The Creeper

Ten years ago five people died while hiking in the mountains in north-east Victoria. Police officer Sally White has been alerted to increased public interest in the case caused by some of the media wanting interviews and the one survivor of the murdered group who plans to return to record a documentary with members of families of the victims. Her interest in the case increases when the brother of the man accused of the crime tells her he is undertaking his own investigations as he suspects that the police came to the wrong decision about the murderer.

As Sally investigates the cold case, she discovers that the members of the hiking group all had stories that had not been investigated as police at the time were convinced that they had the killer.

In The Creeper, Margaret Hickey has written another Australian crime thriller that, once started, readers will find difficult to put down until they have finished reading the book. As well as the descriptions of the inhabitants of Edenville, the mountains of the Victorian High Country are an important feature of this novel. Another excellent book by Margaret Hickey.  

The Creeper won the 2025 Ned Kelly Award - Best Crime Fiction.

Rock and Tempest: surviving Cyclone Tracy and its aftermath

In Australia we know that during the wet season cyclones strike northern Australia. Fortunately many cyclones reach land in unpopulated or sparsely populated areas but they can also cause havoc in coastal towns or cities. Cyclone Tracy arrived in Darwin on Christmas Day, 1974.

 In 1974, Patricia Collins was a Wran stationed in Darwin. Staff at the naval base knew that the storm was approaching but exactly where it would cross the land was not known until shortly before its arrival. Many people had left Darwin to celebrate Christmas with families further south, however those left quickly prepared for the arrival of the storm. The devastation was incredible with most of the city flattened by the cyclone. Most women and children left in Darwin were evacuated as soon as possible though the Wrans remained with other navy staff to assist in the cleanup. 

In Rock and Tempest, Patricia Collins recounts her experiences in Darwin at this time. She has also interviewed other people with whom she was working for their memories of that time. Together that paint a picture of the horrors encountered when Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin and the devastation caused by the storm when they were involved in the cleanup afterwards. The exact number of deaths due to the storm has been questioned. Figures for those who died varied from 66 to 71. Some people consider these figures to be low.

Christmas Day 2024 will be the the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy hitting the Australian coast. Rock and Tempest is a book that allows ordinary Australians to better understand what it was like being in Darwin at that time.

A Secret Garden in Paris

Several days exploring Paris, including a number of the large public parks and gardens, in 2011 proved to us that Paris is a special place. A Secret Garden in Paris, by Sophie Beaumont has captured the beauty and significance of the gardens and parks, including some of the smaller, often hidden public and private gardens in the city, as the novel reveals the interweaving stories of three women as they resolve relationship issues. 

Emma Taylor has come to Paris from Sydney to visit her grandmother, Mattie. Emma believes that her mother, Corrine, was going to tell Emma about her father but Corinne died before the story could be revealed. All Emma has is a photograph of her mother in a field which she hopes may lead to the discovery of the identity of her father.

Charlotte Marigny has made the journey to Paris from London where she works as a garden designer. French born Charlotte seeks solace in Paris as she takes time to consider complications that have arisen in her marriage.

Arielle Lunel lives in Paris and enjoys working in the flower market. Her husband died several years earlier and she is now rebuilding her life and looking after her twins. Then her parents-in-law arrive with a proposal to take and educate her children.

As Emma's grandfather's garden had been neglected since his death three years earlier, Emma decides to make this secret garden her project while she is visiting Paris. In the process she meets Charlotte and Arielle who provide assistance and encouragement as she restores the garden. A mutual friendship develops through their love of flowers and also as they help Emma with her family history search.

In A Secret Garden in Paris, Sophie Beaumont has shown gardens not only to be places of beauty and tranquility for all to enjoy but uses them as the setting for the characters to come to terms with problems and situations they are facing. Their involvement with gardens and flowers helps each of the women to find peace and solutions to the challenges of life and also makes it an enjoyable book to read.

Many thanks to Better Reading and Ultimo Press for a preview copy of this book.

Girl Falling

Finn and Daphne have been friends since school but, although a friendship of sorts continues, they have grown apart. Finn continues to live at home and has a job guiding people on walks in the mountains when she is not serving coffee in the local cafe. Daphne, however, has gone to University and is now working towards her PhD. They occasionally meet up when Daphne returns home but meanwhile Finn has made new friends, especially Magdu who studying psychology at university.

Finn and Daphne enjoy rock climbing and it is decided to invite Magdu to join them. Then Magdu falls. Is it suicide or is it an accident?

Told in the first person by Finn, we gradually learn of events that have occurred in the past as well as the current events. In Girl Falling, Hayley Scrivenor has produced a psychological thriller as past events defining the friendship between Finn and Daphne are gradually revealed. Descriptions of the landscape add to the build up of tension. This is a novel that should be read with few interruptions.

Fool me twice: two twisty mysteries

In Fool Me Twice, Benjamin Stevenson has written two 150 page suspense stories with a twist. Make sure that you allow time to read each story in one go.

Claudette has retired from the police force to work on a secret project for the FBI where she uses the internet to monitor social media sites used by young people suspected of planning to commit a crime. Then one day her two children do not come home. Her daughter's school bag is discovered near the school along with a sign on the footpath, written in blood, Find Us. For Claudette the nightmare begins as she and the police endeavour to discover the whereabouts of the children and to rescue them.

Then flip the book over to read the second story, Last One to Leave. Seven people, including Ryan, have been selected to enter a competition with the prize being an expensive house. The catch is that, when in the house, they must keep one hand permanently on a wall. Removing the hand eliminates the participant from the competition which has been organised by three young men who are filming the event for viewing on the internet. When one of the competitors dies mid-way through the competition Ryan endeavours to establish who is the murderer while continuing to keep the competition rules.

Both these stories keep the reader guessing until the end.

The Rising Down: lives in a Sussex Landscape

In The Rising Down, Alexandra Harris uses a variety of sources to examine the history of the county where she spent much of her life. She discovered that local records, inscriptions, plaques in churches, old books, census records, correspondence, newspaper reports, court documents plus the landscape can all provide clues to the lives of generations of people who lived in the region.

Alexandra Harris shows how even what may appear to be a small clue can lead to the discovery of another part of local history.  Local government records provide references to generations of families who lived in a house or village. Records also outline the affects of agricultural changes in the area on the local population resulting in many in the emigration of many families to Australia and Canada, often via emigration schemes devised to lessen the impact of the unemployed on the local community. Some of the inhabitants also went to Australia as convicts.

Another topic is the effect of the Second World War on the county with the threat of German aircraft dropping bombs, the arrival of troops training before going to France. A house where intelligence personnel stayed before going to or returning from France. Attempts made to protect the county from German invasion.

The author examines the works of artists and writers who lived in or spent time in the area for the influence of the county on their work. Her exploration uncovers many well known names including John Constable, William Cowper, William Blake, Virginia Woolf, Ford Madox Ford and Ivon Hitchens who lived in or visited part of Sussex. But it is often following clues about the lives of the local residents that can lead to discoveries of local history significance. She was often surprised when her discoveries took her to places or objects that she had known as a child but never properly examined.

Although I found many of her local discoveries about Sussex interesting, I was particularly interested in the research patterns used to find the information. This book about the significance of local history in Sussex should inspire many interested in local and family history to carefully examine clues that might help explain the lives of  people from the past and the communities where they lived.

The Turn of Midnight

Towards the end of 1348 in many parts of Dorsetshire the Black Death still prevails. There have been thousands of deaths throughout England but some communities have remained relatively safe due to enforced isolation and the introduction of hygiene measures. Develish, managed by Lady Anne, is one such community.

Although the people of Develish are safe they will shortly run out of supplies of food so several of the men form a party to bring back much needed supplies to the community. They had already investigated the fate of neighbouring villages so had a good idea where they could locate supplies of wheat as well as herds of sheep. 

Thaddeus Thurkell and Lady Anne hoped to purchase the neighbouring deserted demense of Pedle Hinton and eventually merge the two communities. When Thaddeus, masquerading as Lady Anne's cousin, was betrayed by a former Develish employee, Lady Anne left Develish to intercede on Thaddeus' behalf.

Minette Walters is primarily known as a crime writer so throughout this medieval world faced with destruction that she has created, there is growing tension as this second book in the series reaches its climax. The roles of the gentry versus their serfs, the ability of serfs to earn their freedom, the belief of male superiority over women, the importance of literacy for all, the role of the clergy to impose their views on the rest of the community and the consequences when challenged are some of the themes covered in this two book series.

The Turn of Midnight (published 2018) by Minette Walters is the sequel to The Last Hours (published 2017). They were therefore written shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world.