Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty

Moriarty is great.  She writes with humor and unconventional insight about contemporary issues, in this case, divorce and parenting after divorce, domestic violence, and school bullying.  The novel's structure is also clever, bringing the reader closer and closer to the school trivia night, where something dreadful occurred. Quotes from parents and police introduce each chapter and offer clues about what happened and why it might have happened.  In contrast to What Alice Forgot, Big Little Lies paints with a broader brush, but is still enjoyable and effective.

What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty

After a whack on the noggin at the gym, Alice forgot ten pretty important years of her life; the years when her three children were born, her marriage fell apart, her sister fought a losing battle with fertility, and she became a completely different person.  The book deals with the infertility issue with empathy, the way that the accretion of bad in a marriage can overcome the good with insight, and the transition from free spirit to supermom with humor.  Quite a lovely book.

The Phryne Fisher Series, by Kerry Greenwood

Greenwood seems to have a very good time with the adventures of the Honorable Phryne (pronounced Fry-Knee) Fisher and Australia of the late 1920s.  She sets up most of the mysteries in the series within a particular historical context that she researches quite extensively.  The settings include a goldfield, luxury liner, theater, publishing house, bar, university and circus, and the social issues include the aftermath of WWI, child labor, racism, sexual differences, communism, and drug use and abuse.  The books in order are:

Cocaine Blues (1989)
Flying to High (1990)
Murder on the Ballarat Train (1991)
Death at Victoria Dock (1992)
The Green Mill Murder (1993)
Blood and Circuses (1994)
Ruddy Gore (1995)
Urn Burial (1996)
Raisins and Almonds (1997)
Death before Wicket (1999)
Away with the Fairies (2001)
Murder in Monparnasse (2002)
The Castlemaine Murders (2003)
Queen of the Flowers (2004)
Death by Water (2005)
Murder in the Dark (2006)
Murder on a Midsummer Night (2008)
Dead Man's Chest (2010)
Unnatural Habits (2012)
Murder in Mendelssohn (2013)

A Question of Death (2012) is a compilation of short stories, some tasty-sounding recipes for cocktails and food, and a description of Kerry Greenwood's research and writing methods.

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Devil's Food, by Kerry Greenwood

A few unsettling things are going on in the world of Corinna Chapman and her friends:  Corinna's unlovely mother shows up and demands that Corinna locate her missing husband; someone is selling an herbal weight-loss tea at a new Goth night club and people are getting sick; someone is using John and Kepler's import business to smuggle in some interesting weeds; and two new pseudo-religious community have started up, one devoted to mortification of the flesh, and one to providing help and solace to the needy. Finding out where and if these mysteries intersect keeps Corinna and Daniel pretty busy.

Forbidden Fruit, by Kerry Greenwood

I get quite a kick out of the Corinna Chapman series. It's the holiday season in Melbourne and it's hotter than Hades.  There are muffins to make, cherries to glace, bread to rise, carols to practice, and evil-doers to be brought to justice by baker Corrina, her lover Daniel, and the residents of Insula.  Central to the whirl of stories are a pregnant girl and her boyfriend, and some helpful Freegans and very militant vegans.

Heavenly Pleasures, by Kerry Greenwood

Love the characters and their interplay, love the descriptions of the preparation and consumption of food, needed just a bit more or less plot.  A few things are going on requiring the attention of Corinna (the baker) and Daniel (the PI) -- chocolates from a chocolate shop are being tainted; a young Turkish woman faces blackmail and an arranged marriage; and twin thugs are making life unpleasant for baker's apprentice Jason and the new reclusive tenant of Insula.

Earthly Delights, by Kerry Greenwood

I'm so glad these books are being rereleased. Greenwood's smart, soft-hearted, courageous character, Corinna Chapman, is someone you'd like to know.  She runs a bakery in Melbourne, lives in a building full of strange and appealing characters, and has been drawn reluctantly into three mysteries -- threats against the women in the building, the deaths by overdose of several teenage heroin addicts, and a fellow tenant's runaway daughter. She is assisted by the mysterious and lovely man who provides muscle for the mobile soup kitchen.  Greenwood cites the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, Petronius's Satyricon, and Buffy and Angel in the ways in which literary authors allude to Shakespeare and the Bible.  I might just try the Phryne Fisher books again.

KickBack, by Garry Disher

The first in the Wyatt series.  I'm not sure Disher knew precisely where he was going with Wyatt in the beginning.  Some of the qualities that become staples in later books are just hinted at here.  Still Wyatt's capacity for patience, careful planning to ensure that things go smoothly, and quick thinking when they don't are in place.  In this book, after a long dry spell, professional thief Wyatt is hired to rob a crooked lawyer whose safe is full of kickback money.  His crew isn't 100% sound, and there are bad guys on his trail.

Paydirt, by Garry Disher

This is the second Wyatt book, the one that explains how the Mesics got "Wyatt's money," or the money from the payroll heist that Wyatt planned and almost executed.  Lots of betrayals, but not always from the person expected.  Wyatt on the run is always a good time.

Crosskill, by Garry Disher

The fourth Wyatt book, and I seem to have missed the third.  So I'm not entirely clear on why Wyatt is after the Mesics, who have his money, or why the Outfit is after Wyatt.  There's a bit of honor among thieves, as well as a larger bit of backstabbing, some faithless wives, dirty cops, and a female assassin.

The Fallout, by Garry Disher

Clearly, I'm kind of liking the Disher Wyatt novels.  The Fallout begins where Port Vila Blues ended.  Wyatt's nephew, Ray, is introduced politely robbing banks, and being conned into financing a salvage operation.  To finance the hunt for sunken treasure, he assists in the jail break of a killer and drags his uncle into an art theft.  Nobody gets along, and many people are killed or battered.  Suspended police officer Liz Redding throws spanners into the works here and there.

Port Vila Blues, by Garry Disher

This was the 5th Wyatt novel.  Wyatt creates a storm of trouble for himself and everyone else when he robs a politician on the take and puts an already once stolen Tiffany pin on the market.  Once again, Disher creates a world where nearly everyone is a bad guy, whether he or she is a police officer, judge, politician, blueprinter or thief.  There is one good cop, Liz Redding, who is fighting a losing battle against corruption in the squad and is somewhat taken with Wyatt, as he is with her.

Wyatt, by Garry Disher

An entertaining crime thriller featuring Wyatt Wareen, an Australian thief who goes after high-end scores with forethought, casualness and, intermittently, violence. Disher presents an underworld where some thieves have honor and some thieves don't, and those who don't behave honorably invariably end up dead.  There's quite a bit of humor; Khandi Kaine and Tyler Gadd were particularly entertaining characters.  The plot involves millions in bearer bonds which are stolen from a courier at the beginning of the book, and go from hand to hand throughout the book.  Lots of bodies and an equal number of burned out cars.  Looks like I'll have to use ILL to read the others in the series. 

Bones of Contention, by Jeanne Matthews

I loved this funny, engaging, fast-paced book. It is set in Northern Australia with a Southern gothic extended family as the main characters. Crimes and potential motives for murder abound -- drug and species smuggling, art and artifact forgery, assisted-suicide, and kidnapping. The chief protagonist, Dinah Pelerin, is a great creation, self-aware, self-deprecating, easily duped, but brave, loyal, and generally on the side of the angels. It's the beginning of a new series, so I'm hoping she'll show up again. Might have tainted my desire to see Australia with a little hesitation about insects, snakes, scary plants, and heat.