Christmas Harbor Secrets by Ciara Knight

 Reviewed by Nas Dean

Christmas Harbor Secrets delivers the perfect blend of mystery, suspense, and heartfelt emotion. Ciara Knight pulls you straight into a coastal town filled with danger, hidden truths, and the kind of characters you can’t help rooting for.

Isobel’s journey from heartbreak to courage is gripping, and Rone’s protective, guilt-ridden strength adds depth and tension to every scene they share. The unfolding mystery kept me turning pages late into the night, and the emotional warmth balanced beautifully with the chilling suspense.

If you love Christmas stories with real stakes, relatable characters, and a twist of danger, this book is an absolute must-read. Highly recommended

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The Nowhere Child

 The Nowhere Child

Christian White

Reviewed by Helen

The Went family Jack, Molly and their three children, Emma, Stuart and Sammy live in the small town of Manson in Kentucky, in April 1990 two year old Sammy goes missing she was never found no clues, nothing, over the course of searching we discover that this family is rather a fractured one in many ways the mother Molly is very involved with the local Pentecostal Church The Light Within who are fundamentalist and father Jack has secrets that he keeps close but a lot comes out during the search for their daughter.

Melbourne twenty eight years later Kimberly Leamy is a photography teacher, while having a break an American man sits at her table and produces photos of the lost Sammy and soon Kim realises that she is the lost Sammy, the man turns out to be her brother Stuart but Kim will not believe that the mother she knew and love who passed away four years ago kidnapped her.

Kim travels to America with Stuart to try and get the answers she needs leaving her step dad and sister behind she is angry and torn but what she discovers in America is a dark place and many secrets and takes her deep into the Church of The Light Within and their fanaticism which can be very dangerous.

This story had me turning the pages, my mind turning in so many different directions and the twist at the end wow, this was my first Christian White book, it won’t be my last and it was his debut, it was fabulous and I highly recommend this one to any lover of a good mystery, thriller.

5 stars

June 26, 2018 by Affirm Press

Target in Sight

 Target in Sight

Diane Hester

Reviewed by Helen

What happens when you witness a murder, when young single Mum Aliese Coleson knows that her priority is to do everything she can to protect her five year old son Jonathon, after all her and Jonathon have been through she is determined to not let anything more happen.

Aliese and Jonathon run from their home in Adelaide and make their way to a remote cabin in the wilds of Tasmania she has bought enough provisions to last six months, it is cold and wet, when a small plane goes down in a storm Aliese must decide what to do with the pilot who is injured, can she trust him. He remains unconscious for a few days she has done the best she can with his injuries and when he finally wakes he has no memory of who he is, so for a few days the three get on very well, Jonathon is drawn to him and is making friends and Aliese is feeling a pull towards this stranger but when his memory returns Aliese must again change her plans not only are there killers after her but it appears that this man Kellen Reid also wants her and led the killers to her door.

Aliese is forced to make another run this time with Kellen as well and now there is a dangerous race through the wilds of Tasmania as the trio do their best to avoid bullets and stay alive, will they make it, will Kellen prove to police what happened and will the man behind it all get what is coming to him in the end?

This is a fast paced and action packed story, with wonderful characters, Jonathon was so good and the settings is fabulous, it kept me turning the pages to find out what happened and it is one that I would highly recommend.

4 stars

July 8, 2024 by Slender Thread Publishing

An Ill Wind

 An Ill Wind

Margaret Hickey

Reviewed by Helen

When a body is found hanging from one of the three hundred wind turbines in the small country town of Carrabeen in Victoria it seems that suicide is what has happened here, did Geordie Pritchard owner of the wind farm, local wealthy philanthropist kill himself?

Detective Sergeants Belinda Burney and Will Lovell are married and Belinda is very pregnant they moved to Carrabeen nearly one year ago to the town Belinda grew up in so as she can be close to her father who is ill, they are only here for a year before they move back to Melbourne, now they must find out what happened to Geordie and it seems that what they uncover points to murder not suicide, was it the turbine haters.

What they are uncovering is taking them in many directions and there is more happening when another local falls into a silo and says he was pushed and then one of the teachers at the school is found murdered there are more questions than answers, will they find out what really happened is it one culprit or more than one?

This story started a little slow for me but then wow it moved in so many different directions there are twists and turns throughout the story that had me turning the pages and coming up with no answers, I thoroughly enjoyed this one, fabulous characters they are strong and determined but real people, I would highly recommend this one to any reader of a good crime, mystery, thriller story.

My thanks to Penguin AU for my copy to read and review.

5 stars

July 1, 2025 by Penguin Au

The Stolen

 The Stolen

Vikki Petraitis

Reviewed by Helen

Senior Detective Antigone Pollard is pleased that she left Brunswick to make her home in Deception Bay a place that she spent most of her childhood, she is living on her grandmother’s farm with her dog Waffles and now with a new boss Amanda Filipovic and her partner Wozza it is summer and crime is slow, that is until a bay is kidnapped.

Antigone and Wozza throw themselves into the investigation they must find baby Ethan as fast as possible but when they discover who took the baby and there is an accident but still no baby, the press is hounding them and the mother of the baby will they find Ethan before something happens to him is he lost or has someone got him?

Antigone’s mother Dr. Jilly arrives back in Deception Bay with a family secret, Antigone has a DNA test to help with this, could she have a sibling or could she finally find out who her father is?
Then new boss Senior Sergeant Amanda Filipovic is in an accident and in hospital and the old boss Bill Wheeler is back and making life very hard for the team and causing problems with the investigation, what really happened to Amanda that night?

Vikki Petraitis has again pulled me in in another unputdownable story that had twists and turns, her leading character, Antigone fights for the woman and the way they are treated by many of the men in this town, this story takes in a lot of issues that plague the world today domestic violence, media reporting that is so bad towards woman and so much more, but the more she uncovers the more that it appears that some of this might be linked to the first case she worked on in Deception Bay, will Antigone get the answers in the next book?

I do highly recommend this one and I can’t wait for the next book, a fabulous story that will keep the reader turning the pages.

5 stars

September 2, 2025 by Allen & Unwin

17 Years later

 17 Years Later

J P Pomare

Reviewed by Helen

When Aussie journalist and podcaster Sloane Abbott decides to investigate a cold case about the murder of a wealthy family in Cambridge, New Zealand, she is shocked about what she uncovers, Bill Kareama was charged and put in jail seventeen years ago he has never confessed and the more Sloane investigates the more she uncovers, she searches out people who helped over the years and one of them is TK Phillips who started out as Bill’s physiologist who then became his friend and biggest supporter in trying to get Bill a re-trial, together can they find the answers they want and get to the truth of what happened all those years ago?

This is a twisty, fabulous thriller it is a real page turner as Sloane and TK put themselves in danger to get the answers they are searching for, every time I thought I had the answer it changed, who did murder this family if it wasn’t Bill, but was it Bill there are so many flaws in the original investigation it had my spinning, fabulous characters in this one both now and 17 years before, a must read.

This is a story that I would highly recommend to any reader of a great thriller, I loved it from start to finish twisty and awesome.

5 stars

July 31, 2024 by Hachette Australia

Out of the Woods

 Out of the Woods

Detective Margot Phalen Series #5

Kate Wiley

Reviewed by Helen

We are back with Detective Margot Phalen and she is still hunting the Redwood Killer, he is at the moment San Francisco’s most elusive killer and her and her partner Wes Fox are not giving up, too many young woman hade been murdered by his hands and what she has uncovered already leads them to some of the city’s most powerful families and the police department and they must tread carefully, but Margot will get her man and anyone involved.

And there is also the cold cases that she is working with the FBI and her notorious serial killer father Ed Finch now he is offering to lead them to his last killings but he has another proviso will Margot give in to him to find those last bodies and if she does what will happen one thing for sure she is sure that she will never visit her father in jail again.

This is a fabulous ending to this wonderful series I have really enjoyed reading it, Margot is a wonderful character that I have gotten to know, her life has been hard but her strength to go forward shows her courage and is there a chance that her relationship with Wes will finally move forward past just work partners? And what of her father Ed, how will that end? And will they as a team bring down the Red wood Killer and stop more killings? I do highly recommend this one and the series.

Good news is that we will see more from Margot in a new spin off series that I look forward to.

My thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for my copy to read and review.

4 stars

August 20, 2025 by Storm Publishing