Last to Die, by Tess Gerritsen (Bantam Press, RRP $37): In the latest installment in the Rizolli and Isles thriller series, three children are brought together by seemingly random and extreme acts of violence. Orphaned, the children are taken in as students of a boarding school for emotionally traumatised children in a remote area...
The Jewels of Paradise, by Donna Leon (William Heinemann, RRP $37): I haven’t read all of Donna Leon’s books but have managed to make my way through half a dozen of the series featuring Venetian police commissioner Guido Brunetti and have found them a little hit and miss: all were well-written but for me,...
The Owl that Fell from the Sky: Stories of a Museum Curator, by Brian Gill (Awa Press, RRP $35): Museums are interesting places and it is the natural history collections that are often the most interesting. Author Brian Gill has taken on the task of telling the stories of 15 intriguing objects in New...
Dulcie May Kitchen: Everyday, by Natalie Oldfield (HarperCollins, RRP $45): Following on from the earlier success of her Gran’s Kitchen and Gran’s Family Table cookbooks, Natalie Oldfield has produced another winner packed with recipes that are both desirable and accessible. All too often, modern cookbooks tend to feature ingredients that no normal person has...
Josephine off the Rails, by Diane Miller, illustrated by Sheryl MacLeod (Lifelogs, RRP $20): Dunedin-based children’s author Diane Miller has used the Josephine, the 21-tonne steam locomotive that has been on display at the Otago Settlers Museum for years, as the inspiration for this story. Josephine gets to realise a long-held fantasy, and escapes...
I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen By Sylvie Simmons (Johnathan Cape, RRP $38): Leonard Cohen is many things to many people: a poet, a prophet, singer, songwriter, author, peacemaker and all-round good bloke. Cohen has been touring the world pretty much non-stop for the past couple of years and I have to...
Moa: The Life and Death of New Zealand’s Legendary Bird, by Quinn Berentson (Craig Potton Publishing, RRP $50): There has been much written about our long-extinct moa but this book by Dunedin-based writer, domentary film-maker and photographer Quinn Berentson manages to be both comprehensive and accessible. These unusual birds developed in isolation millions of...
Collins Pocket Guide to New Zealand Minibeasts, by Terence Lindsey and Rod Morris (HarperCollins, RRP $25): I’m a fan of most four, six and even some eight-legged critters so it’s nice to have a book that is so packed with information on the little creepy crawlies lurking in our fair land. This guide covers...
The Testimony, by James Smyth (Blue Door, RRP $35): This is the book everyone was getting excited about last year and I can finally say I now understand why. It joins the ranks of dozens of other dystopian stories and has a slight feeling of Stephen King’s Cell at the start but it certainly...
Hang in there Bozo, by Lauren Child (HarperCollins, RRP $5): Ruby Redfort is the heroine of a series of books by Lauren Child: a secret agent, detective, thirteen-year-old kid. And now a survival expert. Subtitled “The Ruby Redfort Emergency Survival Guide for Some Tricky Predicaments”, this book is packed with helpful hints and tips...
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