Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The chief characters Sidonie (Sid) and Zennor (Zen) are good detectives- but definitely not dead, as the title suggests. It is a clever play on words, where ‘dead’ means, in current vernacular, excellent; but, at the same time, the clients for Sid and Zen are actually dead and fast fading away.
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The name Andrea Wulf has the hearts of both publishers and reviewers pumping at increased velocity. She is an author who was born in India, moved to Germany, but now lives in England. She is the author of several highly acclaimed books, the winner of numerous international awards, and most importantly,
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Burnt-out from policework, Detective Sergeant George Manolis flies from Australia to Greece for a holiday. Recently divorced and mourning the death of his father, who emigrated from the turbulent Prespes region which straddles the borders of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia, Manolis hopes to reconnect with his roots and heritage. However,
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Lucy Worsley has recently produced a biography of the writer, Agatha Christie, in which she shows unequivocally that the world in which her subject was born in 1890 had rules that defined what women could and could not do. Christie’s world, for example, frowned severely on women who had the temerity
Reviewed by Gail McDonald Di Morrissey is an Australian author who has written many novels centred around various locations in Australia. This book The Night Tide is no different in that it is set in the Pittwater area of Sydney’s northern beaches. Di Morrissey trained as a journalist working in newspapers, magazines, television, film, theatre
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The Tap Cats of the Sunshine Coast initially appears to be a heartwarming tale of tap-dancing friends performing and enjoying life in the idyllic coast north of Brisbane. What starts as a picture of three friends who have known each other since schooldays, develops into one of conflict, challenge, self-discovery, and
Reviewed by Ian Lipke If you prefer an easy read, I suggest you look elsewhere than R.F. Kuang’s Babel or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. This multi-barreled title is more than sufficient to persuade me to return the book to the shelves. The subtitle offers only confusion, yet
Reviewed by Richard Tutin I don’t think that too many people watching the Tour de France on their electronic devices or are lucky enough to stand roadside on the route of one of the stages give much thought, if any, to the behind-the-scenes makeup of the race itself. They see the riders giving their all
Reviewed by Rod McLary Someone once said that good book titles should be ‘short, evocative and unique’. On all three counts, the title of Chris Flynn’s new book succeeds admirably. The word ‘leviathans’ itself conjures up monsters of the deep or something large and formidable – but it can also mean something unknown or beyond
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke When I first read the title of this book, I envisaged a young girl growing up in the opal fields with her middle-aged father. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The opal miner in Fiona McArthur’s story is a mature woman who, unlike her husband, couldn’t settle for life in retirement
Reviewed by Rod McLary There is something about Young Adult novels which immediately appeals to the discerning reader. Perhaps the appeal lies in the authenticity of the adolescent voice which hasn’t yet learned to dissemble and obfuscate. Perhaps it is the lived experience of navigating the no man’s land between childhood and adulthood which we
Reviewed by Gail McDonald Sandie Jones, the author of The Blame Game, is a freelance journalist and has contributed to the Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Women’s Weekly and Hello magazine. She is also the author of many other novels such as: The Half Sister, The First Mistake, The Other Woman and The Guilt Trip. This
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Kayte Nunn is the author of The Only Child. It is her seventh book and all her previous novels have been very popular and published in several languages. The Botanist’s Daughter won the Winston Graham Historical Fiction Prize in 2020. In the Acknowledgement section of this latest book, the author tells
Reviewed by Rod McLary The title of this book – brief as it may be – immediately flags what it is about: lies, untruths, evasions and secrets. Set in the small seaside town of Kinton Bay somewhere near Newcastle NSW, the novel explores and exposes many of these lies and the truth is rather confronting.
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Ross Walker has opted to tell history as a story. A tale of Holt’s private and public life is a useful way to bring to readers the personality of Holt the man while allowing the decisions relating to his public life to be reported. The book reveals that Holt’s private life