Almost immediately after reading and reviewing All the Little Bones – the first in the Circus Hearts series – a began reading the second, All Fall Down. Once I finished that I went straight onto number three, All Aces. If nothing else, that will tell you how easy these books are to read, and how…
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Review: Love and other Perils – A Regency Novella Duet by Emily Larkin and Grace Burrowes
It’s always delightful to have a new Emily Larkin story to read, and when Ms Larkin announced this duet novella with Grace Burrowes, both stories with a prompt to include cats, I (naturally) pounced. Given both novellas contain Regency era manners, cats and a love story, they’re very different while both being very charming! Lieutenant…
Read moreReview: Lillian Armfield by Leigh Straw
Leigh Straw, who has previously written about infamous Razor Gang crime boss Kate Leigh, has picked up the threads of the first female detective, Lillian Armfield, who played a significant role in policing the 1920s ‘Razor Wars’ between Leigh and Tilly Devine, in Lillian Armfield. There was a lot more to Lillian Armfield’s trailblazing policing…
Read moreReview: Keep Calm and Kill the Chef by Livia Day
Livia Day’s new Cafe La Femme book is finally out, and readers, I’m delighted.
Read moreReview: Murder, Misadventures and Miserable Ends – Tales from a Colonial Coroner’s Court by Catie Gilchrist
Social history, especially as it pertains to murder and crime, will always be a lure to get me into a book. Catie Gilchrist’s account of Henry Shiell’s 33 year tenure as colonial Sydney’s City Coroner through a selection of the cases over which he presided has been on my wish list for a while. The…
Read moreReview: Circus Hearts 1 – All the Little Bones by Ellie Marney
Ellie Marney’s Every… YA trilogy was fantastic, especially with it’s brushes of Sherlock Holmes characters and canon over its story of James Mycroft and Rachel Watts stumbling into crime (and into love) in an Australian setting. I’m delighted to find that the same deft gift for depth of character and neat plotting continues in the…
Read moreReview: Shadowmancy by Jason Franks
Jason Franks, who wrote the marvellous Bloody Waters and the dark, darkly funny and unexpected Faerie Apocalypse has given us a new story, expanded from a 6-page comic published in 2008. This fine history for Shadowmancy means that the novel is illustrated with some striking black and white art from Nicholas Hunter throughout. We have…
Read moreReview: The Atlas of Monsters and Ghosts by Federica Magrin and Laura Brenlla
I loved the idea of a kids’ book charting the location of monster stories around the world – it’s in part what I look for in a destination! The Atlas of Monsters and Ghosts by LonelyPlanetKids.com is a gorgeous looking book, with Laura Brenlla’s fabulous Tiki-esque style (which reminds me a bit of Shag’s art)….
Read moreReview: The Secret Art of Poisoning by Samantha Battams
When I first moved to Melbourne in the late 1990s, I lived in Richmond. At some point during my five years there, before I moved to the city, I learned about Martha Needle, the woman who lived on Bridge Road in the 1890s and poisoned her husband, three children and the brother of her fiance….
Read moreReview: A Night with the Knight of the Burning Pestle by Julia Bozza
Technically, this curious and charming book is A Night with the Knight of the Burning Pestle: Full of Mirth and Delight by Francis Beaumont and Julie Bozza. Beaumont wrote the original 1607 play-within-a-play that forms the central part of the story. Julie Bozza has added another layer of metatextual storytelling with the relationship between two…
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