AustLit

'Miss Matilda Hayward has a wedding to plan and while ordering her bridal bouquet in Bridal Lane, she finds a note in her sample bouquet requesting a liaison. Matilda innocently believes the note is a mix-up and now two people in love might believe the other person has abandoned them. She engages her brother, Daniel, to attend the liaison with her and to advise of the mix-up, but the young paramour rushes off and is later found beaten and bruised in a lane off Bridal Alley by Matilda's fiance, Detective Thomas Ashdown, and his partner, Detective Harry Dart.

'When a respected lacemaker is also found murdered in the same laneway, the note takes on a new significance. Matilda is assigned to write the obituary for the Women's Journal with her illustrator friend, Miss Georgina Urry. It is not long until she finds herself in danger and in the middle of a mystery and a murder case, much to her fiance's displeasure. There is mystery, danger, and love afoot before Matilda makes it to the altar!' (Publication summary)

'Miss Matilda Hayward has been assigned her first book review for the Women's Journal newspaper and she is very much enjoying Mr Linton Turner's novel, The Pyjama Girl Mystery, until it comes to life. When a young lady is found murdered and left on the church steps dressed only in blue satin pyjamas - just like in the plot of the novel - the author immediately comes under suspicion. But no one can identify the victim. Matilda's beau, Detective Thomas Ashdown, is on the case, and with his partner, Detective Harry Dart, they hire a talented mortician, Miss Phoebe Astin, to illustrate the deceased lady for identification purposes. After Matilda and her friend, Miss Georgina Urry, make Phoebe's acquaintance, the three ladies find themselves unwillingly caught in a battle of words and hearts between an author and a poet with deadly intent. There is secrecy, danger, and love afoot!' (Publication summary)

'Sam Garson had a fur ball stuck in his throat. He blamed his best friend, Dan Lin, who had a problem of a different kind - feathers that sprouted from his ankle. Dan, in turn, blamed the book of 'Extraordinary Science Potions'; a well-kept secret until Dan stumbled upon it and somehow doomed himself and his best friend to morphing. Yes, morphing - Sam into a cat and Dan into a crow - uncontrollably and when least expected. Now the class bully, Jonathan Bell, has got a copy and all the teachers have disappeared from Weatherly Heights School for the Extraordinary. Things are going from bad to worse!' (Publication summary)

'Sophie Carell is making a name for herself and it is not on the stage or screen where she once planned a career. Accepting the cursed glasses bequeathed by her Great Aunt Daphne that gave her the gift of clairvoyance, Sophie has helped Detective Murdoch Ashcroft close several cases and her skills are in demand.

'But Sophie has to decide - will she continue auditioning and acting, or will she fill Great Aunt Daphne's shoes, including helping to solve the cold case mysterious death of a beauty queen?

'Trouble brews around Sophie as her protector, the handsome and powerful, Lukas Lens, is not sure he can fulfil his role, and the brooding Detective Murdoch Ashcroft looms as her potential enemy.

'Friends and enemies cross lines in the second volume of The Clairvoyant's Glasses.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Jesse Clarke's 10-year school reunion boasted a few shocks - and that didn't include Jesse running a publicity and private investigator business. The talk of the reunion was Alex Bryson, the overweight kid who transformed himself thanks to winning a place on the TV reality program, Lose it! But a week after the reunion, Alex is dead. That's not the only reunion that's taking up Jesse's time. At a client's family reunion and birthday celebration, a very expensive Titanic relic goes missing - a Titanic Mourning Bear. And now T-Bear, as he is known, is showing up all over the country! With support from her boyfriend Dominic, along with business partner Ed, Police Officer Jason, and Jesse's enthusiastic best friend, Melanie, Jesse is back solving mysteries while juggling publicity clients include Mona and her choir, again.' (Publication summary)

'Adam couldn't wait... his Uncle Allan was coming to watch his cricket game this afternoon; Adam's father was always too busy to get there. Uncle Allan believed Adam and his best friend, Nate, would one day be chosen for the State side if they kept practicing... Adam's bowling was really improving. Adam didn't have an Uncle Allan.' (Publication summary)

A spirited young woman from a family of Immortalis Vampires must choose between two loves, even if it means destroying a family dynasty or destroying her own heart.

'On the Moors stand two grand mansions belonging to two families, both ancient Sanguineous Immortalis - vampires.

'One of those families was mine.

'It began because we had to grow up.

'Heath and I had made a childhood pact; we would love each other for life.

'Edgar and I were suited - the life I should have was with him.

'My brother Hindley's hatred of Heath was boiling over.

'The choices we make could destroy us all.' (Publication summary)

'Irish-girl Orla Murphy is a romantic - books, films, real life - she believes in love; she's just got to find it. Accepting a one-year contract to work in Washington DC as a translator, Orla leaves her Dublin hometown for a new start.

'Nick Hughes is 100 per cent work-focused especially after his last relationship exploded along with his heart. He's made it clear he's not interested in romance, no matter who might catch his eye.

'When Orla finds several old notes written by a child in her library copy of 'Anna Karenina', she decides to track down the owner and give them back. She soon discovers that the owner has been missing for decades and is filed as a cold case. Suddenly Orla finds herself with a mystery, the notes open up a whole new angle to the case, and Nick is assigned to work on it. Now they'll have to see each other every, single day!(Publication summary)

'Backpacker, Soleil 'Sunny' Reyer is gone. Tanned, glowing and star of the Missing poster; no one thought fruit-picking could be deadly.

'Journalist, Jessica Steyn was the last person to give Sunny a lift. Assigned the biggest story in her career, Jessica is on the job. Dig, dig, dig ... until she buries herself.

'The cold case file never leaves his desk in the same way that Detective Nick Clarkson is stuck in Strand Harbour fifteen years after Sunny disappeared. Less hair, marriage over, no sign of Sunny.

'Author Coen Watson's people are water people; his trust in it is marrow-deep - he's counting on Strand Harbour to cure his writer's block. Unpacking, he forces open a drawer corroded by salt air to find a faded Missing poster for Soleil Reyer. The author begins picking at old wounds.'(Publication summary)

'Matilda Hayward is determined to have a career, after all, it is 1888! While reporting for the Women's Journal newspaper, Matilda is sent to cover the visiting 'Freak Show' and to interview Mrs Anna Tufton, a giantess. During the interview, the giantess slips a note to Matilda begging for help to her escape the show she is forced to do by her husband. But then the giantess's husband, along with the owner of the Freak Show, Mr Alfred E. Burnham, is murdered. The giantess is a likely suspect.

'Matilda enlists the help of her lawyer brother, Amos, to prove the giantess is no killer and to free her from a life of exploitation. But close family friend, Detective Thomas Ashdown - who might just have feelings for Matilda despite having known her since childhood - would prefer Matilda was nowhere near his murder case. There is mystery, danger, and love afoot!'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Miss Matilda Hayward has a nose for a story which serves her well as a writer for the Women's Journal newspaper. Her beau, Detective Thomas Ashdown, is not quite as enthusiastic about her role. When Matilda's brother, Elijah, takes up a doctor's position at the Asylum for the Insane, she volunteers, seeking more life experience to improve her writing. Joined by her illustrator friend, Miss Georgina Urry, the two ladies are thrust into the mystery of several strange asylum deaths as patients believe they can fly. When Thomas is sent to investigate, their worlds collide. Now the race is on to find the sinister threat dwelling inside the dark and gloomy walls of the asylum. There is secrecy, danger, and love afoot!'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Matilda Martin, newly single, is having a life change - a new job, new city, and a new dating outlook. That's right, she is over smooth men. In fact, Matilda is taking it one step further; she is only interested in Mr Average from now on - a man who doesn't have women hanging off him, doesn't know all the pick-up lines and is 100 percent real.

'Adam Cahill is tall, dark, handsome and a spy for a government agency. And he has just been dumped. According to his now ex-girlfriend, he is "all about work, constantly grumpy, and as much fun as a crisis meeting". Adam has given up on finding someone who'll put up with him - from now on, he's focusing on his career.

'Luckily Matilda's been assigned to his next project since neither of them is bound to be interested in each other.'(Publication summary)

'Grave Tales: Melbourne Vol. 1 visits eleven Melbourne cemeteries to tell the stories of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events that made local and national headlines. They may have lived in the same suburbs, streets, and even the same houses that still exist, but now lie in the cemeteries of Melbourne. 'Grave Tales' reveals more than the headstone can ever convey by tracing the tumultuous journeys that lead to these final resting places. Written by Logie-award winning journalist Chris Adams and author/journalist Helen Goltz, this is the seventh book in the 'Grave Tales' biography/history series.'

(Source: publisher's blurb)

'“The wisdom and compassion of this book are gripping. Kath Engebretson leads her characters through profound challenges with great storytelling and, more than that, an understanding of the pain and honesty that lead to real healing.”  Michael McGirr, author of Books That Saved My Life.

'Genevieve hates cruises. All that lounging around quaffing cocktails and too much food. But Peter, her husband, bought this one for her after the worst year of her life, and she couldn’t tell him she didn’t want to go. They are both still traumatised from an unimaginable family tragedy, and each of them has gone into hiding behind small talk and silence. 

'A cruise is also the last place Genevieve could imagine making a friend, but in Thomas, a morbidly obese man who inhabits a patch of shade on the deck, she meets someone she can talk to. She tells him her story. Thomas himself has an odd past. He is a refugee from an oppressive cult, an experience that poisoned the only relationship he cared about. 

'In the gentle relationship a kind of healing takes place, until Peter drops a bombshell. By the end of the cruise, all their lives have changed. 

'A story about strange and unexpected friendships, about the facades that people wear, and about what happens when they break. Most of all it is a story about how love manages to seep through the cracks.'

(Source: publisher's blurb)

'‘The past is my shadow, forever behind me.’ 

'Cassie Belrose was used to looking over her shoulder. Running away was what she did best – away from a possessive husband who wants her back, running from city to city, from job to job, to stay one step ahead of him.

'Daniel Woodsman is at home in the dark; in the abandoned railway tunnels below the city where the homeless veteran has built his life since his injuries had taken away more than just his confidence.

'Fleeing the Suits dispatched by her husband to bring her home, Cassie enters Daniel’s domain in the subway where their two worlds collide.

'Together, can they stop running long enough to begin living again.'

(Source: publisher's blurb)