CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Lost Man by Jane Harper

Jane Harper won so many awards for her debut novel, The Dry, that I could use my entire word count just listing them. But if I did that, I wouldn’t have the chance to tell you to go and read this, her standalone third book, and another powerful read that cements her as one of Australia’s premier authors.

The Lost Man will coat everything you know in a thin layer of red dust as you sit, immobilised by the story of Cameron Bright, the man found dead and burned from the heat beside a lone grave in the middle of the desert, nine kilometres from his well-stocked, air-conditioned – and perfectly working – four-wheel-drive.

In a place like Balamara, neighbours live hundreds of kilometres apart, roads lie empty for days and the isolation can make people do crazy things to escape the world, but Cam – who had plans to meet his younger brother that day, and wasn’t that type of person – would surely have chosen a less brutal way out. At least, that’s what Cameron’s older brother, Nathan, thinks, not that he’s seen much of Cam lately himself. Or anyone else for that matter, since the entire community hates him, and his immediate family lives three hours away. But now, with his teenage son visiting him for the Christmas holidays, and his brother’s funeral looming, Nathan can’t shake all the unanswered questions out there in the vast expanse of Queensland outback.

This is raw, unadulterated rural crime; all that nothing becomes an intense something in Harper’s hands. Events unfold in a simmering slow burn that is impossible to tear your eyes from, and Harper hones her focus on a small fistful of characters that populate an area the size of entire European countries, making everything small and enormous at once. Christmas is coming – and you should buy this for everyone you know.

NEW CRIME FICTION

Killing Eve: No Tomorrow by Luke Jennings

Killing Eve, the TV show based on Luke Jennings’ blisteringly fun Villanelle series, has sent many Readings staff into a frenzy of binge-watching, and the books themselves are the same: rocket-fuelled cat-and-mouse thrillers that you’ll stop everything else in your life to read. In this second book, assassin Villanelle remains on the tail of Eve Polastri, who is just as determined to uncover who Villanelle truly is – and who in MI5’s highest echelons is not to be trusted. Across Europe and deep into the past, Jennings’ newest tale is an adventure worth hunting down.

The Spite Game by Anna Snoekstra

As we head towards the end of the year and, for some, the end of high school, it’s about time for a tale of how those school years can skew how you think – until it wrecks your life entirely. Ava is an adult who has not forgotten the pain of her youth, nor the three women who put her through that pain: Saanvi, Cass, and Mel. All this time later, as they lead their new lives unaware of Ava’s simmering rage, revenge is now on its way. As Ava mercilessly ruins the lives of those who ruined hers, she realises that one of the women may be not quite as unaware as she thought. A suspenseful, Melbourne-based story of good gone very, very bad.

The Wych Elm by Tana French

Readings’ beloved Tana French is back and has set aside her Dublin Murder Squad series to release this standalone tale of a golden boy whose life throws him lemons for the first time. Carefree Toby has cruised through life with his supportive family, good job, loving girlfriend and raucous friends, and has little sympathy for those who aren’t successful. But when a burglary goes violently wrong, Toby leaves for The Ivy House, his family home, to recuperate, and help out his dying uncle. His childhood memories happily sustain him until the discovery of a human skull in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden – and suddenly the past doesn’t seem quite so rosy.

Heaven Sent by Alan Carter

If you like your punchy police procedurals set west of the usual Australian crime, then Alan Carter is your man. Cato Kwong is in a place not often inhabited by detectives – that is, happiness – and leaves his lovely wife and new child each morning feeling good before being confronted by the newest horror on the beat: a serial killer who leaves a literal calling card on the victims. The aftermath of the most recent death is witnessed by a local journo desperate to prove his worth via unorthodox investigation methods, but he’s not the only person affected personally by the murders. These deaths start to get under Cato’s skin, and his perfect life comes under threat in more ways than one in this wry, rollicking thriller.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

Elly Griffiths, typically known for her Dr Ruth Galloway mysteries, this month delivers a gothic thriller with a literary bent – and a whole lot of murder. Clare Cassidy is a teacher who specialises in the writer R.M. Holland, whose home is now the school she teaches in. As an expert in his work, it’s her name that comes to the forefront when a colleague of hers is murdered and a line from one of Holland’s stories is left near the body. The interest in Clare is mired in suspicion, and she can only vent to her beloved and trusted journal, until one day she finds someone else’s writing in the pages: ‘Hallo, Clare. You don’t know me.’ But who is writing these words – and who is killing off those around her? Too spooky to be read by candlelight – and, possibly, even by sunlight.

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny (available 27 November)

Louise Penny’s bestselling Chief Inspector Gamache mysteries are popular for a reason: they are set in a snow-blown small town in Quebec, populated by interesting characters and curious happenings, along with bloodshed. In the aftermath of a recent case that saw less success and more carnage – along with missing drugs – Gamache and his colleagues wait with dwindling hope for his name to be cleared. In the meantime, Gamache has been named an executor for the estate of a woman he never knew, along with two others who have no recollection of her either. They accept out of curiosity, but soon it becomes clear that this is no quirky side-project, but something much, much more deadly.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (available 28 November)

There are whispers in the industry about this book: next-big-thing type of whispers. Korede is a nurse, uncompromising, fastidious, and bitter about her sister. Ayoola is glorious, beautiful beyond compare, charms everyone who meets her, and has killed three men. In self-defense, she says, but Korede is not entirely sure; all she knows is that she has to clean up afterwards, and that it is becoming too common an occurrence with the men Ayoola dates. As Ayoola wafts through life, determined not to take anything seriously – including death – she catches the eye of Tade, the doctor Korede yearns for. Now, Korede fears for both her heart and the life of the man she loves. A Nigerian-set, darkly humorous story of family ties good, bad and dangerous.

Man at the Window by Robert Jeffreys (available 28 November)

Echo Publishing has relaunched with the first book in Robert Jeffreys’ Cardilini series, set in 1960s Western Australia and following the mostly drunk, not-particularly-admired detective as he is handed an easy case and takes it further than anyone expected – or wanted. In an exclusive boys’ school, a headmaster is shot, and it is deemed an accident. But Cardilini, railing against the upper classes, thinks there is more to it than that, and drags himself off the floor to unearth the school’s darkest, most appalling secrets – ones that many in power are unwilling to hear.

The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem (available 28 November)

In the lead up to American political leadership taking an unexpected turn for the orange, Phoebe Siegler travels from New York to the Californian desert to find Arabella, the missing daughter of one of her friends. In order to navigate the chaos of both missing persons and the Inland Empire, Phoebe gets help from Charles Heist, a shambles of a man who is nevertheless very good at finding those who are missing – or who may not want to be found. With locations as bright as the sun and characters with personality to spare, this sparky tale will knock you off-balance and work your brain in the very best kind of way.

Kill Shot by Garry Disher (available 3 December)

Garry Disher is winding up 2018 with both a fiery new bestseller and the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award for all the literary gifts he’s given grateful readers over the years. In Kill Shot, the legendary Wyatt is pottering around Sydney, getting into minor criminal escapades. Nothing too bad, really, until word gets around that there’s something not so minor in the works. Some corporate type is about to avoid bail by running away with a ton of cash, and Wyatt wouldn’t mind some of it for himself. But when it turns out he’s not the only one who heard about this, it might be more than money he’s fighting for.

ALSO OUT IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER

We’ll have a new Michael Connelly with Dark Sacred Night; Janet Evanovich continues the puns with Look Alive Twenty Five; the twenty-third Jack Reacher arrives with Lee Child’s Past Tense; along with Sujata Massey’s The Widows of Malabar Hill; Anthony Horowitz’s The Sentence is Death; John Sandford’s Holy Ghost; Hakan Nesser’s Root of Evil; Joanna Baker’s The Slipping Place … and more!

Also, coming up in early 2019, there’s Soren Sveistrup’s The Chestnut Man; Matthew Condon’s The Night Dragon; and Dervla McTiernan’s The Scholar – to name a few.