It’s 1917, shop assistant Dora Black has been found dead on a city beach, and Adelaide’s legendary early 20th century policewoman Kate Cocks is on the case. Mixing real history, a strong sense of place, and with World War 1 as a backdrop, The Death of Dora Black is the first in Lainie Anderson’s “Petticoat Police Mystery” series.

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Caro and Danny were children and later young lovers at their secret hangout, the local waterhole. Caro thought they would be together forever, but grief and Danny’s self-destructive spiral after his mother’s death complicates that dream. A poetic exploration of first love and loss, grief and addiction, Frogsong takes the reader inside Caro’s world, back to the joy and pain of growing up.

Guests

Lainie Anderson, author of “The Death of Dora Black” and “Murder on North Terrace”

Melissa Manning, author of “Frogsong”

Author contacts

@lainie.anderson

@lissmanning

Books that get a mention

Cath recommends “Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark” by James Bailey

and “Domination” by Professor Alice Roberts

Annie loved “Euphoria” by Lily King

and our reviewer Maddie enjoyed “Yesteryear” by Caro Claire Burke

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Michael Caleb Tasker’s grim and gripping Just Like the Night + Elisabeth Storr’s Fables and Lies

Lena has only really known a life of petty crime after spending her childhood on the road with her charismatic card sharp father Ray. Now in adulthood and just out of prison she finds herself in much deeper water, tangling with the dark Sydney underworld in an attempt to save her daughter. Michael Caleb Tasker’s first novel Just Like the Night delivers a gripping and gritty story with great literary style.

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Historical fiction writer Elisabeth Storrs sets her new book Fables and Lies in World War 2 Germany. The racy romantic thriller, about the Aryan myth, Nazi archaeology and the race to save the Trojan gold as Berlin falls, is based on a true story, and brings a little known aspect of the Nazi Regime to life.

Guests

Michael Caleb Tasker, author of “Just Like the Night”

Elisabeth Storrs, author of “Fables and Lies”

Author contacts

https://michaelcalebtasker.com/

@elisabethstorrsauthor

Books that get a mention

Michael Caleb Tasker recommends works by Raymond Chandler, particularly “The Long Goodbye” , and “Song of the Lark” by Willa Cather. He is also a fan of Kierkegaard, Michael Farris Smith, Ron Rash, Walter Mosely, Jim Harrison and John Steinbeck.

Annie loved “Heart the Lover” by Lily King and Sarah recommends “On the Calculation of Volume” by Solvej Balle

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In 2023 Afghan single mother Laila was desperate to get herself and her five daughters out of Iran. The chances were slim, but she was willing to try anything. When she called an Afghan contact in Adelaide, Mij Tanith was in the room and decided to try and help. What ensued was a growing long distance friendship that overcame the barriers of language and culture, fought through the bureaucratic hurdles and has led to Laila and her daughters being safely settled in Australia. Using poetry and prose, writer and refugee activist Mij Tanith has now told Laila’s story

Guest:

Mij Tanith, author and poet

INSTAGRAM

@mijtanith

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