November Good Reads

In wrapping up my standout crime reads for November in my last Good Reads post for 2018, I want to thank you for being part of a wonderful year, and to wish you and yours a happy and safe festive season. For those of you that follow my blog but not Facebook, I would love to share with you that November was a fab crime-fiction-related month, in part for the results of the Scarlet Stiletto Awards – the esteemed crime writing awards for short crime and mystery stories. I was thrilled to discover both my entries had made the shortlist and that they were awarded the Romantic Suspense Scarlet Stiletto Award (“Fire on the Hill”) and a Special Commendation (“Duplicity”), and I congratulate all the winners including Red Shoe (first place) winner Philomena Horsley. And of course, November brought more great crime reads my way – some that you might want to pop on your Christmas wish list.

One of my November Good Reads was Sarah Bailey’s Into the Night. I am excited to be appearing with Sarah and fantastic romantic suspense writer Michelle Somers at Phillip Island Library in Cowes on 12 January. It is a free event and will be loads of fun, so come along if you can. More information is here.

Disclaimer:
Being a crime fiction addict and lover of series books, expect lots of my reading to fall into these categories. You can also expect to only hear about the books I have enjoyed – but as I have honed my selections to my tastes over the years, I am rarely disappointed, and I get that reading enjoyment is subjective anyway. I love to jump over to Goodreads and share the books I’ve enjoyed with the reading community, and this led me to posting my standouts in a “Good Reads” column each month.

Behind Dead Eyes (DC Ian Bradshaw #2) Howard Linskey – 4.5 stars
Keen for more in this series after reading the first instalment in October, Behind Dead Eyes kicked off my November Good Reads. Detective Ian Bradshaw is back. This time he’s trying to solve the murder of a young woman and also find the missing daughter of a local politician. Meanwhile, true-crime writer Tom Carney has been hired by the family of a convicted murderer who continues to protest his innocence, and journalist Helen Norton is on the trail of a conspiracy believed to involve a known villain, another politician and a business owner. Soon, the three combine resources in a drive for the truth and discover links between these cases…something someone believes is worth killing for. A complex and intriguing second instalment in the Bradshaw series (which really ought to have been Bradshaw, Carney and Norton), I thoroughly enjoyed Behind Dead Eyes and look forward to more in this series soon.

Perfect Bones (Dr Samantha Willerby Mystery #3) AJ Waines – 4.5 stars
Despite coming in on this, the third book in the Dr Samantha Willerby series, I thoroughly enjoyed Perfect Bones as a standalone psychological thriller. What I loved was the authenticity of the psychology in this story, the ring of truth to the disorders and behaviours and therapies, which stems from the author’s former work as a psychotherapist. In Perfect Bones, the only witness to a murder is Aiden Blake, a talented young artist suffering severe shock and rendered mute by the horror of what he saw from his canal boat. Clinical psychologist and trauma expert Samantha Willerby is tasked with working with Aiden. The police want a description of the attacker and she is given seven days, what seems an impossibly short timeline to help Aiden and glean anything useful. Aiden starts to communicate through his art, but not soon enough to prevent another murder. Willerby refuses to give up and puts herself in the path of the killer, while the fear that the killer is right by her side builds. I was fortunate to receive an advance review copy of Perfect Bones with thanks to the publisher and Netgalley, and recommend the read.

The Liar’s Wife (standalone) Samantha Hayes – 4 stars
In The Liar’s Wife, Ella has a quiet, ordered life—work, home sleep—until she is the victim of a hit-and-run on her way home one night. She emerges from an induced coma to a broken body and reassurances that her husband will be back soon. Except that she isn’t married. Things get much worse when she recognises her so-called husband – a man from the past life she has hidden herself from. A man who has a hold over her because of something she did a decade ago. And so things get much worse for Ella as she tries to play the part of dutiful wife… The Liar’s Wife is a slow-burning psychological thriller that builds into a pacey read as it comes to its bloody end. I found this an enjoyable, twisty read. ARC received with thanks to the publisher and Netgalley.

Into the Night (Gemma Woodstock #2) Sarah Bailey – 4 stars
Into the Night is the sequel to The Dark Lake, and although it works fine as a standalone, it might pay to read these books in order to have a better sense of the central character Gemma Woodstock. Her personal world has imploded, she has failed everything except being a detective, prompting her to leave her small home town in New South Wales and move interstate to Melbourne in Victoria, landing a coveted job with the homicide squad. A homeless man is murdered, then a high-profile celebrity is also stabbed, stretching the resources of the squad. Gemma is tasked with leading the celebrity murder alongside Nick Fleet, a complicated character himself. There is a slow-simmer-to-boil build in this story, as the detectives unravel secrets, potential motives for a range of suspects (a bunch of unlikable characters) and make belated links to reveal the culprits. A highlight for me of Into the Night was the Melbourne setting—it is always enjoyable to delve into a story with a familiar locale—and I enjoyed this nicely Aussie-flavoured police procedural.

Looking forward to more great crime books next month and in 2019. Happy reading!