Reviewed by Ian Lipke Hitler’s Northern Utopia addresses a hitherto unresearched aspect of the already extensive literature on Nazism, and that is architecture in a distant place like Norway. A decided paucity of exposure in the literature is undoubtedly due to a lack of specific knowledge among the relatively small number of mainstream historians whose
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The Girl in the Mirror has been described as ‘an addictive thriller about greed, lust, secrets, and deadly lies.’ You’d better believe it. And I mustn’t give too much away. It is that type of yarn that makes readers want to share its secrets. This story is about a set of
Reviewed by Rod McLary I came to this biography of Paul Kelly knowing only a little about his music – as in From Little Things Big Things Grow – and even less about the man. The subtitle of the biography is ‘The man, the music and the life in between’ but it doesn’t entirely meet
Reviewed by Rod McLary Cry Baby is the latest novel by one of the great names in the crime genre and particularly in the tradition of British crime fiction. The author – Mark Billingham – has now written seventeen novels with his protagonist Tom Thorne at the heart of each. In an interesting twist, Cry
Reviewed by Gerard Healy This delightful winner from writer Ashleigh Barton and illustrator Martina Heiduczek should entertain younger children (from 4 upwards) and their carers of all ages. The format gives us a snapshot of life in different cultures around the world as we learn the names for grandfather in each locale. A clever method
Reviewed by Rod McLary Gordon Goodwin – the last navigator of the title and father to the author – was born in 1918 in Queensland. His own father Ralph saw his three children ‘as mere chattels to give him the lifestyle he deserved’ [2] and treated them as ‘Indian coolies’ [2] with heavy use of
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke ‘Lost in slumber, all the scents, the sounds, the colours of her past rise up, all that she has buried – the secrets, the darkness – return to her.’ What have you done? What on earth have you done? (Prologue) The main storyline of The River Home, by Hannah Richell, takes
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Drained by the harrowing trial of his niece’s murderer, Michael Costigan approached Heidi Lemon to write a book about Tara. With an Honours degree in Creative Writing, Heidi had no track record as an author or crime writer. Yet she proved to be an inspired choice. Many true crime books are
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke For many readers, it is a mystery how individual writers can continue to come up with their many and varied storylines. Some writers believe that the stories find them. Kayte Nunn was a magazine and book editor, then freelance feature writer and project editor, before she had her first book published
Reviewed by Ian Lipke This particular book is Book 2 of a trilogy that began with King of Ashes. The reason why each title was chosen remains a mystery for much of each book, the second more so than the first. In fact, it is not until readers are well into the books, almost at
Reviewed by Rod McLary Alfred Hitchcock once said ‘I enjoy playing the audience like a piano’. He meant that in the best possible way, of course, and it succinctly anticipates what T W Ellis has achieved in his first psychological thriller. There are enough twists and turns in this story to engage the most jaundiced
Reviewed by Rod McLary Move over Superman, Batman and Spider Man – there is a new superhero on the block. The new superhero is Shadow Star and, like all superheroes, he has an archnemesis Pyro Man and an alter ego – but giving away the alter ego’s identity would be a major spoiler. In Nova
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The Louvre is silent now, no footprints show that mankind has walked the corridors of time, no eyes feast on the artworks and sculptures that grace this famous shrine. COVID-19 has put a stop to that. How welcome then is James Gardner’s present history of the Louvre. Gardner describes his book
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Caroline Hirons’s Skin Care is a classic example of how ‘you-can’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover’ – startling bright yellow, title in a large bold type with the inside cover decorated in a garish army camouflage pattern. Readers might wonder if it might be a quasi-medical journal published by a far right organization. However, after battling
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Bond Springs Station, north of Alice Springs, was first settled in the 1870s by a Mr Willoughby and Mr Youl, after a daunting twelve-month wagon trek through central Australia. Australia’s Cattle King, Sydney Kidman, became the property owner in 1910, from whom Grant Heaslip purchased it in 1964. The original houses,