eBook Listing

The Bannerman Shortlist has been announced.

Six authors. Six stories.

And Gideon Bannerman is missing.

 

‘Colin Batrouney’s new novel is unexpected and alluring. Balancing out satire which hits home with feelings which run deep is something only truly accomplished writers can achieve – and he does.’ - DAVID HARE

 

‘A wicked invention that is very, very funny.’ - DAVID MARR

 

‘Batrouney’s new novel is an exquisite joy, one of the most pleasurable books I have read in ages. The joy is in the elegance and assurance of the writing, in the sophistication and wit of the satire, and in the richly imagined characters and narrative. What a pure delight! I wanted to stay within its pages for the longest time.’ - CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS

 

‘The Bannerman Shortlist is a beauty. It’s clever, original and compelling. It’s the best contemporary novel I’ve read for quite some time.’ - ANDREA GOLDSMITH

 

Why was King Henry, an aboriginal from Western Australia, killed in New South Wales? What was the feud that led to murder after nineteen long years had passed? Who was the woman who saw the murder and kept silent?

 

This first story of Inspector Bonaparte takes him to the Darling River bush country where he encounters those problems he understands so well - mixed blood and divided loyalties.

 

Rampageous fisticuffs, rough scenery and rougher, dust-covered sheepmen and wanderers, dignified aboriginals, and so much interest and local colour. - Books and Bookmen

Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte is on leave, staying with an old friend near Adelaide. Ben Wickham, a meteorologist whose uncannily accurate weather forecasts had helped farmers all over Australia, lived nearby. Ben died after a three-week drinking binge and a doctor certified death as due to delirium tremens - but Bony's host insists that whatever Ben died of it wasn't alcohol...

 

This is an unusual crime story for Upfield, but, revealing the vast range of his interests, it is one of the better ones ... Constable Alice McGorr returns and is at her strongest and most profane best ... she is extraordinary, and should be appreciated as one of his major creations. - from The Spirit of Australia by Ray Browne.

 

Bony - a unique figure among top-flight detectives - BBC

Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte is on leave, staying with an old friend near Adelaide. Ben Wickham, a meteorologist whose uncannily accurate weather forecasts had helped farmers all over Australia, lived nearby. Ben died after a three-week drinking binge and a doctor certified death as due to delirium tremens - but Bony's host insists that whatever Ben died of it wasn't alcohol...

 

This is an unusual crime story for Upfield, but, revealing the vast range of his interests, it is one of the better ones ... Constable Alice McGorr returns and is at her strongest and most profane best ... she is extraordinary, and should be appreciated as one of his major creations. - from The Spirit of Australia by Ray Browne.

 

Bony - a unique figure among top-flight detectives - BBC

This is the story of a man who shot his wife's lover and thus created a memory which wrecked his own life. Arnold Dudley loved his wife and killed the man who stole her from him. Hunted by justice, pursued by bitter remorse, he fled to a stretch of beach on the Australian coast and lived in utter loneliness. When almost driven to madness by the solitude, he meets two women, who strive to re-build his broken life...

 

First published in 1930, by the creator of Bony, the Aboriginal detective.

Kathleen Folbigg was found guilty of killing her four children by opinions – medical, literary and her estranged husband’s opinion - nearly 20 years ago. There never was hard evidence of homicide in the infants’ deaths. This book traces her life story, the rise and fall of a medical mania that saw so-called ‘smother mothers’ imprisoned and then released as sound science replaced pseudo-scientific nonsense, and how her diaries were mis-read. The way the case against her was pursued will chill the blood of anyone who has ever gone out, fallen in love and considered having children, as that is all this woman did to get sentenced to 40 years. It explains in the language of the lay person why the finest minds in Australian science by the score joined in a petition - just let her out, fix your criminal justice system later – in a move without precedent anywhere. The scientific story is exciting, inspirational and a wake-up call. That Ms Folbigg is still behind bars today is a tale of pig-headedness, scientific illiteracy, poor judgement and perhaps implicit bias. Whatever, a good scrub won’t fix it; some reconstruction is needed. The strong woman at the core of this story has good friends and a legal team whose perseverance will replenish readers’ sense of what can be done. Among the expert witnesses are men and women whose commitment to the truth inspires. Their genetic and medical evidence is here made simple, digestible and compelling. The book lists some ideas for overdue legal reforms.

Kevin Matheson is coming to Brisbane with revenge on his mind. Even for a vampire, there is no time like the present. He has a score to settle with Mira, the sadistic killer who tore his life in outback Queensland apart.

For Mira's bodyguard, Reece, worn out and fading a little more each day, the present is all he has. He is determined to spend it protecting his mistress, for better or worse.

But as the two men head for a collision the vampires of Brisbane have their own plans - plans that will lead Kevin and Reece down roads they never expected to travel.

And at the end of the line, at the intersection of loyalty and vengeance, both face the questions: who are they willing to sacrifice to win the war?

Throughout the ages the possession of an unremarkable sword has seemingly been the magic that allowed dynasties to flourish. When a modern tyrant seeks to find the sword and use its power, The Fund find themselves in a race to locate this treasure and keep it safe from despotism.

Thrust into the technology-driven Earthlands, Shahkara must find the ancient Elnara death lantern - the only thing that can save her homeworld from the heart-devouring Taloners.

She enlists the help of geeky billionaire Max McCalden, but soon finds that, as a half-Taloner herself, her blood demands what she knows she can't have - a human heart.

Shahkara longs for love, but as deadly enemies attack at every turn, will her lust for Max destroy them both?

Or will she find the strength to free both worlds from a threat more horrific than the demons that share her blood?

Jeffrey Anderson was a big man with a foul temper - a sadist and an ugly drunk. When his horse The Black Emperor, an animal as mean as its owner, came home riderless, no one cared. And no one cared when no trace of the man could be found. But five months later, Detective-Inspector Bonaparte is called in - and he is determined to solve the mystery. With his usual tenacity he takes up the cold trail. What happened to Anderson, to his hat, to his stockwhip, to his horse's neck-rope? Bony must rely on his eyes and his wits to help him find the answers, for the local inhabitants, both black and white, are keeping their own secrets.

 

Bony - a unique figure among top-flight detectives - BBC

A new wagtastic mystery.

Monty, the adorable, food-obsessed Golden Retriever will do anything for his owner, Detective Constable Rose Sidebottom.

Of course, as these things go, Monty is no ordinary dog and Rose is no ordinary hooman.

Monty's super-smart nose and network of unique informers, and Rose's uncanny ability to spot liars make them a funny and formidable team.

When Rose is on sick leave a stranger begs for their help to find a missing person. The case soon becomes a murder investigation, and Rose's boss warns her not to interfere.

But, when dogs start disappearing too, Monty and Rose have no choice but to track down the culprits by doing what they do best - together.

A young boy, Luke Whelan, lies dying in hospital from terminal cancer, an old woman and Luke's young father by his side. Luke is about to be saved but to do so the woman will give him a precious gift - or is it a curse?

As Luke grows into a young man he finds out about the deadly curse that saved his life. He can save people's lives by touching them, but in turn he ages. He must now embark on a perilous journey to save his own life again and those of everyone around him.

Facing an immortal being from the bowels of hell and pitted against the forces of a tyrannical US government, the Mafia, God and Satan, never has one man had to overcome so much and reach a point where the ultimate decision of good versus evil must be made.

Take a look inside The Book Vault and discover award-winning crime and speculative fiction from Liz Filleul:

The Book Vault includes Liz's prize-winning entries in the annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards; along with The Punishment Book, a novelette based on one of those stories.

Not What You Think We Are

An exploited former gymnast builds a team of tiny champions after discovering a dark family secret

Crime Traveller

A time-travelling crime writer from 2040 investigates a long-gone-cold case on the Gippsland coast

Brought to Book

Four collectors of schoolgirl fiction go on the trail of vintage book thieves

The Write Place

Two would-be bestselling authors get caught up in a writing scam

The Punishment Book

A nervous new PI tracks down a missing mum via an online spanking forum

Got a spirit-crushing boss?

Well so does Lauren Johnson - five of them.

Based on true stories of bosses' political maneuverings and workers under siege, The Boss tells Lauren's story - a talented but naive professional struggling under a self-serving, insensitive boss who undermines her at every turn. And working around her boss doesn't help - most of the company execs are ineffective in their own right. Lauren just wants to get her job done, but every manager throws up one more needless hurdle.

Disturbing, amusing, and wry, the story progresses as Lauren is forced to upwardly manage the brownnoser, the backstabber, the micromanager, the passive-aggressive, the bully, and the idea stealer. Forced into a final decision, Lauren must fight back or have her spirit crushed.

Nick Lawrance, an antique map dealer, is shocked to find his gallery has been burgled. However, this isn't an ordinary robbery: the thieves have ignored priceless maps and have only taken Bunting's World Map. All of a sudden, Nick is thrown into a four-hundred-year religious mystery where strange people around him will do anything for this map... even kill for it. Nick has to figure out why, before it's too late.

Thrilling and steeped in dark history, The Bunting Quest is inspired by a real-life map that displays the Australian coastline many years before its 'discovery'. Here, two compelling adventures, set hundreds of years apart, come together in this breathtaking page-turner that reveals mankind's greatest secret.

'It's written in the same vein as The Da Vinci Code, though it's more deeply imagined, pacier, and better written.' - Cameron Woodhead, Sydney Morning Herald

'Marcuson is a proficient storyteller... This intriguing novel conveys a powerful message that racial prejudice and religious bigotry breed monsters.' - Phillip Siggins, The Australian