Thrifty Thursday: Australia edition #FionaTarr #KerryGreenwood #AnnaWillett #ThriftyThursday #KindleUnlimited

The purpose of Thrifty Thursday is to read a book which was free (at some point).

This is a collection of freebies which are set in Australia. There are a few police procedurals from Fiona Tarr. Then there is an amateur private investigator from Kerry Greenwood.  The books from Anna Willett are what I think of psychological thrillers.

Kindle freebie on January 29, 2024  (currently $3.99 at Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited as of writing this post)

Overall rating 4.28 with 1,732 ratings and  60 reviews

Constable Jenny Williams came to the opal mining town of Coober Pedy to solve a family mystery, but two dead women in her first month have her colleagues labelling her a murder magnet.

A young woman is found dead at the side of a remote outback road, presumably victim of a hit and run. But she’s miles from anywhere, barefoot and covered in blood that has nothing to do with an accident.

I was happy to continue this Opal Fields series about Constable Jenny Williams.  Mostly Her Broken Bones was an improvement on Her Buried Bones.  Jenny was further settling in with her co-workers and boss, and making some friends.

I like Jenny.  She has a strong work ethic and a dedication to stand for the victims and hold any perpetrators accountable.  In this case, a young girl dies after a too short and abusive life.   She follows intelligent strategies, stirs the pot, and collects forensic evidence.

Jenny also works on the cold case of her missing aunt and cousin, who have been gone 9 years. Now she is also looking into the suicide death of Nick’s father and his mother disappeared at that time.  Only a month in her post, she is finding cases which were quickly closed during a time when her Sargent lost his daughter, and then his wife.

The ending here was a little abrupt, but I’m enjoying these characters but this is the end of the ones I have as freebies.  I might find time to read on in KindleUnlimited.

Kindle freebie on January 25, 2025  (currently $3.99 at Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited as of writing this post)

Overall rating 4.29 with 1,056 ratings and 39 reviews

Dawn Grave is a career detective who’s holding on to a dark past - one that destroys relationships and wreaks havoc on her personal life.

For more than twenty years, she’s tried to forget the horrors of her youth - while her sister has spent all that time digging for answers. Now a cryptic text message threatens to throw it all back into the light.

Dawn attempts to call her sister, but when Lisa can’t be reached, she knows something terrible has happened. But finding Lisa means returning to the remote tropical town in northern Australia where her nightmares all began.

Dawn is out of her jurisdiction, but nothing is going to stop her investigating her sister’s disappearance. When Lisa’s car is found abandoned and a body is retrieved from the water, she’s afraid her past has come back to haunt her.

When she’s called to ID the body, she realises, her search for the truth has only just begun.

Having found I enjoy Fiona Tarr‘s writing more than some others, I went on to read the first in the Dawn Grave series.  Dawn is a Detective in Adelaide and apparently this is the same world as Opal Fields and just worked on a case with Jenny.

Dawn came home after the case closed because her sister Lisa was calling and texting constantly.  She hasn’t been home in 20 years.  Her mother disappeared and her brother was the suspect in the murder of a young woman on the swimming team, then he died from suicide.  She left behind a shot at the Olympic swim team but the coach tried to abuse her. So she is not excited to be back.

She arrives to find Lisa is missing.  Another young woman is found dead similar to the case her brother was suspected. Dawn isn’t a detective here but she consults with the local police who are well known to her in this small town.  She is assisted by a very kind ranger, and a detective from the nearest city.

It is convoluted with Lisa missing and a new murder.  Dawn does a good job and is actually a great help even though she is too close to the case to be working it.  She knows everyone and Ryan, the detective from the city doesn’t know the history or the players.

Dawn and Lisa don’t believe their brother committed the first murder 20 years ago or that he committed suicide. They have always wanted to clear him. Some of these family issues and the disappearance of their mother are not resolved here but will surely be part of the future books in the series.  I don’t have any more free but would like to read more in the series someday.

Kindle freebie on June 14, 2012  (currently $10.90 at Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited as of writing this post)

Overall rating 3.84 with 28,106 ratings and 3,032 reviews

The London season is in full fling at the end of the 1920s, but the Honorable Phryne Fisher—she of the gray-green eyes and diamant garters—is tiring of polite conversations with retired colonels and dances with weak-chinned men. When the opportunity presents itself, Phryne decides it might be amusing to try her hand at becoming a lady detective in Australia. Immediately upon settling into Melbourne's Hotel Windsor, Phryne finds herself embroiled in mystery. From poisoned wives and cocaine smuggling, to police corruption and rampant communism—not to mention erotic encounters with the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse—Cocaine Blues charts a crescendo of steamy intrigue, culminating in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street.

I was looking for books in my theme and found Cocaine Blues set in Melbourne.  Recently, we tried Acorn for a couple months and one series my daughter wanted to try was Miss Fisher’s Mysteries. The first episode we watched is closely aligned with Cocaine Blues. I enjoyed it but my daughter wasn’t a fan.  It certainly made reading easier since I had an idea about the plot and characters. The Phyrne Fisher series is apparently the basis for the tv series which I hope to watch someday.

Phyrne is a smart and sassy woman whose money and title allows her to do as she pleases more than the average man or woman.  She came to look into a woman named Lydia who her family in England is afraid her husband is poisoning her.  Phyrne is a bright splash on the social scene and attends some tony events.

Phyrne also makes interesting friends.  There is Dr. MacMillan a woman doctor from Scotland who traveled with her.  There’s a mistreated maid. a family of Russian dancers, two semi-reputable cab drivers, a police detective and a politician.  They all play a part in her investigations of what is happening to Lydia.

Phyrne is brilliant in tracking down a dishonest rapist abortionist who is hurting and killing women in trouble.  She finds evidence of a cocaine trade and hunts down the head of the distributors. She also disrupts a woman’s plan to poison her husband.   And all in this quite short book with wonderful world-building and character development.

Kindle freebie on December 3, 2018  (currently $2.99 at Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited as of writing this post)

Overall rating 3.84 with 609 ratings and 54 reviews

Milly has barely spoken to her sister Judith in years. They hardly exchanged a word at their mother’s funeral. They could not be further apart.

So when Milly gets an invitation to go on a hiking trip, she hopes it will be an opportunity for reconciliation. Inviting her school-friend Harper along with her for support, the small party head off together into the bush.

Over time, I have realized I prefer police procedurals or private investigator type books to these psychological thrillers.  The reason may be that sometimes the thrillers are more ambiguous with unclear endings or that there are so many unlikable characters.

Retribution Ridge has nearly all unlikable characters.  Naturally there are reasons they have become the way they are and it is tragic. Mostly the incidents happened in their childhood and they are not responsible but the choices they made since the events were not great ones.

The resulting hurt and unhappiness from the event caused multiple now adults to plan a bush hike to punish in various ways those they perceive as responsible.  The countryside is wild and beautiful and dangerous. Not everyone is in the same level of physical shape.

The story was thrilling and fairly fast paced.  I didn’t like the characters; it was hard to root for them.  The ending was sadly appropriate.

Kindle freebie on February 15, 2024  (currently $2.99 at Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited as of writing this post)

Overall rating 4.06 with 2,333 ratings and 90 reviews

When Amy and her boyfriend Zane move into a house together, she hopes they can put their rocky past behind them.

She gets a job and befriends the older couple who live in the house next door. Amy is impressed by their sophistication, wealth, and love for one another and in turn they somewhat adopt her when Amy’s relationship with her boyfriend deteriorates rapidly.

Jobless, often absent and clearly up to no good, Zane is jealous and increasingly abusive. His hold over the shy Amy has been strong, yet cracks are beginning to show.

When a policeman knocks on her door one innocuous day, it is the start of series of events that will make the two households clash together in a fatal entanglement.

3.5 hearts

Dear Neighbour is the story of Amy, who at 28 years old, is just wanting someone to love her.  Unfortunately, this opens her up to be used by men and others.  The “boyfriend” Zane is happy to have her work and pay for things and use her car, as he comes up with a new scam.  Amy is also the only one who cooks and cleans. But when he asks her to move in with him, she jumps at the chance, even though she will be farther from her family and need to find a new job.  She is certain she is in love with Zane.

Amy ends up meeting the elderly neighbours who show her the only kindness she has received outside her own family.  Frank and Greta are good to her, but they have their own problems.  They also use her in minor ways.  It lets her see how Zane is not kind or supportive in any way.

Everything which happens is sad.  I was happy to see Amy grow and be more confidant in herself.

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Anne - Books of My Heart

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I can't really remember any time when I wasn't reading. I LOVE books and what they give me. It's an opportunity to learn new things, see new places,live different emotions in a "safe" way. It lets me live in a new world.

I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.

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