Cold River

 Cold River

Senior Constable Sally White #2

Margaret Hickey

Reviewed by Helen

We are back in the high country of Victoria with Senior Constable Sally White and this time a hiker has gone missing on Mount Viking this is a great way to return to work after her holiday but we all know Sally throws herself into work but things aren’t adding up for her.

The hiker Louis Taylor a budding journalist has been researching the chop, chop, illegal tobacco industry up in the high country and now the criminal that he interviewed has met a gruesome end and Sally is very worried about Louis not just being lost.

The search is winding down but Sally will not let it go especially when she learns about another missing hiker a few years ago and what she uncovers puts her in grave danger as well, Sally has a great mind for policing but she often jumps in feet first and against advice from numerous colleagues as well as her step father, the assistant commissioner of police, Sally takes off to find the answers and hopefully Louis as well but will she get out alive herself?

I loved this one from start to finish and have no problems highly recommending it, there were times that I could have yelled at Sally but what she finds will make her actions worth it I think and I do want more from Sally White and am hoping there will be more books.

5 stars

July 28, 2026 by PENGUIN Au

Dark Waters

 Dark Waters

A Bec Whitfield Mystery #4

Annie Seaton

Reviewed by Helen

Another fabulous installment in this series that I am loving, Bec is back from her trip to New Zealand and is rested and ready to be back at work but she didn’t expect to start as soon as she arrived but when a body is found in the water and he is an investigative journalist Dominic Davidson and it is a suspected diving accident but there are things wrong with the dive computer and DI Todd Davenport is there and requests that Bec accompany him to Cairns for further meetings she is back to work.

It turns out that Davidson was looking into reef tour operators and was days away from exposing a scandal the would open up drug and rare species smuggling and now he is dead and his laptop is missing and his marine biologist informer cannot be found but to solve this case Bec and Todd must go undercover for six days on a live aboard dive tour of the reef posing as married couple this is not going to easy for either of them especially Bec with the feelings and their past history but they have a short time to resolve this case and it could turn out to be dangerous considering one man is dead already.

The missing marine biologist turns up on the same trip and they uncover what they have presumed was happening but they must get proof first and stop what has been happening for years but the perpetrator will go to any lengths to keep his secrets and then the marine biologist goes missing, will Bec and Todd get their evidence before any more lives are lost?

I loved this one my trip to FNQ I have never dived but the author took me deep into the dark waters and I felt like I was with them on the dives and the story had me turning the pages till all was resolved and as for Todd and Bec will they ever find what is there between them? Back home Bec has some big decisions to make and maybe a transfer is what is needed, bring on the next book, I am really looking forward to more. I do highly recommend this one and the series.

My thanks to the author for my digital copy to read and review.

5 stars

July 31, 2026 by ASA

Storm Season

 Storm Season

A Bec Whitfield Mystery #3

Annie Seaton

Reviewed by Helen

We are back in Mission Beach with Detective Bec Whitfield, she has settled well into her new position after solving the backpacker mystery and feeling good about most things except Todd maybe, but when a three year old girl goes missing from the beach Bec dives in full force, DI Todd Davenport and the team from Cairns arrives, while everyone is working hard to find her there is demolition going on in town for a new build when a skeleton is discovered, two cases that need answers quickly, the skeleton is identified as a missing environmental activist from twenty years ago and they need answers. Will they find the little girl and will they get the answers about the skeleton?

Bec has become friendly with local property developer Jake Morrison but of course Todd is still in her mind, in the background and with Jake’s company the one developing the land the skeleton was found on and Jake seems to be a little evasive about his past as he grew up here and his father ran a big development company twenty years ago, there are accusations of corruption and so much more and Bec is not so sure how she feels about this and Todd is not making it any easier and to make matters work cyclone Meredith is bearing down on their community, how will everything turn out, will the answers be found?

This is another fast paced page turner as Bec works hard on these cases and her personal life as well, I loved it from start to finish and it is one that I do highly recommend, I am loving this series and am now ready to read the latest one and looking forward to it.

5 stars

January 23, 2026 by ASA

The Witness

 The Witness

Fleur McDonald

Reviewed by Helen

Another fabulous thriller from Fleur McDonald, we are back in Kalgoorlie where Detective Jack Higgins and Detective Angie Sullivan are investigating a car accident that has taken the lives of two well-known locals Eric and Iris, they are the adoptive parents of Midwife Molly Walker, Molly came to live with them from Sydney when she was five years old after she witnessed the brutal murder of her mother and was put in protective custody, her mother, Sammi Walker was a police officer and Tash Biggs her mother’s best friend and work college and Molly’s godmother stepped in and she too moved to Western Australia years later and has always been there for Molly and Eric and Iris and is now chief Superintendent, but there are many questions regarding this car accident.

Even though Angie is still supposed to be on maternity leave she cannot help but become involved in this case and there are a lot of answers that need answering, Jack and Angie along with Tim and Ava with Molly’s help have discovered that there have been questions about re-opening Sammi’s murder investigation because no one was ever charged twenty years ago and it soon appears that Molly maybe in danger, will the team uncover the truth and the secrets that have been kept for twenty years before it is too late?

This was a page turner for me, gripping and enthralling as they uncover a web of lies, secrets and corruption, so well written and the setting is fabulous and there are personal things going on at the same time with Jack will he still be there in Kalgoorlie for the next book? I can’t wait to read it. I do highly recommend this one to any lover of a good mystery. Thriller. I love Jack and Angie as a team.

5 stars

March 31, 2026 by HarperCollins Au

Shadows on the Shore

 Shadows on the Shore

A Bec Whitfield Mystery #2

Annie Seaton

Reviewed by Helen

Book two in this series, book four is just about to be released and I am catching up and loving it, Bec is such a great character and this one had me turning the pages when four back packers go missing around The Whitsunday’s and Bec is thrown head first into the case as she starts her new position as detective in the small seaside town.

DI Todd Davenport arrives to help Bec with the investigation, when a catamaran is found on Dunk Island and then a body is discovered in the water, is this one of the missing woman? As they dig deeper into what they have already uncovered they find that the three woman have a small connection with a local who often takes backpackers on as crew on his yacht is this local who seems to have a bad reputation part of the reason they are missing or is it something else entirely and will they find out the truth on what has happened before there are any more bodies?

I loved this one, the setting is just the best and Bec is fabulous she has a lot going on at the moment her new position and the feeling she has for her boss Todd Davenport will anything come of that and starting a new position is not always easy especially when she walks into a police statin that has been sloppily run for many years, how will things work out for Bec I look forward to book three. I do highly recommend this one and the series to anyone who loves a good mystery set in a fabulous setting and with fabulous characters.

5 stars

June 20, 2025 by ASA

The Wolf at the Door

 The Wolf at the Door

Margot Phalen FBI #2

Kate Wiley

Reviewed by Helen

In this installment, which is fabulous Margot has to leave Wes and her farm to go to Tennessee to interview serial killer Wyatt Holmes he has been behind bars for a while now but they are trying to discover if there are more of his victims out there, Margot is one of the best to be able to get into the minds of these killers, after all she is the daughter of one of America’s worst serial killers, who are monsters.

The team Andrew, Alana, Greg, Sydney and herself hire an expert at hiking on this track to re-visit the grounds where Holmes spent a lot of time but what they discover is a grave site with seven more victims they have called in top anthropologists to determine how long they have been there and if there is any chance they can be identified, they soon realise that these victims cannot all be Holmes’s victims so it appears that there is another serial killer who needs to be caught and the investigation starts, Margot and the team are at their best and Margot soon becomes a target, will they get the killer?

There is also a call to the team from a nearby town requesting help about a bucket that has been found buried and that there is an unsolved murder, this case has similarities to the case that involved Wes not long ago could this be linked, Margot is determined to find out but at the moment she is on this case.

This is a fabulous story, a page turner as the team searches clues and slowly gets answers I loved this one from start to finish, action packed and had me thinking and I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series, and how the changes to the team may change things up, I do highly recommend this one and the series, it is awesome.

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

5 stars

May 19, 2026 by Storm Publishing

For All the Dead Girls

 For All the Dead Girls

Lou Alcott #2

Sherryl Clark

Reviewed by Helen

This is the first book I have read from this author and it won’t be the last, this one had me turning the pages as PI Lou Alcott gets caught up in a dark web group with confronting ideas on how woman should be treated, it is an issue that sadly in this day and age is still happening and I was on the edge of my seat throughout the story.

PI Lou Alcott is the daughter of assistant police commissioner and was a police officer herself once she and her father have a strained relationship and at the moment she is living with her grandfather, she works for PMI and enjoys her job her boss has her on a missing persons case at the moment which appears to be closely related to her family when he asks her to rescue a mother and her son from an abusive relationship this will start Lou on a journey through some very dark and hard issues and times.

The weather is heating up as is the case with the deaths of more woman linked to what PMI have discovered is a group of men on the dark web known as SYB but when Lou becomes their next target and the violence heats up will they get the members of SYB before Lou and any other woman are killed?

This is a great and well written story, sadly about things that are happening that shouldn’t be and it is confronting at times but I did very much enjoy it, although it can be read as a standalone I do wish I had read book one first and will be chasing that one up to read and I look forward to more Lou Alcott stories I think she is a great character her strength is amazing after all she has been through and her workmates Gang and Paul not to mention her grandfather Hamish are fabulous and add so much to the story, I do highly recommend this one to any lover of a good thriller that will keep you turning the pages.

My thanks to HQ Fiction for my ARC to read and review.

4 stars

June 30, 2026 by HQ Fiction