Bad Neighbours by Joanna Jenkins and The Cursed Road by Laura McCluskey 

And we recommend two books from New Zealand:

Dead Girl Gone by Gareth Ward and Lousie Ward and Slash by Gavin Strawhan.

We talk about the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival, our picks from the long list for New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh Awards for Crime Fiction and the Short List for this Year’s Ned Kelly Award for best Crime Fiction Debut.

We also have details of the Sisters in Crime Davitt Award Night which will be in Melbourne on 12 September 2026 - you can get tickets at this link: https://sistersincrime.org.au/davitt-awards-2026/ 

This is the final week to enter the Sisters in Crime 2026 Scarlet Stiletto short story award - entry details can be found at this link: https://sistersincrime.org.au/scarlet-stiletto-awards-how-to-enter/ 

All of Robert’s book reviews can be found at www.pilebythebed.com

Some of the many other books mentioned in this episode:

• How to Kill a Client by Joanne Jenkins
• The Bluff by Joanna Jenkins
• Finding the Bones by Natalie Conyer
• The Last King of the Cross by John Ibrahim
• King of the Cross by Mark Dapin
• Iris by Fiona McGregor
• The Wolf Tree by Laura McLuskey
• Cold River by Margaret Hickey
• The Lost Man by Jane Harper
• Cormac Reilly series by Dervla McTiernan
• Murder in the Pacific series by Matt Francis
• A Bad Bad Place by Frances Crawford
• The Deadly Dispute by Amanda Hampson
• Lucky Thing by Tom Bagwarnath
• Carved in Blood by Michael Bennett
• Softly Calls the Devil by Chris Blake
• A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan
• Hades by Candice Fox
• In Bloom by Liz Allan
• The Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary
• The Peak by Sam Guthrie
• Malaleuca by Angie Faye Martin
• The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey
• The Wykehamist by Alexandra Strnad 
• Tea Cake and Death by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward
• Murder and Mojitos by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward
• The Call by Gavin Strawhan

Where the Truth Ends by Mark Smith a Melbourne-based thriller that explores the issue of environmental protest

and

Cold River by Margaret Hickey the follow up to her award winning book The Creeper, once again set in the Victorian High Country and featuring Constable Sally White

We talk about Australian authors being recognised in the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, the British Crime Fiction Dagger Awards and The New York Times Best Thrillers of the 21st Century. And we bring you the Davitt Awards 2026 shortlist.

We also chat about Shadow of Madness, the sixth book in New Zealand author DV Bishop's Cesare Aldo series set in Renaissance Florence and A Bad Bad Place a crime fiction debut by 60-year-old Scottish author Francis Crawford set in 1970s Glasgow.

Some of the many books mentioned:

• At Cafe 64 by Shaeden Barry
• Learned Behaviours by Zeynab Gamieldien
• Unbury the Dead by Fiona Hardy
• Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
• The Bluff by Joanna Jenkins
• Melaleuca by Angie Faye Martin
• To the River by Vikki Wakfield
• Broke Road and Black River by Matthew Spencer
• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
• Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill
• The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey
• The Peak by Sam Guthrie
• The Death of Us by Abigail Dean
• King of Ashes by SA Cosby
• The Dry by Jane Harper
• Big Little Lies by Leanne Moriarty