. Cutting across the country from Broome to Sydney, the High Wire is a lawless road full of small towns, unregulated trails and mobile phone blackspots. A favourite hangout of smugglers, hijackers and criminals, only the desperate, the dangerous and those looking for trouble use the High Wire.

Harvey Buck, former soldier and current recluse, knows all about the dangers of the High Wire, but desperation forces him to travel along it to reach his dying girlfriend. Despite knowing better, he stops to pick up a hapless traveller, Clare Holland, whose car has broken down on the road. However, Clare isn’t the person he should be worried about, as the two are soon ambushed by a masked assailants with their own sinister agenda.

Strapped into bomb vests, Harvey and Clare are forced into a twisted game by vengeful figures from Harvey’s past seeking to ruin his life and reputation. Forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions across several small towns, the two prisoners try to work together to escape and stop the insanity going on around them. Harvey and Clare’s only hope may be Senior Sergeant Edna Norris, one of the few police officers stationed on the Wire, and who soon begins to follow the trail of destruction being left in their wake. But Edna has her own problems, especially when Clare’s husband arrives on the scene with his own dark plans.

High Wire was another awesome book from Candice Fox that provides readers will some of the best Australian thrills and action that there were likely to get in 2024. Featuring a bold, compelling and powerful character-driven tale of revenge and escape, High Wire was an outstanding read from one of my favourite Australian authors and one that I cannot recommend enough.

Fox hits the ground running hard with High Wire’s excellent narrative, and I honestly was hooked early on thanks to the compelling and intense story. Quickly introducing the protagonist, Harvey Buck, as well as the High Wire, the lawless road that serves as an intriguing background setting for the plot. After a quick introduction to a secondary protagonist, the mysterious Clare Holland, the main plot of High Wire takes off as the two are ambushed by a group of armed attackers, who take them prisoner after a bloody shootout, and strap them into elaborate bomb vests. Fox keeps the tension running high here, as it becomes clear that the kidnappers know Harvey and are seeking revenge for some past misdeed. Around the same time, the readers are introduced to the other major point-of-view character, Senior Sergeant Edna Norris, who finds herself on the trail of Harvey, Clare and the kidnappers without knowing who is responsible and with an unlikely teenage sidekick helping and hindering her in equal measure.

The plot soon becomes even more intense on several levels, as Fox works several intriguing storylines and elements simultaneously to tell a complex and exciting narrative. The main plot around Harvey and Clare proves to be quite intense, as the two are forced to commit a series of brutal crimes while also trying to escape or take out their captors. Fox carefully doles out intriguing background on both Harvey and Clare to the readers, and you soon discover both have complicated pasts, as Clare is running from her suddenly murderous husband, while Harvey’s past connection to the kidnappers is revealed in a series of dark flashbacks. These flashbacks help to paint the main storyline in some different shades of grey, as you begin to realise that Harvey isn’t the moral hero you initially believed he would be, and while the antagonists are worse, you begin to doubt that Harvey deserves to survive.

At the same time, the focus on Edna and her intriguing supporting cast goes in some interesting directions, as she follows the carnage left behind by the kidnappers and their unwilling pawns. Not only is Edna forced to deal with her hard-headed charge Talon, but she finds herself in all manner of trouble when Clare’s husband, Gareth Holland the Northern Territory Police Commissioner, arrives on the scene looking for his wife. Instantly suspicious of Gareth, Edna is forced off the case due to police politics but continues to try and investigate, determining that she needs to get to Clare first. Edna’s storyline, which I personally enjoyed the most in High Wire, goes in some fantastic directions, and she soon finds herself forced to survive the murderous attentions of Gareth, while also trying to solve the clues being left behind by Harvey. Fox does an excellent job running these somewhat separated storylines simultaneously, and they tie into each other just enough to create an amazing overarching narrative. Fox wrapped these various storylines up in a very effective way, with a satisfying moment in the Edna storyline, while the main narrative goes out on a very dark note, which I felt was a powerful result to some of the character work that Fox had been building up. This honestly ended up being an epic and compelling standalone thriller, and I really appreciated how Fox held back no punches to create this powerful read.

Fox did another amazing job bringing this intense and complex narrative together, and I felt that High Wire was one of her more hard-hitting and enjoyable novels. I loved how the author imbued High Wire with a very dark edge, and between the intense action, despicable villains and deadly plot you really come away not wanting to visit central Australia. The setting of the “High Wire”, a semi-secret road running the length of Australia proved to be an awesome background, and Fox’s strong descriptions of the red-earthed, isolated road combined with its inherent lawlessness and dangerous inhabitants, gave me some major Mad Max vibes as I was reading the book. I felt that Fox utilised this setting perfectly throughout High Wire, and it helped to give this novel a very distinctive feel. The author also made great use of splitting the story across several intriguing central characters. The two main storylines, the one involving Harvey and Clare and the one following Edna and Talon, played off each other extremely well, and having Edna constantly behind the other protagonists and their captors allowed for a great chase narrative, as they tried to interpret all the events going on in front of them. Information from Harvey and Clare also cleverly increased the tension in the other storyline, especially as you learn in advance just how deadly secondary antagonist Gareth Holland is, which allows you to fully appreciate his manipulations and darker agenda. The balance between these two storylines was extremely effective, even with the additional flashback chapters, and this ensured that High Wire had a great pace to it that easily keeps the reader’s attention.

High Wire’s intense and compelling story was greatly enhanced by several fantastic and complex characters whose unique, and often dark narratives, provided some nuanced and complicated tales of personal growth and survival. The main protagonist, Harvey Buck (a great uber-masculine name btw), is a former soldier who spends the book trying to survive the plans of his attackers and save as many people as possible. While Harvey seems to be a good character, Fox makes excellent use of flashbacks to dive into his history with the antagonists, which provides some added complexity to the plot, as both sides have committed atrocities against the other. The same can be said for secondary protagonist, Clare Holland, a seemingly helpless figure inadvertently dragged into events. While Clare is portrayed as a victim for much of the plot, she eventually reveals an intriguing backstory to Harvey that ties into her complicated marriage, which implies she isn’t as innocent as she seems. The character I most got drawn to was local cop, Senior Sergeant Edna Norris, who comes away as one of the few legitimately decent people in the book. Thanks to her caring personality and clever insights, Edna is a protagonist you can get behind 100%, and even when elements of her past are brought up, it proves hard not to still see her as the best figure in the book.

Aside from these key characters, Fox features several intriguing supporting figures in High Wire, including some impressive antagonists. The main supporting character that is featured in the book is Talon, a teenager who is taken under Edna’s wing after she arrests him. An initially annoying and impulsive figure, Talon grows on you as the book continues, especially with his entertaining imagination and surprisingly accurate insights. However, it is the villains of the High Wire who I think stole the show here. The two kidnappers who take control of Harvey and Clare with bomb vests prove to be despicable, if highly damaged figures, and it was fascinating to see how much their current behaviour is due to previous rough treatment from Harvey. Clare’s husband, Gareth Holland, proves to be an excellent secondary antagonist, especially as he has his own murderous agenda and uses his position as Northern Territory Police Commissioner to get away with his goals. In some ways Gareth was a better villain than the kidnappers, especially as he is far more soulless figure who ends up being quite smug and controlling. I really enjoyed the entertaining way that Fox wrapped up Gareth’s storyline in this book, and it was quite satisfying to see him get what he deserved. These character deeply enhanced Hire Wire’s narrative, and it was awesome to see their various storylines unfold.

High Wire ended up being an incredible and thrilling piece of crime fiction from one of Australia’s best writers Candice Fox. Dark, brutal and filled with some complex and damaged characters, High Wire quickly gets you hooked, and you are in for an outstanding time with this brilliant read.

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Endgame by Sarah Barrie

On December 30, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller4 Comments

Publisher: HQ (Trade Paperback – 1 November 2024)

Series: Lexi Winter – Book Four

Length: 398 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Outstanding Australian author Sarah Barrie brings her dark and powerful Lexi Winter series to a compelling conclusion with the exceptional novel Endgame.

Over the last couple of years, I have been really enjoying Australian author Sarah Barrie’s epic Lexi Winter crime fiction series. One of the darker Australian series I have had the pleasure of reading, the Lexi Winter books follow a former vigilante turned police officer as she takes down some of the worst criminals in Sydney, including a deadly paedophile ring. This series started with the amazing read, Unforgiven (one of my favourite Australian books of 2021), and continued with the excellent follow-ups Retribution (one of my favourite Australian books of 2022) and Vendetta (one of my favourite Australian books of 2023). Due to this, Endgame has been one of my most anticipated books of 2024, and I was very eager to see how this novel would unfold, especially as it was marketed as the final book in the Lexi Winter series.

Former vigilante hacker Lexi Winters finally has her life together. Now a decorated police officer studying to take her detective exams, Lexi’s biggest challenge is balancing her career with her hectic personal life, especially when it comes to looking after her ward, the former runaway Cait. However, despite her best efforts at normalcy Lexi can never truly relax, especially as she knows her nemesis Vaughn is waiting to get revenge on her.

When a series of brutal murders begins around Sydney, Lexi finds herself brought aboard when it becomes clear they are connected to a resurfaced Vaughn. Determined to prove that he is better than her, Vaughn challenges Lexi to a very public game of murder. Five people will be killed by the end of the month, but if Lexi can identify and save the final victim, Vaughn will turn himself in.

With the eyes of nation on them and public support seeming to lie on Vaughn’s side, Lexi finds her sanity tested like never before. The more she digs into Vaughn’s dark crimes, the further she finds herself slipping over the edge, especially as she begins to see strange figures and ghosts wherever she goes. With Vaughn’s attacks on her becoming even more personal and her own colleagues losing faith in her, Lexi has no choice but to keep playing her nemesis’s twisted game, even if it will lead to her death. But Lexi has come too far to lose now, and she will do whatever she must to force an endgame between her and Vaughn.

Barrie continues to showcase why she is one of Australia’s most compelling crime fiction authors with this shocking and powerful final Lexi Winter novel. Featuring a complex and captivating story loaded with dark moments and intense character work, Endgame was an exceptional novel that I honestly could not get enough of.

Endgame has an excellent and layered narrative behind it that not only stands on its own but helps to bring the entire Lexi Winter series to a powerful end. Starting off with an interesting and horror-esque introduction that initially seems detached from the main plot, you quickly get drawn into the main narrative when Lexi discovers that her old nemesis, the long-feared Vaughn, has returned to finally get his revenge on her. Barrie ensures that the story gets very addictive very early as you are drawn into the villain’s challenge, stop him murdering five people and he will turn himself in.

The resulting story moves at a fast and powerful pace as the protagonists do their best to try to find Vaughn and uncover his murders, all while he seems to be one step ahead of them utilising the media to his advantage. The author keeps increasing the stakes for this main case again and again as Lexi is attacked close to home (literally and figuratively), and she finds herself a desperate mess as well as a constant target by the public. At the same time, Endgame features a parallel plot involving the mysterious deaths of several teenagers that appear to have been committed by a vengeful spirit. This secondary storyline, whilst initially a bit odd in the wider context of Endgame’s main narrative, works pretty well, and I liked the unique directions it helped to take the plot, and it links into the main case very well by the end. Barrie ends up producing quite a fascinating and complex mystery for the protagonists to unfold and I loved some of the intriguing twists that unfold as a result. While I was able to predict a few things, many of the major reveals were pleasantly surprising and I really appreciated the way in which Barrie layered the relevant clues and hints throughout the earlier plot. Everything leads up to the big conclusion, which constantly has you on the edge of your seat and serves as a fitting finale to this amazing Australian series.

As with the previous entries in the Lexi Winter series, Endgame is a particularly intense character-driven murder mystery with a very gritty edge to it. Making good use of its Australian urban setting, Endgame features a powerful plot that both stands on its own, while also serving as a compelling conclusion to the rest of the series. While Barrie provides more than enough background in the main plot to allow new readers to come in and read Endgame as a standalone novel, for the most part readers are advised to read the rest of the books in the series first, especially as that allows you to get the full emotional impact of the book thanks to the great conclusion of several ongoing storylines and character arcs.

The overall narrative of Endgame is complex and moving, and I appreciated how it was told through several intriguing character perspectives that allowed for a multi-layered view of events. The way in which the two separate murder plotlines and the multiple character arcs are brought together works extremely well, and Barrie ensures readers are constantly left guessing about how events are going to unfold. The author also keeps things very dark, as not only are there multiple references to rape and brutal murders but the protagonist endures a range of attacks on herself and those closest to her that are guaranteed to shock most readers. I appreciate how Barrie doesn’t hold back when it comes to highlighting the impacts of these various crimes, although I can imagine some readers may have a hard time with it. Throw in some interesting modern commentary about how manipulation of social media and the tabloids allow monsters to become heroes to certain people, and Endgame proved to be one of the more intense Lexi Winter entries, but one that perfectly fits the series’ uncompromising themes and content.

One of the best things about Endgame was the multiple intriguing characters who the plot was set around. The most prominent of these is series protagonist Lexi Winter, who has had a unique and damaging storyline throughout the series. However, thanks to the help of her friends and family who she has learnt to let in, Lexi has managed to pull her life together to where it is now. While Barie does continually make Lexi way too combative and unreasonable, for the most part she is a great protagonist to follow, and I have really appreciated seeing her grow throughout the series. It was particularly moving to see her take on the role of mentor and guardian in this final book for the runaway Cait, especially as she seeks to help her ward avoid the same mistakes she made when younger. There is also a good end to a long-running will-they, won’t-they romance arc, which I felt got handled well and which allowed for some additional stakes for the plot. Much of Endgame revolves around Lexi trying to hold onto her new happiness when her enemy reappears, and the resulting battle to stay in control and not give in to her old habits makes up much of the books dramatic core. I felt that Barrie did an outstanding job showcasing her protagonist’s battle for self-control in the face of great adversity and trauma, and the author made sure to really build on the dark events of the previous novels. As such, you get a compelling bit of character work in Endgame around this distinctive and damaged protagonist, which really helps to turn this final entry into something extremely moving.

In addition to Lexi, Endgame also features an array of compelling supporting characters, which includes a mixture of established figures from the previous books, and several new characters who come into this story for this final entry. Most of these characters proved to be quite interesting, and while a couple, such as Olivia, prove to be quite hard to like in a detrimental way to the plot, for the most part they add a lot to the book. Highlights for me include Lexi’s ward, Cait, who proves to be a fun addition to the story, especially as she serves as a great foil to the now more serious Lexi. Lexi’s biker associates were also interesting, especially as they allowed for some memorable interactions with the various police characters, while a new police bodyguard for Lexi ended up being a great addition to the plot. However, it’s the villains of the narrative who really shine here. This includes a group of wild teenagers, whose dark behaviour dives into a certain modern societal problem. Another hidden antagonist added some interesting horror flair to the book, and I appreciated how well Barrie inserted them into the plot. Finally, the main villain, Vaughn, was such a brilliant and impactful overarching antagonist that you could not wait to see get taken down. Barrie has used Vaughn as an intimidating bogeyman figure since the first Lexi Winter book, and his long-awaited reappearance here really did not disappoint, especially as he creates a cult of personality around himself as he terrorises the protagonist. Vaughn proves to be a particularly despicable figure, driven by his own ego to finally beat Lexi, and his nefarious use here was a key part of why Endgame was so impactful.

Overall, Endgame was a deeply captivating and impressive piece of Australian crime fiction that I could not get enough of. Sarah Barrie did an excellent job bringing her Lexi Winter series to a powerful end, and Endgame’s unique mystery and compelling high stakes really helped to drag readers in. This was one of the better pieces of Australian fiction this year, and I cannot recommend this series enough to those looking for a darker crime fiction read in the Australian setting. While I am sad that the Lexi Winter series is over, I am glad we got such an impactful final entry, and I look forward to seeing what Sarah Barrie writes next.

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Waiting on Wednesday – The Bluff, Pacific Heights and Vanish

On December 11, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday11 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. For this week’s post, the name of the game is Australian crime fiction as I check out three outstanding upcoming novels set for release in 2025.

I have mentioned a few times on this blog that I have become a major fan of crime fiction in the last several years, ever since I started reviewing across the genres. During this time, I have had the pleasure of reading an array of awesome crime fiction reads, although one sub-genre I get a ton of books of is Australian crime fiction. There are so many great murder mysteries and thrillers released each year that make excellent use of the gritty Australian setting, whether its an outback thriller or a more complex murder mystery set within one of Australia’s urban settings. Australian’s have proven quite adapt at producing epic and mysterious reads, and I tend to receive quite a few Australian focused books from local publishers as a result.

Naturally, after reading a ton of these great reads over the years, I have become skilled at picking out upcoming Australian crime fiction novels that I think are going to be excellent. I have already recently identified a few upcoming 2025 Australian debuts that have a lot of potential, so in this post I am going to look at a series of sequels and releases from established authors that are coming out in the new year. There are three amazing books I want to highlight in this post, and I have a lot of faith that all of them are going to be outstanding.

The first book that I want to talk about is The Bluff by Joanna Jenkins. Jenkins is an excellent novel, whose debut, How to Kill a Client, was a ton of fun. A clever and addictive novel that saw the members of an Australian law firm become suspects in a murder after one of the most important, and distasteful, clients dies suspiciously. I really enjoyed How to Kill a Client, especially as Jenkins created some vivid and compelling characters, and it ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2023. As such, I have been curious to see what Jenkin’s would write next, and I was very excited to find out details about her upcoming book, The Bluff, especially it is a sequel to How to Kill a Client. Set for release in March 2025, The Bluff places Jenkin’s previous big-city lawyer protagonist in a dangerous small-town setting for another intriguing read.

Plot Synopsis:

From the bestselling author of How to Kill a Client comes a page-turning rural thriller of loyalties and lies, murder and greed.

People like Dash didn’t die. He was only what? Mid-thirties? Well off. Adored. By some anyway. World at his feet. Well, Myddle at his feet, which was his world.

Ruth Dawson has taken a break from big city law to fill in for a few months at a mate’s small-town legal practice in Myddle. It’s not what she’s used to . . .

So when she hears the front door of her office open she’s expecting a weird demand, or a question she doesn’t know the answer to. But it’s Bea Baulderstone’s mum, worried that she hasn’t seen her seventeen-year-old daughter for five days, and Constable Gazza Parker is refusing to report the girl missing.

Ruth tries to find Bea, but Myddle is a wall of indifference. Then Dash Rogers is found at his farm gate, dead from a gunshot wound, and suddenly the town is very interested in Bea’s whereabouts.

An unputdownable thriller of deception and greed, The Bluff reveals an enmeshed web of family and community loyalties, set in the lush rural hinterland of east coast Australia.

I really like the sound of The Bluff and it should be an interesting change of pace from Jenkins’ first book. Forcing the protagonist to deal with small town politics and loyalties while she attempts to find out the truth should result in a great read, and I am intrigued by the mystery that seems to be developing. I’m also curious to see how Jenkins deals with another seemingly adored figure who dies suddenly, as the last one of those the author featured was a brilliant character study in bad behaviour. I honestly think that The Bluff has a ton of potential and I cannot wait to dive into as soon as I can.

The next book that I want to highlight in this post is the deeply intriguing novel, Pacific Heights by S. R. White. White is an exceptional author who has left an impression on the Australian outback thriller scene the last few years. Known for his Detective Dana Russo series (Prisoner, Red Dirt Road and White Ash Ridge), White has produced some gripping reads that focus more on personalities and character motivations rather than evidence. This has resulted in some outstanding mysteries, and I really get caught up in his excellent writing.

Due to this, I am always eager for a new book from White and it is generally one of the better Australian novels released at the start of the year. The author’s next book sounds particularly awesome, as White is releasing a standalone novel outside of his main series with Pacific Heights. Coming out in late March, Pacific Heights once again dives into human nature as the author brings together another distinctive crime fiction scenario.

Plot Synopsis:

FIVE WITNESSES. FIVE DIFFERENT STORIES. WHO IS THE KILLER?

In the courtyard of the Pacific Heights building, a local waitress is found dead.

Five apartments overlook the murder scene. Five people witnessed a crime take place.
Finding the killer should be simple.

Except none of the witnesses’ stories match.
They all saw something – from a different angle, at a different time.
None of them saw everything. Anyone could be the killer.

Detectives Carl “Bluey” Blueson and Lachlan Dyson, each with their own careers in peril, must solve what others assume is a straightforward case. But to unmask a killer they must unpick a complex puzzle – where the motivations of the witnesses are as mystifying as the crime itself.

How can you solve a crime if anyone could be lying?

Now this is another very cool and captivating scenario from White and it is one that I am really drawn to. Forcing the protagonists to work out which of the five conflicting eyewitnesses is lying is going to require a deep dive into each of their characters, and I am very interested to see how the detectives unwind the complex motivations, histories and personality traits to determine which of them is telling the truth and which of them is keeping secrets. As such, this should be a very deep, character-driven crime fiction read, which White really excels at. Based on the plot synopsis alone, I believe that Pacific Heights is going to be a very exceptional read and I cannot wait to find out who is lying and why.

The final book I want to discuss in this Waiting on Wednesday is Vanish by Shelley Burr. Burr is another rising Australian author who I have become very attached to. Her debut novel, Wake, presented a complex and moving story of small-town mystery and the scars it leaves behind when an investigator with his own agenda attempts to uncover the long-hidden fate of a missing girl. Wake was a very impressive read and it ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2022. Burr made sure to continue her story the next year, as she presented an outstanding sequel in 2023 with Ripper (also released as Murder Town). This book also focused on small town crime, as a new mystery emerges in a picturesque community made infamous by the actions of a serial killer. Ripper was a very worthy follow-up to Wake, and I loved the outstanding narrative that Burr featured in this awesome sequel.

Due to how impressive and clever Burr’s first two novels were, I have been keen to see what she releases next, and we luckily don’t have too much longer to wait for her third novel, Vanish. Coming out in April 2025, Vanish will continue to follow the author’s protagonist, Lane Holland, as attempts to uncover long-hidden killers and their victims. This new novel will take Holland on his darkest adventure yet, as dangerous personalities strike at the protagonist’s deepest desires.

Plot Synopsis:

People go to the isolated Karpathy farm looking for a new life – and are never seen again. A chilling thriller from the award-winning and bestselling author of Australian noir, Shelley Burr.

Lane Holland’s crime-solving career ended the day he went to prison. With his parole hearing approaching, he faces the grim reality that an ex-con can never work as a private eye. Yet one unsolved case continues to haunt him: the disappearance of Matilda Carver two decades ago.

Never one to follow the rules, Lane finds a lead – a mysterious farm community led by the enigmatic Samuel Karpathy. His farm attracts lost souls. People who want a more meaningful life. People who are hiding from their pasts. People with nowhere else to go.

But those who go to the farm seem to vanish without a trace.

Is it a commune? Is it a cult? Is it something even more dangerous? Lane goes undercover at the farm to find its dark secret – but could he too find himself intoxicated by the prospect of a new life on the land?

Inspired by a real-life criminal case, VANISH is a nail-biting novel of suspense by the Number One-selling author of WAKE and RIPPER.

Vanish sounds like another particularly amazing novel from Burr and I am very excited to see how it turns out. Continuing her protagonist’s attempts to needlessly redeem himself by solving missing persons cases should result in a powerful read, and I am curious to see what dark secrets lie within this mysterious and sinister farm. Forcing the protagonist to uncover truth amongst a band of lost souls, and a no doubt manipulative leader, should result in a very complex and intense story, and it is one I am very keen to dive into. Based on Burr’s previous captivating novels, I am very sure that Vanish will be an excellent book that will keep me in suspense right to the very end.

It looks like 2025 is going to be a very good year for Australian crime fiction, especially with new releases from these three very talented authors. Jenkins, White and Burr have all produced exceptional crime fiction novels in the past, and I have no doubt whatsoever that their new books are going to be just as impressive, especially as all of them feature incredible and unique plot ideas. I look forward to exploring all these brilliant crime novels, and the new year is really looking up when it comes to awesome Australian fiction.

Quick Review – The Wrong Hands by Mark Billingham

On December 10, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Murder Mystery, Quick Review, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Sphere (Trade Paperback – 25 June 2024)

Series: DS Declan Miller – Book Two

Length: 405 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Bestselling crime fiction author Mark Billingham continues his DS Declan Miller series with the highly entertaining read, The Wrong Hands.

Billingham is an intriguing British crime fiction author who has an impressive catalogue of books to his name. Best known for his long running DI Tom Thorne series, Billingham has also written an array of compelling standalone novels and audiobook exclusives. His latest body of work is his DS Declan Miller series, which is a light-hearted crime fiction series focusing on an array of over-the-top characters. Starting with The Last Dance, the DS Declan Miller books follow an eccentric police detective as he investigates unusual crimes in Blackpool, including the murder of his own wife. The Wrong Hands is the second book in the series, and it proved to be another cooky investigation with a highly entertaining plot behind it.

Plot Synopsis:

This is one case Detective Miller won’t want to open . . .

The second rip-roaring mystery from multi-award-winning number international bestseller Mark Billingham starring Detective Miller: unique, unconventional, and criminally underestimated…

Unconventional Detective Declan Miller has a problem. Well, two problems. First, there’s his dead wife and her yet-to-be-solved murder. He really should stop talking to her ghosts…

Second, and most pressing, a young man has just appeared on his doorstep with a briefcase . . . containing a pair of severed hands. Miller knows this case is proof of a contract killing commissioned by local ne’er do well Wayne Cutler—a man he suspects might also be responsible for his wife’s death. Now Miller has leverage, but unfortunately, he also has something that both Cutler and a villainous fast-food kingpin are desperate to get hold of.

Sprinkle in a Midsomer Murders-obsessed hitman, a psychotic welder, and a woman driven over the edge by a wayward Crème Egg, and Miller is in a mess that even he might not be able to dance his way out of.

The Wrong Hands was a highly entertaining and slightly outrageous crime fiction read that sets the author’s distinctive police detective protagonist against an unlikely assortment of criminals in a wacky, fast-paced plot. Starting off with a very entertaining opening sequence that sees a world-class assassin and a local crime boss severely embarrassed by two local youths who managed to steal vital evidence, the book only gets even more fun from there as DS Declan Miller comes into possession of a pair of hands that could prove the key to locking up his rival and solving the murder of his dead wife. However, to get there, Miller must first catch a dangerous killer, determine who the hands belong to, and protect anyone associated with the thieves responsible for the whole debacle.

I had an amazing time with this story, as Billingham loaded his plot with a huge array of over-the-top characters, each of whom proved fun to follow. The plot moves at a very fast pace, and the author loads up some interesting clues and set-ups that result in some fantastic twists. Much of the plot turns into an unlikely game of cat and mouse as Miller and his colleagues try to find the assassin before he strikes down everyone involved with the case. I liked the captivating tension and unique story moments that led up to the big confrontation and the eventual solution to the book’s main plot proves to be quite enjoyable, especially as the villains are brought down from an unexpected source. However, I must admit that I felt the author’s solution to the big crime of the series, the murder of the protagonist’s wife, didn’t get the epic solution it deserves, especially as the culprit kind of comes out of nowhere. Still, this was an overall fantastic read and you really get wrapped up in the clever story.

Billingham utilises a distinctive stye that combines humour with compelling crime fiction scenarios. While slightly derivative of the current craze around comedic murder mystery novels, The Wrong Hands still proved to be extremely entertaining, and I found the entire oddball scenario to be very compelling. The quick change in focus between the various memorable figures involved in the case helped to give the novel some additional depth and comedic power, and I loved seeing the different angles to this entertaining narrative. In addition, I felt that Billingham did a great job making The Wrong Hands a very accessible and easy to read book. While The Wrong Hands does serve as a sequel to The Last Dance, new readers can easily dive into this latest book from Billingham without any issue, and the author ensures all the key plot points are expertly rehashed, allowing anyone to come in and have a great time with this fantastic novel.

While I loved the plot of The Wrong Hands and the way it was presented, the real fun lies in the unique characters themselves, as Billingham brings together an amazing and varied cast of niche crooks, crazed killers and troubled cops. While I did think that Billingham may have tried a little too hard to make his protagonist, the dance-loving, unusual fact-spouting, rat-owning DS Declan Miller seem as quirky as possible, he still proved to be a great character to follow, and I felt that the author perfectly captured his grief, guilt and obsession with finding his wife’s killer. His partner, DS Sara Xiu, proved to be an excellent foil to Miller, and even with her issues she worked as an enjoyable straight figure to Miller’s eccentric persona. However, it is Billingham’s villains that really make The Wrong Hands stand out, as the author utilises an excellent collection of outrageous rogues. This includes two crime bosses with alternate product focuses, whose neglectful family life proves to be their downfall, an elite assassin with a less-than-perfect naming convention and a love for Midsomer Murders, and a psychotic welder with some major issues. These fantastically dark characters added a lot of impact to The Wrong Hands, and I loved seeing how their entertaining and often ironic storylines came together.

Overall, The Wrong Hands was an awesome and very fun new book from Mark Billingham, who let his ridiculous side loose to produce a fantastic crime fiction read. Fast, funny, and loaded with outrageously complicated characters, The Wrong Hands is an easy book to get lost in, and I am glad I decided to pick it up.

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Everyone this Christmas has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

On December 8, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Comedy/Satire, Murder Mystery6 Comments

Publisher: Penguin Australia (Hardcover – 22 October 2024)

Series: Ernest Cunningham – Book Three

Length: 229 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of my favourite Australian authors, the clever and eternally funny Benjamin Stevenson, returns with the third book in his Ernest Cunningham series, Everyone this Christmas has a Secret.

Over the last few years, one of the most impressive Australian crime fiction authors has been the exceptional Benjamin Stevenson. After a successful career as one half of musical comedy duo The Stevenson Experience, Stevenson has successfully made the move to crime fiction author with several amazing books. I was a big fan of his debut novel, Greenlight (also released as Trust Me When I Lie and She Lies in the Vines), which Stevenson expertly followed up a year later with the great sequel Either Side of Midnight. While these initial books were really good, for me Stevenson’s best work has been his Ernest Cunningham novels.

The Ernest Cunningham series follows the titular character, a crime fiction expert from a notorious family, who finds himself caught up in some real-life whodunit situations. The first book in the series, Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone, was particularly impressive, and it cleverly combined the author’s great sense of humour with a compelling mystery. I really enjoyed this exceptional book (one of my favourite Australian novels of 2022), especially as the author successfully played to his comedic background to produce an outstanding read that satirised classic crime fiction conventions. Stevenson continued to impress the following year, with the amazing book Everyone on this Train is a Suspect. One of my favourite books and pieces of Australian fiction of 2023, Everyone on this Train is a Suspect was a worthy sequel to the first Ernest Cunningham book, and I loved how the author took the opportunity to further parody various crime fiction subgenres. Due to how much fun I’ve had with the previous novels in the series, I was very excited when I found out Stevenson was releasing an Ernest Cunningham Christmas special. This latest book, Everyone this Christmas has a Secret, was an excellent read that continued to showcase unique style and flair for outrageous stories.

Ernest Cunningham, amateur detective, novelist and all-round meddler, had been looking forward to Christmas with his highly dysfunctional family. However, a surprising phone call from his ex-wive, Erin, forces him to journey to the Blue Mountains to solve another murder. Erin has been accused of killing her new husband, a wealthy philanthropist and former actor dedicated to helping former drug addicts by introducing them to the performing arts. Found upstairs covered in the victim’s blood, the case against Erin seems airtight, but Ernest isn’t willing to believe that the women he used to love is capable of committing murder.

Determined to prove Erin’s innocence, Ernest begins to investigate hoping to find anything that will clear her name. His first stop is a large charity Christmas show headlined by a famed magician that the victim had been working on in the leadup to his death. Exploring backstage, Ernest soon discovers that the staff of the charity show are a mixed bag of tricksters, manipulators and performers, each of whom had history with the victim. But before he can investigate any further, another person dies publicly on stage.

With the police refusing to listen and time counting down to Christmas, Ernest once again uses his knowledge of the conventions of crime fiction to try and solve the case. However, all his suspects have motive, and all of them know how to lie and misdirect. Can Ernest work out which of these performers is concealing the truth, or will a killer get away with murder this Christmas?

This was another outstanding novel from Stevenson, who clearly has a ton of fun with his Ernest Cunningham books. A brilliant Christmas special, Everyone this Christmas has a Secret proved to be yet another captivating and hilarious book that proved extremely hard to put down.

Everyone this Christmas has a Secret proved to be a very entertaining addition to the Ernest Cunningham series. Using the conventions of a Christmas special, Everyone this Christmas has a Secret provides readers with a short standalone book that can easily be enjoyed by any reader, even those unfamiliar with the previous entries in the series. Due to the limited length of the novel, Stevenson wastes no time diving into the plot, and you are soon presented with a new unique murder mystery, with the protagonist’s ex-wife painted as the killer. After some effective introductions to the case, the protagonist travels to the charity show that seems to lie at the heart of the case and begins to learn more about the potential suspect. This was a necessarily concise introduction, although it works to set up much of the future plot, and there are a ton of subtle clues hidden throughout the first half. This first half leads to a dramatic and exciting second murder that changes the scope of the plot and forces the protagonist to up his game.

Stevenson doesn’t waste any time after this second death, moving the plot at a murderous pace (pun intended), and bombarding the reader with clues, reveals and intrigues. There are several great twists here as we get closer to the conclusion, and I loved how the protagonist worked his way through the Christmas mystery in his own unique way. Everything leads up to the big reveal, where Ernest brings all his suspects together in a single location and talks them through the solution to the murder. There are some brilliant moments here as Ernest eliminates suspects, bringing all the hidden secrets to life and slowly whittling down the field of potential killers. The big reveal about the real killer was well handled and extremely clever, as the author brings together the multitude of clues he sprinkled throughout the plot in an entertaining manner. While the identity of the murder was a tad obvious to me thanks to one clue in particular, the route the protagonist takes to get there is fun, and I loved seeing everything come together. The resulting final confrontation is a little over-dramatic and follows the pattern of the other novels in the series, but it proved to be a great ending to this shorter, Christmas-themed Ernest Cunningham book, and I loved how well this book sat as a standalone entry to the series.

As with the previous books in this series, Everyone this Christmas has a Secret is a cleverly written and highly entertaining read that seeks to blend a complex murder mystery with comedic writing that satirises classic fiction tropes, especially those around golden-age crime fiction. Perfectly set in the iconic Australian setting of the Blue Mountains and told from the first-person chronicle perspective of protagonist Ernest Cunningham, this book has a compelling, quick-fire narrative enhanced by the protagonist’s amusing observations about the situation and the people involved in the case. Stevenson expertly utilises his comedy background to keep the mood of Everyone this Christmas has a Secret light, and you will love the fantastic way he keeps the audience laughing, while also providing some very clever in-jokes for those readers familiar with classic murder mysteries and whodunnits.

Stevenson also leans into the Christmas theme of this book by including a range of themes and tropes from holiday special novels/shows, which helps to give this third book a unique and memorable edge. The author’s rules for holiday specials, which are set down at the end of the novel, are cleverly overlayed over his established rules for detective fiction, and I really appreciated how Stevenson incorporated them into the plot. As such, Everyone this Christmas has a Secret has a distinctive change in style compared to the previous novels, which I think worked extremely well. If I had one criticism, it would be that the shorter length of this novel ensured that Stevenson didn’t have as much space or time to try to implement some of his classic meta-hints (like revealing on what page a murder was going to occur, or how many times the killer’s name is mentioned in the book), and the entire book did feel a bit rushed at times. Still, this was a great read, and one that works both as a continuation of the Ernest Cunningham series, as well as a compelling, holiday standalone read.

Due to its nature as a standalone holiday special, Everyone this Christmas has a Secret doesn’t feature a massive amount of character development, and apart from the protagonist there is a noticeable lack of recurring characters physically appearing here (it’s one of the rules of a holiday special). That being said, it was fun to see protagonist and humorous point-of-view character Ernest Cunningham again, especially as he is starting to lean into his role as a detective. While his investigation style is still quite chaotic (earning him the moniker “the Slapdash Detective”), Cunningham proves to be a much more skilled sleuth, although he once again makes some foolish mistakes at the grand reveal at the end. Aside from Cunningham, the rest of the cast is fun, with an intriguing mixture of suspects, victims, and related characters. While Stevenson does a good job introducing these characters and setting up some competing motivations, I did think the speed of the plot didn’t allow the reader to really appreciate this extended cast as much, and as such the big reveal at the end loses a little punch. Still, Stevenson features a solid cast for a shorter holiday special, and I enjoyed seeing how Ernest dives through their chaotic lives to find the killer.

Benjamin Stevenson once again shows why he is one of Australia’s top crime fiction authors with another captivating and clever murder mystery book, Everyone this Christmas has a Secret. Once again featuring the author’s trademark humour and satirical take on classic whodunnit tales, Everyone this Christmas has a Secret was a great read that was both gripping and fun. I look forward to seeing how the author continues the Ernest Cunningham books in the future, although I must admit I do wonder how far Stevenson can take this concept. An overall excellent and funny murder mystery that anyone can enjoy this Christmas.

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Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

On November 29, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Comedy/Satire, Extended Universe, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Murder Mystery, Throwback Thursday14 Comments

Publisher: Gollancz/Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 1989)

Series: Discworld – Book 8 / City Watch – Book One

Length: 13 hours and 29 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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I recently revisited one of my favourite books in Terry Pratchett’s iconic Discworld series, Guards! Guards!, and I just had to review it to showcase how much fun this series can be.

I have never made any secret of the fact that I love all things Terry Pratchett as the Discworld books were one of the formative series of my youth. A massively popular series set on a flat world carried through space on the back of a giant turtle and four elephants, the Discworld books present a range of unique fantasy adventures, backed with exceptional comedy and satire. This series is so much fun, and I honestly love every single Discworld book, having read them all multiple times, usually while laughing myself silly. Indeed, I am such a big fan of this series that I named my blog after a location in the universe. Despite my overwhelming love for this series, I haven’t reviewed many Discworld books (the exception being Moving Pictures and The Last Continent). That changes with my review of the outrageously funny Guards! Guards! which I recently enjoyed while on a road trip.

Guards! Guards! is a particularly entertaining addition to the Discworld series that I have a lot of love for. Serving as the first book in the City Watch sub-series, Guards! Guards! sees Pratchett blend his typical fantasy and comedy elements with a complex murder mystery. This book follows the ragtag city watch of this world’s main recurring city, Ankh-Morpork, as they try to solve a series of deaths caused by a monstrous murder weapon. Due to its brilliant and hilarious story, as well as the fact that it perfectly sets up the rest of the awesome City Watch books, I generally consider Guards! Guards! to be one of my absolute favourite Discworld novels, and I have featured it in various Top Ten Tuesday lists over the years.

On the fantastical and impossible Discworld no place is more dangerous, corrupt or morally unhealthy as the legendary and stinking city of Ankh-Morpork. The Disc’s largest city, Ankh-Morpork has many terrors haunting its urban depths, where life is cheap and death lurks around every corner. However, not even the hardest criminals, deadliest wizards or most manipulative politicians are prepared for an ancient and malevolent creature that is about to be unleashed upon the city.

A shadowy secret brotherhood has engineered an elaborate plan to seize power in Ankh-Morpork through use of an unlikely weapon, a dragon. Summoning a fully formed fire-breathing dragon to cause terror, the brotherhood hopes to use the resulting carnage to bring in their own puppet to control the city. However, the dragon has its own ideas about what sort of terror it wants to bring down on humanity.

With the rest of the city powerless against the dragon, it falls to the ramshackle Ankh-Morpork Night Watch and its depressed captain, Sam Vimes, to try and stop it. The only problem is the Watch are the biggest joke in the city, incapable of standing up to normal crime, never mind carnage caused by magical dragon. But with an unnaturally keen new recruit guilting them into action, and a terrifying dragon fanatic with a crush on Vimes keeping them in line, the Watch is going to try and save the day, even if no-one wants them to.

Guards! Guards! still reigns supreme as one of my top Discworld novels from the always impressive Terry Pratchett. Featuring a unique plot, loaded with an outstanding mix of mystery, humour and fun fantasy elements, Guards! Guards! brilliantly sets up one of Pratchett’s best sub-series while presenting its own epic and powerful story. An exceptional read from start to finish, this book gets a very easy five-star rating from me, and I love it so damn much.

The plot of Guards! Guards! is so damn clever and is peak Pratchett in its inventiveness and impressive characters. Presenting an entertaining and humourous noir murder investigation in a fantasy series, Guards! Guards! has a lot of moving parts to it, including some impressive character-driven story arcs, all of which come together beautifully for a particularly intense and insane story. Starting off very strong with some great introductions to various key characters, including the young and keen Carrot Ironfoundersson, who journeys to the massive and corrupt city of Ankh-Morpork to join the Night Watch, providing fresh blood, irrepressible honesty and uncontrolled enthusiasm to the small squad of rejects and failures currently staffing it. Carrot’s arrival corresponds with the start of a bold conspiracy, as a secretive mystic brotherhood plots to dethrone the Patrician and take over the city. The initial scenes of this book are extremely good, and I love how Pratchett expertly sets up the entire narrative with some hilarious moments, including the opening sequence with the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, whose petty ideology shows you just what sort of criminal minds we are truly dealing with.

Things go in a chaotic direction as the Night Watch, led by the drunk and depressed Captain Vimes, witness a direct murder by dragon and begin their own investigation into the matter. Pratchett expertly pivots the story around from its comedic fantasy start into a complex police procedural/noir murder investigation, as the protagonists try to find out why the dragon is terrifying the city and who benefits from the apparent crime. At the same time, several great character arcs emerge, including a truly nice, if unconventional romance, new friendships, and a fun analysis of dragon mythology. There is a great twist about halfway through the book as the down-and-out Night Watch witness an interesting change to the classic dragon fantasy tale that sees a unique king take over the city.

The final third of the book is some of Pratchett’s strongest writing, as Vimes identifies the true culprit and must work to undo the damage they caused. There are some great moments in this last part of the book as Pratchett presents his own unique and hilarious take on classic fantasy tropes, including the famed million-to-one shot, the heroic rescue, and the successful defeat of a dragon. I felt that the identity of the main villain of the story was very clever, and Pratchett sets it up well with subtle clues, although if you know Pratchett’s thoughts on certain government positions it’s not too surprising. Still, the final confrontation between the protagonists and this villain is great, and being literal has never been so deadly. Pratchett leaves Guards! Guards! on a hopeful note, and it’s impossible not to come away with a smile on your face.

Pratchett was really on-point when it came to writing Guards! Guards! and I loved how perfectly it came together. As with all books in the Discworld series, Guards! Guards! features an exceptional mixture of fantasy and humour elements, as the unusual and cynical Discworld produces some unusual situations, layered in with a great plot and some fantastically complex characters. A lot of the humour is derived from classic fantasy scenarios that are taken up to 11 and shown in outrageous manners, accompanied by sarcastic comments from the characters as they witness them. For example, this book serves as an ode to the guards and watchmen from classic fantasy fiction, and there are some funny scenes when these self-aware guards realise how expendable they are in a fantasy story. However, Guards! Guards! also features a brilliant third element as Pratchett also features a compelling crime fiction read, accompanied with an addictive murder mystery.

The blend of fantasy and crime fiction elements works incredibly well, and it is highly entertaining to watch a serious investigation consider magic, suddenly appearing dragons, and the unique background setting of Ankh-Morpork. I also loved how many clever and subtle jokes Pratchett was able to weave in because of these crime fiction inclusions, and he ends up lovingly roasting so many classic tropes from police procedurals and noir detective novels. Despite having read this book many times, I still laugh like crazy at all the humourous moments in Guards! Guards!, especially as you always discover a new joke or pun you previously missed. I honestly don’t have time to list all the funny scenes in Guards! Guards!, but favourites include the various meetings of the petty and mostly incompetent Elucidated Brethren, Carrot’s naïve overreactions upon discovering crime in the city, and various musings on how to achieve a perfect, million-to-one chance. Pratchett once again expertly backs up his humour in Guards! Guards! with a series of entertaining footnotes spread throughout the book, that prove to be nearly as much fun as the main story. These brilliant footnotes contain additional jokes, sarcastic comments, or interesting expansions of the Discworld universe, and they always bounce off the main story perfectly, providing extra laughs and food for thought where necessary. I really cannot emphasise just how well this blend of genres worked with Pratchett’s unique and endearing humour, and it proves impossible not to have an exceptional time while reading this book.

As with most Discworld books, Guards! Guards! works exceedingly well as a standalone novel, and I feel that anyone wanting a laugh could easily jump in and follow the story without any issues. Due to its early position in the shared Discworld universe, you don’t have to know anything about the other entries in the overarching series to jump right in, as Pratchett goes a tad light on some of the more outrageous Discworld elements. As such, I consider Guards! Guards! to be one of the very best entry novels to new Discworld readers. It also proves to be a brilliant first book in one of Pratchett’s best sub-series, and so many key details of the subsequent City Watch books are introduced here. This includes some excellent early looks at the chaotic city of Ankh-Morpork and key recurring characters in the larger universal plot. Ankh-Morpork is a great background setting for Guards! Guards! and it was the first book completely set within the bounds of the city. I loved seeing this crazy city in even more detail, and all the fun elements set up here help to make it an epic setting. As such, this is a great book for any Discworld reader, new or old, and it’s one of my favourites for very good reason.

As with pretty much all of Pratchett’s works, the key things that made Guards! Guards! so impressive were the amazing and unique characters that were featured throughout the plot. Pratchett had a real knack for producing complex, multi-layered figures who can be both comedic and tragic at the same time, and who you couldn’t help but love. Guards! Guards! was a particularly good example of this, as Pratchett featured a range of brilliant and entertaining characters who would go on to be become major recurring figures in the Discworld canon. Indeed, Guards! Guards! is one of the most significant books for new characters, and it is frankly amazing how many exceptional major and iconic figures were introduced here. Each of these characters were so well written, and you have to love both their specific arcs in this book, as well as how they were expanded on in later works.

The most prominent character in Guards! Guards! is Captain Samuel Vimes. A cynical and damaged man whose habit of calling out social inequities has seen him assigned to the joke position as head of the Night Watch, which he deals with by drinking vast amounts of alcohol. A parody of every hard-drinking cop and private eye in classic noir fiction, Vimes starts the book with no prospects and too many dead friends. Given new purpose when the dragon appears in the city, Vimes turns his innate rebellion to a purpose and tries policing and detecting. Pratchett does an exceptional job setting up Vimes here in Guards! Guards!, and it is no wonder he goes on to be one of his top protagonists. Vimes’s depressed investigative method proves quite successful, and it was entertaining to watch Vimes attempt to solve the case while sarcastically calling out his fellow citizens’ base stupidity and selfishness. Pratchett also sets up an impressive redemption arc around Vimes, which comes about through a combination of trusted colleagues, romance, and a renewed determination to uphold the law. While he ends the book still irritated with the world, the road forward to Vimes doing bigger and better things is well established, and you really get drawn into his arc as a result.

Another impressive character is naïve and innocent City Watch recruit, Carrot Ironfoundersson. Due to his complex home situation and a late life revelation that he’s human rather than a dwarf (being six and a half feet tall wasn’t a clue to him), Carrot is sent to Anhk-Morpork with a desire to become a watchman, which he incorrectly believes is a noble calling. Thanks to his literal personality and highly moral upbringing, Carrot proves to be an anathema to the lawless folks of Anhk-Morpork, as he comes to town bringing justice, enforcing obscure laws, and actually arresting thieves: “change your ways”. A brilliant parody of ultra-righteous fantasy kings, Carrot serves as an outstanding comic relief for much of the book, especially when it comes to his wholesome interactions with the exceedingly criminal inhabitants of the city. However, beneath his comedic cover, Carrot is written as a complex figure of change, and his ability to inspire the other characters, either through guilt or determination, leads to some big moments. Pratchett did an amazing job with Carrot in Guards! Guards!, and it was fascinating to see how he evolves from his initial innocent personality, to a more clever, but still determined, character.

Aside from Vimes and Carrot, the other two watch characters are Sergeant Fred Colon and Corporal Nobby Nobbs, both of whom are excellent and solid comedic characters. The stereotypical fat sergeant and dodgy corporal, Pratchett has fun setting them up as unassailable fixtures of the Night Watch as they do the jobs nature intended for them, and I love how they play off each other. While Colon has some hilarious scenes, including his attempt at archery and his various ill-timed run-ins with the dragon, you can tell that Pratchett had a lot more fun writing Nobby. While not all his over-the-top characteristics from the series are shown in Guards! Guards!, Nobby is still a particularly entertaining figure. Between his coarse language, petty criminal mindset, and uncharacteristic foppish behaviours, every scene with Nobby is highly amusing, and I love how Pratchett expanded off clever stereotypes about lifetime corporals to create this wayward figure.

Outside the members of the City Watch, there are a fantastic array of figures who help to make Guards! Guards! a particularly enthralling story. This includes one of the few female characters in the book, Sybil Rankin, a dragon-loving heiress who ends up being Vimes’s unlikely love interest. Deliberately written as the direct opposite of a noir femme-fatale in both personality and appearance, Sybil is a force of nature, using her accumulated nobility to pull the Night Watch, especially Vimes, into her orbit. It proves impossible not to like Sybil as you watch her confidently go after Vimes or try to put the dragon to heel, and she ends up being one of the most complicated female characters that Pratchett wrote (which is saying a lot when you think of some of his other great female characters).

The other major character that I want to separately highlight is the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, Lord Havelock Vetinari. While he has appeared in previous Discworld novels (notably Sourcery), this is the first book that showcases him as a full character. Generally depicted as a Machiavellian mastermind and one of the few people capable of controlling the chaotic city, Vetinari has some great early scenes. However, it’s not until the second half of the book when you realise just how fantastic a character he is. Deposed by the false king, Vetinari initially appears to be completely powerless in the dungeons, until Vimes is thrown in with him and begins to realise that he is still in control, especially as he’s managed to cultivate a new intelligence network (procured by providing wartime strategy to magical rats), while also getting locked in a dungeon specifically designed to keep him safe. His subsequent scenes tormenting the book’s real antagonist and talking about the nature of humanity with Vimes really cement him as an impressive figure, and the seeds for his many later inclusions as the Disc’s ultimate political mastermind are well sown here.

While I know I’ve been going on a bit about characters (blame Pratchett for being such a good writer), I just need to highlight a few more figures who have a great role in Guards! Guards!. This includes the Librarian, one of Pratchett’s most iconic characters, who proves to be just as much fun outside of a wizard focused book, and it was entertaining seeing him interact with a separate group of friends. You get a great introduction to the character of Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler, whose mercantile tendencies are on full display here. The unusual swamp dragon Errol proves to be an unlikely pet, and his arc about finding love and his true form was particularly heartwarming. Finally, I must mention the book’s great antagonist, who fully embraces the mad tendencies that his position demands. While I won’t go into too much detail about who he is, I will say I loved seeing his various internal rants about the world, and the scenes with his incompetent henchmen were so damn funny. All these characters, plus even more hilarious figures, are instrumental to so much of Guards! Guards! brilliant charm and humour, and after being introduced to them here, it’s impossible not to follow them on their full journey.

I have had the pleasure of reading Guards! Guards! in a couple of different formats over the years, but to my mind the best way to enjoy this book, and indeed any Discworld novel, is on audiobook. The Discworld audiobooks are something very special, and I find that the unique stories, excellent humour and elaborate characters really come across when read out by a passionate narrator. With the recent re-release of various Discworld audiobooks, there are now two different unabridged versions of Guards! Guards! fans can enjoy, and I want to highlight them both here.

The first Guards! Guards! audiobook is the original version with the talented Nigel Planer, who narrated 22 of the original 23 Discworld audiobooks. Guards! Guards! is one of his best performances, and it set the scene nicely for many of his subsequent Discworld audiobooks, especially as he settled on a lot of key character voices and tones here. While it has been a little while since I’ve listened to Planer’s version of Guards! Guards!, I have enjoyed it so many times it is permanently engrained in my head (I used to grab the tape cassette version out of my local library all the time). Planer, who does all the voices himself, really captures the essence of Pratchett’s storytelling and excels at expressing the author’s unique humour through his vocal work. I also felt that his portrayal of many of the key characters was second to none, and he really brought to life all the City Watch protagonists, as well as some other long-running figures, in some impressive ways. He would revisit many of these voices in multiple subsequent performances, and it is a testament to his skill that the initial tones he came up with here, worked so well in the later books. I frankly have so much love for Planer’s original take on Guards! Guards!, which definitely still stands the test of time, and his excellent and heartfelt voice work defines many of the City Watch characters for me.

While Nigel Planers original version is perfect, current Discworld fans may be more familiar with the latest audiobook production of Guards! Guards!, which was part of a recent re-recording of all the Discworld books. These new audiobooks each feature a different famous British performer voicing the main plot, while acclaimed actors Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy have key roles in every single production. While these have been out for a little while, I only just listened to my first one . Coming in at a runtime of 13 and a half hours, which is a tad longer than the roughly 10-hour long Planer version, this Guards! Guards! audiobook was extremely fun, and it served as excellent entertainment on a recent road trip.

The new version of the Guards! Guards! audiobook is primarily voiced by British radio and television personality Jon Culshaw. Culshaw is amazing in the role, and I was deeply impressed with his take on the Guards! Guards! characters. Each unique character comes across extremely well in Culshaw’s capable hands, and I enjoyed his take on their unique characteristics and eccentric personalities. He perfectly showcased protagonist Samuel Vimes’s drunken despair and depression, while various other key members of the watch, such as the extremely keen Carrot and the more cautious Colon, are shown extremely well. I also felt that Culshaw did an incredible job with several complicated figures from the story, such as the infamous watchman Nobby Nobbs, who Culshaw gifts a gruff and weaselly voice that sounded a lot like David Bradley or Jon Pertwee. His Lord Vetinari is also amazing, and the deep and threatening tones really capture the character’s dangerous nature. Finally, I felt that his take on the main female character, Sybil Ramkin, was just perfect, and you really got the full blast of her big personality and excessive aristocratic characteristics. Many of the other side characters were also perfectly portrayed to my mind, and I must highlight the excellent way in which he disguised the voice of the main antagonist during some key secret society scenes.

Culshaw’s primary narration is well backed up by Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy in their respective roles. Serafinowicz provides the voice of Death whenever he appears in this audiobook, which works out extremely well even with Death’s relatively minor role in Guards! Guards!. Serafinowicz has an exceptional Death voice, and hearing it suddenly appear throughout Guards! Guards! is so damn epic, especially during one scene where Death is hiding amongst the soon-to-be deceased. Nighy, on the other hand, narrates the various footnotes. Nighy was a perfect choice for this, and his calm, consistent tones, echoing Peter Jones’s similar role in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio and TV editions really highlighted the subtle comedy of these footnotes. I felt that all three of these distinctive actors really vibed together in the Guards! Guards! audiobooks, and the switch between them was seamless, allowing for a particularly awesome listen. Throw in an interesting short afterword about fantasy elements by acclaimed author Ben Aaronovitch, and this proved to be a remarkable and compelling audiobook I could not get enough of. While Nigel Planer’s original narration of Guards! Guards! is always going to live in my head rent free, I felt that this new version more than lived up to the hype surrounding it, and I really appreciated the unique and powerful performances these new narrators brought to the table. Frankly both of the audiobook versions comes highly recommended by me, and it is impossible to be dissatisfied by them at all.

Whew, well in case you could guess from this massive review (it got away from me), I love Guards! Guards! and I have some very strong feelings for it. One of Terry Pratchett’s best Discworld novels, Guards! Guards! is the perfect blend of fantasy, crime fiction and humour that you could ever want, and I always get wrapped up in its elaborate story. A wildly entertaining and comedic novel from start to finish, Pratchett added so much heart to this book, and you get drawn into the impressive characters and compelling, crime fiction plot. A brilliant start to the City Watch subseries, Guards! Guards! is so damn good, and I know I will be reading it many more times in my life. I can think of no better way to emphasise just how amazing Guards! Guards! is than to mention that I used it to introduce the Discworld to my wife, who is now powering through the series on her own. So do yourself a favour and check this book out now!

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Waiting on Wednesday – Never Flinch by Stephen King

On November 28, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday8 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. For this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I highlight a book that is probably going to be one of the best things I read in 2025 with Never Flinch by Stephen King.

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Stephen King is an author who honestly needs no introduction, considering how much he has shaped our cultural landscape over the last 50 years (Carrie literally came out in 1974 people). Despite his impact on the world of fiction, I’ve only started getting into King quite recently, although I have been making up for lost time by getting through some of his intriguing new releases. This includes exceptional books like Later, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers (one of my favourite books of 2021) and the short story collection You Like It Darker (one of my favourite books from the first half of 2024), all of which have greatly impressed me and I’m barely scratching the surface of King’s many, many books.

Out of all the novels I have so far enjoyed from King, my favourites have been some of the author’s distinctive crime fiction novels, as King examines elaborate dark thrillers and murder mysteries primarily through the eyes of a truly unique protagonist. This protagonist is the quirky and brilliant investigator Holly Gibney, who has emerged as one of King’s more distinctive and loveable long-term characters. Holly made her debut in the awesome novel, Mr. Mercedes, where she served as a compelling supporting character to protagonist Bill Hodges. King expanded the roll of Holly throughout the Bill Hodges series, before eventually spinning her off on her own adventures. This included the gripping book, The Outsider, which I had the great pleasure of reading earlier this year. The Outsider was a particularly impressive and dark novel that saw a man with an unimpeachable alibi framed for a terrible murder. I deeply enjoyed the initial concept of The Outsider and King expanded it out into a powerful horror read that brought Holly in for its gripping second half.

I cannot emphasise how much I enjoyed The Outsider, and it turns out that King was only just starting with Holly Gibney. That’s because last year King published an exceptional read simply titled Holly, that set the titular character on her first solo adventure. Holly was a gripping and complex novel that saw the protagonist investigate a series of disappearances around town, only to discover a horrifying and disturbing secret in the most unlikely of places. Holly was such an incredible book, and I still have chills from some of the big reveals that came out of it. Due to its addictive plot, brilliant characters, and incredibly dark moments, Holly got an easy five start rating from me, and it ended up being one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023, as well as being one of my favourite horror novels of all time.

Due to how much fun I have been having with King’s books I am always eager to see what he’s releasing next, and that is why I was so happy to find out some details about his next book, Never Flinch. A fascinating and awesome novel coming out in late May 2025, Never Flinch sounds extremely cool as King spins together another elaborate mystery. I was also particularly excited to see that Never Flinch was another Holly Gibney novel, which frankly is all I needed to become completely obsessed with this awesome upcoming book.

Plot Synopsis:

From master storyteller Stephen King comes an extraordinary new novel with intertwining storylines—one about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission, and another about a vigilante targeting a feminist celebrity speaker—featuring the beloved Holly Gibney and a dynamic new cast of characters.

When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,” Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help.

Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women’s rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour, drawing packed venues of both fans and detractors. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate’s message of female empowerment is targeting her and disrupting her events. At first, no one is hurt, but the stalker is growing bolder, and Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard—a challenging task with a headstrong employer and a determined adversary driven by wrath and his belief in his own righteousness.

Featuring a riveting cast of characters both old and new, including world-famous gospel singer Sista Bessie and an unforgettable villain addicted to murder, these twinned narratives converge in a chilling and spectacular conclusion—a feat of storytelling only Stephen King could pull off.

Thrilling, wildly fun, and outrageously engrossing, Never Flinch is one of King’s richest and most propulsive novels.

Wow, I am so damn excited for this upcoming novel. It looks like King has come up with another epic and enticing story concept for Never Flinch with two separate gripping cases that his protagonist becomes involved with. The first case of the fourteen citizens about to be murdered is very interesting, and I am curious to see how that unfolds what twisted motivations lay behind it. At the same time, the threat to the women’s rights activist should add some intense social commentary to Never Flinch, and a determined and ‘righteous’ stalker should make for a fascinating opponent. While both cases sound extremely awesome on their own, I am very curious to see how King brings them all together and in what way the two distinctive crimes converge. I feel that if King manages to combine the storylines in a particularly ingenious way, which is something King is perfectly capable of doing, then Never Flinch is going to be extremely impressive. As such, I look forward to seeing how this new story unfolds, and I have no doubt that King is going to turn this upcoming novel into something very special.

In addition to these two complex cases, a key part of Never Flinch that I am keen on are the compelling and damaged characters that will no doubt fill the pages. King has always excelled at creating captivating figures with unique life stories, and I have enjoyed seeing these characters used to their full potential in some of his previous novels. I am especially keen to see more of Holly Gibney, who has really stood out as a protagonist to me in recent years. An unusual and socially awkward figure who also proves to be a skilled investigator and a surprisingly effective monster killer, Holly has been expertly used as both a supporting character and the main protagonist, and I have appreciated seeing her continued growth as she grows more confident in herself. It will be very interesting to see what happens to her in Never Flinch, especially after the chaotic events of Holly and the various secrets about her mother that came to light.

In addition to Holly, I am keen to see how some of the recurring characters from the previous Holly Gibney books will be utilised. This includes siblings Jerome and Barbara Robinson, Holly’s younger friends and assistants who have been such a key part of the previous novels. Both Jerome and Barbara have had compelling ongoing storylines throughout their previous inclusions, and it will be interesting to see how their lives have continued to change. In addition, I will be very keen to see what sort of antagonists that King will feature in Never Flinch. So many Stephen King books rise on the backs of their brilliant antagonists, and I know that I deeply enjoyed the outstanding and often disturbing villains of Mr. Mercedes, The Outsider and Holly. As such, King has some big villainous shoes to fill with Never Flinch, and I cannot wait to see what complex and memorable antagonists appear in this next cool book.

Honestly, there is no way in hell I am missing out on Never Flinch next year and it is already firmly at the top of my to-read list for 2025. Indeed, thanks to how I loved The Outsider and Holly, and the fact that it’s Stephen King writing this book, Never Flinch is one of my most anticipated book for next year at this point, and I think the only book I am currently as excited for in 2025 is The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. I honestly believe that Never Flinch will be one of, if not the absolute best, novels I will read next year, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Waiting on Wednesday – A Death in Berlin by Simon Scarrow

On November 20, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Murder Mystery, Waiting on Wednesday5 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. In this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I check out an epic upcoming historical murder mystery with A Death in Berlin by Simon Scarrow.

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Readers of this blog will know that I am a massive fan of historical fiction author Simon Scarrow, whose various books set across multiple historical periods has produced some gripping and fantastic reads. I am primarily a fan of his Eagles of the Empire series, the latest book of which, Revenge of Rome, I am planning to read next. However, I am looking ahead with this post to the next Scarrow book coming out with A Death in Berlin, the third book in the author’s Berlin Wartime thriller series.

The Berlin Wartime books are an addictive and captivating series that focus on dark murder investigations in Berlin during World War II. Following CI Horst Schenke, a Kripo investigator and one of the few good cops left in the city, the series sees the protagonist investigate sinister murders that occur against the backdrop of the war and the Nazi regime. Inevitably, Schenke runs up against powerful Nazis and members of the SS as the major crimes he investigates skirt the dark secrets of the Nazi government. The first two books in this series, Blackout and Dead of Night were impressive reads that expertly combined compelling narratives with the ominous historical setting and produced some amazing books. As such, I make sure to keep a close out for any additional books in the series, and it looks like we are going to be blessed with a new entry in the series in 2025 with A Death in Berlin.

A Death in Berlin, which is currently set for release in March 2025, will once again force Schenke to take up a risk-laden investigation likely to put him at odds with his Nazi masters. This new book will see Schenke go up against corrupt and protected gangster running crime in Berlin, while war rages all around.

Plot Synopsis:

BERLIN. MAY 1940. AS HITLER PREPARES TO INVADE WESTERN EUROPE, THERE IS BLOODSHED CLOSER TO HOME

CI Horst Schenke is an investigator with the Kripo unit. Powerless against the consequences of the war, he fights to keep criminals off his patch. But with doubts growing about his loyalty to the Nazi regime, he is walking a tightrope. If his relationship with a Jewish woman is exposed, a dreadful fate awaits.

Berlin’s gangsters run their crime rings with impunity. Decadent senior Nazis protect them. Schenke is different. He won’t turn a blind eye when innocents are caught in the crossfire between warring gangs. But dangerous enemies know everything about him. They will do whatever it takes to bend him to their will . . .

From the seedy wartime nightlife scene to aristocratic homes frequented by the Führer, as the distant war spirals ever closer, A Death in Berlin conveys the horror and banality of evil – and the terrible danger for those who dare stand against it.

A Death in Berlin sounds like another amazing novel from Scarrow, and I am very excited to dive into this new murder mystery. The first two books in this series have been outstanding, and I look forward to seeing some of the ongoing storylines continue as the moral protagonist attempts to deal with the evils of the regime that hold power in his country. I am also intrigued to get a closer look at the German crime rings in action during the war, and this will likely lead to another clever and complex murder investigation. I have no doubt Scarrow will tie the crime fiction elements of this book around some interesting historical elements, and I cannot wait to see how this elaborate and exciting story will unfold.

Based on how much I have enjoyed the first two novels in this series, there is no way that I won’t be grabbing A Death in Berlin next year. Simon Scarrow is such a good author, and I have really enjoyed his impressive Berlin Wartime novels, especially as it allows him to explore wartime Berlin through the eyes of a conflicted protagonist. I am very curious to see how this new story will unfold, and I have no doubt I am going to find it fascinating and compelling. A Death in Berlin is currently one of my most anticipated historical fiction novels for next year, and I will dive into it the first chance I get.

Quick Review – The Death of Dora Black by Lainie Anderson

On September 29, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Historical Fiction, Murder Mystery, Quick Review5 Comments

Publisher: Hachette Australia (Trade Paperback – 28 August 2024)

Series: Petticoat Police Mystery – Book One

Length: 312 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Australian author Lainie Anderson presents a fun and compelling historical murder mystery that looks at a unique Australian historical figure with The Death of Dora Black.

Plot Synopsis:

Summer, Adelaide, 1917. The impeccably dressed Miss Kate Cocks might look more like a schoolmistress than a policewoman, but don’t let that fool you. She’s a household name, wrangling wayward husbands into repentance, seeing through deceptive clairvoyants, and rescuing young women (whether they like it or not) with the help of a five-foot cane and her sassy junior constable, Ethel Bromley.

When shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on a city beach, Miss Cocks and Ethel are ordered to stay out of the investigation and leave it to the men. But when Dora’s workmate goes missing soon after, the women suspect something sinister, and determine to take matters into their own hands. After all, who knows Adelaide better than the indomitable Miss Cocks?

*In 1915, Fanny Kate Boadicea Cocks became the first policewoman in the British Empire employed on the same salary as men. This novel is a rich exploration of that little-known chapter of Australian history.*

The Death of Dora Black was a particularly interesting and entertaining read from Lainie Anderson, who has struck upon a fascinating figure to set her book around. The first book in Anderson’s new Petticoat Policy Mystery series, The Death of Dora Black was a clever novel that blended the real-life history of the infamous Miss Kate Cocks with the author’s own crime fiction narrative.

Starting out in Adelaide, 1917, the book’s story sees formidable real-life police officer Miss Kate Cocks become embroiled in a deadly murder mystery when shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on the city’s beach. What follows is an excellent story that blends the historical exploits of Cocks, which included helping the needy of Adelaide in her own unique way and attempting to save the morality of the young women of the city with her cane, with a gritty informal murder investigation. This later investigation of course adds most of the meat to the story, as Cocks, and her junior constable Ethel Bromley, uncover a dark conspiracy of murder, drugs and kidnapping, with its roots deep in the heart of the city.

Anderson brings these disparate elements together into a fantastic overall read, and it was fascinating to see the more cozy and historical elements you would associate with Kate Cocks and her real-life actions blend with a darker murder plot. I felt that Anderson’s main murder mystery was very well set out, and the resulting investigation by two underestimated women got quite thrilling and exciting. There are some dark moments and intriguing twists featured throughout this plot, and Anderson produces a particularly powerful crime fiction narrative. The entire murder mystery and the investigative arc came together extremely well, and I really enjoyed seeing Anderson’s unique protagonists trying to solve the case in their own unique way. The background setting of Adelaide during World War I also added quite a lot to the narrative, and the author provided a complex and detailed recreation of the historical setting.

The real highlight of The Death of Dora Black was the intriguing main protagonists, Miss Kate Cocks and her junior constable Ethel Bromley. The two protagonists play off each other extremely well throughout the course of the novel, and the blend of personalities, with the strict but caring Kate and the sassy and exceedingly keen Ethel, proved to be a winning combination. Readers will particularly enjoy Anderson’s portrayal of Miss Kate Cocks in this book, especially as the author tried to capture all this unique figures’ quirks and historical reputation. Anderson, who is a major expert on Kate Cocks, paints her as a particularly complex and conflicted figure driven by her religious principals but also willing to do the moral choice and help anyone in need. It was fascinating to see Miss Cocks wander around historical Adeliade, distributing her moral judgement with her cane, while also solving problems no-one else can. Anderson succeeded in capturing various aspects of her occasionally controversial history, and I really appreciated the way in which she converted her into a fearsome crime-fighting force, capable of hunting down murderers and drug smugglers. The utilisation of this very distinctive figure helped to turn The Death of Dora Black into something very special, and I look forward to more exploits with Miss Kate Cocks in the future.

Overall, I felt that The Death of Dora Black was an amazing and highly entertaining novel from Lainie Anderson, who successfully brings her real-life historical protagonist to life and sets a wonderfully enjoyable crime fiction book around her. Clever, fascinating, and with a lot of crossover appeal to many different readers, The Death of Dora Black was a great book, and I had a ton of fun getting through it.

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