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

LINC Tasmania record for "The long con"
LINC Tasmania items by Barry Weston

Barry Weston's website.

Fatal impact by Kathryn Fox

After reading a review of this book in the newspaper, I was eagerly awaiting it's arrival via the library holds system and I was not disappointed. This is the first Dr. Anya Crichton book I have read and Kathryn Fox has delivered a tense thriller.

Anya is a forensic pathologist and while speaking at a conference in Hobart, an old woman pleads with her for assistance to find her daughter and grandchildren. After finding one child dead from a virulent strain of food poisoning, Anya becomes involved in tracing the source of the outbreak. Organic farms and multinationals, combined with political intrigue, provide a compelling framework for the book. The only drawback from this reader's view was the poor editing of some placenames in Tasmania. It is really easy to check the spelling, and there is no excuse for 'Signet' (Cygnet) and 'Bernie' (Burnie).

Citation: Fox, Kathryn Fatal impact  Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, c2014

ISBN: 9781742612324

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LINC Tasmania items by Kathryn Fox

Kathryn Fox's website

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

 

LINC Tasmania catalogue record for "Bay of Fires"

 

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.

LINC Tasmania catalogue record for "Bloodlust"
LINC Tasmania items by Nick Bleszynski

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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Josephine Pennicott's website

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.

LINC Tasmania catalogue record for "The butterfly man"
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Heather Rose' website

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.

 

 

LINC Tasmania catalogue record for "A child's book of true crime"

LINC Tasmania items by Chloe Hooper