Crime
Ripper by Shelley Burr
The ‘Rainier Ripper’ murdered three people, 17 years ago. A truck driver was charged and jailed, and the small town of Rainier and its inhabitants have been trying to get on with their lives ever since. Now the town is…
My Husband by Maud Ventura & Emma Ramadan (trans.)
A few years ago every second domestic thriller came out with breathless marketing comparing it to Gillian Flynn’s bestselling blockbuster Gone Girl. But few (if any) managed to capture the same darkly sly humour; compelling, if abhorrent, narrators; or…
Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen
Meet Saffy: socialite, supermodel, philanthropist, and serial killer. Her favourite form of charity is killing murderers, rapists, paedophiles, and other bad men. Killing is easy, but getting a boyfriend is much harder. Saffy has a crush – the stalker-obsession kind…
Dark Corners by Megan Goldin
Aspiring crime writers, read this book. If anyone can show you how to grab ahold of a reader and not let go, it’s Megan Goldin. It only took me eight pages to realise I wasn’t going to get anything else…
The Watchful Wife by Suzanne Leal
Ellen and her husband Gordon are high school English teachers. They met while working at the school where Ellen still teaches, but not long after they are married, Gordon moves to a new school for a promotion. Everything is going…
The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters
I picked up this book looking forward to a crime novel set in a place I know very little about: Lagos, Nigeria. ‘The Nigerwives’ referenced in the title are a support group formed by all the women who have married…
Lay Your Body Down by Amy Suiter Clarke
Lay Your Body Down is a powerful and alluring novel about mob mentality, indoctrination, and confronting one’s demons.
Delilah vowed never to return to her hometown in Minnesota and its cult-like church, but when her ex-boyfriend, Lars, dies, Del follows…
The Shot by Naima Brown
If you are looking for a disturbing and absorbing story that is (hopefully only loosely) informed by real-life professional experience, and will make you fundamentally question the baseline ethical standards and direction of contemporary entertainment, look no further. The Shot…
A Disappearance in Fiji by Nilima Rao
Nilima Rao’s debut novel arrives with a glowing endorsement from the prolific and adored Alexander McCall Smith of No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency fame, who describes A Disappearance in Fiji as ‘an utterly charming novel’ and Rao as ‘an author…
Broken Bay by Margaret Hickey
South Australia’s Limestone Coast is covered in natural wonders, from dormant volcanoes to ancient caves, stunning lakes and, most remarkably, sinkholes. These are not your average sinkholes, either. (Google them, they really are something else.) Many of them open into…
Browse our reviews by category
