This week, Jeff Popple reviews three enjoyable novels to keep you entertained over the Easter eggstra-long weekend. More of Jeff’s reviews can be found on his blog: murdermayhemandlongdogs.com
How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
Quercus, $32.99
Fans of traditional murder mysteries will enjoy reading Kristen Perrin’s How To Solve Your Own Murder over the Easter long weekend.
In 1965, seventeen-year-old Frances Adams was told by a fortune teller that she would be murdered one day. For over sixty years, Frances tried to prevent her murder by compiling dirt on all the possible potential suspects in her local Dorset village. Now, she has finally been killed in suspicious circumstances, and it is up to her great-niece Annie to find the murderer and solve another old mystery. A nicely paced and entertaining ‘whodunit’ with a touch of Knives Out about it.
The Accident by Fiona Lowe
HQ, $32.99
Fiona Lowe’s stories about secrets, families and moral dramas in small-town Australia always make for good long weekend reading, and The Accident is another engrossing tale. Hours away from her wedding, Hannah’s plans for a perfect life are ruined by a tragic car accident in the small wheatbelt town of Garringarup. Her best friend, Freya, is also affected by the accident, but she already had concerns before it happened. In the aftermath of the car crash, as worrying details emerge and questions are asked, secrets rise up to the surface.
Another thought-provoking, character-driven story by the always reliable Ms Lowe.
The Call by Gavin Strawhan
Allen & Unwin, $32.99
Providing more grit and action is Gavin Strawhan’s debut crime novel The Call.
After surviving a brutal attack, Auckland detective Honey Chambers returns to her hometown on a remote part of the New Zealand coastline to care for her mother. Her troubles from Auckland, however, follow her, and she finds herself in a deadly battle with a dangerous gang and her own past.
New Zealand crime fiction is currently going through a golden period and The Call is a good example of the fine writing that is emerging from across the Tasman. Tense and exciting, it grips to the end. Recommended.
