Cirrus@Austlit

'Look who’s back in hot water! The highly anticipated new novel in The Tea Ladies mystery series, a runaway bestseller of the year. Ideal for fans of Richard Osman and Bonnie Garmus.

'In ZigZag Lane, in the heart of Sydney’s rag-trade district, tea ladies Hazel, Betty and Irene find themselves in hot water. Having already solved a murder, kidnapping and arson case, and outwitting an arch criminal, they have proved themselves a useful resource and earned the respect of a local police officer. Now he needs their help to solve a plot that threatens security.

'As if that’s not enough, Irene gets a coded message directing her to the spoils of a bank robbery, which sends the tea ladies on a treasure hunt with an unexpected outcome.

'There’s also trouble brewing within the walls of Empire Fashionwear, where an interloper threatens not just Hazel’s job but the very role of tea lady. It’s up to Hazel to convince her friends to abandon their trolleys and take action to save their livelihoods – before it’s too late.' (Publication summary)

(Publication summary)

'Amanda Hampson always dreamed of writing; but it wasn’t until age 50 after a complicated life and ‘all sorts of jobs’ that she was able to publish her first novel'

'In their youth, lovebirds Elizabeth and Ray had to fight to be together. Their future was full of promise and, blessed with children and careers, their happiness complete. But a twist of fate changed their lives forever.

'Now in her sixties, Elizabeth is desperately lonely. She rarely sees her two adult sons and her closest friend is a talkative budgie. But when her grandson, Zach, gets into trouble with the police, she decides to take him on a road trip to find his grandfather, her lost love Ray, in the hope of mending their broken family.

'Two less compatible travelling companions would be hard to find, as they set off on an unlikely adventure into the wilds of the northern NSW hinterland. What they discover along the way, about Ray and each other, has the power to transform them all. In trying to save Zach, Elizabeth might just save herself.

'Warm, witty and wise, Lovebirds is an astute and uplifting novel about the power of love and family.' (Publication summary)

'Life is too short for compromise …

'When Maggie, Fran and Rose met in their youth, they had dreams and ambitions. Forty years later, the three friends are turning sixty, each of them restless and disenchanted with their lives.

'Mia and Ben, an Australian couple in their early thirties, have relinquished one dream and embraced another, selling their Sydney flat and purchasing an old yellow house in the picturesque village of Cordes-sur-Ciel in South-West France.

'They soon meet sophisticated neighbours Dominic and Susannah, a British couple in their sixties who welcome them warmly but whose own relationship is in crisis. Mia and Ben are immediately star-struck and impressed by their lavish hospitality. However, things with Dominic and Susannah are not what they first seem.

'Gradually secrets begin to surface, revealing details of a scandal Dominic and Susannah had hoped to leave behind in London. Reeling from these revelations, Mia and Ben no longer trust their own instincts and the peaceful idyll of their French life begins to unravel. Can Dominic and Susannah escape each other, and can Ben and Mia they find their way back to each other and the dream they shared?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

' 'Shorthand typist required by English speaker in the South of France. Live-in, full board plus salary commensurate with experience.'

'Iris Turner, an unworldly young Englishwoman, arrives in the French Riviera to take up a secretarial role for the mysterious Hammond Brooke. Living in a small, exclusive hotel among eccentric and unpredictable aristocrats and struggling to gain her employer’s trust, she soon realises that nothing is as it seems.

'Initiated into the mysterious world of perfume, she finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue and deception. Gradually discovering the truth, she gains a new understanding of the meaning of love, loyalty and betrayal.

'By the bestselling author of The Olive Sisters, this is a captivating and evocative novel full of surprising twists and turns. ' (Publication summary)

'As a teenager, Cassie Munro fled her seaside hometown of Bilkara, taking a dark secret with her to a new life in London. Now, devastated by revelations of her husband's betrayal and a brutal attack on her father, she returns home feeling she has nothing left to lose.

'Against her better judgement, she finds herself battling to save her family's beloved tow-truck business. With violent opposition from a competitor and only lukewarm support from her childhood mentor, the tattooed towie Kingi, she seems set to fail. In the midst of her struggle, Cassie is reunited with her first love, Mack, who forces her to confront her guilty secret and the tragic past they share.' (Publisher's blurb)