Nicholls, David (2024) You are Here. Harper.
Michael, after separating from his wife, takes solitary walks in the English Countryside. Marnie is a work-from-home recluse avoiding contact with others. When a mutual friend initiates a hike on the Coast to Coast Walkway Michael is keen but Marnie is initially reluctant. What happens next is uplifting. As they trek across the wonderfully observed (and well mapped) countryside it becomes a backdrop for conversation, banter, confessions, geological explanations, friendship, then love. Witty and clever. Delightful.
Rating: 5/5
Hickey, Margaret (2022) Stone Town. Bantam.
DS Mark Ariti has returned to his home town of Booralama as the local policeman. Then controversial property developer Aidan Sleeth is found murdered in local bushland, near the old gold-rush town of Stone Town. An Adelaide homicide team descend to help with the investigation. However their focus is not on Aidan but rather on the disappearance of DS Natalie Whitsed. Natalie had been on assignment investigating the wife of a crime boss when she went missing. Soon the two cases begin to merge. Cracking crime with an amiable protagonist. The second Mark Ariti tale. Really rate Hickey’s outback noir.
Rating: 4/5
Dicker, Joël (2024) The Alaska Sanders Affair. HarperCollins.
Marcus Goldman, respected author and Harry Quebert super-sleuth, is once again seeking to unravel the secrets behind an old crime, with his friend Sergeant Perry Gahalowood. Eleven years ago Perry led the investigation into the murder of beauty queen Alaska Sanders. Within days two suspects were identified and the case closed. Now, new information has exposed cracks in the case causing the original conviction to be put aside. What really happened to Alaska? Clue by clue Marcus and Perry unwind the mystery. Dicker is a master of the intense slow-burn procedural, with heaps of extraneous details, puzzling twists and turns, and flashbacks, until the final reveal catches you unaware. A mega-read.
Rating: 4/5
White, Christian (2024) The Ledge. Affirm Press.
When human remains are found in a forest near Westhaven, a long-held secret is about to be exposed. In 1999 Aaron ran away from home and what happened next started a chain of events that made him and his childhood friends, Justin, Chen and Leeson, grow up quickly. Twenty-four years later Aaron, now a successful crime writer, is back in Westhaven trusting that his long-ago pact with his young mates will hold. However the town has not forgotten. Is it time for the truth to be revealed? A murderous misleading tale.
Rating: 3/5
De Paulo, Bella (2024) Single at Heart: The Power, Freedom, and Joy of Single Life. Souvenir Press.
Being single is still considered to be an unfulfilled life. Dr DePaulo draws on her research and life as a single person to address the misconceptions of solitude, loneliness and intimacy, by championing the joys of a psychologically rich, healthy, and happy single life. She argues by not putting a romantic partner at the centre of your world you can still be fulfilled, validated and lead an authentic and flourishing life. This is a book about cherishing the single life for the increasing number of us.
Rating: 3/5
Hickey, Margaret (2023) Broken Bay. Bantam.
The third DS Mark Ariti story. Mark is on holiday in Broken Bay on South Australia’s Limestone Coast when Myra, a renowned cave diver, is drowned while exploring a sinkhole. In the process of retrieving Myra’s body a second body is found thus opening up a twenty-year old mystery. Mark is ordered to stay in town to help with the investigation. Then a third death occurs and a series of tragedies and family rivalries are exposed in a landscape of sinkholes, hidden caves and jagged cliffs. Assured piece of character-driven crime fiction, with plenty of twists.
Rating: 3/5
Heath, Rebecca (2024) The Dinner Party. Head of Zeus.
In the Summer of 1979 four couples gather for their weekly dinner party, leaving their children safely tucked up in bed. After checking on the children, Frank finds his four-month-old daughter Megan missing. So begins a forty-year search for Megan – is she alive or dead? The narrative unfolds via a podcast and secrets and lies are exposed as a stranger knocks on the family’s door. Beach Read.
Rating: 3/5
7:30 Bookclub 