I've a colleague visiting from Griffith University in Brisbane at the start of December. I was going to take the opportunity to try and load him up with some Australian crime fiction to bring over with him. To give him enough time to order them in I want to let him know what I'm after as soon as possible. But there's the rub - I'm not sure what I am after! The only book I have on my list at the minute is Phillip Gwynne's, The Build Up, and to my shame I think the only Oz writer I'm familiar with is Peter Temple, of whom I'm a great fan.So, what I am after is some recommendations for four other books, preferably in paperback and relatively easy to get hold of, that I can pass on to him to order for me and lump over in his suitcase. Any suggestions? Pointers to reviews would be good as well!
4 comments:
Only four? Can't your colleague bring a bigger suitcase? Does he really need clothes?
THE BUILD UP is definitely a good choice. I've picked some of my favourites set in Australia
Adrian Hyland's DIAMOND DOVE - here's a link to my review which has links to other reviews also
http://reactionstoreading.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/review-diamond-dove-by-adrian-hyland/
Then there's Garry Disher's police procedural series featuring Challis and Destry - I haven't reviewed any of his (read them prior to starting the blog and haven't caught up with the latest yet) but I like them. The first is THE DRAGON MAN.
I adore Leah Giarratano's procedurals set in Sydney but it might be a girl thing - the first of those is VODKA DOESN'T FREEZE http://reactionstoreading.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/review-vodka-doesnt-freeze/
I think you might like Shane Maloney's Murray Whelan novels (in fact I'm almost positive you would like them - I know you liked Donna's Helena Handbasket book and there's a similar feel although the books aren't a parody - they do have the dry, sometimes surreal humour though). Murray works for a political party and gets himself into all sorts of scrapes - there are six books that can be read as standalones. Having a quick look at Maloney's website it looks like the books are available in omnibus trilogies so you could get a 3-in-1 deal? If you choose that I'd go for the first 3 books.
There's always Michael Robotham but I think his are reasonably easy to get in your neck of the woods and they're not set in Australia (although Michael is Australian)
Bernadette's covered a good list Rob, but you really are going to need more...You could get him to look for Katherine Howell and P.D. Martin books, Gabrielle Lord, Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher sereis for something lighter.
There's a list we handed out at Left Coast Crime, and then another I created for the Carnival of Criminal Minds.
Thanks Bernadette and Kerrie. Lots to go on here. I'll work through these suggestions and see what takes my fancy. At the minute I'll be going for Adrian Hyland, Liah Giarratano, Shane Maloney and Kel Robertson. I have a Garry Disher novel in my TBR pile. Thanks.
Going back in time, I loved Patricia Carlon.
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