Carnival of the Criminal Minds #19

Here we are at the 19th stop of the Carnival of Criminal Minds taking over from the fine job done by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise.

With 18 previous Carnival stops one would think we may have just about seen and hear from every crime site worth checking out – God knows, Bill Crider tried to single-handedly mention ‘em all - but one would be wrong.

As honorary host of this chapter of the Carnival I think it only fitting that I showcase the work and websites of some of the Australian authors who have long kept me entertained. The whole reason I set up the Australian Crime Fiction Database and later the Crime Down Under blog was because when I attempted to track down a list of Australian crime and mystery books online there was simply nothing available. This was before the days of the excellent work put in at Australasian Crime, by the way. So I compiled my own list of authors and their books and then decided others might find it useful. Armed with very little idea about how to go about making a website I took the plunge, bought a domain and started listing authors.

Now, when you get a whiff of all of the mouth-watering reading sitting in front of you there grows a burning desire to track down those books and read them all. And then, when you’ve read those books and you know that those authors are largely unknown, there’s another urge to let everyone in on the rewarding reading they may be missing out on.

So here’s my opportunity to again sing it to the world about Australia’s fine collection of authors, largely unheralded and probably unknown outside our shores.

To a person, the following Australian authors have written crime and thriller novels that have delighted me. Visit their websites, get excited about their work.

David Rollins - David's latest book is Hard Rain and is the 3rd in his Vin Cooper series a very enjoyable blend of military and detective series with one heck of an irreverent main character.

Mark Abernethy - Mark's first book, Golden Serpent has just been shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award while book no. 2, titled Second Strike has just been released.

Tony Park - apart from writing excellent thrillers set in Africa, Tony writes a very entertaining blog where he relates his journeys through the dark continent in fine style and humour. Tony has recently published Silent Predator, his 5th book. I've also just realised that Tony recently visited my local library...and I missed it - bugger!

Angela Savage - another blogging author with an intimate connection with Thailand. Her first novel, Behind the Night Bazaar is a wonderful crime novel that brings Chiang Mai to vivid life.

Katherine Howell - a former paramedic with lots of paramedic excitement injected into her books. So far Katherine has written 2 books, Frantic and The Darkest Hour, set in Sydney and filled with pacy action.

Jarad Henry - kicked things off with a superbly crafted dark thriller titled Head Shot, set in the seamier streets of Melbourne. He then followed it up this year with another outstanding book, Blood Sunset, that hardboiled fans would love.

Sydney Bauer - legal thrillers set in Boston written with more than just a little flair and plenty of twists and turns.

P.D. Martin - the Sophie Anderson series is set in the US and combines FBI profiling with psychic awareness in a series that carries smoothly from one book to the next. There is an ongoing mystery that moves through the series that is nothing short of intriguing.

Felicity Young - has now written 3 books, the last 2 are police procedurals set in Perth, a location you don't read about all very often. I've only read 2 of the books, An Easeful Death and Harum Scarum but can recommend them both heartily.

So there you go, a couple of blogs to visit as well as some fine Aussie reading to try out.

Finally before I finish up here, I should also make mention of the fine work being done by Daniel Hatadi and the flourishing Crimespace that is one of the greatest places for fans of crime fiction to visit - bar none.

We'll be leaving Australia for Crime Dog One with the next Carnival, Carnival #20 in fact, to be hosted by Anthony Neil Smith.