2014 Australian Women Writers Challenge

The Australian Women Writers Challenge enters its third consecutive year. As well as being a co-host of the challenge (in charge of the crime & thriller category) I’m participating once again and am aiming to read 24 books by Australian women in 2014 this year (having read 18 and 20 in the previous two years).  Head over to the website to learn more and do consider joining in with whatever number of books you think you can manage.

My books read (in reading order):

1. Catherine Titasey’s MY ISLAND HOMICIDE (ostensibly a crime novel but really more of a romance, published 2013, setting – Thursday Island)
2. Caroline Overington’s NO PLACE LIKE HOME (a thriller with a message, published 2013, setting – Sydney)
3. Katherine Howell’s DESERVING DEATH (fast-paced police procedural jam-packed with insight into modern life and relationships, published 2014, setting Sydney)
4. Felicity Young’s THE SCENT OF MURDER (a historical whodunit set in post-Edwardian England exploring small-p politics with a light touch, published 2014)
5. Amanda Curtin ELEMENTAL (a beautifully written historical fiction novel that made me cry in public but I loved it anyway, published 2013, setting Scotland & Western Australia)
6. Wendy James THE LOST GIRLS (a novel that doesn’t allow readers the luxury of believing that awful things happen elsewhere but can just as easily rip your own world apart, published 2014, setting Sydney)
7. Isla Evans NEFARIOUS DOINGS (an amusing cosy mystery with terrific characters)
8. Honey Brown THROUGH THE CRACKS (confronting and compelling novel about a boy whose life has been anything but normal)
9. Kathryn Fox FATAL IMPACT (a forensic thriller set amidst the cutting edge of environmental politics)
10. Honey Brown DARK HORSE (a taut standalone thriller with a stunning ending)
11. Margaret Wild THE VANISHING POINT (a suspenseful, smart YA novel)
12. Kerry Greenwood MURDER AND MENDELSSOHN (visit 1920’s Melbourne in this romantic murder-mystery in the classic style)
13. Rebecca James SWEET DAMAGE (a gothic horror novel set in present-day Sydney)
14. Jane Clifton FLUSH (a murder cover-up is thwarted by the weather which seems fitting for a Melbourne-based procedural)
15. Jaye Ford BLOOD SECRET (a women tired of running sets up home in a small town…but the past catches up with her in a heart-stopping way)
16. PM Newton BEAMS FALLING (an outstanding novel depicting the gritty recent past of Sydney and the deep psychological trauma that can befall those we charge with protecting us)
17. Sulari Gentill A MURDER UNMENTIONED
18. Sandi Wallace TELL ME WHY