Tag: Crime Fiction

Book Review: ‘The Ledge’ by Christian White ⛰

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Aaron is an award-winning novelist attempting to escape his home time that holds complicated and tightly woven memories for his high school friend group. Covering for one another back then wasn’t a big ask, but in the present it could mean the crumble of the entire life he’s built. 

When human remains are discovered in a forest on the edge of Aaron’s hometown, he knows that the protected secrets that haunt him are finally coming to an end. 

Back then, Aaron’s best friend had a very different home life to his own. Full of displayed love and hidden violence. Moving from past to present in this story, we learn about the prolonged abusive actions that occurred and the climactic accident that changed the future for all the boys involved. With the setting of this mystery being a small town, the community is also fighting for the answers that they never received. Aaron’s return home brings more questions than answers to the surface, and the layered complexities unravel quickly.  

Christian White’s books never fail to keep me on the edge of my seat, as his compelling writing is mostly seen through tv scripts but truly, his novels are pure Australian Crime Fiction magic!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫(4.5/5)

Cozy Autumn Book Haul 📚🍂

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I’ve adored making YouTube videos (or should I say BookTube) 🎥

When it starts to cool off here, my mood reading seriously kicks in and I just KNOW I need a variety of books on my shelves to help battle the indecisiveness of what to read.

I’m so very grateful to Rhianna King with Affirm Press, and Joel McKerrow for generously sending me their brand-new books!

If you love a reading palette of romance, fantasy, crime fiction and historical fiction – this book haul is for you 📖

Author Interviews of 2023 🎤

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On my drive back to my family home for Christmas, I had the time to reflect on the year that was 2023 🎄

2023 has been HUGE in terms of Author interviews and they have taken place in many forms. I have conducted over 10 in person, online, written and panel interviews.

I am so incredibly grateful, feel incredibly privileged and in all honesty, speechless when I look at this collection of talented Australian Authors who have given their time, knowledge and enthusiasm on Mel Reviews Her Books (excuse me while I start getting teary writing this).

Thank you; Sulari Gentill; Zoë Coyle; Anita Heiss; Brooke Hill; Karina May; Emma Grey; Clare Fletcher; Michael Thompson; Kate Mildenhall; & Jack Heath.

Additionally, a big thank you to Sandie Docker; for your time spent in Wagga visiting me, sharing your festival knowledge and attending Collins Booksellers after years of connecting online but Covid stepping in our way!

Thank you to the stunning Maya Linnell, for featuring me on her latest novel Kookaburra Cottage! 💫 *honestly a dream come true*

Extra thankfulness to Sulari Gentill – your encouragement, support, strength and belief in me pulling together a book festival for our region. I cannot express my gratitude enough x

And lastly, thank you to all of YOU! Thank you for reading, viewing, liking, commenting, sharing and watching the book content I create and work on each and every week 💖

Now, it’s time to celebrate yourself!! ⭐️ COMMENT BELOW something you’re proud of this year 💬

Author Talks with Jack Heath 🔪

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Bestselling Australian Author, Jack Heath 📸 Curtis Brown Agency

Jack Heath is the #1 bestselling author of 40 novels, published in nine languages. Jack’s first crime thriller, Hangman, was voted one of the 100 best books of all time (twice) – and I think Kill Your Husbands won’t be far behind! His mission is to create books that inspire a love of reading in children and adults.

Welcome Jack, to Mel Reviews Her Books 😊

Jack, Kill Your Husbands is certainly a unique storyline! I mean, we have murder, a touch of romance, a LOT of suspicion and a partner swap! How and where were you inspired to write Kill Your Husbands?


I used to rent a beach house with my old high school friends every year after exams were over. There would be drinking, truth or dare, more drinking, and (my favourite) games of murder in the dark. We’d creep around the house with the lights out, and when someone screamed, we’d all get together in the room with the “body” and try to work out who the killer was.

I wanted Kill Your Husbands to be just as much fun as those games were.

Writing 7 different perspectives is not an easy feat in the slightest. Why did you choose to split perspectives rapidly in each chapter and do you feel its effect was achieved? (I certainly do!)


When I was a kid I read a murder mystery where the killer turned out to be the narrator, which blew my mind. For Kill Your Husbands I set myself a challenge – what if the killer was the narrator, and the reader knew it from the start, but they didn’t know which narrator?

In a world where ChatGPT exists, human writers can compete by focusing not just on the characters’ emotions but the readers’. Splitting the perspectives and tightly controlling the flow of information was the only way to create the effect I wanted.

In person and online, you’ve spoken openly about the challenges of making it into the book industry and rewriting, rewriting and rewriting your work before sending it off to be published. 40 novels down the line, what does that process look like for you now?


Things have changed a bit. At the start of my career, I’d write a book and then hope I could find a publisher to sell it to. These days publishers often come to me and ask me to write something for them. This means my income is much more stable, but it also means less creative freedom. I have to outline everything before I write it, and I have so many readers that I’m locked in to certain genres. Nice problems to have, I know!

Our main Police perspective, Kiara, is a recurring character for you. Kiara ends Kill Your Husband by exploring new cases and she’s stepped up into higher ranks as a Detective. Do you feel like there is another story left for her yet?


I hope so! I’ve learned not to plan out long series, because often a book won’t sell well enough to warrant a sequel. I also have several contracts for non-Kiara books, so I’ll be pretty busy either way. But the response to Kill Your Husbands has been tremendous, so I think there’s a market there for another Kiara book if I chose to write one. What do you think of Kill Your Boss?

Kill Your Boss sounds absolutely terrifying! Can’t wait to read it 😉 Jack – thank you SO MUCH for spending your time here on Author Talks. I’m so pleased to have had the opportunity to chat again (virtual this time), it’s always a pleasure 📚

You can find all of Jack Heath’s books via this link: Click Here ⭐️

Book Review: ‘Kill Your Husbands’ by Jack Heath

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I did not expect to devour this book in under a week but I’m not ashamed to say that I did! What I am ashamed to say is that this is my first Jack Heath book! If the rest of his adult crime fiction are anything like this … book friends, you know what’s on my Christmas list 📕

Kill Your Husbands is a witty, stand alone crime fiction novel that takes place in a secluded, digital detox holiday house. Three couples, who are high school friends, take the opportunity to leave behind their every day life baggage and spend some time reconnecting with themselves, their partners and … other couples partners.

There are many different perspectives and characters to flick around in this book, so let me start by introducing them as outlined to us in the front of this novel:

*written by Detective Kiara*

FELICITY, stand-up comic, married to Dominic (trophy wife?)

DOMINIC (Dom), finance bro, gave $10K to Cole (gift or loan?)

COLE, gym owner, married to Clementine (but attracted to Isla?)

CLEMENTINE, fitness model, Isla’s best friend (find someone who’s done IVF, see if story is credible)

ISLA, full-time mum, married to Oscar (what ‘truth’ was he referring to?)

OSCAR, real estate agent (but didn’t rent the house?)

Just reading these I was immediately intrigued! So, we have Dom and Felicity, a very glitzy pair who show off their wealth in a new Tesla & branded clothing. Dom also forked out and rented the grand holiday house for everyone – he’s a bit of a show off really. Felicity is quite a bit younger than Dom and has an interesting background before meeting Dom. Felicity is the one to suggest the partner swap … or is she?

We have Cole and Clementine who are the ‘perfect’ couple. However for them, their seemingly wonderful relationship is not complete without a baby. They’ve been through multiple rounds of IVF and the cost is setting Cole’s gym business backwards. He is also starting to see Clementine as becoming fragile and not able to fulfil his desires. Cole is beginning to feel helpless and he has an urge that needs fulfilling … will the partner swap be just what he needs to fulfil these continuous thoughts?

Finally, we have Isla and Oscar, and they have a little one named Noah who is the light of their life but Oscar is beginning to feel twinges of jealously, like he is left behind and that his wife is only sexually attracted to him because she wants another baby. Mentally, Oscar is finding it hard to stay balanced, and a weekend away from his son, somewhat from his wife, is exactly what he needs. And also because there will be another woman there he’d like to focus on … Oscar never thought he’d be a man who would cheat on his wife, but he’s obsessed.

Snipping through each perspective, two week time period, as well as being lead through the investigation process by Kiara , Kill Your Husbands is a very quick read 📕 There is no time to put this story down because at the end of every chapter, you’re left hanging for the next.

Each character has a motive for murdering another in the group. Each character you feel sympathy for because we learn, care and understand how they feel – it’s only human. Each character is a suspect. Up to the very last pages, I promise you, you will be kept guessing as to who, when, how and why.

Kill Your Husbands was a 5/5 read for me, no doubt about it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you’d like to hear Jack Heath and I discuss Kill Your Husbands, join us on Instagram Live Saturday 23 December @ 10am 🔪

BIG THANK YOU to Allen & Unwin for generously sending me this copy of Kill Your Husbands for review 💫👏🏼

💫 Mini Review 💫

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This book had me in with both hands and both eyes – unblinking 😉 I COULD NOT put this DOWN 👏🏼

Now, I know this has had varying reviews, most saying that too much happens towards the end and it all a bit extravagant. And yes, I agree that there is a lot that happens and it is a bit extravagant but for me, that was the BEST PART!

This is my first gothic thriller/mystery novel I’ve read and it will not be my last. And definitely not my last read from Riley Sager.

In The Only One Left we follow Kit, who takes on the new role as caregiver/home nurse to Lenora Hope, the unconvicted murderer of her father, mother and older sister when she was a teenager. Lenora has suffered a stroke in later years, and now an old woman now has limited movement in her body, and is harmless. Or so Kit is told.

Mysteriously, Lenora’s previous caregiver left unannounced. She has introduced a typewriter as something to assist in communicating with a non-verbal Lenora. Lenora and Kit slowly develop a friendship/relationship through writing back and forward about Lenora’s life and her past. Slowly, Lenora begins to share her story and Kit begins unravelling the pieces of what really happened that night.

Who was really there and who saw what? Did Lenora really do it and if she did, what made her commit such a hideous crime?

This dark, moody and addictive chapter cliffhangers, I had this finished in 3 days! If you’re looking for a novel with a stream of suspects, unforgettable twists and turns, and the need to be up way past midnight reading – try this!

Book Review: ‘The Whispering’ by Veronica Lando

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Imagine a rainforest that overshadows your local town. The sounds of the leaves rustling, the swoosh of the trees moving and the crackle of branches being trodden on the damp and mossy floor which create a sort of compelling whispering.

A whispering that many young people have heard before.

A whispering that is believed to take people away, into the rainforest and never come out again.

‘The Whispering’ by Veronica Lando had an eerie, compelling and unique spin on crime fiction. I have only read one other novel similar in this spiritual/naturalist/mystical sub genre of crime fiction, and that book was ‘The Bluffs’ by Kyle Perry. It was one of my favourite books of 2021. It was a given as soon as I read the blurb of this novel, I was hooked. ‘The Whispering’ was also the winner of the Banjo Prize for Fiction in 2020, therefore I was also more inclined to start reading. This prize is awarded by Harper Collins Australia to an unpublished Australian manuscript and author with the hope of launching their writing career.

Now about the book … Callum Haffenden never believed he would return to Granite Creek. It’s a place of heartbreak, sickening memories and feelings of physical and emotional loss. In the past and as a teenager, Callum was involved in an accident that caused the loss of his leg from the kneecap down. At the same time, he also lost the girl who was his first love and she lost her elder sister. The tragic series of accidents have always been swirled with mystery and secrets. But a feeling, or a whispering of events unresolved, are calling him back now.

In the present, a local, well-known and well-loved community man has gone missing in the rainforest, around the same dangerous boulders of Callum’s accident. When his body is soon discovered, Callum’s previous journalism traits jump to action. In search of answers, Callum’s past and present collide. This isn’t the only secret that Callum begins to uncover the more questions he asks around town. You quickly discover as the reader that nobody is trustworthy and everybody has a motive to be part of this towns historical eeriness.

This was a quick but slow read. Quick because the storyline mostly flowed and the amount of dialogue included helped to move things along well. Slow because, I personally felt some aspects were disjointed. One moment I was in one place and then the next the story had moved on without a clear explanation or connection. HOWEVER, I will hand on heart admit I read a lot of this novel before bed and mostly falling asleep. This is also one the first crime book I’ve read in a while (like, 6 months a while), so my judgement could be swayed. Overall an enjoyable read for a debut fiction ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5/5 stars)

💫 Mini Review 💫

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Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney was a quick, captivating and unexpected spooky crime read! I absolutely adored it 👻

Listening in on audio made this book a whole lot quicker for me to consume. With a cast of characters and repetitive events to help you recap and continue on through the story seamlessly, I was in a tight grip of waiting for events to unfold.

Who was killing everyone? How is the family riddle changing as family members die? Will Daisy Darker survive the night?

Daisy Darker is a novel about well, Daisy Darker. Daisy was born with a heart defect and due to this, her health had always been a battle as a child. With lots of scares and ongoing hospital admissions, Daisy’s bond with her reliable grandmother grew immensely. Daisy’s grandmother even went as fair as to write an award winning, and quite profitable, children’s book with a little girl called Daisy as the main character. Daisy siblings resented her immensely for this and for being grandma’s favourite.

In the present, Daisy’s grandmother is bringing all the family back together on her quirky, isolated island estate because she’d been told by a psychic many years ago that she would die at 80. Tomorrow happens to be her 80th birthday and she’d like to spend her last waking hours with her dear family … which also happens to be on Halloween.

Each family member has complex and strained relationships with one another. Daisy’s mother and father are divorced. Daisy never fit in with her two older sisters. Throw a boy in the mix, a niece and a secret accident that happened years ago and we have a recipe for messy murders.

I enjoyed going into this novel not knowing much about it and I would encourage you to do the same. I’ve tried not to give too much away in this mini review! Happy *late* Halloween reading 👻

WWW Wednesdays

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WWW Wednesday is hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words 📚 It is a book tag to broaden the reading community and help connect avid readers!

All you have to do is answer the following three questions:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

CR: ‘The Shearer’s Wife’ by Fleur McDonald jumped to the beginning of my reading pile because I had the pleasure of actually MEETING Fleur this past weekend at my local library. To say Fleur is one of the most down to earth, humble and kind authors is an understatement. I’m looking forward to finishing this book tonight.

RF: ‘Daisy Darker’ by Alice Feeney was the perfect spooky Halloween crime fiction read. I actually listened to this book on audio, making it all the more erry and addictive. Review coming this week 🎙👀👻

RN: ‘Tilt’ by Chris Hammer is next on the list … still. He’s getting closer to being read … I swear 🤣

What’s everyone reading at the moment? Are you enjoying it? Comment below 🎙

💫 Mini Review 💫

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‘The It Girl’ by Ruth Ware

This was a quick read, with cliff hangers at the end of every chapter. The chapters themselves were also short and immersive which I really enjoyed. I would highly recommend for those who have enjoyed ‘Behind Her Eyes’ and ‘Pieces of Her’ on Netflix 📺💥🌪

April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah met at Oxford. She was decked out in her luxury branded clothing, exclusive haircut and performative posture. She had a particular air about her, as some may say. April is clearly the kind of girl that makes herself known. She’s the ‘it girl’.

Hannah and April are in shared uni accommodation, therefore they begin to learn the ins and outs of each other’s life. Their friendship is magnetic, twisted and dangerous. April is a dominant personality, not only within their immediate friendship, but also within their outer circle of friends, with lecturers and classmates. This power allows her to manipulate those around her for the benefit of her own desires. April likes to plays pranks on her friends to induce the feeling of confusion and control. Her pranks initially start as a way of getting back at someone for not complimenting her – but her tactics, twists and stories start becoming expert level. They’re cruel and calculated, almost like she’s a whole other person.

Then it all goes wrong. 

On the closing night of April’s theatre performance on Oxford campus, she is all glamour and shine. Until Hannah discovers April’s body in her room later on that night. April is dead … or so Hannah thinks. April has been murdered … or so Hannah thinks. 

Fast forward to the present and we have Hannah happily married to April’s then boyfriend, Will. They are expecting their first child. Hannah and Will escaped to Scotland to free themselves of the ongoing press, court case and mystery motive surrounding April’s death. The trauma causes Hannah a lot of grief, especially with her being one of the focal witnesses in the ‘so-called’ attack.

We see Hannah start to retrace her memory on the lead up, and on the night of April’s death due to the ‘convicted’ murderer presently dying in prison. Hannah starts to remember and piece together the how’s, when’s and why’s of her friendship with April. She also begins to dig deeper into her repressed memories, which then leads to the questioning of her closest and most trustworthy friends at the time of their living at Oxford. Was someone close to Hannah more involved with April than she ever knew? Was someone out to get April? Who is in danger? Is April alive?