Australian crime fiction

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Post Script: Good Money – J M Green

What a wonderful discovery  – JM Green I cant wait for your next book!

Cover Good Money J M Green

Good Money

J M Green

Scribe

ISBN: 9781925106923

Description:

Introducing Stella Hardy, a wisecracking social worker with a thirst for social justice, good laksa, and alcohol.

Stella’s phone rings. A young African boy, the son of one of her clients, has been murdered in a dingy back alley. Stella, in her forties and running low on empathy, heads into the night to comfort the grieving mother. But when she gets there, she makes a discovery that has the potential to uncover something terrible from her past — something she thought she’d gotten away with.

Then Stella’s neighbour Tania mysteriously vanishes. When Stella learns that Tania is the heir to a billion-dollar mining empire, Stella realises her glamorous young friend might have had more up her sleeve than just a perfectly toned arm. Who is behind her disappearance?

Enlisting the help of her friend, Senior Constable Phuong Nguyen, Stella’s investigation draws her further and further into a dark world of drug dealers, sociopaths, and killers, such as the enigmatic Mr Funsail, whose name makes even hardened criminals run for cover.

One thing is clear: Stella needs to find answers fast — before the people she’s looking for find her instead.

Set in the bustling, multicultural innerwest of Melbourne, Good Money reveals a daring and exciting new voice in Australian crime fiction.

 

 

My View:

What a wonderful discovery – JM Green I can’t wait for your next book!

 

What a fantastic new voice in Australian crime fiction! I loved every word written on these pages – the self-deprecating and often dark humour that is characteristically Australian, the colloquial language, and the locations – recognisable city scapes – multicultural Australia

(But really could be almost anywhere these days), the honesty and the friendships and of course, the great engaging narrative.

 

This is crime fiction at its most human level – a narrative that clearly shows the effect of acts of crime on the victims, families of the victims, the cops and the social workers. Corruption, drug use, gangs, prejudice, structural misogyny…all are highlighted in this work – but please don’t misunderstand me – this book is a joy to read (aside from the murders which are naturally, sad), the characters are so natural, the language, discussions, conversations so fresh and real, the relationships credible; everyday lives exposed but this is not an “ordinary” life, nor an “ordinary” narrative, at times it is fun, at times sad, bleak and grim and even romantic, occasionally optimistic and always with a thread of tension that pulls the narrative together tautly.

 

I really loved the protagonist, Stella Hardy and can’t wait to hear more of her adventures.

 

 

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Post Script: Bad Seed – Alan Carter

Local police drama at its best.

BAD SEED

Bad Seed

Alan Carter

Fremantle Press

ISBN: 9781925162257

 

Description:

When wealthy property developer Francis Tan and his family are found slain in their mansion, Cato Kwong is forced to recall a personal history that makes his investigation doubly painful. The killer is elusive and brutal, and the investigation takes Cato to Shanghai. In a world of spoiled rich kids and cyber dragons, Cato is about to discover a whole lot more about the Chinese acquisition of Australian land—about those who play the game and those who die trying.

 

 

My View:

A complex plot sited both in Perth Western Australia and Shanghai that is choc- o- block full of mystery, intrigue, politics and dark humour. Sins of the past play softly in the background, slowly gathering momentum and reaching a crescendo colliding with events of today. There are a few bloody deaths to investigate whilst light is shed on policing habits and idiosyncrasies that come under investigation in their own right (eg crime and corruption hearings) and plenty of local social commentary (eg Abuse in Government care) that will be very familiar to the local reader.

 

I particularly enjoyed Mr Carter’s method of naming his characters; for those who are unaware Mr Carter is well known in the Western Australia’s documentary scene, a very talented individual, and I found myself smiling and having a chuckle as I recognised some familar names ( though not their traits) in this book .  🙂

 

This is the third book in the Cato Kwong series but can easily be read as a stand a lone.

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Post Script: Sinister Intent – Karen M Davis

Sinister Intent, Karen M. Davis

Sinister Intent

Karen M Davis

Simon & Schuster Australia

A CBS Company

ISBN: 9781922052520

Description:
For eight years Lexie Rogers has been a uniform cop in Sydney’s red light district, Kings Cross. Having survived a violent knife attack, she’s witnessed far more than most cops her age. Now she’s back at work as the newest member of the Bondi Junction detectives’ office and ready to start again.

One of her first jobs is to execute a search warrant at a bikie clubhouse, one of the two local gangs in the eastern suburbs. What she uncovers begins a chilling investigation into a vicious world where loyalty is deadly and unwavering and can’t be bought . . . Or can it?

Lexie forms an unlikely alliance with one of the bikies, who’s realised his family’s in danger. But what neither of them knows is that Lexie is the one who’s in too deep. She knows too much. – See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com.au/Sinister-Intent/Davis-Karen-M/9781922052520#sthash.hG4rpdsI.dpuf

 

My View:

For the lovers of the police procedural.

An outstanding debut novel and a wonderful police procedural with enduring and empathetic characters, what more could you ask for? Karen M Davis has managed to capture the essence of a great crime read; a great narrative, a surprising ending, plenty of drama and suspense, an authentic voice and settings that are realistic. I really enjoyed this read and liked the main characters; the camaraderie and rapport  between the police officers at the station felt natural, the good guys had their flaws but this just added to their credibility and the bad guys were where you least hoped to find them, hidden in plain sight.

A most enjoyable read that I hope if the first of many from this author. I look forward to Ms Davis’s next offering with anticipation. 

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Post Script: Promise – Tony Cavanaugh

Promise, Tony Cavanaugh

Tony Cavanaugh

Promise

Hatchette Australia

ISBN: 978073362847

Description:

Top Homicide cop Darian Richards has been seeking out monsters for too long. He has promised one too many victim’s families he will find the answers they need and it’s taken its toll. Now retired, a series of disappearances see him return to the gun. On his terms. But he knows, every promise has a price to pay. If you love Harry Bosch and Dave Robicheaux you’ll love Darian Richards.

Top Homicide cop Darian Richards has been seeking out monsters for too long. He has promised one too many victim’s families he will find the answers they need and it’s taken its toll. After surviving a gunshot wound to the head he calls it quits and retires to the Sunshine Coast in an attempt to leave the demons behind. But he should have realised, there are demons everywhere and no place is safe. A serial killer is prowling the Sunshine Coast area and Darian tries to ignore the fact his experience could make a difference hunting him down.

All he wants is to sit at the end of his jetty on the Noosa River and ignore the fact that girls from the area have vanished over the past fourteen months. All blonde and pretty. Youngest: 13. Oldest: 16. He knows they are all dead but the cops were saying ‘missing’ or ‘vanished . That s what you have to say if you don t have a body.

Jenny Brown was the first. She vanished sometime after 4 in the afternoon, Saturday 15 October the previous year. Except for her parents and her friends and everybody who knew her, it was thought she was just a runaway. Especially by the cops who allowed a good two or three minutes before arriving at that conclusion. By the time they d reached the gate to the front yard of her house, before they d even walked across the road and climbed into their cruiser, they would ve forgotten Jenny Brown even existed.

But then others disappeared and they couldn t call them all runaways. Darian can t sit idly by and he decides he is going to find the killer and deal with him … his way.

My View:

A truly macabre murder mystery that gives the reader a terrifying glimpse into the evil that men can do to each other; the voice of the villain was malignant, terrifying and freaky and I am glad this was a work of fiction! The hero, Darian Richards was a personable yet manipulative character, worn down by his career in Victoria’s Homicide Squad, seeking a quiet life without the nightmares that accompanied his past work and not averse to taking the law into his own hands. Mix the first person voices of these two characters together in one narrative and you get a fast paced tale of evil doer versus redeemer; the story of a despicable, evil, sadistic villain who hides in plain sight and a renegade, likable, battle worn ex cop who is on a mission to rid the town of this monster – and will do whatever it takes to achieve this, and you have a recipe for a exciting, paging turning, gritty read.

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Post Script: Heist – Robert Schofield

Heist, Robert Schofield

Robert Schofield

Heist

Allen & Unwin

ISBN: 97817431520

 

Description:

Gareth Ford is a mining engineer with a gambling habit and marital problems. After a daring $8 million gold heist on the day of the Kalgoorlie Cup, he’s left for dead in the desert and framed as the inside man. Pursued by cops and mercenaries, Ford forms a fragile alliance with Doc and Banjo, a pair of fugitive bikers, and Kavanagh, a gym-buffed female cop from the Gold Stealing Detection Unit. The unlikely foursome travel across the Outback, intent on uncovering a conspiracy that reaches all the way up to big business and the Western Australian government. 

 

My View:

This debut novel from Robert Schofield is fast paced, action packed and entertaining. Schofield masters the art of establishing time and place and we get a real sense of how the mining industry, particularly gold mining and gold towns operate. It is a tough and arduous existence; long dusty days, isolated existences and a male dominated industry. It is lonely. It is hot. It is the perfect setting for a gold robbery.

The plot is complicated and ACTION is the best description for this book; the protagonist – Ford, is beaten up, shot at and wounded – many times, he is locked in an armoured vehicle when it is blown up, he is chased and hunted down, by bikies, gold stealers and the cops. Ford is in a bad way, and he is also an alcoholic being pumped with booze, pain killers, antibiotics and others “meds”. I don’t know how he is able to stand up let alone continue his search for his missing wife and daughter and escape the baddies. And this is the books down fall – to me there is a lacking in credibility in many of the characters and the scenes.

But if you like you read fast paced, with thrills, spills and shoot em ups every five minutes, this book is for you. If you don’t look too deeply at the characterisations, if you close your eyes to the stereo types that abound in this book, this is an entertaining read.