Cirrus@Austlit

'Tomi Cardozo, the top Justice Official in the thriving metropolis of Radaza, has been called to investigate a gruesome murder where a professor had been mutilated in his own apartment. She soon discovers both the professor and his killer were witches, and therefore illegal residents of the city.

'Since Tomi has just been put on probation for alleged witch sympathies, she's determined to prove her loyalty to the Justice Department by catching the killer within the four-day grace period given to her by the court.

'But, as she untangles the knots of the case, Tomi discovers similarities between the professor's death and the unsolved murder of her parents 23 years before. She learns that she's tied to the world of the witches, and that no on in her life, living or dead, is who they appear.

'Tomi must decide whether upholding the law is worth exposing the people she loves, while racing to catch a killer who has the one thing she lacks - magic.' (Publication summary)

'Regency England.

With no organised police force, there is nothing to stand in the way of a new breed of costumed villains, who hide their identities behind aliases and prey on the vulnerable.
Nothing, that is, except for the Vigils.

'Elizabeth Bennet is one; living a double life of accomplished but headstrong young woman by day, and masked, leather-armoured crimefighter by night.

'News of a dangerous villain targeting Hertfordshire leads her to suspect the newly-arrived Mr Bingley; the young man her older sister happens to be falling in love with. Could he be responsible for the abduction of several local girls? And where does his brooding friend, the infuriating Mr Darcy fit in?

'Elizabeth must fight two secret battles at once. One is physical, against the villain and his henchmen as she seeks to uncover his identity and thwart his evil plans. The other, also clandestine, is waged in the assembly halls and drawing rooms as she fights for her happiness, to carve out her own space within the confines society has set for her.

'Can a life lived in two halves ever be made whole when everything is at stake?
Does Elizabeth Bennet need her own hero? Absolutely not.' (Publication summary)

'Intriguing ~ Adventurous ~ Peculiar ~ Devious

'A linguistics expert solves the murder of her mentor.
Mrs Hudson foils a plot to assassinate Queen Victoria.
Men keep dying from their own sheer stupidity.
A frozen man is discovered in post-apocalyptic Antarctica.
A policewoman is baffled by a man's missing underwear.
Murder, treachery and treason are afoot on a distant planet.
A teenager becomes a bushranger in pursuit of retribution.

'These 15 deadly, prize-winning crime stories will transport you from the freezing climes of Antarctica to the Faroe Islands, from Victorian England to the Victorian Goldfields, from outback Queensland to the planet Kyrnos - and places in between.
Get set for a whirlwind mystery tour and expect the unexpected but choose your travel companions wisely.' (Publication summary)

'Mysterious ~ Enlightening ~ Frivolous ~ Dangerous

'A group of librarians open an S&M club.
A Victorian maid disrupts a seance.
An older woman stands up for herself.
A jewel thief uncovers a love story.
A detective searches for a robot.
Sherlock Holmes becomes a woman.

'These 17 prizewinning crime and mystery stories run the gamut from dark through charming to silly, and beyond.

'So put up your feet, pour a glass of something tasty, and enjoy.

'Just make sure to look over your shoulder.' (Publication summary)

'When child soldier Silvie loses her magic and part of her hearing, her life as she knew it is over. Sent to the far-away canal city of Arteria to be an alchemist's apprentice, she is forced to begin again.

'Azura, the alchemist's daughter, lives among Arteria's wealthiest and most comfortable. She and Silvie couldn't be more different, and yet the two are drawn to one another, each trapped by the circumstances of their birth.

'But Arteria is plagued by the high cost of its magic use: the cadaveri - walking corpses that prey on the living.

'When the city comes under unprecedented threat, can Silvie and Azura save it? Do they even want to?

'"This is a wild, magical, powerful story. Our queer disabled heroine lives in a world of zombies and witches... Can love, friendship and hope survive in such a place?" - Jess Walton, Stars In Their Eyes' (Publication summary)

'What would the great detective be like if Sherlock Holmes was a woman?

'In the tall tales of Sherlock is a Girl's Name we answer this question, following Sherlock into deep space, 1990s Russia, Victorian London, contemporary USA, worlds of magic, and more.

'Holmes' Watsons include ghosts, robots, a teenage tuba player, a little boy, with the detecting duo doing what they do best: solving crimes and having adventures!

'Authors include Tansy Rayner Roberts, Eugen Bacon, Sarah Tollok, Verity Burns, Dannye Chase, Kenzie Lappin, JD Cadmon, Stacy Lawhorne, Karen J Carlisle, Millie Billingsworth, Katya de Becerra, Narrelle M Harris and Atlin Merrick.' (Publication summary)

'It's The Medusa Situation — are you ready for a caper mystery set in Sydney and starring Medusa and the Greek goddesses Hera, Athena and Artemis?

'In modern day Australia the Greek goddess Hera and her Olympian family have accepted their forced divine retirement and live out their immortality in the suburbs.

'Their once exciting, all-powerful, and totally worshipped lives have been replaced by endless days of quiet resentment and mystical reality TV programs.

'Then Stheno and Eurydale, sisters of the more infamous gorgon of legend, turn up on Hera’s doorstep asking for help because Medusa’s head has been stolen. Again.

'In a race against time Hera and her step-daughter, the goddess Athena, join forces with a rag tag bunch of ancient Greek deities and mystical creatures to find the culprit and recover Medusa’s head before it creates havoc across the mortal and divine realms.

'The novel is Janet Evanovich meets Natalie Haynes, in an entertaining urban fantasy which examines issues of justice, male entitlement, and the ways in which powerful women have been treated throughout the history of storytelling.' (Publication summary)

'Dark Deeds Down Under 2, the next volume of our ground-breaking, bestselling anthology series, edited by Craig Sisterson, features 21 short stories by the best storytelling talents from Australia and New Zealand: including international bestsellers, many award winners and a host of fresh voices.

'Brand new stories, some with beloved series characters, share the pages of our Down Under world with edgy standalone tales, and the first in new series.

'The settings in this vibrant showcase of antipodean crime, range from the seething underbellies of our cosmopolitan cities to New Zealand’s South Island glaciers or Australia’s dusty Outback; from ocean-carved coasts and craggy mountains, via country towns and sleepy villages, to isolated wilderness and sultry rainforests.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A bankrupt husband. A marriage on the rocks. A cop more sexy than the legal limit.

'Just when Ellie Cummins is free to shed her corporate wife image, she finds the body of a young woman in an apartment she’s been hired to re-design. Her fledging business depends on this contract, so she tries to ignore the long-buried grief the trauma exposes.

'When Ellie learns that her daughter has a personal connection to the victim, and the police have no leads, she and friends Cass and Kandy decide to investigate the murder. But Brisbane’s alleyways are dark and their detective skills dubious, so how far will they go for justice?

'Kandy once lived a hard life on the streets, but will uncovering her husband's secret life destroy all she’s achieved since then? And solid, dependable Cass isn’t as content with her life as she seems.

'And is the cop who responded to their call more interested in Ellie than the investigation?

'For the three friends, it's a time of change and self-discovery. And the realisation that life, like love, doesn’t play fair.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Martin Carter is having a crook day. His home life's a misery, he's been retrenched by the bank and everyone's forgotten his birthday. But a million-dollar payroll, a pistol, and a split-second decision change everything. Hurtling north on a motorcycle with the intriguing Faith, Martin encounters a mysterious hit-man, a new-age bikie gang, a reclusive media mogul, and the booby-trapped mountain hideout of an old schoolmate. With Faith's help he learns about love again, along with some bitter truths about instant coffee, brown suede shoes, and the legendary Great Aussie Truck-stop Breakfast.' (Publication summary)

'Scarlet Stiletto; the Fifteenth Cut showcases the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize and category-winning stories of the 2023 Scarlet Stiletto Awards. The Fifteenth Cut coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Scarlet Stiletto Women's Crime and Mystery short story competition run by sisters in Crime Australia. Fifteen rivetting, intriguing, creepy, mysterious, hard boiled and cozy crime stories for your reading pleasure.' (Publication summary)

'The Nosy Detectives agency is like no other.

'For a start, one of the detectives is a dog called Monty, a rescued Golden Retriever with a heart of gold and a super-smart nose.

'Monty’s human is Rose Sidebottom, an ex-copper, with an uncanny ability to know when a suspect is lying.

'And Ollie Fernsby is a teenage super-geek and inventor of the rat-cam. They make a great team.

'There is just one problem – no clients.

'Then one day, Phyllis O’Neal, a grumpy grandmother from the village of Nether Wallop, offers them an unsolved cold case they can’t refuse: who really lit the fire that killed Tony and Marie Toyne? The surviving son and only witness, Finn, hasn’t spoken since that terrible night.

'Monty sets out to locate a forgotten second witness, a dog called Panda, who might recognise the arsonist if she had a good sniff. The tricky case gets harder when Rose is distracted by a handsome fire-scene investigator.

'Can Monty get Rose back on track? Is Tiffany the giant cat friend or foe? And why is the whole village lying about the night of the fire?

'Can the pawfect murder be solved in Louisa Bennet's The Nosy Detectives?' (Publication summary)

'In the frosty Melbourne winter, milliner sleuth Catherine Kint looks for distraction in a night at the circus.

'When tragedy strikes, she and her barman Boris are drawn into a new mystery.

'As they draw back the metaphorical curtain, they’re confronted with a troop in chaos, a culture of secrecy and a family in crisis.

'Add in hula hooping thugs, a desperate suspect and a nihilistic bully and you have a recipe for carnage even Catherine can’t control.

'Oh, and then there’s Boris’ love life – send in the clowns, in Silks' (Publication summary)

'One story. Twenty writers. Your choice.

'Murder You Wrote: An Interactive Mystery is a choose-your-own-investigation murder mystery set in remote Tasmania, a world of stunning beauty, dark history and deadly creatures.

'You are a retired police detective invited to speak at a crime fiction writers festival.

'You are looking forward to a weekend with some of Australia's bestselling authors.
'You're staying in a convict-built country manor house along with five other guests of the festival. The other guests don't exactly get along.

'You awake to discover the homestead is cut off. Overnight, storms flooded the only road out, the internet is down... and a world-famous writer is missing.

'You discover his body in the library.

'Certain that one of the four remaining guests was responsible for his death, you decide to investigate.

''Which suspect will you interrogate first?

'Which clues will you follow?

'Can you solve the case?' (Publication summary)
 

'Two Melbourne TV journalists are on a well-earned holiday, travelling New Zealand in a motorhome. Will they survive a monster storm and a killer on the loose?

'Kim Prescott survived a killer's bullet in Melbourne but can't shake the PTSD. For Jo Trescowthick the trip is a chance to confront family demons. The third in the Melbourne Spotlight series finds Kim and Jo on a road trip from Auckland on the north island to the tourist mecca of Queenstown in the deep south; Rotorua mud pools, Kaikōura whale watching, the stunning Marlborough Sounds. They won't make it.

'Debt-ridden South Island fisherman and ex-con Gordie Tulloch is offered the deal of a lifetime. Is it legal? He doesn't care. All he has to do is survive the storm approaching the Shaky Isles. But Gordie's every move is under scrutiny by a man whose own secrete are about to spill into public view.

'And then of course Mother Nature has her own agenda. Cyclone Gita is on a serpentine path of destruction through the tropics that will see her smash into New Zealand.

'The cyclone, the motorhome, the fisherman, and the watcher all face an unexpected rendezvous in Kaikōura.' (Publication summary)

'The Diemen Alexander is Jurassic Park meets ET in the best possible way. It's fast paced, thrilling, funny, and fantastical. I loved it.' - Alison Goodman
When tender-hearted geeky teenage Luke rescues a lizard in a thunderstorm on kunanyi, he has no idea it will have a mind of its own.

'Or eat quite so much. Or grow so fast.

'Or resemble Tasmania's lost dinosaur.

'Suddenly Alexander the lizard becomes an immensely valuable object, sought by cold-blooded and violent people.

'Luke's brains and compassion won't be enough to protect Alexander - something his anarchic sister Gatta could have told him - not even with help from the fearsome Shona, paleogeologist and AFLW Goddess.

'Meanwhile Alexander - teeth, claws and appetite - is growing, changing and learning to communicate.

'Can Luke find his own ferocity and ruthlessness to counter the odds stacked against them?

'A sci-fi romp through present-day Hobart - featuring zoology, comparative anatomy and venture capitalism - that asks deeper questions about human responsibility towards animals, the earth and each other, and the truth that power goes to the person most prepared to wield it.

'The Diemen Alexander is an adventure full of narrow escapes and fail-to-escapes, an XH Holden ute, shameful misuse of really excellent whisky, and a distressing amount of fast food.' (Publication summary)

'Thirty years of silver blades, scarlet stains and the most elegant of heels.

'Thirty years of slipping in the knife, tightening the noose, measuring out the poison.

'Thirty years of whispered threats and tangled plots, of murder and mayhem.
For thirty years, the annual Scarlet Stiletto women's crime and mystery short story competition - run by Sisters in Crime Australia - has uncovered dreadful deeds, righteous revenge, deadly high-jinks and wicked shenanigans, all while shining a light on the emerging and seasoned talent of Australian women who've taken to a life writing crime.

'Celebrate this great competition's 30th anniversary with the gorgeous pearls that are the Scarlet Stiletto's First Prize winners, from 1994 to 2023, and discover why it's criminal what a girl has to do, to get a good read.' (Publication summary)

'A driver picks up a hitchhiker from the side of a road; a restorer develops an unusual bond with a cursed doll; a visit to the cabin in the woods goes terribly wrong...

'We all know how these stories end - or do we?

'In This Fresh Hell, every story begins with a well-known horror trope but ends with a twist, bringing new life and unexpected resolutions to old ideas. Fears are interrogated, ghosts re-examined, and monsters reconfigured.

'From chilling to quirky, these stories will appeal to dedicated horror fans and those dipping into the genre for the first time.

'A Slender Man offers help to a boy in trouble; a haunted house is reluctant to terrify its new residents; a heartbroken influencer is challenged on a luxury cruise from hell.

'Writers from Australia and around the world reignite and subvert horror tropes in 19 genre-bending stories:

'Eugen Bacon, Elle Beaumont, Katya de Becerra, Jason Franks, Raymond Gates, Narrelle M. Harris, Sarah Glenn Marsh, Greg Herren, Claire Low, Annie McCann, Chuck McKenzie, L.J.M. Owen, Gillian Polack, Tansy Rayner-Roberts, Clare E. Rhoden, Candace Robinson, Sarah Robinson-Hatch, Claire L. Smith, C. Vonzale Lewis, and A.J. Vrana.' (Publication summary)