Lauren Williams’ novel Neighbourhood Watch is set in a fictional Melbourne suburb, and the plot features a murder bizarre enough to rival British TV favorite Midsomer Murders. Among the scarecrows in the annual Scarecrow Competition is a real dead body, that of a judge. Justice is the theme and psychologist turned homicide detective Priyanka Pal finds herself up against corruption and powerful men.

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Young elf Esther learns to wrangle dragons as she also learns about love and loss in Jasmine Graetz’s ‘Dracorian Whispers’. The young adult fantasy novel is set in Crossford Academy where Dragon Wrangling is just one of the skills being taught.

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How the enthusiasm of locals can make a library work. We meet Jan Hunt, powerhouse behind the Bruny Island Community Library

Guests

Lauren Williams, author of ‘Neighbourhood Watch’

Jasmine Graetz, author of Dracorian Whispers

Jan Hunt, Bruny Island Community Library

Books that get a mention

Cath is checking out Kate Atkinson’s latest novel “Our Noble Selves”. Sarah discusses why the current trad-wife sensation ‘Yesteryear’ by Caro Claire Burke isn’t working for her

Author contacts

https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/authors/Lauren-Williams/244423215

https://www.instagram.com/jasmine_h_graetz/

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It’s 1917, shop assistant Dora Black has been found dead on a city beach, and Adelaide’s legendary early 20th century policewoman Kate Cocks is on the case. Mixing real history, a strong sense of place, and with World War 1 as a backdrop, The Death of Dora Black is the first in Lainie Anderson’s “Petticoat Police Mystery” series.

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Caro and Danny were children and later young lovers at their secret hangout, the local waterhole. Caro thought they would be together forever, but grief and Danny’s self-destructive spiral after his mother’s death complicates that dream. A poetic exploration of first love and loss, grief and addiction, Frogsong takes the reader inside Caro’s world, back to the joy and pain of growing up.

Guests

Lainie Anderson, author of “The Death of Dora Black” and “Murder on North Terrace”

Melissa Manning, author of “Frogsong”

Author contacts

@lainie.anderson

@lissmanning

Books that get a mention

Cath recommends “Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark” by James Bailey

and “Domination” by Professor Alice Roberts

Annie loved “Euphoria” by Lily King

and our reviewer Maddie enjoyed “Yesteryear” by Caro Claire Burke

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Michael Caleb Tasker’s grim and gripping Just Like the Night + Elisabeth Storr’s Fables and Lies

Lena has only really known a life of petty crime after spending her childhood on the road with her charismatic card sharp father Ray. Now in adulthood and just out of prison she finds herself in much deeper water, tangling with the dark Sydney underworld in an attempt to save her daughter. Michael Caleb Tasker’s first novel Just Like the Night delivers a gripping and gritty story with great literary style.

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Historical fiction writer Elisabeth Storrs sets her new book Fables and Lies in World War 2 Germany. The racy romantic thriller, about the Aryan myth, Nazi archaeology and the race to save the Trojan gold as Berlin falls, is based on a true story, and brings a little known aspect of the Nazi Regime to life.

Guests

Michael Caleb Tasker, author of “Just Like the Night”

Elisabeth Storrs, author of “Fables and Lies”

Author contacts

https://michaelcalebtasker.com/

@elisabethstorrsauthor

Books that get a mention

Michael Caleb Tasker recommends works by Raymond Chandler, particularly “The Long Goodbye” , and “Song of the Lark” by Willa Cather. He is also a fan of Kierkegaard, Michael Farris Smith, Ron Rash, Walter Mosely, Jim Harrison and John Steinbeck.

Annie loved “Heart the Lover” by Lily King and Sarah recommends “On the Calculation of Volume” by Solvej Balle

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