The governor's house by J. H. Fletcher

At nearly 500p., this book will stop you doing the ironing for a fair while as you follow the rises and falls in love and fortune of Cat Haggard who was wrongly convicted of a crime and transported to Australia. Over time, and with great risks, she builds a business empire in Van Diemen's Land.

Her current day descendant, Joanne, is tasked with unravelling a mystery Cat left behind but will she be able to decipher a coded notebook? This book reminded me of Judy Nunn's The tiger men' with characters braving adversity to achieve their goals.

Citation: Fletcher, J H The governor's house North Sydney: Harlequin Mira, 2015.

9781743692691

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The long con by Barry Weston

The slightly dodgy Frank Cousins, an ex-Queensland cop turned private investigator, provides an entertaining life for us to ride along with. The owner and sole employer of the Tasmanian Private Investigation Agency cannot seem to stop getting in over his head.

Humour, pathos and a good dose of common sense (courtesy of Frank's old mum and dad) kept me wanting more, and I look forward to more in the Tasmanian Private Investigation Agency series.


Citation: Weston, Barry The long con Bittern, Vic: Clan Destine, 2016.

ISBN: 9780994261960

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The chocolate promise by Josephine Moon

If you are after a light 'chicklit' read, with lots about chocolate, then this is the book for you! (Fans of Livia Day's 'Cafe la femme' series should definitely try it.)

Christmas Livingstone, owner of 'The Chocolate Apothecary' store at Evandale, tempers chocolate and makes her own handmade delicacies. As a sideline she acts as fairy godmother to fulfill others' greatest wishes.

Her life seems complete until Lincoln van Luc, a tall, dishevelled botanist, seeks her help to bring his story of a rare cacao plant from Ecuador to life. Can she do this as well as undertake the scholarship to France she has won to study with world-renowned chocolatier, Maitre Le Coutre, and cope with the antics of her extended family?

Citation: Moon, Josephine The chocolate promise Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 2015.

ISBN: 978 1 74331 800 3

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Bay of Fires by Poppy Gee

 

A tranquil summer holiday spot on Tasmania's east coast has it's peace shattered when a  young woman is found dead just twelve months after another girl went missing. Gee interweaves the lives of her characters bringing their alliances and disputes to a simmering tension in the hot summer.

 

Sarah Avery is escaping failure in her relationship and her work and becomes obsessed with the girls' fates. Journalist Hall Flynn tackles the task of making sense of the story strands, while also trying to develop an understanding with Sarah.

 

Poppy Gee's first novel builds the suspense and tension as different groups propose suspects and start taking the law into their own  hands.

 

Citation: Gee, Poppy  Bay of Fires London : Headline, 2013.

 

ISBN: 978 0 7553 8784 7

 

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Poppy Gee's website

 

Bloodlust by Nick Bleszynski

This novelisation of true events depicts a chilling tale of convict life in early Tasmania. Bleszynski creates a strong sense of Pearce's amazing exploits through the 'discovery' of his written memoirs at the remains of Sarah Island penal colony by a rich young American, Daniel Ruth, thirty years after Pearce's death.

 

With a mixture of action, and Pearce's reflections before he heads to the gallows, readers are drawn into an engrossing portrayal of a brutal penal colony and harsh landscape, and the lengths to which people go to survive.

Citation: Bleszynski, Nick  Bloodlust : the unsavoury tale of Alexander Pearce, the convict cannibal  North Sydney : William Heinemann, 2008.

ISBN: 978 1 74166 700 4  387p.

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Poet's cottage by Josephine Pennicott

In a blend of family saga and murder mystery, Josephine Pennicott's novel entwines the modern day tale of Sadie's return to her haunted family home with the murder of her notorious grandmother, Pearl, at Poet's Cottage in Pencubitt, Tasmania in the 1930's.

At times the author creates a quite chilling and foreboding atmosphere, and ghostly characters increase the feeling of suspense. The varying portrayals of the controversial Pearl by different family members and acquaintances challenge Sadie to discover the real events surrounding Pearl's death and restore the strained family relationships.

Citation: Pennicott, Josephine Poet's cottage Sydney : Pan Macmillan, 2012.

ISBN: 978 1 7426 1089 4  371p.

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The butterfly man by Heather Rose

We all have secrets, but Henry Kennedy's are bigger than most. As his brain cancer takes hold and dementia increases, how will he keep up his assumed identity? Heather Rose creates a compelling story around the possibility that potential murderer, Lord Lucan, escaped from England and settled in Tasmania.

 

Is not telling the whole truth the same as lying? As Henry's life starts to unravel, he discovers that his partner Lili has secrets of her own. Her estranged daughter, Suki, suddenly appears with her son, Charlie, which creates a complex family dynamic.

 

Rose's sympathetic portrayal of Henry's situation is very moving and her characters and their emotions are realistically drawn.

Citation: Rose, Heather The butterfly man St Lucia: UQP, 2005.

ISBN: 0 7022 3535 0  317p.

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Tears over the Kimberleys by Lance C. Wilson

If you are looking for a rollicking, lusty tale of outback life, then this is the book for you. While working as a shearer, AJ meets Sky, a beautiful part-aboriginal girl and it is through a misunderstanding that they lose touch. In time he meets and marries the wealthy, spoiled and spirited Prudence.

 

On his way to fight in Vietnam, the planeload of soldiers stops over in Darwin where he reconnects with Sky and learns he is a father. Amazingly, Sky and Prudence become firm friends and together operate the 'Big Sky' cattle station in the Kimberleys while waiting for AJ's return.

 

Lance Wilson's tale is certainly raunchy at some stages but is predominantly the story of a family enduring and thriving in the Australian outback and rural Tasmania. AJ, Sky and Prudence are down-to-earth characters and are supported in their journeys through life by a large cast of colourful hangers on.

 

Citation: Wilson, Lance C. Tears over the Kimberleys [n.p.] : Kimberley Cottage Press, c2007.

 

ISBN: 978 0 9775505 2 4  228p.

 

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Lance C. Wilson's website

The hunter by Julia Leigh

Deception is the central theme in Julia Leigh's slim novel. Even her main character, the hunter Martin David ("M"), has an assumed name and he conducts his secret quest to obtain the DNA of the last Tasmanian tiger (thylacine) for a multinational biotechnology company under the pretence of being an environmental researcher.

 

The story is portrayed mainly through M's thoughts and perceptions. His encounters with Sass and Bike, the young children of the family with whom he is boarding add another layer of complexity as their environmentalist father went missing in the area of Tasmanian bush where M is searching for the tiger. Sass desperately wants M to return with some positive news of her father.

 

There are some very quirky minor local characters who provide a foil to M, and the sometimes bleak Tasmanian bush adds its own haunting atmosphere. This powerful novel raises questions of ethics about many of the activities which occur in guise of progress.

 

In 2011, the movie version of The hunter was released starring Willem Dafoe as the central character, M. It was filmed in Tasmania.

 

Citation: Leigh, Julia The hunter  Ringwood, Victoria : Penguin, 1999.

0 14 028351 X  170p.

 

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The roving party by Rohan Wilson

It is hard for us to imagine the roving parties that went out looking for aborigines to kill for bounty payments. It is even more difficult to understand the motivation of an aboriginal tracker, Black Bill, participating in these under John Batman's leadership.

But Rohan Wilson draws his readers in with his stark portrayal of free men, convicts and trackers who each have private motivations for undertaking this brutal task: money, freedom, and personal revenge. 

 

Citaton: Wilson, Rohan The roving party Sydney : Allen & Unwin, 2011.

ISBN: 978 1 74237 653 0  282p.

 

Winner of the Australian/Vogel Literary Award in 2011

 

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A child's book of true crime by Chloe Hooper

In this psychological mystery, Kate Byrne is having an affair with the father of Lucien, one of her young students. A peaceful rural setting belies the foreboding just below the surface of the local community.

 A decade earlier,  a young adulteress had been murdered, and this episode is related in "Murder at Black Swan Point", a book by the wife of Kate's lover.

 

As Kate becomes more obsessed by the crime which mirrors her own situation, even her lover's forays into the erotic do nothing to bring home the reality of her situation, and the effect it is having on her place in the small town society.

  

Citation: Hooper, Chloe A child's book of true crime  Milsons Point, NSW : Random House Australia, 2002.

 

ISBN: 1 74051 208 1  238p.

 

 

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Tiger Men by Judy Nunn

Tiger Men is a sweeping family saga which brings to life several generations of the Stanfords, O'Callaghans and Powells who settle in Van Diemen's Land.

With a mix of former convicts and wealthier free men and women, Judy Nunn entwines their destinies from early convict days in Tasmania through to the battlefields of Gallipoli and France in World War 1.

The strong men and women fight for survival and to flourish in tough business and natural environments. Don't sit down with this compelling story if you are supposed to be doing the ironing!

Citation:  Nunn, Judy   Tiger men North Sydney : Random House Australia, 2011.

ISBN: 978 1 86471 218 6  620p.

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The betrayal by Y. A. Erskine

Yvette Erskine's second gritty crime novel with a Tasmanian police setting centres around young police constable Lucy Howard's claim of sexual assault by a fellow officer Nick Greaves.

 

In a tough, male dominated workforce, this is betrayal. As her case winds through the legal process she encounters firm supporters and brutal detractors. Favours are distributed and received involving all levels of the criminal justice system and government.

 

In this tense novel Lucy faces the grim truths of her situation, finds a tentative sense of resolve and comes to the realisation that sometime soon she will be yesterday's news and her work colleagues will move on to the latest juicy situation.

 

Citation: Erskine, Y. A. The betrayal  North Sydney : Random House Australia, 2012.

ISBN: 9781742750187 420p.

 

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