Harbour Street

It is the week before Christmas and snowing heavily. When Detective Sergeant Joe Ashworth and his daughter, Jessie, travelled home on the train from Newcastle they did not expect to find a dead woman in their carriage. 

Margaret Krukowski lived in Mardle, a small seaside town where Harbour Street was the focal point of the community. However, when Vera and her team set out to find Margaret's killer they also find a number of long held secrets about Margaret and the town itself. Then a second woman is murdered in the town.

There are many suspects for the two murders evolving into a complex and perplexing case to solve. The focus of the book is not only on solving the case but also on the working relationships between members of Vera's team.

Harbour Street is number 6 in the Vera series by Ann Cleeves. The book was the basis for episode 1 in series 4 of the television series, Vera.

The Bone Code

The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs is no. 20 in the Temperance Brennan series. This novel is set in 2021, supposedly after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Temp is working in Charleston, North Carolina, when a hurricane hits the area. When a friend asks her to come to Charleston in South Carolina to assist after the storm damaged her home Temp agrees, but before she leaves she meets an elderly woman who shows her photos of her identical twin plus a photo of her grandmother and great aunt, also identical. There is also a photo of a death mask with the same face. Could it have belonged to the great aunt who disappeared many years ago? Temp is intrigued with the likenesses of the four women and agrees to investigate.

However, on the way to South Carolina she receives a phone call from the Charleston County Coroner who asks her to come and investigate two bodies in a container that have been washed up on the beach during the storm. This brings back memories of a similar case she had investigated in Quebec fifteen years earlier when two bodies were washed ashore in a container. The identity of the two people was never discovered. In Quebec Temp and her partner, Andrew Ryan, work together to try and find the identity of the four bodies and why they were murdered.

Kathy Reichs always provides technical detail of the medical investigations conducted by Temp and others in her novels and in The Bone Code she provides detail about the different uses of DNA for research. The reader can also be provided with medical information relating to other cases Temp is working on. When this story begins Temp is trying to determine the age of a body which may be of a young teenager or of someone in her twenties. She concludes that the victim had Silver-Russell Syndrome (Russell Silver Syndrome in Australia), a rare condition that a family member of mine has.

I was uncomfortable with one part of the plot when it was discovered that experimentaion had occurred with some medical procedures. With some people propogating conspiracy theories about vaccination, this could be considered unfortunate timing for this plotline.

However, I became so involved in reading this novel that I was surprised to discover that it was 12.45 in the morning and maybe it was time for bed. I look forward to the next installment in this series.

As a side note, there are also mentions of Australian people and objects in this book - Mary Mackillop, vegemite and the didgeridoo.

Mirrorland

Mirrorland is the world created by El and Cat, identical twins, to escape from the traumas of their life. They live with their mother and grandfather at no. 36 Westeryk Road in Edinburgh and retreat to Mirrorland not only to reenact stories told to them by their mother but to escape from danger when necessary. Being identical twins the girls have had a special relationship which has been fractured at one stage resulting in Cat leaving Edinburgh to live in the USA.

Then Cat receives news that her sister is missing and immediately returns to her former home, to a world of long forgotten memories and danger. Forced to confront childhood memories Cat knows that she is in danger but does not know who to trust. Anonymous cards and email messages increase her fear as she follows clues for a treasure hunt that bring back memories from the past.

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone is the chilling story of the physical and mental abuse endured by El and Cat, initially as children but continued as adults. There are many twists and turns until the truth is finally revealed in this challenging thriller which kept me reading until late at night. Like Fifty-fifty this is another recently published book about complicated relationships between sisters.

The Glass Room

The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves is definitely a novel for those addicted to crime fiction.  The action occurs at a country property used as a writers' retreat. When Vera's neighbour is reported missing by her partner, Vera tracts her down at the retreat. Vera sets out to check that Joanna is OK and discovers that a murder has occurred with Joanna as the initial suspect. As Vera and her team investigate it is soon obvious that the murder victim was not a popular person and the investigation of the crime will not be straightforward.

The investigation examines why each participant is at the retreat and what they hope to achieve by attending. The guests are not just aspiring writers but are also lecturers and tutors. When a second murder occurs it becomes apparent that the murderer has staged the setting of the murder to resemble a setting for a murder written by one of the guests at the retreat. Working on a case committed by someone interested in creating crime fiction provides challenges for Vera and her team as they race to avoid a third murder. The chemistry between Vera and members of the team continue to be a feature of the novel.

The Glass Room is book number 5 in the Vera television series. The plot from this book has not featured in the TV series.

When She Was Good

The sequel to Good Girl Bad Girl, When She Was Good by Michael Robotham sheds more light on the previous life of Evie Cormac revealing why she is the way she is and why those who try to help her are in danger. 

Evie is back in Langdon Hall, the secure children's home where she will supposedly be kept safe. However it is soon obvious that those who want her dead in order to protect information about their crimes have discovered her location. 

In this gripping story we learn more about Evie's background explaining the trauma she has been through and to some extent why she behaves as she does. Cyrus Haven manages to trace Sacha Hopewell, who had found Evie in a deserted house seven years earlier. Reluctantly Sacha shares the information that she knows about Evie and they decide to work together to try to locate the people who had physically and mentally harmed Evie and other young children. It soon becomes clear that the members of a paedophile ring are being protected by people in power and that anyone who becomes close to discovering the truth will be murdered.

I enjoyed reading Good Girl Bad Girl but thought that When She Was Good was even better.

Deadman's Track

Jai Wharton struggles to cope with looking after his grandfather who needs to be cared for in a nursing home. However this involves money that Jai does not have. When the opportunity to make some 'easy money' arises he takes it not realising the effect it will have on his life.

Tess Atherton is reconsidering her relationship with  Aaron which she felt had become suffocating. With the support and encouragement of her friends she shows her independence much to Aaron's displeasure. When it becomes obvious that a relationship is developing between Tess and Jared, a local policeman, they realise that Tess may be in danger.

Tess works not only as a guide on wilderness hikes in the ranges near Hobart but is also part of the search and rescue team for the area. On one walk an accident occurs resulting in the death of one of the hikers and Tess has problems regaining her confidence, especially in regard to heights. Reluctantly she agrees to take a group, including Jai and his girlfriend Riley, on a walk during winter. The hikers accepted that the weather may cause problems but they did not anticipate the violence they would encounter.

The different threads of the novel become intertwined resulting in a gripping story of the characters struggle to survive in the Australian bush.

Deadman's Track by Sarah Barrie is just one of a number of recent crime novels set in Tasmania. These include The Others by Mark Brandi, The Survivors by Jane Harper, The Bluffs by Kyle Perry, The Great Divide by LJM Owen and Bruny by Heather Rose.

Silent Voices

Silent Voices is number 4 in the Vera series by Ann Cleeves. When Vera decided to follow the advice of her doctor to undertake regular physical exercise, she did not expect to find a body in the sauna at the fitness centre.

Jenny Lister was a social worker who had been overseer of a case where a young boy had drowned. Connie Masters had been appointed as the social worker responsible for the family and when the boy drowned she not only lost her job but also was hounded by the media. Connie and her young daughter, Annie,  had moved to the village of Barnard Bridge to escape but she was soon recognised and the victimisation began again. With the discovery of Jenny Lister's body she became a prime suspect.

As the investigation gathers pace it soon becomes obvious that there is much more to this death and Vera and Joe with the rest of the police team have a challenge to persuade the villagers to reveal their secrets in order to discover what really happened.

As well as solving the crime this book is largely about the working relationship between Vera and Joe, her younger colleague.

Silent voices formed the plot of the second episode of the second series of the television series, Vera.

Jack Irish

Jack Irish, created by Peter Temple (1946-2018), has become a popular character in Australian crime fiction. Jack, a former criminal lawyer, now spends much of his time drinking and or betting on the races. He lives in Fitzroy, an inner suburb of Melbourne, and as he attempts to get his life back on track helps a friend make high quality furniture. Jack tries to stay on the right side of the law but this is not always easy as his life often becomes entangled in sorting out or solving a crime, at times involving former associates and / or horse racing.

Born in South Africa Peter Temple moved to Australia in 1980. Initially he worked as a journalist and a lecturer before turning to writing novels. He is perhaps best known for the four titles in the Jack Irish series - Bad Debts (1996), Black Tide (1999), Dead Point (2000) and White Dog (2003) but has also written other books including An Iron Rose (1998), Shooting Star (1999), In the Evil Day / Identity Theory (2002), The Broken Shore (2005) and its sequel Truth (2009). The Red Hand (a collection of mostly unpublished writing) was published in 2019. Awards won for his work include The Ned Kelly award, a Miles Franklin award and a Colin Roderick award. In 2007, The Broken Shore was also awarded the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s Duncan Lawrie Gold Dagger.

The Jack Irish books have also been adapted for television. Bad Debts, Black Point and Dead Tide were shown as telemovies on ABC TV between 2012 and 2014. Since then two six part series, entitled Jack Irish, based on the characters created by Peter Temple were shown on ABC TV in 2016 and 2018. The final four part Jack Irish series will air on ABC TV from mid-June 2021. Guy Pearce plays Jack Irish.

Acclaimed crime writer Peter Temple Dies, aged 71  Sydney Morning Herald, March 11 2018

Good Girl Bad Girl

Award winning Australian author, Michael Robotham, published his first crime novel in 2004. There are nine books in the Joseph O'Loughlin series, five stand alone books and most recently two books in the new Cyrus Haven series, the first one being Good Girl Bad Girl. 

The novel is set in Nottingham, England where Cyrus Haven works as a pychologist, including part-time for the police. An associate makes him aware of a young girl who six years earlier was found alone in a house where a murder had recently taken place. As Evie Cormac appeared to have no family and was unable or unwilling to reveal any information about herself, including her age, she had been placed in a home for troubled children. When Evie applied to leave the home Cyrus was called in to make an assessment and ended up attending the court session that was to determine her fate. To everyone's surprise, including his own, Cyrus volunteered to be her foster parent until Evie reached the date that the judge decided should be classified as her eighteenth birthday.

The plot is revealed via the view point of Cyrus and Evie as they attempt to live together under the same roof of, fortunately, a large house. But as Evie attempts to gain some independence she once again finds herself in danger. 

Cyrus is also helping the police to investigate a case to discover the murderer of sixteen year old Jodie Sheehan, a promising ice skater, whose body was discovered in a park. As the investigation continues it is obvious that Jodie had a number of secrets. As Evie has the skill to judge whether a person is telling a lie or the truth she occasionally provides information to Cyrus that assists in the case. Cyrus does not want others to be aware of Evie's gift for fear that it might lead to more difficulties for Evie.

This is a fast moving psychological thriller that really is difficult to put down. I have placed a reservation for the second book in the series.

Book series in order - Michael Robotham

The Codebreakers

Last month I read The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, a novel based on the secret life of women working to break enemy codes at Bletchley Park in England during the Second World War. In Australia the Central Bureau was created in Brisbane to perform a similar function. Between 1942 and 1945 codebreakers, including a group of women who used TypeX machines, deciphered Japanese coded messages. Staff working at these establishments all signed the Official Secrets Act and were sworn to secrecy about what they did. The period of this secrecy extended for many years after the end of the war.

Alli Sinclair has written The Codebreakers, a novel about women working in a section of the Central Bureau. 

Ellie O'Sullivan worked at Qantas Empire Airways when she was approached to attend an interview and be tested for a secret position. It was not until she had signed a copy of the Official Secrets Act that she learned that she was now in the Australian Women's Army Service and would be working with a group of women assisting in the decoding of military messages from Japan.

Ellie joined the Central Bureau in April 1943 when war was still raging in Europe as well as closer to home. Ellie's brother had been killed in battle - in fact most of her friends had loved ones who had lost at least one family member during the war. The girls that she worked with were pleased to be able to actively help the war effort however the stress of having to lie to family and friends about what they actually did often took its toll.

The twelve members in Ellie's group called themselves the Garage Girls as they worked in a garage at the back of a large house in Ascot. They lived together in army accommodation so consequently came to know each other well, often socialised together and shared experiences in good and bad times. This novel explores the lives of Ellie and her friends, their role in the war effort, how the war affected those who stayed at home, issues such as tensions between Australian servicemen and their US counterparts stationed in Brisbane as well as how Australians adapted to 'normal' life after the war. This novel covers another fascinating part of Australian history.

A number of books have been written about the work carried out at Bletchley Park.

Mention in the novel is made of Mrs Mac who set up a centre in Sydney to train women, and later men, to become morse code operators. The book, Radio Girl by David Dufty, provides an account of the work of Mrs Mac.

Khaki Town by Judy Nunn and Meet Me at Lennons by Melanie Myers are two other novels about life in Queensland during the Second World War.

Central Intelligence Bureau Headquarters - Queensland World War II History

Charleville Airfield - Queensland World War II History

Discovering Charleville's War Secrets - Queensland Times 21 April 2015

Fifty Fifty

Two sisters are arrested for the crime of killing their father. Each sister claims innocence and accuses the other sister of the crime. Who is guilty? Eddie Flynn is the defence lawyer for Sofia while Kate Brooks is defending Alexandra at a joint trial. The proscecutor does not care which sister (he would prefer both sisters) is convicted provided that he wins the case.

Fifty-fifty by Irish author, Steve Cavanagh, is set in New York. The story is told through the perspectives of Eddie and Kate, Sofia and Alexandra as defendants plus the viewpoint of She, the view of the sister who committed the crime. 

The story largely revolves around the crime, the compilation of the case by both legal teams and the case itself. The reader is aware that the killing of the father is not the only crime committed but in fact one of the sisters is a serial killer. The tension grows as the case proceeds as the jury must be convinced to make the right decision - difficult when they do not know the full story. A novel with lots of twists and turns as the plot unfurls.This book is number 5 in the Eddie Flynn series.

Still Midnight

Still Midnight is the first book in the Alex Morrow series by Denise Mina. Alex Morrow is a detective sergeant with Strathclyde Police in Glasgow but she is not your normal member of the police force. Her family has been involved with the local crime scene and her brother is still involved. As a woman she has a hard enough time fitting into the police work environment and Alex does not want her colleagues to know of this part of her background. Alex also has difficulty getting along with people in general since the death of her son. The relationship with her husband is practically non-existent.

The police investigate when an elderly man is forcibly removed from his home by two armed men and a ransom of £2,000,000 is demanded for the release of the hostage. The telling of the story alternates between the police and members of the family involved as well as those committing the crime. The account of the raid indicates that the two men are amateurs, definitely out of their depth. This is a story of a family with many secrets, not just from the outside world but within the family itself. It is also an account of rivalries within a work place. A fast moving crime novel with many layers.