Reviewer ANNA CREER takes a look at a couple of new crime books – one “cosy”, the other not so much. 

There are many sub-genres of crime fiction and the most popular of recent years has been cosy crime, which surged in popularity after the publication of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club in 2020.

Tim Sullivan published his first contribution to the genre in the same year with The Dentist, in which he introduced his extraordinary creation, DS George Cross, of the Major Crimes Unit of the Avon and Somerset Police.

Cross has autism spectrum disorder. He has no sense of humour and “is averse to small talk as well as being completely inept at it”. However, his colleagues understand his need for his own space and his literal interpretation of any conversation because he has the highest conviction rate in the force.

The Bookseller (Bloomsbury) is the seventh in the series and, as well as a murder case, Cross has to cope with two personal challenges. His father has been diagnosed with cancer and his partner Josie Ottey has been promoted to inspector.

Cross “wasn’t given to pondering over personal relationships… but he’d realised… that his working relationship with Ottey was the most successful he’s ever had”.

She tolerates him and his behaviour as others haven’t, but her promotion could change everything.

The Bookseller of the title is Edward Squire who, with his father Torquil, owns Squires Rare Books in a listed Georgian building in Bristol. Squire’s body is discovered in the antiquarian section on the first floor. He has been fatally stabbed.

Cross and Ottey’s investigation reveal tensions among the staff in Squire’s Rare Books as well as the challenges of the modern book trade. Edward and Torquil have argued about the future of the shop, as well as about libraries and collections to buy.

Edward has not been as honest about valuations as his father and, as a result, he has enemies, including a powerful Russian oligarch.

The Bookseller is another gently humorous exploration of the societal challenges faced by DS Cross.

However, Sullivan also reveals some of the secrets of the rare book trade, particularly how certain prominent booksellers allegedly engage in the anti-competitive practice of cornering the market in an author to artificially inflate prices. And then there’s the forgers of signatures. It’s fascinating bibliophilic reading.

AUSTRALIAN author Iain Ryan, however, derides what he calls “quiet” crime fiction.

In his novels set on the Gold Coast in the 1980s, he aims to redress the balance with gritty, pessimistic Australian “hardboiled” crime noir.

The result was The Strip (2023), The Dream (2024) and now the latest in the series The Casino (Ultimo). 

The first casino on the Gold Coast was Conrad Jupiters in Broadbeach, which opened in November 1985. Ryan sets his novel in 1986 and his fictional casino is The Saturn run by Queensland crime boss Colleen Vinton.

The Gold Coast in the 1980s is a dangerous place. A severed hand is found on the beach, “palm up… slender with thin fingers… white woman. No ring… Red nail polish.”

A week later the head and torso of a white male is discovered on the same beach, but this time it’s booby trapped and the bomb kills two police officers and the police medical examiner. Five other police officers are injured in the blast.

Meanwhile, detective Lana Cohen who, when initially transferred to the Gold Coast, saw it as “a gleaming, golden paradise” is secretly investigating corruption in the Gold Coast Criminal Investigations Branch.

For her, “this is the real case. This is the work that matters”. She likes living on the Coast. “So, if she’s going to live here, the crooked coppers have to go”.

However, when “Miami” Vince Walters arrives from Internal Investigations, Lana is directed by the detectives from Brisbane North to be his partner and keep an eye on him.

Walters, from a wealthy family, has had a stellar career, disrupted by persistent substance abuse. But, using his contacts, he’s identified the torso of the man buried with the bomb, a down-and-out gambler, Herb Fleming.

Ewan Hayes, a private detective from Melbourne is also searching for Fleming. Hayes is staying at The Saturn while protecting the daughter of a Melbourne journalist who has been involved with the son of a bikie gang leader.

The Casino is complicated but the convoluted strands of the plot do eventually merge. Ryan’s punchy prose adds to the sleaze that hides behind the glittering bars and swimming pools of the Saturn and the desperate people hoping to make their fortune there.