Crime



being traced: a bashing, a possible rape, a missing person... maybe they're linked, maybe they're not. There are cops in love, cops in lust, rampaging teens and a great sense of place. || Joanna || This was of a handful of stand-out reads for me this year. || Barbara B ||
 * **Title** || **Author** || **Synopsis** || **Recommended by ...** ||
 * [|Blood moon] || Garry Disher || A romping tale set on the Mornington Peninsula during Schoolies week with several threads
 * **In the bleak midwinter** || Julia Spencer Fleming || The first in a superb series that I devoured last holidays: it's not very well known here in Oz and SHOULD be! It's intellectual/human/guesswork/character crime rather than gory/CSI detail. Here's the Amazon blurb: Clare Fergusson, St. Alban's new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Miller's Kill, New York. She is not just a "lady," she's a tough ex Army chopper pilot, and nobody's fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town's police chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who's also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown. Their search for the baby's mother quickly leads them into the secrets that shadow Miller's Kill like the ever-present Adirondacks. What they discover is a world of trouble, an attraction to each other-and murder... || ruth_skerricks ||
 * ** A Boy in Winter** || Maxine Chernoff || From Google Books .... "After Nancy Horvath and her eleven-year-old son, Danny, move into their dream house, Danny becomes fast friends with ten-year-old Eddie Nova, the boy next door. Eddie is a hyperactive, difficult child, both boon companion and bane of Danny's existence. Meanwhile, Nancy's helpful, neighborly relationship with Eddie's father, Frank, becomes a passionate affair. Frank is the partner Nancy wishes she had, and the father Danny has always longed for. Then one day, Eddie brings over a hunting bow and playfully aims it at Danny and his dog. In a tragic mishap, Danny accidentally shoots and kills his friend. The novel traces the repercussions of that accident--in Nancy's voice, in Danny's voice, and from Frank's point of view."
 * A Secret History || Donna Tartt || The story's narrator Richard Papen is one of the six characters in the book, who reflects years later, about the death of one of the group. The story unfolds slowly as to what happened to Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran. The novel explores the circumstances surrounding his death. It is a fantastic book that is hard to put down! || Debbie Fuller ||