# Rosemary’s Book Previews Source: https://ballaratmi.org.au/rosemarys-book-previews/ ## January 2022 ***1.Vengance* | Mark David Abbott** John Hayes’ life is perfect. He has a dream job in an exotic land, his career path is on an upward trajectory and at home he has a beautiful wife whom he loves with all his heart. But one horrible day a brutal incident tears this all away from him and his life is destroyed. He doesn’t know who is to blame, he doesn’t know what to do, and the police fail to help. What should he do? Accept things and move on with his life or take action and do what the authorities won’t do for him? ***2. Better off Dead* | Lee Child** Reacher never backs down from a problem. And he’s about to find a big one, on a deserted Arizona road, where a Jeep has crashed into the only tree for miles around. Under the merciless desert sun, nothing is as it seems. Minutes later Reacher is heading into the nearby border town, a backwater that has seen better days. Next to him is Michaela Fenton, an army veteran turned FBI agent, who is trying to find her twin brother. He might have got mixed up with some dangerous people. And Reacher might just need to pay them a visit. Their leader has burrowed his influence deep into the town. Just to get in and meet the mysterious Dendoncker, Reacher is going to have to achieve the impossible. To get answers will be even harder. There are people in this hostile, empty place who would rather die than reveal their secrets. But then, if Reacher is coming after you, you might be better off dead. ***3. The Dark Hours* | Michael Connelly** There’s chaos in Hollywood on New Year’s Eve. At the end of the countdown, LAPD Detective Renee Ballard seeks shelter from the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revellers shoot their guns into the air. Minutes later, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party. Ballard swiftly concludes that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky and connects it with another unsolved murder – a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch. Meanwhile, Ballard still hunts a fiendish pair of serial rapists, the Midnight Men, who have been terrorising women and leaving no trace. Finding herself up against deadly inertia and foundering morale in a police department ravaged by the pandemic and recent riots, Ballard must look outside to the one detective she can count on: Harry Bosch. But as the two determined detectives join forces, they cannot relax their guard. The brutal predators they track won’t hesitate to kill to keep their secrets hidden. ***4. The Midnight Lock* | Jeffery Deaver** **A killer without limits** He comes into your home at night. He watches you as you sleep. He waits. **A city in turmoil** He calls himself ‘The Locksmith’. No door can keep him out. No security system can catch him. And now he’s about to kill. **A race against time to stop him** Nobody in New York is safe. Now it’s up to Lincoln Rhyme to untangle the web of evidence and catch him. But with Lincoln under investigation himself, and tension in the city at boiling point, time is running out… ***5. Thicker than Water* | J. D. Kirk** Not all monsters are make-believe. When a badly mutilated body washes up on the shores of Loch Ness, DCI Jack Logan’s dream of a quiet life in the Highlands is shattered. While the media speculates wildly about monster attacks, Jack and the Major Investigations Team must act fast to catch the killer before they can strike again. But with Nessie-hunters descending on the area in their dozens, and an old enemy rearing his ugly head, the case could well turn out to be the most challenging of Jack’s career. And, if he isn’t careful, the last. Death and dark humour combine in this fast-paced Tartan Noir crime thriller set in the Highlands of Scotland. ***6. Stolen Ones* | Angela Marsons** Kim felt sickness sweep over her as she watched little Grace dust off her dirty hands. Blonde curls tumbled around her face. Then, Grace disappeared into the crowd. Kim wanted to pause the recording, run outside, and grab her to stop what was about to happen. One August afternoon, eight-year-old Grace Lennard skips into the garden of the childcare center she attends and vanishes into thin air. Rushing to the scene of Grace’s disappearance, Detective Kim Stone finds a chilling piece of evidence: the engraved heart bracelet belonging to Melody Jones – the little girl who was taken from a playground exactly 25 years ago. Hours before, Steven Harte had walked into Halesowen police station and confessed to having information that would lead Kim to Melody. And he told Kim she’d have a more urgent problem to deal with first. Now Kim must play Steven’s twisted game if she’s to find Grace alive. With only 24 hours to make every second of Steven’s interrogation count, and scan his behavior for hidden clues, Kim and her team soon link Steven to the abduction of several vulnerable girls – two were kept for a year and then released, unharmed – but where are Melody and the others? Then small bones are discovered in the grounds of a local park, and Kim fears the worst. Kim may think she’s close to convicting a killer, but the case is about to get even more complex. Steven is hiding one final explosive truth, and he’s not the only one. Dr. Alex Thorne – the evil woman Kim did her best to keep behind bars is about to reveal a shocking secret to Kim that will hit her where it hurts the most. Kim knows she must put aside her own demons to save Grace and find the other missing girls in time. But can Kim untangle Steven’s web before any more innocent lives are lost? ***7. Tooth for a Tooth* | T. F. Muir** When a woman’s skeleton is discovered in a shallow grave DCI Andy Gilchrist is tasked with finding her murderer. But a psychic’s warnings and markings on a rusted cigarette lighter found among the rotted remains take Gilchrist on a journey into his own past that brings him closer to discovering the identity of his brother’s killer from a hit-and-run case some thirty-five years before. When dental records from an extracted tooth force Gilchrist to confront the unthinkable—that his brother was her killer—he keeps his fears to himself, only to be suspended on suspicion of destroying evidence. ***8. See Them Run* | Marion Todd** On the night of a wedding celebration, one guest meets a grisly end when he’s killed in a hit-and-run. A card bearing the number ‘5’ has been placed on the victim’s chest. DI Clare Mackay, who recently moved from Glasgow to join the St Andrews force, leads the investigation. The following night another victim is struck down and a number ‘4’ card is at the scene. Clare and her team realise they’re against the clock to find a killer stalking the streets of the picturesque Scottish town and bent on carrying out three more murders. To prevent further deaths, the police have to uncover the link between the victims. But those involved have a lot more at stake than first meets the eye. If Clare wants to solve the case she must face her own past and discover the deepest secrets of the victims – and the killer. ***9.The Fossil Hunter* | Tea Cooper** A fossil discovered at London’s Natural History Museum leads one woman back in time to nineteenth century Australia and a world of scientific discovery and dark secrets in this compelling historical mystery. **The Hunter Valley 1847** The last thing Mellie Vale remembers before the fever takes her is running through the bush as a monster chases her – but no one believes her story. In a bid to curb Mellie’s overactive imagination, her benefactors send her to visit a family friend, Anthea Winstanley. Anthea is an amateur palaeontologist with a dream. She is convinced she will one day find proof the great sea dragons – the ichthyosaur and the plesiosaur – swam in the vast inland sea that millions of years ago covered her property at Bow Wow Gorge. Soon, Mellie shares that dream for she loves fossil hunting too… **1919** When Penelope Jane Martindale arrives home from the battlefields of World War I with the intention of making her peace with her father and commemorating the death of her two younger brothers in the trenches, her reception is not as she had hoped. Looking for distraction, she finds a connection between a fossil at London’s Natural History museum and her brothers which leads her to Bow Wow Gorge. But the gorge has a sinister reputation – 70 years ago people disappeared. So when PJ uncovers some unexpected remains, it seems as if the past is reaching into the present and she becomes determined to discover what really happened all that time ago… ***10. The Way It Is Now* | Garry Disher** Set in a beach-shack town an hour from Melbourne, The Way It Is Now tells the story of a burnt-out cop named Charlie Deravin. Charlie is living in his family’s holiday house, on forced leave since he made a mess of things at work. Things have never been easy for Charlie. Twenty years earlier his mother went missing in the area, believed murdered. His father has always been the main suspect, though her body was never found. Until now: the foundations are being dug for a new house on a vacant block. The skeletal remains of a child and an adult are found—and Charlie’s past comes crashing in on him. The Way It Is Now is the enthralling new novel by Garry Disher, one of Australia’s most loved and celebrated crime writers. ***11. Deception Creek* | Fleur McDonald** A returned criminal, a cult-like family and cybercrime all clash against the backdrop of the Flinders Ranges in this thrilling new rural suspense novel from the best-selling Voice of the Outback. Emma Cameron, a recently divorced farmer and a local in Barker, runs Deception Creek, the farm that three generations of her family have owned before her. Every day Emma pushes herself hard on the land, hoping to make ten-year-old memories of a terrible car accident disappear. And now there are more recent nightmares of an ex-husband who refuses to understand how much the farm means to Emma. When Joel Hammond is released from jail and heads home to Barker, Detective Dave Burrows and Senior Constable Jack Higgins are on high alert. Joel has a long and sorry history with many of the townsfolk and they are not keen to see him home to stay. Not all of the Barker locals want to see Joel run out of town, though. Some even harbour doubts about Joel’s conviction. The town finds itself split down the middle, families pitted against each other with devastating outcomes. ***12. The Spy’s Wife* | Fiona McIntosh** Evie, a widow and stationmaster’s daughter, can’t help but look out for the weekly visit of the handsome man she and her sister call the Southerner on their train platform in the wilds of northern England. When polite salutations shift to friendly conversations, they become captivated by each other. After so much sorrow, the childless Evie can’t believe love and the chance for her own family have come into her life again. With rumours coming out of Germany that Hitler may be stirring up war, local English authorities have warned against spies. Even Evie becomes suspicious of her new suitor, Roger. But all is not what it seems. When Roger is arrested, Evie comes up with an audacious plan to prove his innocence that means moving to Germany and working as a British counter-spy. Wearing the disguise of dutiful, naive wife, Evie must charm the Nazi Party’s dangerous officials to bring home hard evidence of war mongering on the F hrer’s part. But in this game of cat and mouse, it seems everyone has an ulterior motive, and Evie finds it impossible to know who to trust. With lives on the line, ultimate sacrifices will be made as she wrestles between her patriotism and saving the man she loves. From the windswept moors of the Yorkshire dales to the noisy beer halls of Munich and grand country estates in the picture-book Bavarian mountains, this is a lively and high-stakes thriller that will keep you second-guessing until the very end. ***13. I Shot The Devil* | Ruth McIver** A summer of relentless heat. A local surfer named Ray Carlson is found dead in a house not far from Portsea back beach. There’s a kitchen knife deep in his chest, and blood everywhere. Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer is scarcely back from extended leave, and still wrestling with her demons, but she is assigned the case-alongside her new service dog, Harry, whose instincts help her in unexpected ways. There’s an obvious suspect for the murder, and Zoe makes an arrest. But it’s all too neat, and none of Zoe’s colleagues believes her theory that the whole thing is a stitch-up. Except now someone is trying to hunt Zoe down. Superbly plotted, and vividly set in the beachside suburbs and hilly retreats around Melbourne, The Long Game is a mystery about a tough and clever investigator who won’t give up. ***14. The Long Game* | Simon Rowell** A summer of relentless heat. A local surfer named Ray Carlson is found dead in a house not far from Portsea back beach. There’s a silver-handled kitchen knife deep in his chest, and blood everywhere. Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer is scarcely back from extended leave, and still wrestling with her demons, but she is assigned the case, alongside her new service dog, Harry, whose instincts help her in unexpected ways. ***15. Freckles* | Cecelia Ahern** Five people. Five chances. One woman’s search for happiness. Allegra Bird’s arms are scattered with freckles, a gift from her beloved father. But despite her nickname, Freckles has never been able to join all the dots. So when a stranger tells her that everyone is the average of the five people they spend the most time with, it opens up something deep inside. The trouble is, Freckles doesn’t know if she has five people. And if not, what does that say about her? She’s left her unconventional father and her friends behind for a bold new life in Dublin, but she’s still an outsider. Now, in a quest to understand, she must find not one but five people who shape her – and who will determine her future. ***16. Wish You Were Here* | Jodi Picoult** Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time. But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes. Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. The whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders. Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different. ***17. The Hideout* | Camilla Grebe** The Hideout is an eerie psychological thriller from the award-winning Swedish bestselling author Camilla Grebe. When 18-year old Samuel finds himself at the centre of a drug deal gone wrong, he is forced to go underground to escape the police and an infamous drug lord. Seeking refuge in a sleepy town in the Stockholm archipelago, he takes a job as a personal assistant to a disabled boy. But when Samuel moves in with the beautiful Rakel and her son Jonas in the remote house by the sea, he soon realizes that nothing is quite what it seems . . . Meanwhile, the bodies of young men have been washing ashore in the archipelago and investigator Manfred Olsson fears that they have a killer on the loose. Set against a sweltering summer backdrop, Camilla Grebe’s flawed characters come alive as a chilling tale unravels to reveal evil lurking in the most serene of surroundings. ***18. A Memory for Murder* | A. Holt** When former high-powered lawyer turned PI Selma Falck is shot and her oldest friend, a junior MP, is killed in a sniper attack, everyone – including the police – assume that Selma was the prime target. But when two other people with connections to the MP are also found murdered, it becomes clear that there is a wider conspiracy at play. As Selma sets out to avenge her friend’s death, and discover the truth behind the conspiracy, her own life is threatened once again. Only this time, the danger may be closer to home than she could possibly have realised.. ***19. A Question of Guilt* | Jorn Lier Horst** In 1999, seventeen-year-old Tone Vaterland was killed on her way home from work. Desperate for a conviction the police deemed the investigation an open-and-shut case and sent her spurned boyfriend, Danny Momrak, down for murder. But twenty years later William Wisting receives a puzzling letter. It suggests the wrong man was convicted for Tone’s death and the real murderer is still out there. Wisting is quickly thrown into a terrifying race against time where he must find the sender, decipher this mysterious letter and catch the real killer before they strike again. ***20. Escape from the Ghetto* | John Carr** Early in 1940 a thirteen-year-old Jewish boy and his eleven-year-old brother began to make their way through the barbed wire that surrounded the Lodz ghetto on their way to steal food for their family. The younger brother got caught on the wire. The older killed the guard who came to shoot him. Thus began an Odyssey across Europe, first to the frozen river on the Russian border, where Soviet troops rolled hand grenades over the ice, then hidden in a German troop train to Berlin. From Berlin to Alsace and a beautiful Roma girl, also fleeing the Nazis. Across the border into Vichy France concealed in a German jeep and over the Pyrenees, only to be arrested by Spanish police. Saved by a British diplomat and finding his way to Gibraltar Chaim Herszman, now Henry Karbowski and soon to be Henry Carr, returned to Germany in the British Army. This extraordinary but true tale of a boy’s escape from the ghetto and the prospect of extermination in the camps, and of his journey to adulthood as he made his way across Europe, is almost unbearably exciting while being at the same time, as all true stories are, complex and bitter-sweet. ***21. Dog Days (A Year with Olive and Mabel)* | Andrew Cotter** In Dog Days- A Year with Olive & Mabel, join Andrew Cotter as he takes you behind the scenes and into the pages of his diary to reveal just how extraordinary the year has been, and what really happened after his lockdown superstar Labradors chewed up the internet and found it was quite tasty. For Olive, Mabel and Andrew, the last year has been like no other. With normal work cancelled or scaled back for so long, it has been a time to take stock and share experiences – both the everyday and the decidedly odd. Here Andrew takes a sharply observed and often hilarious walk through the strangest of days for all of us, reflecting on how precious our time really is, especially the time we have with our dogs. Beautiful, comical, endlessly optimistic and eternally hungry Olive, Mabel (and Andrew) have padded around from the Cheltenham Literary Festival to 60 Minutes Australia, from their living room studio with ABC News Breakfast to an appearance on Good Morning America, and from obscurity to excited whispers of “Is that really Olive & Mabel?” wherever they go. Not to mention the lucrative merchandise and advertising deals that were turned down by the dozen, and the odd phone call from Hollywood. Through it all, Olive and Mabel have always done exactly what they do best, being themselves and being there for Andrew – and for all of us who have loved watching their brilliant videos and following their progress online. If you’re a fan of Olive, Mabel and Andrew, this funny, touching and extraordinary account of a year like no other is an unmissable treat. ***22. My Adventurous Life* | Dick Smith** ‘I have been charmed by good fortune to be born in Australia in the 1940s. I have lived through a time of great prosperity and every day I am reminded of my good luck.’ Dick Smith is a remarkable and proud Australian. He has been part of our national consciousness for over fifty years as an innovative and astute businessman, a ground-breaking adventurer, a generous philanthropist and a provocateur for the causes he feels deeply about. Yet, despite his great successes and achievements, Dick has remained down to earth and close to his roots. So how did the young boy who was one of the most academically hopeless in class become the national living treasure he is today? And what was it within that kid with a speech impediment that allowed him to create three successful businesses, and take on some of the world’s greatest and most dangerous aviation challenges? In My Adventurous Life, Dick shares his inspiring story and the lessons he’s learned about staying true to yourself. He has welcomed the freedoms that wealth brings, but has found the simple life more fulfilling. His responsibility is to the world and the people we share it with. ***23. All for You* | Louise Jensen** MEET THE WALSH FAMILY Lucy: Loving mother. Devoted wife. And falling to pieces. Aidan: Dedicated father. Faithful husband. And in too deep. Connor:Hardworking son. Loyal friend. But can never tell the truth. Everyone in this family is hiding something, but one secret will turn out to be the deadliest of all . . . Can this family ever recover when the truth finally comes out? ***24. A Haunting at Holkham* | Anne Glenconner** It’s Christmas 1943 and Lady Anne Coke has returned to Holkham Hall from Scotland. But her home is now an army base, with large sections out of bounds. And 11-year-old Anne is in the care of a new governess, whom she hates and believes to be hiding something. At least her beloved grandfather is there with her, to share stories and keep her entertained. But even though she’s been told to stay away from certain parts of the house, Anne knows secrets about the hall that others do not; the passageways and the cellars that allow her to move around unnoticed, watching. And when mysterious events lead to a murder and disappearance, Anne is determined to uncover the truth. ***25. The Night Train to Berlin* | Melanie Hudson** ***26. Daughters of the Resistance* | Lana Kortchik** On a train from Ukraine to Germany, Lisa Smirnova is terrified for her life. The train is under Nazi command, heading for one of Hitler’s rumoured labour camps. As she is taken away from everything she holds dear, Lisa wonders if she will ever see her family again. In Nazi-occupied Kiev, Irina Antonova knows she could be arrested at any moment. Trapped in a job registering the endless deaths of the people of Kiev, she risks her life every day by secretly helping her neighbours, while her husband has joined the Soviet partisans, who are carrying out life-threatening work to frustrate the German efforts. When Lisa’s train is intercepted by the partisans, Irina’s husband among them, these women’s lives will take an unimaginable turn. As Irina fights to protect her family and Lisa is forced to confront the horrors of war, together they must make an impossible decision: what would they be willing to lose to save the people they love? ## February 2022 2**7. *A Change of Circumstance* | Susan Hill** Simon Serrailler finds himself in devastating new territory as a sophisticated drugs network sets its sights on Lafferton and the surrounding villages DCS Simon Serrailler has long regarded drugs ops in Lafferton as a waste of time. Small-time dealers are picked up outside the local secondary school, they don’t have any information about those higher up the chain, they’re given a fine or a suspended and away they go. And rinse and repeat. But when the body of a 22-year-old drug addict is found in neighbouring Starley, the case pulls Simon into a whole new way of running drugs. The foot soldiers? Vulnerable local kids like Brookie and Olivia, who will give Simon a bitter taste of this new landscape. It is a harsh winter at home as well as work. Simon’s GP sister Cat and her husband Kieron (also Simon’s boss) are struggling with medical dramas big and small. A trip to Bevham General on her rounds sets off alarm bells for Cat, and a visit from her son Sam as he tries to work out if his midwifery course is right for him coincides with a threat to their beloved family dog. Simon is working hard, but he’s restless, wondering what’s next. There’s nothing new going on for him in Lafferton, but sometimes the familiar holds surprises, too . . . **28. *The Stranger in the Lifeboat* | Mitch Albom** Adrift in a raft after a terrible shipwreck, ten strangers struggle to survive while they wait for rescue. After three days, short on water, food and hope, they spot a man floating in the waves. They pull him on board – and the survivor claims he can save them. But should they put their trust in him? Will any of them see home again? And why did the ship really sink? **29. *Go Tell The Bees that I Am Gone* | Diana Gabaldon** Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and it took them twenty years to find each other again. Now the American Revolution threatens to do the same. It is 1779 and Claire and Jamie are at last reunited with their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children on Fraser’s Ridge. Having the family together is a dream the Frasers had thought impossible. Yet even in the North Carolina backcountry, the effects of war are being felt. Tensions in the Colonies are great and local feelings run hot enough to boil Hell’s tea-kettle. Jamie knows loyalties among his own tenants are split and the war is on his doorstep. It’s only a matter of time before the shooting starts. Not so far away, young William Ransom is still coming to terms with the discovery of his true father’s identity – and thus his own. Lord John Grey also has reconciliations to make and dangers to meet . . . on his son’s behalf, and his own. Meanwhile, the Southern Colonies blaze, and the Revolution creeps ever closer to Fraser’s Ridge. And Claire, the physician, wonders how much of the blood to be spilt will belong to those she loves. **30. *The Last of the Apple Blossom* | Mary-Lou Stephens** 7 February, 1967. Walls of flame reduce much of Tasmania to ash. Young schoolteacher Catherine Turner rushes to the Huon Valley to find her family’s apple orchard destroyed, her childhood home in ruins and her brother dead. Despite her father’s declaration that a woman will never run the orchard, Catherine resolves to rebuild the family business. After five sons, Catherine’s friend and neighbour, Annie Pearson, is overjoyed by the birth of a much longed for daughter. As Annie and her husband Dave work to repair the damage to their orchard, Dave’s friend Mark pitches in, despite the fact that Annie wants him gone. Mark has moved his family to the valley to escape his life in Melbourne, but his wife has disappeared leaving chaos in her wake and their young son Charlie in Mark’s care. Catherine becomes fond of Charlie, whose strange upbringing has left him shy and withdrawn. However, the growing friendship between Mark and Catherine not only scandalises the small community but threatens a secret Annie is desperate to keep hidden. Through natural disasters, personal calamities and the devastating collapse of the apple industry, Catherine, Annie and those they love battle to save their livelihoods, their families and their secrets. **31. *The Stoning* | Peter Papathanasiou** A small outback town wakes to a savage murder. Molly Abbott, a popular teacher at the local school, is found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Suspicion falls on the refugees at the new detention centre on Cobb’s northern outskirts. Tensions are high between immigrants and some of the town’s residents. Detective Sergeant Georgios ‘George’ Manolis is despatched to his childhood hometown to investigate. His late father immigrated to Australia in the 1950s, where he was first housed at the detention centre’s predecessor a migrant camp. He later ran the town’s only milk bar.