Hag-Seed: The Tempest retold

In Hag-seed Canadian author Margaret Atwood retells the story of Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, as a modern day novel. The novel is part of a series of the retelling of Shakespeare plays to mark 400 years since the death of the British playwright.

Felix had been the artistic director of Makeshiweg Theatre Festival for a number of years. Rehearsals for the current production, The Tempest, were underway when he was unexpectedly fired. Felix did not forget this act of treachery as he retreated to live in an isolated hut in the countryside. His only companion was the ghost of his daughter, Miranda, who had died when she was three.

Years later he became involved with the Fletcher Correctional Players, a literature and theatre group in the local prison which operated for three months each year. This allowed Felix to once again follow his love of directing plays and encourage the inmates to use their talents to create an annual theatre production. When Felix decided to make the fourth production The Tempest he discovered the opportunity to gain revenge for the way he had been treated by colleagues in the past. 

Margaret Atwood appears to enjoy this opportunity to retell Shakespeare's play as a novel providing her with the opportunity to create a collection of humorous characters who not only reenact the play but also help Felix to eventually gain revenge on those who ruined his career many years earlier. Although this is a story of revenge it is also a story of moving on and hope.

Hag-Seed review - Literary Treats

Hag-Seed review - Readers High Tea

Hag-Seed review - The Guardian

Hag-Seed analysis - Art of Smart  

Hag-Seed study guide - Lit Charts 

The Sunbaker

When Nicola Fox visits her holiday house at Brunswick Heads she does not expect to find a dead body sunbaking near the pool. So begins this crime romp, The Sunbaker, written by P A Thomas. Nicola contacts a local journalist, Jack Harris, to help her. Police seem to think she is a suspect even though she has only just arrived at the house after driving from Newcastle where she works as a forensic pathologist.

Initially the local police investigate the murder but then an organised crime unit arrives from Sydney to take over the case. Suspicion soon arises among the locals that there is more to this case than first appears. Could there be a police cover-up and if so, why? Jack and Rick undertake their own investigation using methods not necessarily approved of by the authorities. They are assisted by Caitlin, a lawyer friend of Jack. 

P A Thomas has written an amusing crime novel with many twists and turns. Readers of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich will enjoy reading this book.

Broke Road

A woman has been found dead in her home in the Hunter Valley and Detective Sergeant Rose Riley has been sent to investigate. Riley is familiar with the area as she spent her childhood on her parents' farm in the region. Constable Priya Patel joins her in the investigation along with local detective Senior Constable Christian Rodrigues. It is not long before journalist and author Adam Bowman, who wrote a book about a previous investigation undertaken by Riley, also unofficially joins the team.

 Broke Road is the second novel written by former journalist Matthew Spencer about Rose Riley and a murder case she is investigating. Once again he has produced a fast paced crime procedural following the investigation which becomes more complicated when it is realised that similar murders have occurred in Canberra and Adelaide, suggesting a serial killer. Once again an Australian crime novel that keeps the reader guessing to the end as the detectives strive to discover the perpetrator and prove their case. They also uncover other crimes during the investigation.

Last Orders

Hamish warns DCI Jim Daley and his wife, Liz, not to go to London, but they go anyway. Then Brian Scott receives a phone call that Daley has murdered his wife. Brian knows that it is a set up but how can the truth be proved?

Last Orders by Scottish author, Denzil Meyrick, is the twelfth and last book in the DCI Daley series. It is the gripping story of  a crime of revenge against Jim Daley as payback for a death that occurred in Glasgow in 1977. Complicating matters is the realisation that corruption in a segment of the police force is hindering Brian's attempts to discover the truth. Who can be trusted?

Like the other books in this series, the strength of the novel is in the portrayal of the life of the main characters, plus their families and friends, as they endeavour to carry out their role of investigating crime. Although they are very much character driven novels, the reader is soon swept up in the solving of the crimes being investigated.

Denzil Meyrick died in February 2025, shortly before the publication of this book. Since discovering his DCI Daley series in 2018, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the books in this series as well as other books by Denzil Meyrick.

Denzil Meyrick 1965-1925

Scottish crime writer, Denzil Meyrick, was born in Glasgow on 28 November 1965. His early life was spent in Campbeltown on the shores of the Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre Peninsula. After studying politics at university he became a police officer, then a freelance journalist and later a director of several companies. He then dedicated his time to writing crime novels set in Scotland, particularly the twelve books in the DCI Daley series. Denzil Meyrick died on 14 February 2025.

DCI Daley series: 

Whisky From Small Glasses

The Last Witness 

Dark Suits and Sad Songs

The Rat Stone Serenade

Well of the Winds

The Relentless Tide

A Breath on Dying Embers

Jeremiah's Bell 

For Any Other Truth

The Death of Remembrance

No Sweet Sorrow

Last Orders 

DCI Daley Series Prequels: 

Single End: a DC Daley story - (a DCI Daley Prequel)

Dalintober Moon: a DCI Daley story

One Two Three: a DCI Daley prequel 

Other novels:

The Christmas Stocking Murders

Murder at Holly House 

Terms of Restitution

The Estate

Short Stories:

Kinloch Tales: the collected stories

Ghosts in the Gloaming: a tale from Kinloch (also published in the Kinloch Tales)

One Last Dram Before Midnight

A Toast to the Old Stones: a tale from Kinloch (also published in the Kinloch Tales)

A Large Measure of Snow: a tale from Kinloch  (also published in the Kinloch Tales)

Empty Nets and Promises: a Kinloch Novella 

Denzil Meyrick - Home Page

Denzil Meyrick - Wikipedia

Your Friend and Mine

Margot is very surprised when she receives a message from her former friend, Tess, especially as Tess has been dead for many years. When she knew that she was dying from cancer Tess had left instructions with her solicitor to contact Margot and her step-brother, Leo, twenty years after her death. Tess wanted Margot to come to London for a holiday, something that had been planned many years previously but never eventuated.

Margot and her partner own a busy restaurant which Tess is reluctant to leave, but she eventually sets off to London to discover what Tess had planned. Leo is also reluctant to embark on his step-sister's scheme but soon finds himself involved in the projects that Tess has set for them to do. Before long Margot and Leo learn more about Tess and also have the opportunity to reflect on their own lives and changes that they might make.

Your Friend and Mine by Australian author Jessica Dettmann is a book about relationships, past and present. Margot and Leo learn much more about the life of their former friend and sister as well as forming a better understanding of past decisions they have made. It is a book about friendship and hope for a different, positive future.

A Devil's Share

The death of  a guide at a whisky tasting at the Durie family's whisky distillery leads to Duncan Bone and his team helping to uncover a web of crime and corruption including drug smuggling plus a family feud. The team works with other departments of the Scottish police to solve the serious crime-wave they have uncovered. Also working with the team on this case is Detective Superintendent Laverty who will replace Duncan's boss when he retires. She is determined to get to know how the team works before she formally takes charge.

There is always danger in police work but when investigating a drug smuggling crime syndicate the danger is magnified. With two team members out of action there is additional pressure for the team as they assist with this case. Duncan also needs to discover who the man with the red hair is who has been following him and damaging his property. 

A Devil's Share by T G Reid is book 8 in the DCI Duncan Bone series. All the books in this series are crime stories that make you just want to keep reading as the plot is revealed. This book even more so. I will now have to wait until next year until the next installment is published and the story continues. 

Burn It All Down

Book seven in the DCI Duncan Bone series by T G Reid is Burn It All Down. This time Duncan Bone and his team investigate the death of a doctor whose body is discovered in his burnt out house. The doctor's wife has also disappeared. A message left on the fence suggests that this death is an act of revenge. When an ambulance worker is found badly injured by a burnt out truck it appears that the medical profession is being targeted.

The horror of the fires reignites the fears haunting DCI Bone making the investigation more challenging as he fights to control his PTSD. Like the other books in this series, Burn It All Down is not just a gripping account of crime to be solved but also describes the relationship between members of the investigation team, including often amusing banter, as they strive to solve the case.

Night Comes Falling

Earlier this year I borrowed and read the first five books in the DCI Duncan Bone series by Scottish author, T G Reid. I then put in a Suggested Purchase for the next three books in the series which arrived together for me this week. Consequently I have been enjoying binge reading Scottish crime books for the past few days.

When a body is found on an isolated road it is first thought it was the result of a hit and run incident. However it soon becomes obvious that this was a murder. Duncan Bone and his Rural Crime team soon discover that there are many suspects who may have committed the crime, especially as it is revealed that the victim was a womaniser. The investigation becomes more complicated as there may be a connection with murders that occurred forty years previously. Then another body is discovered. It is obvious that the team needs to move quickly to solve the crimes.

Night Comes Falling by T G Reid is book six in the DCI Duncan Bone series. Once again this is a fast moving crime thriller that keeps the reader guessing about who committed the crime. 

Unsettled: a journey through time and space

Included in the books written by Australian author Kate Grenville are a number of historical fiction novels where sometimes the main characters are members of her family. Her family history in Australia goes back to convict times so many generations of her family have lived in this country. In Unsettled: a journey through time and place, Kate Grenville analyses her family story by exploring the areas where family members once lived and examining their possible relationships with the land that was their home and with the indigenous people who originally lived in the bush but is now an area of largely non-indigenous settlement.

On this road trip of discovery the author travels through parts of New South Wales where members of her family lived. She discovers that some had had encounters with indigenous Australians though for most there is no proof. However, stories of events were often covered up. Kate Grenville contemplates what it must have been like for the indigenous people to have to change their way of life when Europeans arrived in their country. She also reflects on the challenges faced by people like her ancestors attempting to make a new life in a strange land.

There is no easy solution to rectifying events of the past. At the end of the book she visits the memorial at Myall Creek where a terrible massacre of indigenous people occurred in 1838. In 2000, a plaque was unveiled at the site of the massacre. The plaque read:

In memory of the Wirrayaraay people who were murdered on the slopes of this ridge in an unprovoked but premeditated act in the late afternoon of 10 June 1838. Erected on 10 June 2000 by a group of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians in an act of reconciliation, and in acknowledgment of the truth of our shared history. We Remember them (Ngiyani winangay ganunga).

 Kate Grenville left the site with the belief that although we cannot undo what has been done, hopefully indigenous and non-indigenous people can work together in a spirit of reconciliation to create a better future for all. This is a book that all Australians should read and contemplate.

National Heritage Places - Myall Creek Massacre 

Strangers in Time

World War II and the Germans are bombing London. At the beginning of the war Molly Wakefield was one of the children evacuated from London to country areas. Now fifteen, Molly has returned home to discover that her parents are no longer there. Molly's former nanny still lives in the house and provides Molly with some information about her parents but she obviously needs to know more. Molly then meets thirteen year old Charlie Matters, an orphan trying to survive on the streets of London. It is when they meet Ignatius Oliver, the owner of a book shop The Book Keep, that they begin to encounter a little stability in a time of chaos. However surviving in London in 1944 is not easy, especially for those with additional personal challenges.

Strangers in Time by David Baldacci provides a vivid overview of living in London as the bombs still fall on the city some nights. Parts of the city, including Molly's house, have been destroyed. Ignatius is an air-raid warden so he experiences the devastation of the falling bombs as he tries to persuade Londoners to take appropriate shelter. The only way for Charlie, Molly and Ignatius to survive is to work together and support each other. The three also work together to find the answers to questions relating to their family story.

Vaccine Nation: science, reason and the threat to 200 years of progress

Vaccine Nation by Raina MacIntyre investigates the progress in the provision of vaccinations for a variety diseases since a vaccine was initially used to prevent smallpox in the 1880s. During the 1950s vaccines were first used to prevent polio in Australia. Since then many diseases including measles, mumps, chicken pox, rubella, whooping cough, tetanus, tuberculosis and diphtheria have been controlled via vaccination. Research into influenza prevention began after the Spanish Flu pandemic between 1918 and 1920. Vaccinations are also available to limit pneumonia and more recently COVID-19 and its varieties. 

Although Australians have generally accepted the need for vaccination, especially for childhood diseases, since our recent experience with COVID-19 there has been a growing increase in the anti-vax movement, not just against COVID-19 but against vaccinations in general. The use of social media has been responsible for the spread much of the anti-vax information.

In May each year my husband and I have the annual flu injection plus the latest injection against recent COVID-19 variations. I have just had the first in the series of the new Shingles vaccine - having had the disease three times I am happy to try something that may prevent me getting the disease again or at least limit its effects. I am having the second injection later this year. Meanwhile my husband and I will have the update to the pneumonia injection that we had many years ago. Family history research has shown that we each had a grandfather who died from pneumonia, before the availability of penicillin to treat the disease and vaccine availability.

Australians queued up for the initial injections to control COVID-19, particularly in order for the country to go back to normal. The initial injections were compulsory, especially as so many had died or remained ill. It was imperative to at least slow the spread of the disease. Professor MacIntyre discusses present government policies restricting free vaccination to young people and older citizens. However local pharmacies can give some injections to other sectors of the population. She also discusses new research that may assist in the treatment of some cancers or even heart disease in the future.

Meanwhile progress in preventing and treating illness via vaccination will only work if Australians work together to create an environment where it is accepted that vaccination against disease not only helps individuals but the community as a whole. Vaccination Nation is an interesting and informative study of the acceptance of vaccination against disease as part of our general health.  

Tea and Cake and Death

In Tea and Cake and Death, the second book in the Bookshop Detective Series, Gareth and Louise Ward have written another cosy crime story about two former police officers who, although they are now bookshop owners, still find crimes to solve in their neighbourhood.

Garth and Eloise, with the assistance of their dog Stevie, are constantly involved in community book groups and promotions including the big annual event - The Battle of the Book Clubs - which they organise as a fundraiser for a group looking after people with cancer. All goes well until a month before the event when a member of the community is poisoned at a book event. Several other readers follow the same fate. 

When the bookshop owners investigate they discover a link with similar deaths in 2016. They also suspect that these attacks may be directed at them and relate to an arrest made in England before they left the police force and moved to New Zealand. As the day of the Battle of the Book Clubs approaches it is imperative that they discover the perpetrator of these crimes.