Devour – L. A. Larkin

2016 Constable Review by Hazel Edwards Synopsis Their greatest fear was contaminating an ancient Antarctic lake, buried beneath the ice for millions of years. They little knew the catastrophe they were about to unleash. Welcome to the high octane world of Olivia Wolfe. As an investigative journalist, Wolfe lives her life in constant peril. Hunted …

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Dark Fires Shall Burn – Anna Westbrook

Scribe Australia 2016 Review by Kerry James. Synopsis Sydney, 1946. Eleven-year-old Frances and her best friend, Nancy, are growing up in the doglegged streets of Newtown and into a world they do not understand. It is the aftermath of World War II, and thousands of damaged soldiers have returned to their homes, bearing the psychological …

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Dead Men Don’t Order Flake – Sue Williams

Text Publishing 2016 Reviewed by Kerry James Synopsis On the night Leo Stone returns—notionally from the dead, in reality from the Democratic Republic of the Congo—Cass Tuplin gets a call from Gary Kellett. A call about an actual dead person: Gary’s daughter, killed in a car crash. Gary’s adamant it wasn’t an accident. Cass agrees …

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Into the Water – Hawkins, Paula

Penguin Random House 2017 Reveiwer: Sue Turnbull Synopsis A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its …

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Perfect Remains – Helen Fields

Avon 2017 Reviewer: Celia Jelbart Synopsis On a remote Highland mountain, the body of Elaine Buxton is burning. All that will be left to identify the respected lawyer are her teeth and a fragment of clothing. In the concealed back room of a house in Edinburgh, the real Elaine Buxton screams into the darkness Detective …

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Sacrifice – Hanna Winter

Manilla Allen and Unwin English translation: Ruth Ahmedzai Reviewer: Lesley Vick Synopsis For now she is the hunter, but soon she will become the hunted. Criminal psychologist Lena Peters is asked to consult on a spate of gruesome murders that the Berlin police are struggling to solve. Young women, abducted tortured and mutilated. This is …

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Behind Her Eyes – Sarah Pinborough

  HarperCollins 2017 Reviewer : Lesley Vick Synopsis Since her husband walked out, Louise has made her son her world, supporting them both with her part-time job. But all that changes when she meets David. Young, successful and charming – Louise cannot believe a man like him would look at her twice, let alone be …

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All the Missing Girls – Megan Miranda

  Corvus 2016 Reviewer: Lesley Vick Synopsis It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared without trace. Then a letter from her father arrives – ‘I need to talk to you. That girl. I saw that girl’. Has her father’s dementia worsened, or has he really …

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The Hidden Hours – Sara Foster

Simon & Schuster 2017 Reviewed by Sandra Nicholson Synopsis: Arabella Lane, senior executive at a children’s publisher, is found dead in the Thames on a frosty winter’s morning after the office Christmas party. No one is sure whether she jumped or was pushed. The one person who may know the truth is the newest employee …

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Let the Dead Speak – Jane Casey

Harper Collins 2017 Reviewer: Celia Jelbart Synopsis Eighteen-year-old Chloe Emery returns to her West London home one day to find the house covered in blood and Kate, her mother, gone. There may not be a body, but everything else points to murder. Maeve Kerrigan is young, ambitious and determined to prove she’s up to her …

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