Blood on the Rosary

Authors: Sue Smethurst and Margaret Harrod Publisher/Year: Simon & Schuster/2019 Publisher Blurb A heartfelt, brave and inspiring memoir about the power of speaking out A brave nun. Her twin brother. The secrets and lies that would tear them apart. There is a special bond that twins share, an ethereal connection that can’t be put into …

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The Lost Girls

Author: Jennifer Spence Publisher/Year: Simon & Schuster/2019 Publisher Blurb: A haunting tale of love and loss that will make you think twice. What would you do if you had the chance to change a pivotal moment from your past? How far would you go to save someone you loved? These are just two of the fateful …

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All Our Secrets

Author: Jennifer Lane Publisher/Year: Clan Destine Press/2019 Publisher Blurb A girl called Gracie. A town called Coongahoola – on the dark foreboding Bagooli River. Every small town has its secrets: good, bad, funny, sad – and sometimes terrifying. They’re mythologised and whispered-about by town gossips and other grown-ups until something happens to snap the past …

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Eight Lives

Author: Susan Hurley Publisher/Year: Affirm/2019 Publisher blurb A brilliant young doctor is dead … and someone has to take the blame. Former refugee David Tran becomes the Golden Boy of Australian medical research and invents a drug that could transform immunology. Eight volunteers are recruited for the first human trial, a crucial step on the …

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The Secret Art of Poisoning: The True Crimes of Martha Needle the Richmond Poisoner

Author: Dr Samantha Battams Publisher/Year: Samantha Battams/2019 Reviewer: Dr Pamela Schulz[1] This intriguing and well researched book is a tour de force for lovers of murder mysteries, courtroom dramas, history, sociology and intellectual rigour. It considers in detail the trials and tribulations of one Martha Needle who was accused of the murders of her husband, …

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The Flower Girls 

Author: Alice Clark-Platts Publisher/Year: Raven 2019 Publisher Blurb THREE CHILDREN WENT OUT TO PLAY. ONLY TWO CAME BACK. The Flower Girls. Laurel and Primrose. One convicted of murder, the other given a new identity. Now, nineteen years later, another child has gone missing. And the Flower Girls are about to hit the headlines all over …

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Into the Night

Author: Sarah Bailey Publisher/Year: Allen & Unwin, 2018 Publisher Blurb Sarah Bailey’s acclaimed debut novel The Dark Lake was a bestseller around the world and Bailey’s taut and suspenseful storytelling earned her fitting comparisons with Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins. Into the Night is her stunning new crime novel featuring the troubled and brilliant Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock. …

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All the Tears in China

Author: Sulari Gentill Publisher/Year: Pantera Press 2019 Publisher Blurb Shanghai in 1935 is a twentieth-century Babylon, an expatriate playground where fortunes are made and lost, where East and West collide, and the stakes include life itself. Into this, Rowland Sinclair arrives from Sydney to represent his brother at international wool negotiations. Rowland is under strict …

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A Necessary Murder

Author: M.J. Tjia Publisher/Year: Pantera/2019  Publisher Synopsis  Stoke Newington, 1863: Little Margaret Lovejoy is found brutally murdered in the outhouse of her family’s estate. A few days later, another victim is found on the doorstep of Eurasian courtesan and professional detective Heloise Chancey at her prestigious address. At the same time, Heloise’s mother, Amah Li …

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Death on the Derwent

Author: Robin Bowles Publisher/Year: Scribe/2019 Publisher Synopsis Don’t fool yourself that the innocent never go to jail. When Bob Chappell disappeared from his yacht, moored in the Derwent Estuary near the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s marina, on the night of 26 January 2009, he left behind his pipe and tobacco — something that his …

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