Inspector Brunetti is trying to help an old acquaintance, opera star Flavia Petrelli, find out who has been sending her flowers far too close for comfort, and more urgently who has been attempting to kill people close to her.
A decent story, lots of detail about opera, well written and not too traumatic. Not her best.
7/10
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 building. At least that is what the corporate retreat website advertises.
Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a particularly keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing bushwalker. Alice Russell is the whistleblower in his latest case - and Alice knew secrets. About the company she worked for and the people she worked with.
The characters were complex and interesting. The mystery was engrossing. The atmosphere of the bush was beautifully captured. Lots of twists and turns. I'm really looking forward to the next book.
10/10
Every morning Boone Daniels catches waves with the other members of The Dawn Patrol: four men and one woman as single-minded about surfing as he is. Or nearly. They have "real j-o-b-s"; Boone, however, works as a PI just enough to keep himself afloat. But Boone's most recent gig-investigating an insurance scam—has unexpectedly led him to a ghost from his past. And while he may have to miss the biggest swell of his surfing career, this job is about to give him a wilder ride than anything he's ever encountered.
It is an easy read, with enjoyable characters and a hero you root for but is largely free from tension, suspense or twists. Lots of scumbag characters, hookers that die or need saving, the beautiful ex, the beautiful but acerbic female insurance lawyer - all well-written but very cliched.
7/10
In the dead of night in a notorious area of Victorian London's East End known as St Giles, a factory girl stumbles over the bloody bodies of two City gentlemen. When Detective John Evan finally arrives at the scene, he is confronted by a most difficult investigation. First he must identify the men. Then he must find out why men of means and social standing would go to such a sordid area. Most importantly, who are their assailants? And how could they escape unharmed and unnoticed?
Mercifully the younger victim is not quite dead. Having sustained terrible internal injuries, he's later released home from hospital severely traumatised and unable to speak - to be told that the other victim, his father, is dead, and Hester Latterly has been employed to help nurse him back to full recovery.
Good plot with many twists and turns. It turned out to be the father and his friends rather thn the son who was raping and beating the women.
8/10
Small towns which have seen better times are not unusual. But the mysterious events in Baronville, Pennsylvania, are raising the highly-tuned antennae of agent Amos Decker and his FBI partner, Alex Jamison. What was supposed to be a relaxing vacation turns into a murder investigation when two bodies are found in a nearby deserted house.
With the body count rising, Decker and Jamison dig deep to uncover a sinister truth in Baronville, which could be the canary in the coalmine for the rest of the country.
But even the duo's skills and Amos Decker's infallible memory may not be enough to save this town, or them, from becoming the next victims.
A well plotted, interesting and challenging crime thriller. Unique, awkward Amos Decker is a great character with a lot of heart.
9/10
Told in alternating story lines.The first is the story of Lou, a burned-out doctor who finds herself in the abandoned and toxic asbestos town of Wittenoom, where she meets Dave, the son of a former miner. Dave has come to the town seeking to make peace with the impact the town had on his father's life, and indirectly on his own life. Lou's investigations reveal the sad history of the town persisting into the lives of the present.
The second strand is the story that Lou begins writing, partially in response to Dave’s desire to see the story told, and partially to find her own answers. It is the story of a doctor who flees England to start again in the remote town. This narrative is amusingly sprinkled with aptronyms and other marks of literary construction. It allows room for the more intensely romantic aspects of the story and allows a depiction of the working conditions and attitudes while the town was still occupied.
It was well written, very sad and depressing. I would have liked to see Dave and Lou end up together.
7/10
