Review: INHERITANCE OF SECRETS, Sonya Bates

• read as an e-book through Libby, source: my local library
• Shortlisted in Harper Collins Australia Banjo Prize 2018 for an unpublished manuscript
• ISBN: 9781460757857
• ISBN 10: 1460757858
• On Sale: 20/04/2020
• Pages: 432 

Synopsis (publisher)

A brutal murder. A wartime promise. A quest for the truth.

Heather Morris meets Jane Harper in a gripping, page-turning mystery.

No matter how far you run, the past will always find you.

Juliet's elderly grandparents are killed in their Adelaide home. Who would commit such a heinous crime - and why? The only clue is her grandfather Karl's missing signet ring.

When Juliet's estranged sister, Lily, returns in fear for her life, Juliet suspects something far more sinister than a simple break-in gone wrong. Before Juliet can get any answers, Lily vanishes once more.

Juliet only knew Karl Weiss as a loving grandfather, a German soldier who emigrated to Australia to build a new life. What was he hiding that could have led to his murder? While attempting to find out, Juliet uncovers some disturbing secrets from WWII that will put both her and her sister's lives in danger ...

Gripping. Tense. Mysterious. Inheritance of Secrets links the crimes of the present to the secrets of the past and asks how far would you go to keep a promise?

My Take

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel, partly because it is set in my home town, but also partly because I am so familiar with the historical events it is connected with. The end of World War II started a whole new chapter in Australian history, but our fascination with television programmes and films about the war clearly show us that it is still very much part of our psyche.

In the Acknowledgements and then the Reading Group Notes at the back of the book, the author gives us an insight into what led her to write this particular story. 

The author has done a particularly good job with the mysteries woven into the story, and there is that little frisson that we the readers know just a little more than Juliet the main character does.

Recommended.

My rating: 4.7

About the author
Sonya Bates is a Canadian writer who has made South Australia her home since 1997. She studied linguistics at the University of Victoria before obtaining a masters degree in speech-language pathology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Having worked with children with communication difficulties for over twenty-five years, she now enjoys sharing her knowledge with speech pathology students as a part-time clinical educator. When her two daughters were young, she started writing for children and has published several children's books. Her debut adult novel, Inheritance of Secrets, was shortlisted as an unpublished manuscript in the inaugural Banjo Prize in 2018.

Review: WHO WE WERE, B.M. Carroll

• this edition published in Great Britain by Viper 2020
• ISBN 9-781788-164184
• 319 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Amazon)

A KILLER TWENTY-YEAR REUNION.
AND YOU'RE INVITED...

Twenty years after they went their separate ways, friends and enemies are coming together for their school reunion. Katy, who is desperate to show that she's no longer the shy wallflower. Annabel, who ruled the school until a spectacular fall from grace. Zach, popular and cruel, but who says he's a changed man. And Robbie, always the victim, who never stood a chance.

As the reunion nears, a terrible event that binds the group together will resurface. Because someone is still holding a grudge, and will stop at nothing to reveal their darkest secrets...

My Take

As Katy organises the 20 year re-union, members of the central group are targeted by someone who seems to hate them all. And it seems that possibly the person has been in their homes, stalking them, taking things, leaving messages. Very scary.

So the mystery part of it puts it squarely in the category of crime fiction.
Katy is organising the event and updating the year book that they all contributed to in 2000. She asks each of the people she contacts to update their details, and then "the stalker" begins to make their own malicious contributions, with details that makes them think it is one of their small group.

We see events through the eyes of a number of characters.
Very well written. Engrossing.

My Rating: 4.5


I have also read
4.5, THE MISSING PIECES OF SOPHIE McCARTHY

Review: HUNTING GAME, Helene Tursten

• format: e-book through Libby
• #1 in Detective Inspector Embla Nystrom series
• published 2016 
• Translated from Swedish by Paul Norlen

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Helene Tursten's explosive new series features Detective Inspector Embla Nyström, a sharp, unforgiving woman working in a man's world. When one of her peers is murdered during a routine hunting trip, Embla must track down the killer while confronting a dark incident from her past.

Twenty-eight-year-old Embla Nyström has been plagued by chronic nightmares and racing thoughts ever since she can remember. She has learned to channel most of her anxious energy into her position as Detective Inspector in the mobile unit in Gothenburg, Sweden, and into sports. A talented hunter and prizewinning Nordic welterweight, she is glad to be taking a vacation from her high-stress job to attend the annual moose hunt with her family and friends.

But when Embla arrives at her uncle’s cabin in rural Dalsland, she sees an unfamiliar face has joined the group: Peter, enigmatic, attractive, and newly divorced. And she isn’t the only one to notice. One longtime member of the hunt doesn’t welcome the presence of an outsider and is quick to point out that with Peter, the group’s number reaches thirteen, a bad omen for the week. Sure enough, a string of unsettling incidents follow, culminating in the disappearance of two hunters. Embla takes charge of the search, and they soon find one of the missing men floating facedown in the nearby lake. With the help of local reinforcements, Embla delves into the dark pasts of her fellow hunters in search of a killer.

My take:

I found this novel a little difficult to get into which I eventually put down to the style and the translation. I found characters and places difficult to identify.

Embla Nyström is a tough lady. She has suffered from nightmares for years, linked to the disappearance of her best friend Lollo when they were teenagers from a nightclub. Embla never revealed to the police and parents the true circumstances of Lollo's disappearance, particularly the link to some gangsters. 

The two missing men were once a group of 3, who nicknamed themselves "the three musketeers". Then 12 months ago one of them drove his car at high speed into a tree on his way home from that year's annual moose hunt.  It is Embla who discovers the link between these three men to the disappearance of Peter's sister.

An interesting but demanding read.
The author reveals in her final words that Embla has already made an appearance in one of the Inspector Huss novels, but now, she says, it is time for Embla "to stand on her own two feet."


My rating: 4.4

Detective Inspector Embla Nystrom
   1. Hunting Game (2019)
   2. Winter Grave (2019)
   3. Snowdrift (2020)

I've also read (Inspector Huss series)
THE GLASS DEVIL
4.4, NIGHT ROUNDS
THE GOLDEN CALF
4.5, THE FIRE DANCE

Review: THE MEMORY WATCHER, Minka Kent

• this edition published in 2016
• ISBN 9-781541-3681
• 321 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Press, tap, refresh...

When Autumn Carpenter stumbles upon the social media account of the family who adopted her infant daughter years ago, she finds herself instantly drawn into their picture-perfect existence.

From behind a computer screen, Autumn watches Grace's every memory, from birthdays to holidays to bedtime snuggles. But what starts as an innocent fascination soon spirals into an addictive obsession that comes to a screeching halt the day the McMullen family closes their Instaface account without so much as a warning.

Frantic and desperate to reconnect with her daughter, Autumn applies for a nanny position with the McMullens, manipulating herself into Grace's life under false pretenses. And it's only then that Autumn discovers pictures lie, the perfect family doesn't exist, and beautiful people? They have the ugliest secrets.

My Take

Daphne McMullen and Autumn Carpenter are the principal narrators of this tale. Autumn has been watching the McMullen family through social media, and then Daphne ceases to post. Autumn becomes desperate to establish some sort of contact. She can also watch the family quite literally over her back fence and what she sees is an idyllic family. She applies for the position of summer nanny and for a while everything seems to be working out well. But then she discovers the undercurrents running beneath the apparent harmony and things become very different.

I wasn't prepared however for the incredible twist in the middle of the novel.

Well, I can hear you - is this crime fiction? Well yes it is. There is a murder and there is a lot of mystery.
Quite a satisfying read, and not bad for a debut title.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read
4.4, THE PERFECT ROOMMATE 

Review: DEAR CHILD, Romy Hausmann

• format Kindle (Amazon)
• Published in German Feb 2019
• Translated from German by Jamie Bulloch

Synopsis (Amazon)

YOU ESCAPED. BUT YOUR NIGHTMARE HAS JUST BEGUN.

A windowless shack in the woods. Lena's life and that of her two children follows the rules set by their captor, the father: meals, bathroom visits, study time are strictly scheduled and meticulously observed. He protects his family from the dangers lurking in the outside world and makes sure that his children will always have a mother to look after them.

One day Lena manages to flee - but the nightmare continues. It seems as if her tormentor wants to get back what belongs to him. And then there is the question whether she really is the woman called 'Lena', who disappeared without a trace over thirteen years ago. The police and Lena's family are all desperately trying to piece together a puzzle that doesn't quite seem to fit.

My Take

Lena Beck went missing in Munich when she was 23 and her father Matthias, and Karin, his wife of 40 years, have always believed she will turn up sometime, alive.

In a sense the novel begins almost at the end. An ambulance is called to a road accident where a woman has been hit by a car. A child tells them her name is Lena and her own name is Hannah, but she doesn't know their surname and she doesn't know how to contact her father. She says she has a younger brother and that he will be in their cabin in the woods.

Matthias gets a phone call from a policeman in charge of the case that investigation into Lena's original disappearance to say that a person has been found that they think might be Lena. He rushes to the hospital only to find that the injured person is not his daughter. Then he and Karin see Hannah who looks like a younger version of their daughter.

A very intriguing plot with plenty of twists. On one level it is a hideous tale about obsession, on another a warming one about Matthias' search for the truth. The identity of "the husband" came as a complete surprise. It is the author's debut title.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Romy Hausmann was born in the former GDR in 1981. At the age of twenty-four she became chief editor at a film production company in Munich. Since the birth of her son Romy has been working as a freelancer in TV. DEAR CHILD is her thriller debut. Romy lives with her family in a remote house in the woods near Stuttgart.

Review: THE CAKEMAKER'S WISH, Josephine Moon

• this edition published by Penguin Random House Australia 2020
• ISBN 978-0-14379-201-7 
• 373 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

When single mum Olivia uproots her young son Darcy from their life in Tasmania for a new start in the English Cotswolds, she isn’t exactly expecting a bed of roses – but nor is she prepared for the challenges that life in the picturesque village throws her way.

The Renaissance Project hopes to bring the dwindling community back to life – to welcome migrants from around the world and to boost the failing economy – but not everyone is so pleased about the initiative.

For cake maker Olivia, it’s a chance for Darcy to finally meet his Norwegian father, and for her to trace the last blurry lines on what remains of her family tree. It’s also an opportunity to move on from the traumatic event that tore her loved ones apart.

After seven years on her own, she has all but given up on romance, until life dishes up some delicious new options she didn’t even know she was craving.

My take

Please note - this is not crime fiction

When her final family link in Tasmania dies, Olivia decides to go back to the Cotswolds to become part of a project designed to attract those whose families came from there. Not everyone is pleased with having "imports" in their village, as Olivia realises when someone releases a rat in her cake shop. But she and her young son Darcy quickly make new friends and begin to feel at home.

Olivia hopes too to discover why her grandmother originally left the village and meets some residents who were Ma's contemporaries.

I found this a "comfort" read, with an interesting scenario, and believable characters.

Book groups will enjoy the questions at the back of the book aimed at increasing their enjoyment.

My  rating: 4.4

I've also read
4.2, THREE GOLD COINS 

Review: TIME FOR THE DEAD, Lin Anderson

• this book published 2019
• #14 in the Rhona MacLeod series
• source: my local library - Libby

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Time for the Dead ..sees forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod investigate a brutal series of killings on Scotland's Isle of Skye.

When forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod returns to her roots on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, a chance encounter in the woods behind a nearby activities centre leads her to what seems to be a crime scene, but without a victim. Could this be linked to a group of army medics, who visited the centre while on leave from Afghanistan and can no longer be located on the island?

Enlisting the help of local tracker dog Blaze, Rhona starts searching for a connection.

Two days later a body is found at the base of the famous cliff known as Kilt Rock, face and identity obliterated by the fall, which leads Rhona to suspect the missing medics may be on the island for reasons other than relaxation. Furthermore, elements of the case suggests a link with an ongoing operation in Glasgow, which draws DS Michael McNab into the investigation.

As the island’s unforgiving conditions close in, Rhona must find out what really happened to the group in Afghanistan, as the consequences may be being played out in brutal killings on Skye . . .

My Take

Reading this novel immediately after the previous title in the series definitely paid off. The events of SINS OF THE DEAD were very fresh in my memory and there were many references to that novel which would have otherwise left me very puzzled. My conclusion is that this really is a series where the author does not hold back from references to previous events.

Based on this experience, if you have never read any in this series, my advice would be to start at the beginning if you can, as I am sure part of the pleasure comes from the accumulation of knowledge about characters and what has happened to them.

I do really like the central character Rhona MacLeod and those other characters who are linked to her. The scenarios are very believable.

My Rating: 4.7

I have also read 4.6, SINS OF THE DEAD