Musk and Byrne by Fiona Capp
19 March, 2008
In the goldmining town of Wombat Hills in the late 1800s, Jemma Musk is working at establishing herself as an artist. Upon witnessing a young girl’s brush with death, instead of saving her, Jemma sketches her, and is marked for gossip and scandal by the town.

A Deadly Business by Lenny Bartulin
18 March, 2008
While there are a few high-flyers wheeling and dealing in first editions and ‘the good stuff’, for the most part the second-hand book trade has traditionally been thought of as a world of musty, dusty stock and bored, grumpy people in cardigans.

Blood Sunset by Jarad Henry
17 March, 2008
Blood Sunset is the second novel from Melbourne author and criminologist Jarad Henry, and reintroduces Detective Rubens McCauley, the physically and emotionally scarred anti-hero from his first offering, Head Shot.

Alibi by Sydney Bauer
16 March, 2008
The third in a series of accomplished legal thrillers, Alibi brings us the latest adventures of ‘Boston’s most sought after defence attorney’ David Cavanaugh, last seen solving the murder of the US Vice President in Undertow.

The Accidental Sorcerer by K E Mills
15 March, 2008
The Accidental Sorcerer is the first book in Mills’ fantasy series ‘Rogue Agent’. Twenty-three-year-old Gerald Dunwoody is a Grade Three Wizard—the bottom of the pecking order, magically speaking.

Breath by Tim Winton
15 March, 2008
It’s hard to think of an Australian writer, other than Peter Carey, who has pushed the boundaries of his fiction more emphatically than Tim Winton. It’s now more than 25 years since An Open Swimmer on the Vogel award, and a wonderful outpouring of novels, short stories, and children’s books followed.

Living in Maniototo by Janet Frame
3 March, 2008
Nothing in this story is what is seems. Mavis Furness, Mavis Barwell, Mavis Halleton, a woman who has buried two husbands (which, she believes, entitles her to special attention in neighbourly conversations at the bus-stop) is also Alice Thumb or Aurelia Lokinia, or Maui's sister...or, even, Violet Pansy Proudlock, ventriloquist.

The Swim Club by Anne De Lisle
23 February, 2008
The Swim Club will no doubt be promoted as the ‘Australian’ version of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood but while it shares some similarities it lacks the depth, sophisticated links to broader cultural and historical forces, and the richness of characterisation of the latter.

Still Waters by Camilla Noli
23 February, 2008
In the suburbs, a once-successful career woman is unhappy in her full-time role as wife and mother. With her control slipping away and motherhood consuming her she becomes a danger to those close to her.

The Spare Room: A Novel by Helen Garner
23 February, 2008
This is Helen Garner’s first novel in 15 years, though it could as easily sit with her formidable body of essays and nonfiction such as Joe Cinque’s Consolation and The First Stone

The Solemn Lantern Maker by Merlinda Bobis
23 February, 2008
In Manila, Noland, a young mute, makes lanterns and sells them at a busy intersection. He makes the shimmering items himself while dreaming of stars and angels.

Open File by Peter Corris
23 February, 2008
This 31st instalment of Corris’ ‘Cliff Hardy’ series begins with a dispirited Hardy packing up his office after losing his private investigator’s license in the fallout from a nasty case.

Murder on the Apricot Coast by Marion Halligan
23 February, 2008
Murder on the Apricot Coast is the sequel to Halligan’s The Apricot Colonel, and shows us Cassandra and the Colonel at the beginning of their married life. A mystery is introduced when a friend’s daughter is found dead.

The Medici Secret by Michael White
23 February, 2008
Ex-Thompson Twins band member Michael White will intrigue readers with his latest novel The Medici Secret. White is the author of 25 books, his best known being the international bestseller Equinox.

The Lifeboat by Zacharey Jane
23 February, 2008
When a man and a woman are found in a lifeboat off the coast of an unnamed island state, a young immigrant interpreter finds herself with the unenviable task of solving the mystery of their identities.

Landscape of Desire by Kevin Rabalais
23 February, 2008
An accomplished first novel, The Landscape of Desire revisits the Burke and Wills tragedy and brings to life the later expedition, led by Alfred Howitt, which was charged with establishing the fate of those men and rescuing them if possible.

God of Speed by Luke Davies
23 February, 2008
Howard Hughes was a man of huge ambitions: a perfectionist who directed the most expensive movie ever made; a mogul who bedded dozens of starlets; a pioneering aviator who insisted on test-piloting his own planes

Dancing Backwards in High Heels by Christine Darcas
23 February, 2008
Maddie is a middle-aged woman frustrated with the mundane and messy tasks of motherhood and marriage crisis.

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
23 February, 2008
A Fraction of the Whole is an ambitious, lively, ebullient novel that is funny, philosophical and always has an eye on the foibles of life.

The Con by Jesse Pentecost
9 January, 2008
Derek Gunderson is a student, bogged down in his final year at a conservatorium of music, learning the finer arts of the piano and dreaming of a glittering career.

Eating Lolly by Corrie Hosking
9 January, 2008
Mumma is sent away to an island to have her illegitimate daughter. She emotionally smothers her new baby and curbs her own anxieties with the comfort of food—hot bread with butter, puddings, eggs, meats and sweet treats.

The First Weapon by Bevan McGuiness
9 January, 2008
The second volume in ‘The Triumvirate’ returns to the three protagonists of the first: Shanek, Hwenfayre and Aldere. As more is revealed about the powers of the Triumvirate it appears that the fears of those who know the ancient tales may not be entirely misplaced.

Fivefold by Nathan Burrage
9 January, 2008
‘What if the first five chapters of the bible weren’t about good and evil at all?’ Fivefold is a mystical thriller filled with misconceptions and untruths in the Bible and the traditions of a brotherhood, known as the Kabbalah. James, Morgan, Eric, Ashvin and Elise, a close-knit group of friends at university but with limited contact since, are thrust together in circumstances they could never have imagined.

Run Afoul by Joan Druett
9 January, 2008
This is the third book in the Wiki Coffin series of adventures written by New Zealand maritime historian Joan Druett. The dashing protagonist Wiki Coffin is half Maori and half American, having moved to America with his father when he was 12.

Stairway to the Moon by Colin Falconer
9 January, 2008
Stairway to the Moon is the second in what feels like a continuing series that began with Falconer’s 2006 novel Pearls—although the publicity blurb says ‘brings to a stunning conclusion….’ That said, you don’t need to have read the first to appreciate the epic historical story and character arcs as established in Pearls and re-set here during the period 1934-1942.