Fall Girl

by Toni Jordan

The Text Publishing Company. Australian, Crime. Paperback RRP $32.95


Reviewer – Barbara Brown

Here is a wonderful book that challenges classification. It has a bit of crime, a hint of mystery, a touch of romance and a smidgen of passion – and it is a very clever story.

Dr Ella Canfield is not yet in her 30’s and seeking funding for a very unorthodox research project – in search of the last Tasmanian Tiger, but not in Tasmania, around Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria.

Daniel Metcalf is the young, attractive, distracted wealthy benefactor who Ella is seeking funding from.

But both are not what they seem. One of them is posing as someone else – or is it both? One is wealthy – or is it both? One is a professional scammer – or is it both?

A brilliant story with some fantastic twists. Once you read Fall Girl you won’t believe anyone ever again!

http://www.tonijordan.com/

Death Mask

by Kathryn Fox

Pan Macmillan. Australian, Crime, Thriller. Paperback RRP $32.99


Guest Reviewer – Ian Brown

This is a powerful book about the culture of American football heroes although it could be set anywhere and based on any sport.

Death Mask starts with a young bride about to marry Brett, her boyfriend and a major football star. Hannah, a virgin, has saved herself for her wedding night but ends up contracting multiple sexually transmitted diseases.

When a woman is raped by five major football players no one believes her despite all the evidence. It causes a major scandal and the media and fans blame her.

Dr Anya Crichton, a forensic and sexual assault expert, is asked to get involved by the team managers. As she investigates further she uncovers a history of violence and abuse that she could not have imagined.

With the help of private investigator Ethan, they attempt to find the truth.

Death Mask is a fast paced thriller that is hard to put down. You never know what is about to happen. Highly recommended.

http://www.kathrynfox.com/

Follow the Money

by Peter Corris

Allen and Unwin. Australian, Crime, Mystery. Paperback RRP $29.99

Guest Reviewer – Ian Brown

Peter Corris has been writing about P.I. Cliff Hardy for a long time although this is the first Cliff Hardy novel I have read. Follow the Money, is set in Sydney. Cliff has lost his P.I. license and all his money thanks to his unscrupulous financial advisor. The advisor has disappeared, presumed dead, but there have been reports of him sighted.

Cliff has been asked by a lawyer to find the advisor and Cliff’s money. He manages to get bashed, shot at as he chases the money.

As a first time Hardy read this was a great place to start. Corris has created a truly likeable character. The plot has plenty of twists, lots of action, and set in the seed underbelly of Sydney.

The Reading Stack is a big fan of Peter Corris and has done several reviews of his works. In 2007 The Big Score, in 2008 Blood Brothers and Open File.

http://www.petercorris.net/

White Heat

 by Melanie McGrath

Pan Macmillan. Mystery, Crime. Paperback RRP $32.95

Guest Reviewer - Anastasia Gonis

The setting for this fast-paced murder/mystery is the Arctic Circle where nature and the breathtaking frozen landscapes are the pivotal characters. Fearless Edie is a hunter, guide and teacher; a divorced woman doing a man’s job. For this she is ridiculed and marginalized but none-the-less more capable than most of the men of her area whose lives are ruled by manipulative and corrupt elders, alcoholism and boredom. Having grown up in the Inuit settlement, she is as familiar with every rock and rivulet of the tundra as with her life’s breath.

 

When her beloved stepson Joe dies and his death is ruled as suicide as a way to escape his gambling debts, Edie goes to pieces and back to the bottle she’d kicked two years previously. She absolutely rejects the possibility of suicide by a person who for years had dreamed and saved to make a life in nursing.

When the bones of two missing visitors are discovered and the deaths are again adeptly brushed aside, Edie takes matters into her own hands. She slowly links Joe’s death with the bones unable to stay hidden beneath their shroud of snow. For Edie knows bones. She is a hunter ‘as familiar with the icy ground as with her own skin’. It is this familiarity that results in her discovering the evidence she has been seeking, and claiming the truth denied to her.

The imagery is superb throughout the book. The reader can feel the chill of the wind and hear the sound of the water rushing by within the boundaries of the shrinking Arctic. The dips and rises of every turn are visible as is the sense of isolation in the inaccessible area. The Arctic is projected perfectly through the tense, tight, and precise prose woven by a knowledgeable sense of place, space and time.

http://www.melaniemcgrath.com/

Out for Blood

by Alyxandra Harvey

Bloomsbury. Fantasy, Romance, Crime, Young Adult. Paperback RRP $14.99

Reviewer - Barbara Brown


Hunter Wild is a teenage girl that attends a special school, the Helios-Ra Academy. This academy trains students on how to hunt and kill vampires. Hunter Wild is their star pupil and her grandfather, a famous vampire hunter, has high hopes for her. That is until she meets one of the famous Drake brothers, Quinn, and falls in love with him. The problem with Quinn is he is a vampire.

But the world is changing and vampires and humans are trying to help each other rid the world of the Hel-Blar, a factional vampire community who are hell bent in overcoming the Drakes and the vampires who side with them. They also like to kill for sport and fun – vampires included. Vampires are ruled by a matriarch who just happens to be Quinn’s mother and his sister, Solange, is next in line. The Drakes are trying to co-exist with humans but the Hel-Blar are trying hard to ensure that doesn’t happen.

Hunter is realising that the Drakes are good and without them the world will be even more dangerous. But when students start getting sick within the Helios-Ra Academy, there seems to be a darker force at work that is more evil than Hel-Blar. Can Hunter save her friends and herself?

Out for Blood is the third book in the Drake Chronicles but Harvey has written each book about a specific Drake. All three books can be read individually but the stories do intertwine together and give you some insider knowledge of the Drake family and their friends and enemies. As always there is a twist that you really don’t see coming at the end. Book four is due out later this year and I look forward to more of the Drake family.

The Reading Stack reviewed the first two Alyxandra Harvey’s books on the Drake family, My Love Lies Bleeding in February 2010 and Blood Feud in August 2010.

http://www.alyxandraharvey.com/
http://www.thedrakechronicles.com/

The House at Sea’s End

A Ruth Galloway Investigation

by Elly Griffiths

Macmillan Publishers. Crime. Paperback RRP $ 32.99

Guest Reviewer - Anastasia Gonis

In this enthralling crime thriller full of secrets, revenge, and romance, forensic archaeologist and single mother Ruth Galloway is battling the pleasures and pain of motherhood when she is called back to work. Ruth is an intelligent and questioning examiner whose opinion is greatly valued by Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, two leaders that share a mutual respect. But mutual respect is not all that ties Ruth and Harry together. They share a secret that can destroy both their professional and personal lives if set free.

Ruth joins the team to help solve a complex mystery surrounding six bodies found at the bottom of the cliff at Sea’s End, the home of the Hastings family, by a team of archaeologists examining coastal erosion.

Two elderly men connected somehow to the six dead, die within a week or so of one another. The initial finding of death by natural causes evolves into another murder investigation. This casts a shadow on the lives of the Hastings and light on secrets they’ve protected for years.

The investigation takes on a dramatic twist when a German journalist appears in response to a letter he’d received from one of the two elderly men. He too, is hiding secrets. But when he joins the recently dead, things heat up and Ruth and Harry must pass all the evidence through a fine sieve before they discover the startling truth.

This book has a strong narrative voice and its outstanding cast of characters which enter and exit the scenes, each bring with them new knotted mysteries to unravel, and additional secrets within stories and sub stories that are crocheted together into a lacework of suspense, intrigue, murder.

Ghost Watch

The new Vin Cooper thriller

by David Rollins

Pan Macmillan Australia. Australian, Crime, Thriller, Mystery. Paperback RRP $25.00

Guest Reviewer – Ian Brown

Australia’s David Rollins has created a great series of adventure books involving special agent Vin Cooper. This is the fourth book and having only read Ghost Watch, I can’t wait to read the three previous books.

This is a gripping read from cover to cover. If you are a fan of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan or Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne, then these books are for you.

In Ghost Watch, Vin Cooper, special agent for the United States, is on assignment in Kabul to protect an Afghan politician. When that goes wrong and the politician is killed, Vin is assigned to a cushy job in Africa looking after entertainers performing to American troops. Things go wrong again, and Vin and the entertainers end up in the middle of the African Congo fighting for survival.

From then on it’s a battle to survive involving corruption, various tribes fighting each other, slavery and gold mines.

David Rollins has written a story that puts you into the heart of Africa. Go there!

http://www.davidrollins.net/

Moment of Truth

The Fifth Volume of The Laws of Magic

by Michael Pryor

Random House. Crime, Fantasy, Young Adult, Australian. Paperback rrp $17.95

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

Aubrey Fitzwilliam is a young man on a mission. He is finally ready to declare his feelings to for Caroline, the friend he has secretly loved for many years. But then Holmland declares war. Aubrey and his best friend, George, decide to join the army together. However, when they enlist they are taken to different sections and are not reunited for several weeks and hours of intense training later.

Aubrey regrets not informing Caroline of his decision to enlist. Will this be the last straw for the two? When Aubrey and George are given a third partner in their espionage team, Aubrey is both shocked and happy to discover Caroline had some secrets of her own and the three set out to infiltrate the enemy ranks.

What they discover is something so sinister and evil, so horrific, it must be the work of Dr Tremaine. Dr Tremaine has grown in power and learnt many new spells. Spells that will unleash an invincible army upon Albion and the surrounding countries. Aubrey, George and Caroline have thwarted Dr Tremaine’s plans in the past but this time, with an increasingly stronger magical link between Aubrey and Dr Tremaine, could it be the end of the trio.

Moment of Truth is the eagerly awaited fifth instalment of The Laws of Magic series. Fans won’t be disappointed as Pryor’s storytelling continues to deliver. Yes there is magic between the covers of this book.

Also included is a sneak preview of the sixth book, Hour of Need although you will have to wait until early 2011 to find out what happens to Fitzwilliam, Caroline and Dr Tremaine.

Book three of The Laws of Magic, Word of Honour was reviewed by the Reading Stack in Issue 14. Book four, Time of Trial was reviewed in October 2009. We are big fans here at the Stack.

http://www.michaelpryor.com.au/

Darkwater

by Georgia Blain

Random House. Young Adult, Australian, Crime. Paperback rrp $18.95

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

It is 1973 and a quiet Sydney suburb is rocked with the news that a young high school girl has been found dead. Presumed drowned. Did she kill herself? Was she pushed? Is this the work of a killer or was it just accidental? The questions and presumptions fly around Amanda Clarke’s school.

Amanda Clarke was the most popular girl in school. Her parents lived in one of the best houses in the suburb. She was School Captain and beautiful. Why would she kill herself? Was she pregnant? Was there a jealous spat? Darkwater tells the tale of what happens to a non-assuming suburb when something unexpected occurs.

Fifteen-year-old Winter’s brother was a good friend of Amanda and Winter tries to piece together what happened to a girl that should never have died so young. When Amanda’s friends start to turn on each other, accusing each other and looking sideways at the reality of what has happened, Winter digs deeper to uncover the dark truth.

A thought provoking book about how we view others and how circumstances make us judge and change. Darkwater is destined to become a favourite with young adults.

Blood Feud

by Alyxandra Harvey

Allen and Unwin. Fantasy, Romance, Crime, Young Adult. Paperback rrp $14.99

Isabeau St Croix was born to aristocracy in France at the wrong time. At the age of sixteen, she watches both parents beheaded and is forced to hide her true identity. After a year living on the streets of Paris she finds her way to safety, the home of her uncle in London.

Now eighteen, Isabeau has her whole life ahead of her until she meets Lord Greyhaven. One bite and she is left to be buried for 200 years until the Hounds release her from her comatose existence in a London cemetery.

Isabeau is a Hound too, not quite as mad as the Hel-Blar (uncontrollable and crazy vampires). Vampires believe the Hounds are not civilised and live like dogs. But when Isabeau and Logan Drake (son of the reigning Queen of the Vampires) meet, their lives are destined to be intertwined. Isabeau has already saved Solange, Logan’s only sister, from Montmartre, a rogue vampire who wants to kill the Queen and join with Solange to become ruler of the Vampires.

Can these two factions of vampires, unite and beat Montmarte and his army of Hel-Blar? Will Isabeau confront her killer Greyhaven?

The French Revolution and modern day vampire feuds. For fans of the Drake Chronicles you will not be disappointed in this sequel to My Love Lies Bleeding. This is one book that I couldn’t put down until the end.

The Reading Stack reviewed the first book in the Drake Chronicles, My Love Lies Bleeding in February 2010. Out for Blood is the third and final book and will be available November 2010.

http://www.alyxandraharvey.com/
http://www.thedrakechronicles.com/

The Poison Diaries

by Maryrose Wood
Based on a concept by the Duchess of Northumberland

Harper Collins Publishers. History, Mystery, Crime, Fantasy, Romance. Paperback rrp $19.99


Reviewed by Barbara Brown

Jessamine Luxton’s father, Thomas, is an apothecary in 18th century England. He is renowned throughout the area, so famous that the local Duke of Alnwick Castle has given him Hulne Abbey to live rent free so long as he tends the locals with their ailments. But Thomas Luxton couldn’t save his own wife and when the time comes he will not be able to save Jessamine.

Thomas agrees to employ Weed, an orphan boy who was working in a mental institution until his ‘special tea’ interfered with business by appearing to cure patients. Weed seems to know a lot more about the healing powers of plants than Thomas does. Could Weed assist Thomas with his desire to know all about the good and evil of plants? But Weed is a strange lad who doesn’t speak and likes to stay underground and in the dark.

With Jessamine’s help and patience, Weed changes and opens his heart and mind. Soon a love develops between the two and that is when the plants from the poisonous garden Thomas Luxton has locked away, begin to wield their magic.

Jessamine is betrothed to Weed but on her engagement night she becomes ill and Thomas and Weed have no idea how to save her. Weed is drawn to the poisonous garden and sets on a quest to save his beloved.

Weed has a special knowledge of plants and seems to be able to talk to them – or do they talk to him? What would it be like to be able to talk to the plants and flowers? The Poison Diaries is a tale of mystery, intrigue and magic with a plot that takes Weed, Jessamine and Thomas on a journey into their own hidden agendas. A wonderful story that will make you look at nature differently.

http://www.maryrosewood.com/

The Duchess of Northumberland lives in the real Alnwick Castle (also used as the set for Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter movies) and tends her own garden including the Poison Garden. You can view both the castle and the garden at these web sites http://www.alnwickcastle.com/ and http://www.alnwickgarden.com/.

Silk Chaser

by Peter Klein

Pan Macmillan. Australian, Crime, Mystery. Paperback rrp $32.99

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

Female strappers around Melbourne’s racing tracks are being viciously killed. The killer has left DNA evidence but the police are no closer in capturing him. Despite the words Silk Chaser written on the walls, no-one knows why he has chosen particular women. The only thing in common is the girl’s occupation. Horses are being pulled from races as the women in the industry grow nervous and the union is threatening to strike. The racing fraternity is worried.

John Punter is a professional horse gambler and the son of a stable owner. His life is complicated when he starts dating, Maxine. Maxine’s father is the biggest name in radio and also one of Punter’s father’s major clients. Maxine’s dad doesn’t think Punter is good enough for his little girl.

On top of this, Punter’s restaurant, Gino’s, is being threatened by a protection racket. John Punter has a lot on his mind. Add to that the Strapper Killer.

When the killer gets personal, Punter has little choice but to become involved. Can he find the killer’s identity before it’s his life on the line?

Silk Chaser is a great Australian crime story. The killer, when identified, will make you reread the book to see if you have missed something. But you, like Punter, will not have missed a thing. It’s just that the killer is smarter than you think. Brilliant!

Shadow Sister

by Simone van der Vlugt

Text Publishing Company. Adult Fiction, Crime, Mystery. Paperback rrp $32.95

Two identical sisters. Born to wealthy Dutch parents there was no need for either to pursue a career but they both did.

Lydia teaches the Dutch language to students from other countries, Elisa is a photographer with her own studio. Lydia is married with a young daughter. Elisa doesn’t seem to be able to stay with any one man except her good friend Thomas.

Life is good for the girls until Lydia is confronted by a knife-wielding student, stalked, threatened by letter and murdered at her front door. When the police cannot find any evidence of who the murderer is (the student has an alibi), Elisa decides to take up the search.

Is it as the police suggest - that it could have been a case of mistaking one sister for another? Is Elisa in danger? Why would anyone want either of the sisters dead? The story poses many questions and none of the answers are predictable.

Shadow Sister is a gripping tale narrated by both sisters. I’d have never guessed the killer. I can’t say any more… read it to find out for yourself. I bet you never guess either.

http://www.simonevandervlugt.nl/

Gunshot Road

by Adrian Hyland

The Text Publishing Company. Australian, Crime, Mystery. Paperback rrp $32.95


Guest Reviewer – Ian Brown

With Gunshot Road, Adrian Hyland has created a great crime story.

Set in the Australian outback, the hero, Emily Tempest, is a gutsy woman who sets out to solve a murder. The characters she meets along the way are the sort of people you would expect living in an isolated town in the middle of nowhere – tough, real down to earth.

This is a great read, you can almost taste the dirt, dust of the outback. The best Australian crime novel I have read in a long time.

Adrian Hyland’s first novel, Diamond Dove, won the 2007 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction.

Fury

by Shirley Marr

black dog books. Young Adult, Crime, Australian. Paperback rrp $18.99

“My Name is Eliza Boans and I am a murderer.”

Eliza Boans is a teenager with everything. She lives with her high-profile lawyer mother in a large house in a perfect gated community. She goes to the local high school inside the gated community with her perfect friends. When Eliza invites a new girl into her close knit group who would think this simple gesture would lead to murder.

Three friends, Eliza, Lexi and Marianne, are sitting in different rooms at the police station. Not allowed to speak or see each other. But the new girl who joined these three friends in the beginning isn’t there. She has been allowed to leave the police station. What has she said that has given her her freedom? What have Eliza and the other girls done? And to whom?

Eliza sums up the situation to the police psychologist…

"They’re the Furies. The goddesses of vengeance. They’re responsible for those that commit crimes against women and remained unpunished.”

Fury is a young adult fictional story that will rope you in from the first page. You are tempted to read ahead to find out who, what, where, but don’t. The ride is fast, furious and definitely worth the read. A book that is aimed at teenage girls but the boys will enjoy it just as much.

http://www.shirleymarr.net/

Bright Angel

by Isabelle Merlin

Random House Australia. Australian, Young Adult, Mystery, Romance, Crime. Paperback rrp $17.95


Isabelle Merlin has done it again! Bright Angel is the fourth book in Merlin’s YA female mystery genre and just like, Three Wishes, Pop Princess and Cupid’s Arrow, I was hooked from the first page.

Having witnessed a very traumatic experience, Sylvie and her older sister, Claire, are invited to the south of France to relax and forget. Their Auntie Freddy is staying in a quiet village writing a book. What better way to recuperate from the horrific scenes they witnessed in Australia.

But the surrounding region of St-Bertrand is not so quiet. It is bustling with a French movie crew and some very interesting young men who keep Sylvie and Claire occupied.

Daniel is aloof and fiercely protective of his much younger brother, Gabriel. Why does Sylvie hate this arrogant guy but at the same time, can’t stop thinking about him? When Gabriel is kidnapped, both Daniel and Sylvie re-evaluate each other’s feelings, not necessarily correctly.

This is a great read with some interesting historical facts threaded throughout. If you have a teenage girl who is over vampires and werewolves then Bright Angel is just the book!

http://sites.google.com/site/isabellemerlin

The Holy Thief

by William Ryan

Pan MacMillan Australia. Crime, Mystery, History. Paperback rrp $32.99

A woman’s mutilated body is found displayed on an altar in a Christian church in Moscow in 1936. An ear, eye and her tongue have been placed in such a way to spell a warning. Is it the work of a deranged madman or is it something more sinister? Captain Alexei Korolev is asked to investigate. Korolev soon discovers the woman was an American citizen tortured to death. It appears she never told her captive the secrets he wanted to hear. Can Korolev discover them?

Then a second body is discovered. The body of a Russian Thief. He also had been tortured but it seems his secrets passed his lips. He was lucky and died quickly with a bullet. What do a thief and a young American woman have in common?

When the theft of a rare religious icon is brought to Korolev’s attention, he realises that the murder investigation has uncovered a criminal mastermind at work. More and more bodies start to pile up and Korolev may need a miracle to save himself.

In the harsh reality of a Stalin run Russia, everybody fears something. What does Korolev fear and should someone higher up fear Korolev?

A wonderful tale of murder, deceit and 1930’s Russia. The Holy Thief is the first in a series of cases and adventures for Alexei Korolev. Once you read this book you will be queuing for the next instalment.

The Disappeared

by M R Hall

Pan MacMillan. Crime, Mystery. Paperback rrp $25.00

Seven years ago, two young British men (Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan) vanished without a trace from their rooms at Bristol University. Nazim’s mother has spent the ensuing years searching for her son and for answers to her questions. No-one wants to help this woman. The police see only two extremist Muslims who have snuck out of the country to fight in Afghanistan. The boys have probably been killed there.

When a person is missing for seven years, the family can approach the District Coroner to prove if that person is dead. In desperation Mrs Jamal approaches the District Coroner, Jenny Cooper, for her help in finalising Nazim’s death.

This a story of many threads, and an investigation which will require all of Jenny’s skills. A young woman’s body is stolen from the morgue, evidence is destroyed by fire, the hazardous levels of radiation appear at locations of interest and Mrs Jamal’s original solicitor is acting very strange.

The closer Jenny gets to answers her own demons start waging a battle inside her. Can she find the answers for Mrs Jamal? Can she also win the fight of her own ghosts? Every step that Jenny makes closer to the truth the perilous dangers are intensified. There will be more than one dead body at the end of this story.
 
http://www.m-r-hall.com/

Heist Society

by Ally Carter

Hachette Australia. Young Adult, Crime. Paperback rrp $16.99

You have probably watched or read stories of mastermind thieves. Even ads reinforce the illusion of the glamorous thief doing back flips over infra-red security alarms. Heist Society is just like these movies, advertisements and books except in this case the very well-established thieves and masterminds are all teenagers. Too young to vote or legally drink but old enough to crack high powered security codes.

Katarina Bishop’s father is a well known thief. When five paintings go missing, all the clues mistakenly point to him. Kat is the only person who can save him from a powerful mobster intent on retribution. Except she has pulled her biggest scam ever and now attends one of the best boarding schools in the country. She has turned her back on the life of a professional thief.

Then Hal, a very wealthy young man and also Kat’s ex-partner in crime ensures that Kat is politely asked to leave the school and the new life she was happily settling into.

With the help of Hal and his vast family fortune, Kat sets out to save her father, her friends and herself; and return the priceless art collection to its rightful owner. Only one problem – she has two weeks to find the collection, steal them back without getting caught and get her father out of jail. Something even a criminal mastermind would normally spend months planning.

Can she do it?

Fans of Carter’s Gallagher Girl series, will not be disappointed in this wonderful book of intrigue and chase. Even before Heist Society was published the film rights were bought by Warner Bros. I will see you in the front row of the cinema!

http://www.allycarter.com/

Somebody’s Crying

by Maureen McCarthy

Allen & Unwin. Australian, Young Adult, Crime, Mystery. Paperback rrp $17.99


Lillian Wishart was murdered. Left behind is Alice, Lillian’s daughter.

Somebody’s Crying is the story of Alice and two boys, Jonty and Tom. Jonty is Lillian’s nephew and Alice’s cousin. He is also the prime suspect to the murder. Tom is Jonty’s best mate but following the murder, he leaves Warrnambool.

There is never any evidence to put Jonty away. But both Tom and Alice have their own reasons to suspect his involvement.

Three years later Tom is back in his home town. As he struggles to forget the past, Alice brings it forward. Alice wants justice for her mother’s murder and she asks Tom for his help.

But when Jonty’s long lost father resurfaces with a confession of his own, neither Alice or Tom are sure what to believe. Will Alice be able to find the truth and will Tom be able to let go of the past? Can broken friendships be repaired?

Somebody’s Crying is an engrossing story with an ending I never expected. I thought I had solved the case but McCarthy turns even the twists inside-out until you have no idea of the outcome! Brilliant writing. Brilliant story. Teenagers who like a clever mystery will love Somebody’s Crying.