Features

CIS: The Grifters revisited

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Classics in September — Most people probably associate The Grifters with the 1990 film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening. But the script, penned by veteran crime writer Donald E Westlake, was adapted from a story by Jim…
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PrintReviews

Blackwattle Creek

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Written by Geoffrey McGeachin — Black Wattle Creek is the second book by Geoffrey McGeachin to feature Detective Sergeant Charlie Berlin, a cop on the beat in 1950s Melbourne. The first, The Diggers Rest Hotel, won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Fiction…
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News

Ned Kelly Awards 2012 shortlist revealed

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The shortlist for Australia’s annual crime writing gongs, The Ned Kelly Awards, was released this week. While the big publishers usually dominate the Neddies, this year it’s a clean sweep – Allen and Unwin, Pan Macmillan, Harper Collins and Random House have carved up the…
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iBookKindleReviews

Silent Valley

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Written by Malla Nunn — International crime fiction sometimes feels like a contest between the Scandinavians and the Irish. If so, the South Africans are closing ground on both of them. Think of writers like Margie Orford, Roger Smith and Mike Nicol, just to name…
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iBookKindlePrintReviews

Dare Me by Megan Abbott

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“At first, cheer was something to fill my days, all our days. Age fourteen to eighteen, a girl needs something to kill all that time, that endless itchy waiting, every hour, every day for something – anything – to begin. There’s something dangerous about the…
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Features

Criminal heroes! Seven of the best

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By definition, there are always criminal characters in crime fiction books, and even the good guys sometimes have to take part in illegal or immoral acts. But books where the main character is a full-time professional criminal are surprisingly few and far between. Here’s a…
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KindleReviews

Hill Country

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Written by R Thomas Brown — Small town life can be murder. If you need any proof, look no further than the plot of Hill Country, a novella by up and coming crime writer R Thomas Brown. Gabe Hill is a bit of a deadbeat…
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