Nash Falls

Walter Nash, a successful executive in a large firm, lives with his wife and daughter in a luxurious house. But there are problems in his past, particularly his relationship with his father. After his father dies Walter learns more about his father's life since returning from the war in Vietnam and meets some of his father's friends. Walter also encounters the FBI when one of their agents approaches him about him helping them investigate staff in the company he works for. His settled life is turned upside down when his daughter is kidnapped and reports are circulated that Walter is responsible. A friend of Walter's father helps him to change his appearance and to prepare himself for revenge.

Nash Falls by David Baldacci is an intense crime thriller with an ending indicating that this is just the beginning of Nash's story which continues in the book, Hope Rises.

The Midnight Train

It is 1974 and Wilbur Budd and his wife, Maggie, are enjoying their honeymoon in Venice. As they explore the waterways of this city Wilbur briefly senses that there is another presence that looks exactly like him nearby. He looks away but then returns his attention to Maggie. Fifty-two years later, when Walter is 81, he dies. He has had a successful life in business building up a chain of bookshops but there have also been mistakes, especially in his relationship with Maggie.

At midnight the ghost of Walter finds himself boarding the Midnight Train which is a replica of a toy train he owned when a child. Aboard the train he encounters the ghost of Mrs Agnes Deborah Amaryllis Bagdale, the former owner of Bagdale's Bookshop which he loved visiting when a child. Agnes explains to him about the voyage he is about to take reviewing his past life. At times the train will travel quickly through time while at other times the train will stop so that he can have a closer look at previous events in his life. Wilbur is warned not to try and communicate with the people he sees and definitely not to try and change events. 

But halfway through the voyage Wilbur the ghost decides that he has to defy this instruction. He needs to warn the young Wilbur, who he is observing via the voyage on the Midnight Train, of mistakes that he made in his previous existence, especially in regard to relationships.

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig provides a sympathetic look at the problems that can be caused when a person is so focused on creating a successful business life for himself and his family that he neglects to see that he is destroying family relationships. The ghost Wilbur hopes that he is able to help his younger self avoid the mistakes that he made.

Like The Midnight Library, also written by Matt Haig, The  Midnight Train is also a book worth reading.

The Model Murder

The Tea Ladies reunite with many mysteries to solve in The Model Murder by Amanda Hampson. The book is set in Sydney in 1968 and when the tea ladies have their regular lunchtime meetings there is much to discuss, especially as they learn of murder of the Colin Cox in a nearby lane and the disappearance of his fiancee. Hazel decides that there is a cover-up and that the ladies should investigate. There are also other issues to investigate. Then when Irene discovers that a friend has been swindled she decides to find the culprit and get the money back. 

Meanwhile Merle learns that her presumed dead husband is about to visit her and their daughters and Betty decides to join the local drama group and learns new skills, useful in investigations. Hazel also learns that the clothing firm where she used to work is about to go out of business and she joins a group determined to restructure and jointly run the company. The Tea Ladies become very busy.

The Model Murder is the fourth book in the Tea Ladies Mystery series and once again takes the reader on an amusing adventure as these elderly ladies attempt to solve any challenges that they encounter. In the background we are reminded of life in Sydney in the late 1960s including the protest marches against conscription and Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War.

The Last of the Apple Blossom

7 February 1967 and bushfires ravage the area near Hobart. Catherine rushes home to check on her family and their orchard only to found their house and much of the orchard destroyed and her brother missing. Understandably her parents are devastated and Catherine makes the decision to give up her job as a teacher to assist her father restore the family apple orchard.

Catherine's friend, Annie, lives on the adjoining property with her husband Dave and their six children. Dave's friend, Mark, and his son, Charlie, also live on the property. Annie's house is OK but the fire has left other challenges for the family.

The Last of the Apple Blossom by Mary-Lou Stephens is the story of families trying to maintain a living on their properties in challenging times.  Throughout the book the author reminds the reader of challenges faced by Tasmanians, especially the orchardists and how adjustments needed to be made. England joining the European Common Market in 1972 was the last straw for many of the orchardists trying to grow and promote apples for which the island was famous. Changes needed to be made by those continuing to be involved in the apple industry plus the need to diversify. 

The affects of these changes on the lives of the orchardists and their families and friends is  a focus of a historical fiction novel that also explores the effects that secrets and lies have on those trying to survive in difficult times.

After Oscar: the legacy of a scandal

After Oscar: the legacy of a scandal is a detailed study of the attitude of scholars and the public to Oscar Wilde and his works after his death in 1900. The book is written by Oscar Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland, in order to refute the myths that surround the life and work of Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wild's mother changed the family name for herself and her to sons to Holland to protect them from public view. The book examines what life is like living in the shadow of an infamous writer and the difficulties encountered when your family story encounters fantasy created by other people.

Sections of the book include the time-frame 1897 when Wilde was released from prison until his death in 1900, then 1900-1918, 1918-1945, 1945-1967 and 1968-2024. The theme of society's attitudes to homosexuality over this period is outlined. The author looks at how his grandfather has been portrayed in the writing of others as well as in film. It is a long detailed work which I only looked at briefly, largely through lack of time to read it properly. There are detailed footnotes, bibliography and index as well as a section of photographs.

Mad Mabel

At 81 Elsie Fitzpatrick lives in her own home in a quiet lane in a Melbourne inner suburb. Elsie lives a quiet life but that is about to change when an elderly neighbour suddenly dies and Elsie discovers his body. We then learn that Elsie has a past which she has been hiding but, when events bring the stories of this past to the surface, the stories of Mad Mabel resurface and begin to haunt her again.

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth is Elsie's story of the past as well as the present day. As stories about Elsie's past begin to explode she decides to tell her story to two podcasters, Libby and Adeem, who arrive on her doorstep one day. Elsie decides that it is time that the truth about her past should be revealed.

Mad Mabel is a novel about relationships, especially the relationship that gradually develops between Elsie and her seven year old neighbour, Persephone. She also reluctantly adopts the dog of the neighbour who died or the dog adopts her. Those neighbours who initially shunned Elsie, due primarily to incorrect stories they have heard, come to realise her strengths and humanity.

The Drowning

CC was an only child and her best memories were the holidays she spent as a child with her cousins at a holiday house on the Victorian coast. A reunion of the cousins has been organised at The Shack to discuss the wills left by the cousins' father and grandfather. Although CC knows that she is to be a co-owner of the holiday house she does not expect the animosity shown to her by most of the cousins when the decision is official.

The Drowning by Fiona Lowe is about the complex relationships in a dysfunctional family. CC soon realises that some of the family object to her inclusion in the partnership and will work to have the legal decision over-ruled. She also discovers that involvement in this family is not what she had imagined as a child. As events unfold, CC realises that she needs help to sort out the complexities of her life and to work out who her friends really are and how she wants to lead her life. 

The Prospect

The Prospect by Fleur McDonald is her first crime novel set in Kalgoorlie. A journalist, Zara Ellison, and policeman, Jack Higgins have moved to Kalgoorlie from Adelaide as Zara has a job at the local newspaper. Jack has had to do additional training and work as a constable rather than the position of detective that he held in Adelaide, however shortly after his arrival in Kalgoorlie he is asked to join the detectives working on a new case. Jack and Zara both have to adapt to working  and living in a gold mining town. Meanwhile the newspaper where she is working is about to close down although Zara is certain that there are lots of stories in town to investigate.  

On an isolated stretch of road out of town, a car towing a caravan is forced off the road and the two occupants are found dead. Zara is the first person on the scene and is determined to find out what happened. Jack, of course, is also working on the case but is unable to provide her with any information. She therefore has to make her own investigations. Unfortunately these investigations pose a risk to her life.

An exciting well written crime novel embroiled in outback Western Australia.

The Missing

During Missing Persons Week sixteen year old Max Galbraith disappears from his home in Kalgoorlie. Twelve months earlier Brendan Cook had also disappeared and was still missing. Lily Carter, a radio host, starts asking questions about the disappearances on her program.

Detective Jack Higgins has remained in Kalgoorlie while his partner Zara Ellison returned to Adelaide to recover from injuries she received when investigating a story. Jack has yet to decide what his future will be. Detective Sergeant Angie Sullivan has recently arrived in Kalgoorlie from Perth and is adjusting to her new environment. Angie and Jack combine forces to find out what happened to the missing boys. Did the boys leave of their own accord or were they abducted? Surrounded by desert and mine shafts, the boys could be anywhere. Then Bree also disappears.

The Missing by Fleur McDonald is the second book she has set in Kalgoorlie and like The Prospect and The Witness, there are graphic descriptions of Kalgoorlie and the surrounding area. The personal lives and challenges faced by the characters are important features of the books. In The Missing the life and challenges faced by Smurf, a Vietnam veteran, are important to the novel.

The Witness

When she was five, Molly Walker watched the murder of her mother, Constable Sammi Walker, in Newcastle. Twenty years later the bodies of Eric and Iris, who had adopted Molly many years previously, were found in a wrecked car on a lonely country road near Kalgoorlie. Is there a connection or is it just coincidence? Detective Jack Higgins is put in charge of the investigation and is assisted by Detective Angie Sullivan, although she is officially on maternity leave, plus other members of his team. 

As well as being a crime novel, the book looks at the challenges faced by young mothers looking after their baby, especially when the baby has sleep issues at night.  

The Witness by Fleur McDonald started slowly but improved as the investigation progressed, though I worked out the name of the person behind the deaths early in the book. This is the third book by Fleur McDonald set in the area around Kalgoorlie. 

The Wartime Book Club

During World War Two Germany invaded the Channel Islands including Jersey which is where Kate Thompson has set her historical fiction novel, The Wartime Book Club. Grace is determined to keep the library on the island open as reading books is one of the few avenues of escape for the residents of the island. Many people visit the library to read and or borrow books and Grace also regularly cycles to parts of the island delivering books to those who cannot easily visit the library themselves. Then the suggestion is made that Grace should establish a book club in the library. 

Grace's friend, Bea, works at the post office where she sorts the mail and makes deliveries each day. Through her job she becomes aware that the mail service is being used by some inhabitants of the island to report the possible misdemeanors of neighbours to the Germans. This is just one way some islanders place the lives of their neighbours in danger.

As the war drags on, life becomes more difficult for the locals living on an island where there are severe food shortages and their every move is watched by an enemy who becomes increasingly dangerous with the realisation that defeat is around the corner. 

The Wartime Book Club is one of several novels written about life on the Channel Islands during the Second World War. Other books include The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, Dancing with the Enemy by Diane Armstrong and The Girl from the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat. At the end of the novel Kate Thomson includes information about the sources used when writing the book plus events and people who inspired the creation of The Wartime Book Club.

Sound Mind Dead Body

Dave Warner is one of Australia's many well known writers of crime fiction. So far his novels have been set in Australia but in Sound Mind Dead Body, Dave Warner has altered course and set this Agatha Christie style mystery in an English country house in Devon.

During the First World War, Australian pilot, Fred Willets, rescued another pilot whose plane was shot down. The pilot did not survive but his father, Richard de Reve, was forever grateful to Fred for the attempt to save his son's life. Fred returned to Western Australia where he worked as a detective in the outback. Then in 1929 Fred was summoned to England for the reading of the will of Richard de Reve which included a bequest for him.

The de Reve family can be described as complicated. Fortunately a staff member has kept a copy of the family tree in her diary and the family tree plus plans of the house appear at the front of the book. Gradually we are introduced to the people invited to the family home for the reading of the will. As you would expect in an Agatha Christie style novel, it is not long before a series of crimes including a robbery and the discovery of two dead bodies occur.

The events occur at the weekend as a storm approaches so Fred is charged with the initial investigations. Assisting him is the local pharmacist, Prudence Meadows. It is obvious that the crimes were committed by someone in the house, but who and why?

Sound Mind Dead Body is an enjoyable cosy crime inviting the author to solve the mysteries. 

The Marriage Trap

During the 1960s there were many changes in attitudes to sexual relationships and the use of contraceptives.  The Marriage Trap by Victoria Purman is a novel exploring the relationship between Olive Langley and her daughters Cathy aged 20 in 1960 and Evelyn aged 10 as they encounter new attitudes and opportunities during the decade.

Olive, a member of the Catholic Church, had difficulty in accepting that attitudes were changing and her mother-in-law was never going to accept any attitudes that were different from her strict Methodist beliefs. So when Cathy, who was studying to be a teacher, became pregnant outside of marriage it was immediately decided by older family members that she should leave home until the baby was born and adopted by another family. However, Cathy and her partner Andy stood their ground and insisted that they would marry and keep their child, although it meant that Cathy would not be able to finish her studies and become a teacher if she was a mother.

The Marriage Trap in many ways provides a social history of the period as Cathy adapts to her new life as a mother. She gradually builds a new network of friends and learns of a method of contraception becoming available to help women control their fertility. However it is some years before the Pill becomes readily available and there are still doctors who will not prescribe it.

The story is told showing the lives of Olive and Cathy as well as Evelyn who observes what is happening around her and when she turns 20 knows how she wants to control her life.