Force of Nature – Jane Harper

October 2017 Pan Macmillan Reviewer: Kate Jenkins   Synopsis Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along the muddy track. Only four come out the other side. The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and teach resilience and team …

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The One That Got Away – Caroline Overington

Harper Collins 2016 Reviewer: Kylie Kaden   Synopsis Loren Wynne- Estes appears to have it all: she’s the girl from the wrong side of the tracks who’s landed a handsome husband, a stunning home, a fleet of shiny cars and two beautiful daughters…. then one day a fellow parent taps Loren on the shoulder outside …

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Did you see Melody? – Sophie Hannah

 Hodder & Stoughton   2017 Reviewer:  Robyn Walton Synopsis Pushed to breaking point, Cara Burrows abandons her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can’t afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied – by a man …

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Goodwood – Holly Throsby

Allen and Unwin 2016 Reviewer: Josephine Pennicott Synopsis Goodwood is a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone. It’s a place where it’s impossible to keep a secret. In 1992, when Jean Brown is seventeen, a terrible thing happens. Two terrible things. Rosie White, the coolest girl in town, vanishes overnight. One week later, …

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The Lone Child – Anna George

2017, Viking Penguin Random House Australia Reviewer: Gabrielle Ryan. Synopsis Neve Ayres has always been so careful. Since her mother’s death when Neve was seven, she’s learned to look after herself and to keep her cards close. But now her deliberately constructed world has collapsed: her partner’s left her when she was eight months pregnant. …

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Crossing the Lines – Sulari Gentill

Pantera Press 2017 Reviewer: Robyn Walton   Synopsis When Madeleine d’Leon conjures Ned McGinnity as the hero in her latest crime novel, she makes him a serious writer simply because the irony of a protagonist who’d never lower himself to read the story in which he stars, amuses her. When Ned McGinnity creates Madeleine d’Leon, …

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Mayan Mendacity – L.J.M. Owen

Echo publishing 2016 Reviewers: Isobel Blackthorn and Cheryl Fairclough Synopsis Dr Elizabeth Pimms has a new puzzle. What is the story behind the tiny skeletons discovered on a Guatemalan island? And how do they relate to an ancient Mayan queen? The bones, along with other remains, are a gift for Elizabeth. But soon the giver …

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Fatal Mistake – Karen M. Davis

Simon & Schuster 2017 Reviewer: Kerry James Synopsis Detective Lexie Rogers is tough, smart and at the top of her game. She’s seen it all, from bikies, blood and betrayal to drugs, deviants and deception … and the violent knife attack that almost killed her as a young cop on the beat. Lexie’s sent on …

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The Twisted Knot – J.M. Peace

Pan Macmillan Australia 2016 Reviewer: Kerry James Synopsis fter her abduction and near death at the hands of a sadistic killer, Constable Samantha Willis is back in the uniform. Despite being on desk duty, rumours reach Sammi that someone in Angel’s Crossing has been hurting little girls, and before long a mob is gathering to …

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Hotel Du Barry – Lesley Truffle

Harper Collins 2016 Reviewer – Kerry James Synopsis When a laughing baby is found amongst the Hotel du Barry’s billowing sheets, tucked up in an expensive pair of ladies’ bloomers and neatly pegged to the laundry line, the hotel staff resolve to keep the child. The hotel’s owner, Daniel du Barry, still mourning the loss …

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