Discover the new crime books our booksellers are excited about this month!
Old Games
Fiona Hardy
Unbury the Dead, the debut novel from award-winning writer (and beloved Readings staffer and former long-serving Readings Monthly crime-fiction columnist) Fiona Hardy, was a breath of fresh air in the increasingly crowded genre of Australian crime fiction. Unbury introduced us to Alice and Teddy – two women working for the morally (and legally!) ambiguous Choker, in a kind of seedy Sopranos-meets-Charlie’s Angels set up. The book was shortlisted for the 2025 Ned Kelly Awards and made the top 50 in our 2025 bestseller list.
If you’re in any doubt as to where Alice and Teddy sit on the moral spectrum, it’s dispelled by page two of Old Games when they threaten a man they’ve had tied up in the boot of their car with the diabolical torture of having to endure a visit to a pierogi food truck without being able to partake. This combination of light and dark is a signature of Hardy’s work, along with her cast of nuanced characters, wit, pacy storytelling, and heart.
Alice and Teddy play off one another with the kind of fond familiarity seen in the very best fictional partnerships, riffing off one another’s dialogue with charm and humour. They’re unambiguously loyal to one another, so when Alice’s estranged sister finds herself in hot water after the ashes of a long-dead celebrity tennis star are stolen from the mansion she’s house-sitting, they have no hesitation in leaping into the investigation.
Twisty and intricately plotted, Old Games is a story about legacies and loss, about public figures and who ‘owns’ them after they’re gone, and about families: those we are bound to by blood and those we build ourselves. It’s full of good food, great cars, plenty of laughs, a mystery that will keep you turning pages, and a few unanswered questions that will have you champing at the bit for the next book.
Reviewed by Lian Hingee.
The Cursed Road
Laura McCluskey
This is a ripper read! Detectives George and Richie, who featured in Laura McCluskey’s debut novel The Wolf Tree make a welcome return in this gripping crime thriller, this time set in the Scottish Highlands. Smartly paced and totally addictive, the reader is thrust into a murder investigation when a victim’s body is found on ‘the cursed road’. The case morphs into something far bigger when a connection between the murder and a long-standing unsolved missing person’s investigation is revealed. With a cast of intriguing characters, and the rugged landscape serving not only as a backdrop but also a crucial component of the story, this is escapist crime fiction of the highest order.
Central to the book is the fantastic Inspector Georgina Lennox – George – whose sassy nature and quick wit, as well as her astute intelligence and at times hot temper, endear her to the reader. Along with her more experienced policing partner Richie, together they negotiate and argue about how to get answers from a sometimes-reluctant community unwilling to spill all its secrets. Still recovering from the fame they achieved in solving the case central to The Wolf Tree, the two detectives are nursing injuries – physical and psychological – as they embark on this new investigation.
Set largely in the (fictional) town of Kirkcree, the clashes between villagers over contested versions of history are a strong feature of the book, along with the town’s ambivalence about the prominence of deer hunting as a tourist attraction. As wealthy visitors seek to secure their own ‘trophies’, activists try to prevent the gruesome hunts. There is also a journalist sniffing around, trying to get a big scoop; a bumbling colleague; a shady character seeking refuge; and good-hearted, ordinary people just trying to make a living and get by.
A truly fantastic and engaging read and, dare I say it, even better than her debut novel, I can highly recommend this terrific book which will transport you straight to the highlands. I can’t wait for the next instalment of George’s adventures. (I hope there is one!)
Reviewed by Pauline Hopkins.
The Gambler
J.P. Pomare
It’s been three long years since P.I. Vince Reid made his first appearance in The Wrong Woman, and while J.P. Pomare has been writing other books, Reid has been patiently waiting in the wings for his next chance. In late 2025, I learned about The Gambler from its terrific author, and was intrigued at just how this story would unfold. As I read the book, poolside over my festive break, I found it was a perfect summer distraction. The layered plot, jumping between time periods and characters’ viewpoints, is gradually peeled back, like an onion, to reveal the resolution.
With two deaths – a cold case and a political assassination – and a mysterious organisation controlling the actions of bewitched acolytes in a scam, there are plenty of threads for Reid to track. Why did Kate Marshall die? What was the assassin’s motive? Who is at the heart of the scam? Though these seemingly simple primary notions drive Reid, in true Pomare fashion, more questions abound and force Reid into some sticky situations.
It’s always a pleasure for an author to have the opportunity to revisit a favourite protagonist, and even better for us readers to be able to enjoy the finished product! The Gambler is a thoroughly enjoyable book, with a well-conceived, realistic plot that is propelled by Pomare’s deft writing and great characterisation.
Reviewed by Julia Jackson.
The Shark
Emma Styles
Emma Styles’ debut, No Country for Girls, was a cracker of a book that saw two girls legging it from a crime scene with a bag of gold in the boot of a car. As they are chased through remote Western Australia, the stakes and the tension ratchet up and up. It’s high octane, unputdownable stuff. So, when I was offered the chance to review Styles’ latest offering, of course the answer was yes.
In contrast to her first book, The Shark is a gritty urban thriller. Set along the Cottesloe coast area of Perth, this book draws upon a couple of instances of serial killings, notably the Claremont murders, that were recently solved. The hunting patterns of sharks in pursuit of their prey are used to metaphorically illustrate the predatory modus operandi of the serial killer in this book, who stalks swimmers and leaves their bodies on the beach.
Again, women and women victim-survivors are front and centre in this sophomore novel. Our protagonists Raych and Carmen are frankly fed up with the failures of the police in protecting their community. Both women have had their lives destabilised by loss and trauma: Raych keenly feels the loss of her best friend Piper, whose murder is unsolved, and Carmen’s relationships with her immediate family are increasingly troubled. Their bond, uneasy at first, is grounded in a shared sense of urgency to do something, even if that means taking matters into their own hands. When another girl goes missing, a horrible truth begins to emerge, leaving Raych and Carmen to grapple with a big ethical conundrum. The Shark is a terrific psychological thriller!
Reviewed by Julia Jackson.
What Rhymes with Murder?
Penny Tangey
When Frida takes her baby son Finn to the library for Rhyme Time, she considers it a place she might find hope, peace and community, but any sense of peace is short-lived after a scream rings out and a dead body is found. Already overwhelmed by everything else in her life (what is sleep again?), she’s ready to discount her attempt to make new friends, until it turns out she’s not the only one curious about whether the fall was an accident – or murder.
Frida’s long, lonely days are suddenly filled with new acquaintances, from an equally nosy new dad to a prickly local historian, a doctor, a pilates teacher, and one of the police officers on the case. Toting a baby around as she investigates during daylight hours in a bright neighbourhood shouldn’t be dangerous, but soon Frida will have much larger problems than stolen prams or badly timed naps.
Penny Tangey – already an award-winning middle-grade author – has knocked it out of the park (or maybe thrown it out of the pram?) with this hilarious mystery. Extremely relatable for any parents, but equally entertaining for people who just enjoy a juicy mystery with a smattering of inner-Melbourne history, this book will be excellent for readers of Richard Osman, Aoife Clifford, and Sulari Gentill’s contemporary books.
Reviewed by Fiona Hardy.
Also recommended are:
Like Follow Die
Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Corinne Gray’s life is falling apart. When homicide detective Kyle Nazarian unexpectedly knocks on her door on a rainy morning, she knows why. He wants to talk about her son, Ben. An average teen in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, Ben is dating his first girlfriend and trying to find an after-school job. But as his luck sours, he’s increasingly drawn into shadowy corners of the internet.
This is Corinne’s chance to finally explain how her sweet-natured child, who loved history and dreamed of swimming for Olympic gold, grew up to do the unthinkable. What really happened to Ben? And could anyone have prevented it? Kyle, meanwhile, is grappling with his own crisis both at home and at work. Torn between his duties and a growing sympathy for Corinne, Kyle must decide how far he’s willing to go in his pursuit of justice.
Shellybanks
Louise Milligan
On the sands of Shellybanks, where tides can quickly turn treacherous, journalist Kate Delaney once nearly drowned. Years later, reeling from a violent crime that has upended her life in Melbourne, she returns to Dublin to comfort her beloved aunt Dolores – only to discover Dolores has her own buried trauma.
As a teenager, Dolores was drawn into a disturbing religious movement that stole her youth, her freedom, and so much more. With Kate's help, she is determined to confront the powerful network that made her suffer years of silence and shame.
Strange Buildings
Uketsu, translated by Jim Rion
Eleven strange buildings. One terrible secret. A lonely hut in the woods. A murder house. A hidden chamber. A mysterious shrine. A home in flames. A nightmarish prison.
Each of the buildings in this book tells a chilling story. Each one is part of a puzzle. Look closely and you’ll see that everything is connected. It all leads to a revelation so horrifying you won’t want to believe it.
Millions of readers have become addicted to solving Uketsu’s dark mysteries. Strange Buildings is the strangest, and darkest, of them all.
