Discover the new crime books our booksellers are excited about this month!
Don’t Say His Name
Rachel Givney
’Twas the night before Christmas, when lights and ornaments adorn the trees and families reunite to celebrate the holidays, including our protagonist, Detective Stayer, who takes a job in the coastal town of Thoorgala, NSW, to reconnect with his estranged sister, Ruby. But, immediately, he is called to investigate the strange murder of a woman found on the beach. There are no bruises on her body, no blunt force trauma or poisons coming up on the autopsy report. The only clue is a symbol carved onto her hand, a symbol everyone in the town recognises as the mark of Tall Harry, a terrifying urban legend who sucks the soul out of his victims. As more bodies are found with this peculiar symbol, and more women go missing, including Ruby, Detective Stayer begins to question his reality, wondering if he ever really knew his sister at all.
Rachel Givney has concocted the perfect potion, weaving together a small-town murder mystery, folklore and witchcraft, and a mystifying blend of what’s real and what’s not. Detective Stayer, a sceptical cop, makes the perfect counterpart to his companion, Sister Catherine Kelley, a superstitious nun whose knowledge of folkloric and urban legends comes in handy as they try to uncover Tall Harry – and whether he is a man in a mask or the real (supernatural) thing.
Urban legends have always spooked me, maybe because they are inherently tied to modernity – there’s a possibility of their reality being closer to mine than any ancient myth or fairytale. This novel had me on the edge of my seat, compelled and too chilled to the bone to look away. We’ve all heard of Bloody Mary and Slenderman. Now it’s time to introduce yourself to the horror that is Tall Harry. This book will cast a spell over you from the first page to the very last.
Reviewed by Aurelia Orr.
The Final Chapter
January Gilchrist
The Final Chapter is a darkly addictive novel that highlights every author’s fears: procrastination, writer’s block, and the possibility of being murdered, of course.
Thorne House is haunted to say the least. With the dark history of the Thorne family’s tragic deaths – all except for the daughter, Evelyn Thorne – the estate then became home to Australia’s worst serial killer, Byron Jackovic, who buried the bodies of his victims in the forest behind the house. Despite this, Thorne House has now become a cosy writer’s retreat, its quiet location in the Blue Mountains making it the perfect spot for aspiring or well-established authors to block out the rest of the world and focus on writing their next novels.
When a vicious snowstorm traps a group of authors inside with no wi‑fi or access to the nearest town, our protagonists – awkward, self-deprecating Desley; vain, high-profile author Colette; and ambitious, vengeful Maia – are stuck with the strict manager and two other male guests, one of whom seems especially suspicious. While some guests have come to write, others have come to kill.
January Gilchrist writes a slow-burn drama of increasing tension, feuds, and hatred between the guests that builds to a nail-biting crescendo in the last 100 pages and leaves you frozen in place until you finish the final chapter. Full of witty banter and stinging barbs, secrecy and plenty of motives for revenge, each character has something to lose and a reason to kill. With echoes of Stephen King’s The Shining, the macabre history of murders in Thorne House fuels each character’s fear and rage, putting their morality to the ultimate test. The Final Chapter is a wickedly entertaining thriller that is bound to make you binge-read it in one go – or at least make you question your holiday choices.
Reviewed by Aurelia Orr.
The Ghost Walk
Karen Herbert
Are ghosts making their way back into our zeitgeist? Certainly, this is not the first novel I have read this year with ghosts playing a character, but it is the first I have read that combines their presence with solving a crime. That is not to say that the ghosts in this book have a significant impact on this plot-driven thriller, but they are there, and they count.
Dr Gabriel Beaufort is found dead close to the Ghost Walk, a place where previous deaths have occurred. His secret lover, Ruby Rose, is in hospital that night suffering from an infection brought on by her lung replacement due to cystic fibrosis. Ruby Rose is the narrator of the story and she knows this is murder. Despite being immunocompromised, she’s determined to trace Gabriel’s movements before the police do. After all, she knows him better than anyone else; they had been intimate friends for years.
This novel does some heavy work: it exposes the hierarchy in medical research; it illustrates the constant compromising demanded by our modern world if you have a disability and the effect it has on your family; and it gifts you a classic page-turning crime story. Who wanted Gabriel Beaufort dead, and why? The answers lie in the clues dotted throughout the novel. It is a quirky tale, designed to entertain and educate.
There is much to admire in this novel, Karen Herbert’s fourth, and readers of classic crime will be pleased. For me, the power of this novel lies with the descriptions of Ruby Rose’s life now and in her rebellious early adult years. What decisions do you make if you know you are going to die early? The Ghost Walk offers insight into this question, and along the way gives you the ultimate armchair detective experience.
Reviewed by Chris Gordon.
King Tide
Luke Johnson
The revelation of a long-buried body in the aftermath of a storm and king tide brings a general sense of foreboding to Lagunes Bay, a fictional coastal community on Victoria’s western coast. The trio of friends at the heart of this novel, newly adults, are fracturing, each subject to different forces that play on their personalities and identities.
For Tate, his sense of self is shifting and growing as he grapples with adulthood and family loss. His best friend Luther is stuck in his own rut, caught between a ‘bad boy’ image he can never shake off and burning regret. For Brylie, the return to Lagunes Bay with her vicar father reawakens bitter feelings from when their family suddenly left the town, and new suspicions about why they did. But it is Hayley, the dead girl, the one whom everyone seemingly forgot, whose story threatens to tear the whole damned lot asunder.
In crime fiction books like this one there are often several truths. Two of these are that small towns are always full of secrets and deep-seated resentments, and that terrible things usually happen in multiples. Congratulations are in order here for the way in which debut author Luke Johnson sensitively tells this story. The events of this book all feel quite real, and immediate, and there is great pathos for the three central characters. Though there is also a great deal of empathy for the women in this book, particularly Hayley, and Tate’s mum, there is also deft handling of ideas around masculinity, and what it is to be a ‘good’ man. Johnson is a fresh new voice in the genre, and fans of Jane Harper, Mark Brandi, and Margaret Hickey will be drawn to this book.
Reviewed by Julia Jackson.
Also recommended are:
High Rise
Gabriel Bergmoser
After a year of searching, rogue ex-cop Jack Carlin has finally found his estranged daughter, Morgan, holed up in the top floor of a rundown, grimy high-rise building. The trouble is, Jack's unconventional policing and information-gathering methods in the past has made him some serious enemies. And what Jack doesn't know as he heads into the building, intent on saving his daughter, is firstly, that Morgan doesn't want to be saved – particularly not by him – and secondly, that the entire criminal underworld in the city are on their way too… There's a bounty on his head, and they're after his blood – and they don't mind if Morgan is collateral damage.
As bounty hunters and gang members converge on the building, father and daughter are thrown into a desperate fight for survival through fifteen storeys of deadly enemies - with only each other to rely on. Think: Die Hard meets The Raid, but the funnier, grittier Australian version. Fast, furious and ferocious, this is thriller writing at its nail-biting, unputdownable best.
The Quiet Mother
Arnaldur Indridason
Detective Konrad tries to solve a woman's murder and find her lost child from fifty years before. For readers of Ann Cleeves, Ian Rankin and Jo Nesbo.
A woman is found murdered in her Reykjavik home, her apartment ransacked. On her desk lies a note with retired detective Konrad's phone number. Days earlier, she had begged him to find the child she gave up nearly fifty years ago. But Konrad, reluctant to reopen old wounds, turned her away. Now, haunted by guilt, he vows to uncover the truth – for her and for himself.
As Konrad digs into her tragic past, he is drawn into a web of secrets, lies, and betrayal. Each revelation points to a hidden life that connects her death to a decades-old murder – and to shadows from Konrad's own family history.
The Bolthole
Peter Papathanasiou
Located off the coast of South Australia, Kangaroo Island lies surrounded by violent seas harbouring deadly great white sharks and forgotten shipwrecks. Over the centuries the Islanders have cultivated a sense of self-sufficiency, independence and resilience. But times are changing: multimillionaires from the mainland are building immense clifftop mansions and filling the skies with private planes and helicopters. A quiet paradise is being transformed into a bolthole for the rich and privileged. And the locals aren't happy.
Richard Marlowe, a wealthy "blow-in" to the island, goes missing, last seen wading into the ocean for a dawn swim. A shark attack is blamed, but things don't add up. Reuniting for a new investigation, Detective Sergeant Manolis and Senior Constable Sparrow arrive on the island, but their presence isn't welcomed, either. Faced with hostility from both Islanders and newcomers, their attempts to locate the missing man are derailed by a civil war over limited resources, a fragile environment, and fractured community dynamics.
Stillwater
Tanya Scott
After years away from his home town of Melbourne, Luke Harris is back on track. All he wants is a normal job, his own house and a dog.
But Luke is a man with a past, when life was anything but peaceful and his skills ran to the dark side. A past not easily forgotten – or forgiven.
When he crosses paths with Gus Alberici – the brutal criminal he worked for as a teenager – he's dragged reluctantly back to his old life. Luke's father has vanished, along with a chunk of Gus's cash. And something is up with his new girlfriend's father.
As his past and present collide, can Luke keep his long-held secrets – and outsmart a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants?
