Review: A Most Puzzling Murder by Bianca Marais

 I love puzzles, I love magic and I love a good mystery. A Most Puzzling Murder had all three and it had me totally immersed in the characters and the mystery throughout the entire book.

A Most Puzzling Murder is a unique interactive mystery where the reader is asked to solve puzzles throughout the story. There are even a few choose your own adventure scenarios where you get to choose how the story will proceed.

After the death of her mother Destiny Whip has become a recluse suffering from severe depression. She was a child prodigy attending university at age twelve. She also has vivid dreams about past and future events which plague her sleep.

When she receives a cryptic invitation to work for the Scruffmore family she decides to take up the offer and travels to Eerie Island. This is where it all starts to happen! the Scruffmores are a truly eccentric family living in an old castle on a foggy, isolated island.

The whole family has been called home as patriarch Mordecai Scruffmore has an announcement to make.

A Most Puzzling Murder is a fabulous read, not only filled with puzzles to solve (the answers are in the back of the book if puzzles aren't your thing) but it also has a whole cast of nasty characters that hate each other. They are snarky, double crossing, infighting and back stabbing and it was all so much fun. Set in a creepy castle that was dark, somber and menacing.

A Most Puzzling Murder is an intriguing mystery with an easy to follow plot that includes twists and turns, jaw-dropping reveals and a few red herrings.

It wasn't even the mystery or the puzzles (which I both loved) that pulled me in but the characters. All very richly drawn.

If you love books that offer more to the reading experience I can recommend A Most Puzzling Murder.

My rating 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: Harlequin Australia

Publication date: 2nd July 2025

Genre: Mystery / Fantasy

Pages: 480

RRP: AU$32.99

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

Review: The Path Through the Coojong Trees by Leonie Kelsall

 The Path Through the Coojong Trees follows single mother Natasha as she arrives in Settlers Bridge to hopefully live a quiet life. Just her and her nine-year-old daughter Zehra.

When she meets Hamish she wonders if it just might be the chance she needs for a fresh start. That is until her past comes back into her life. Now Natasha must decide if she can forgive and be open to a second chance at love.

The Path Through the Coojong Trees is narrated through a dual timeline. The "now" had the reader returning to the familiar backdrop of Settlers Bridge with all the characters I have grown to love. Here we see Natasha settling into the area, meeting all the locals who are welcoming and friendly.

The "then" timeline is ten years previous in another small town with a young Natasha living in a dysfunctional family and working through her last year of high school.

There was much more "then" than "now" and Natasha's story was quite sad which I think spoilt the romance theme I was expecting.

The Path Through the Coojong Trees is a story about an all consuming first love and heartbreak. With themes of racism, dysfunctional families, xenophobia and family duty. I did find the story a bit heavy going.

What I did love was the atmosphere of living in nature and the slower pace of life in Settlers Bridge.

I was expecting The Path Through the Coojong Trees to be Natasha and Hamish's story and I feel a little misled by the blurb.

Overall I liked the story but it's not my favourite by this author. I liked that Leonie Kelsall featured a main character with a hearing impairment and showed how this was perceived by those around her. 

I am looking forward to Hamish's real love story, The Ironbark Promise, coming in January 2026.

My rating 3 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication date: 1st July 2025

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Rural Romance

Pages: 373

RRP: AU$32.99

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

Other books I've read by Leonie Kelsall:

The Farm at Peppertree Crossing

The Wattle Seed Inn

The Willow Tree Warf

The Blue Gum Camp

The River Gum Cottage

The Homestead in the Eucalypts

Wings Above the Mallee

Review: Twelve Post-War Tales by Graham Swift

Twelve Post-War Tales wasn't quite the collection of stories I was expecting. The stories were set post-war but not necessarily about the after effects of the war.

 

Graham Swift's short stories were diverse in era, location and characters. Most had a reminiscent feel with the narrator looking back on past events in their life.

I enjoyed how Swift infused different moods into each short story - some were melancholy, humorous and tranquil with themes of loss, childhood memories and reminiscence.  

 

Some of my favourites were:

The Next Best Thing - a story about a soldier stationed in Germany in 1959 and inquiring about the fate of his Jewish relatives during the war.

 

Chocolate - a group of 70 year-old men chatting in a pub and ribbing each other as one tells the story of a sweet girl he met back in the 70's.

 

Passport - Anna-Maria waking on her birthday and can't remember if she's 81 or 82. She finds her passport which has her thinking about all the journeys she never took and how she became an orphan during the blitz.

 

All the stories are different in their telling however all have an element of history through memories.

 

My rating: 3.8 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (averaged over the twelve stories) 

 

Publisher: Scribner Australia

Publication date: 30th April 2025

Genre: Short Stories

Pages: 304

RRP: AU$35.00 (hardcover)

Source: courtesy of the publisher 

 

 

Review: Sins of the Fathers by John Byrnes

Sins of the Fathers is an epic saga that follows the sons of two men forever at odds with each other.

After reading and loving The Youngest Son I was excited to read John Byrnes' next offering and I wasn't disappointed. 

 

Edwyn Smith is gaoled after a botched robbery. The story starts twelve years later when Edwyn is released from prison and goes home to the slums of Millers Point, to his wife and sons, Tommy now 14 and Billy now 12. But not before he lets it known to all around that he is back on the streets.

Arthur Davies - business owner and underworld figure - lives in the more upmarket Eastern Suburbs. His fourteen year old son Charles attends Scots College. Like his father Charles is a vicious bully.

 

Smith and Davies have history, sworn enemies, and this hatred projects onto their sons. After the death of his father Charles' only aim in life is to wreak bitter revenge on the Smith brothers and a feud fuelled by revenge is born.

 

The story also follows fourteen year old Angeline Dubois who helps her mother run a boarding house across the road from the Smiths. Angeline is determined and hard working. She has a plan to make something of herself. 

 

I simply devoured Sins of the Fathers. It has everything I love about Historical Fiction. Set in my hometown of Sydney all the places, although much changed, were all familiar to me.

 

Sins of the Fathers spans nine tumultuous years from 1910 - 1919 which includes WWI and sees the three boys join up and fight in Gallipoli and Somme. The WWI battlefields come to life on the page. Brynes' battle scenes  are vivid and authentic.

 

Narrated through multiple points of view the characters' lives veer in different directions and reconnect throughout the novel.

 

I cannot stress how much I loved this book! If you like to read stories about the wars, or historical fiction or even family sagas, this book is for you.

 

Sins of the Fathers is a story rich in revenge, bribery, threats, double crossing and blackmail. It is a story about survival from the slums of 1910 Sydney to the battlefields of 1915 Gallipoli. There is never a dull moment in Sins of the Fathers! 

 

My rating 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia 

Publication date: 1st July 2025

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 416

RRP: AU$34.99 (trade paperback)

Source: courtesy of the publisher

 

My review of The Youngest Son:

https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogspot.com/2024/08/book-review-youngest-son-by-john-byrnes.html 

 

  

Review: Best Left Buried by Neil A White

Best Left Buried is the second book in the Matt Latham series by Australian author Neil A White. 

 

Matt Latham is an Australian journalist living in London. He is also a part-time spy for Australia's Secret Intelligence Service.

When strapped for cash Matt takes on the task of writing the biography for an old acquaintance, Bryant Callahan. Bryant is on track to become Texas' next US Senator.

 

Best Left Buried starts at a slow, steady pace however quickly ramps up in tension and danger as Matt, once again trying to help someone out, lands himself in all sorts of trouble when Bryant's Cuban born wife asks him if he could help her find her biological parents. 

 

Neil A White has written a cleverly plotted and intriguing political thriller. The prologue, set in 1986, features a freedom fighters attack on a small village in Nicaragua and I was interested to how this attack would have relevance to a Texan running for Senate in 2022.

 

This plot driven mystery all seemed cut and dried to me until the pace ramped up and the twists started coming which had me racing through the last half of the book. 

Best Left Buried reads well as a standalone. There are a few mentions of events in Shadow Lives but nothing that will make you feel like you missed something crucial but enough to make you want to read it. 

 

In Shadow Lives Matt Latham was a broken man, taking drugs, drinking too much and I enjoyed the character development as the book progressed. However in Best Left Buried I felt he was too in control.

 

Best Left Buried is a riveting tale of revenge, greed and corruption.

 

My rating 4 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Publisher: Echo Publishing

Publication date: 3rd June 2025

Series: Matt Latham #2

Genre: Political Thriller

Pages: 352

RRP: AU$32.99 (trade paperback)

Source: courtesy of the publisher

 

My review of Shadow Lives: 

https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogspot.com/2024/10/book-review-shadow-lives-by-neil-white.html 
 

Review: A New World Rises: Tales of a Lego® Future by Jackson Harvey and Alex Towler

You've seen the Relics Exhibition at the Australian Museum, Sydney? Now get the book!

 

Haven't been able to get to the exhibition? Get the book! 

 

A New World Rises: Tales of a Lego® Future is the unauthorised Lego® masterpiece by Lego® Masters winners Jackson Harvey and Alex Towler with children's author and illustrator, Cristy Burne.

The year is 2130, it's a post-human world and Lego® minifigures have risen to build intricate civilisations inside discarded objects. Each new city is inspired by the relics' original use.

 

Through A New World Rises: Tales of a Lego® Future Harvey and Towler hoped to inspire families to get out their Lego® collections and see what their imagination can build.

 

The new minifigure worlds have been built inside everyday items such as an old car, piano, refrigerator, ATM, jukebox, bookcase and many more.

 

The hardcover book features 184 pages of amazing photos with a full shot of the setup and close up shots of each part of the setup, which gives a clear insight into the hours and thought that has gone into each build.

 

Each page includes fun and playful text combining to give a picture of a new world rising from the debris. A world that focuses on recycling and sustainability.

 

A New World Rises: Tales of a Lego® Future is a 'must have' for every Lego® enthusiast, young and old. 

 

My rating 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Publisher: Fremantle Press

Publication date: 5th August 2025

Genre: Fiction / Art

Pages: 184

RRP: AU$44.99 (hardcover)

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

 

Review: The Bearcat by Georgia Rose Phillips

I requested a review copy of The Bearcat thinking it was a story based on the infamous Australian cult The Family. I am fascinated by the premise of a cult. How do they draw people in, brainwash them? However The Bearcat wasn't about The Family per se but about the life of Anne Hamilton-Byrne, the yoga teacher who became the leader of The Family.

 

Inspired by real events however the author has used creative license and prioritised narrative over history to enhance the story.

"The cult started with Anne's women, her chosen ones; them finding each other between the crevices of their private worlds. It started with a loose constellation of bodies scattered across a modest community hall."

 

Georgia Ros Phillips prose are lyrical painting a distinct picture of the setting and atmosphere throughout the book.

 

The story opens in 1987 with ex-members of the cult talking to a detective. The narrative then goes back to 1921 when Evelyn/Anne is born. She cried a lot and her mother, Florence, found it hard to connect with this demanding, screaming baby.

 

The Bearcat explores the idea of nurture versus nature. Was Anne's actions the result of her upbringing or was she predestined to be the charismatic and manipulative leader of women?

We get a picture of a difficult child brought up by a mother with mental health issues and an indifferent father. Anne wasn't so much neglected, as forgotten. 

I did think it strange that there is only a brief mention of Anne's six younger siblings. Having them taken away may have triggered her desire to collect children. 

 

The book jumps around a lot in time, back and forward over a seventy year period. I found it very hard to connect with the story as it kept moving back and forward in time with no real sense of connection.

 

The story delves deep into the characters' feelings. How they feel about each other, how they feel about their current situation in life and their hopes and dreams.

 

Georgia Rose Phillips takes the reader behind everyday activities to relish in the lights, sounds  and movements that surround us.  

 

Whilst I found The Bearcat intriguing it didn't really hit the mark. I would recommend it to readers of literary fiction, anyone interested in the psychology of man and those who like to immerse themselves in lyrical prose.

 

My rating 3 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐

 

Publisher: Picador

Publication date: 29th April 2025

Genre: Literary Fiction / Historical

Pages: 320

RRP: AU$34.99 (paperback)

Source: Courtesy of the publisher