Hochschild, Arlie Russell (2024) Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame and the Rise of the Right. The New Press.
In an attempt to understand the Democrat-Republican divide, and how cultural identity influences politics, sociologist and emeritus professor Hochschild has followed on from her acclaimed Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016), set in Louisiana, to explore the pride-shame paradox in the people of Appalachia. Her research drew her to Pikeville, eastern Kentucky, the whitest and second poorest congressional district in the US; Trump territory. This is a region, largely forgotten and maligned, formerly at the heart of the coal industry but latterly subject to a ‘shameful’ legacy of poverty, job loss, poor health, opioid addiction and depopulation. Her interviews focus on the views of a group of white working class men and the shifting political dynamic. Incisive and insightful.
Rating: 5/5
Swanson, Peter (2025) Kill Your Darlings. HarperCollins.
This is the story of Thom and Wendy Graves told in reverse. After twenty-five years of marriage Wendy wants to murder her husband. As Swanson tracks their lives backwards we come to understand why their bonds have frayed and most our sympathies are with Wendy. Meeting as school children, and reconnecting as adults, we follow Thom and Wendy through the key moments in their lives, from lovers to a secret tryst, to marriage and parenthood, onto dark secrets and lies. Cleverly plotted exploration on what drives the act of murder. Slow burn.
Rating: 3/5
Trevelyan, Jennifer (2025) A Beautiful Family. Allen & Unwin.
Ten-year-old narrator, Alix, and her family set off for their summer holidays at a beach on the Kāpiti Coast, north of Wellington. It’s 1985. Alix is an innocent who is largely invisible to her family. She spends her summer swimming, adventuring, navigating bickering parents and an angsty teenage sister, hiding from a sinister neighbour, and playing detective. She is a keen observer understanding more than her family suspects. There is danger everywhere. This is a tale with dark undercurrents and adult themes, part thriller, part domestic drama. Unputdownable.
Rating: 5/5
Spencer, Matthew (2025) Broke Road. Allen & Unwin.
Homicide detective Sergeant Rose Riley is sent to the Hunter Valley wine region to investigate the death of a woman who is murdered while home alone. The local media claims her husband is the perpetrator but he is not in the frame. The death captures the attention of crime writer Adam Bowman, whose previous book made both him and Rose famous. There are lots of suspects but soon the evidence connects the crime to two cold cases. Rose, Adam and the police team realise they have no time to lose. Second outing for Rose and Adam. Police procedural with pace.
Rating: 4/5
Lodge, Gytha (2025) Dead to Me. M. Joseph.
A suspicious death leads intrepid American journalist, Anna, to go undercover to infiltrate an elite student group at Cambridge University. When Anna goes missing it is her former lover, Brit detective Reid, who must come to her rescue. This is a career-making story for Anna but when you are chasing a killer you need someone you can trust on your side. A confusing puzzle of a tale that made it hard to stay the distance, especially with the narrator off the scene for most of the story. Disappointing as have enjoyed Lodge’s earlier mysteries.
Rating: 2/5
Hickey, Margaret (2025) An Ill Wind. Penguin Random House.
When Georgie Pritchard, rich philanthropist and owner of wind farms, is found hanging from one of his own turbines local married Detective Sergeants, Belinda Burney and Will Lovell, investigate. The pair have taken a temporary posting in the town of Carabeen so that Belinda can be closer to her ageing father. At the heart this rural Victorian story is simmering community tension brought about by the economic divide and environmental change. Some of the local residents have been made wealthy by selling farmland to the wind farm, but not everyone is happy with complaints about noise, the blight on the landscape, and potential health issues. Deadly outcomes ensue. In this tale we are introduced to Hickey’s new investigators. Engaging and atmospheric procedural.
Rating: 4/5
Galbraith, Robert (2025) The Hallmarked Man. Little, Brown.
In the eighth installment of the Robin Ellacott and Cormoran Strike story we are faced with a new mystery. A dismembered corpse is found in the vault of a silver shop that specialises in Masonic silverware. Initially the police claim the body is that of a career criminal but the private detectives have a client who is certain the body is that of her partner, also other missing men fit the profile of the man in the vault. As the case becomes more complicated and dangerous Robin becomes increasingly committed to her boyfriend and Strike’s jealousy rages. Love love this pair and JK Rowling’s immersive storytelling. Fabulous.
Rating: 5/5
7:30 Bookclub 