Was gold miner turned country headmaster Joseph Connor a hero or a villain? When Kate Grenville found a series of 19th century letters either praising him or condemning him, her curiosity was piqued. In ‘The Country Schoolmaster, A Mystery in 88 Letters’ she works her way through the letters trying to understand Connor and what was really happening back then. The book is a complex investigation in which Grenville brings us a fascinating slice of life in the bush in 1880 - floods, fires and poverty and suddenly the extra pressure of having to send the kids to school.

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The late Moya Costello has been described as a “ a luminous voice in Australian literature”. On the anniversary of Moya’s death Pink Shorts Press have decided to keep that voice alive and have re-released Moya’s 2000 novel ‘The Office as a Boat’. The story is set against a backdrop of a never-ending heatwave and is an amusing account of claustrophobic office politics combined with a touch of magic realism. A quarter of a century after it first appeared it has a surprising relevance as current office life teeters on the verge of changing forever.

Guests:

Kate Grenville, author

And Cath reviews ‘The Office as a Boat’

Find out more

https://kategrenville.com.au/

@pinkshortspress

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Lauren Williams’ novel "Neighbourhood Watch" is set in a fictional Melbourne suburb, and the plot features a murder bizarre enough to rival British TV favorite "Midsomer Murders". Among the scarecrows in the annual Scarecrow Competition is a real dead body, that of a judge. Justice is the theme and psychologist turned homicide detective Priyanka Pal finds herself up against corrupt and powerful men.

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In Jasmine Graetz’s "Dracorian Whispers", the action takes place in the Crossford Academy where young elf Esther studies the art of Dragon Wrangling whilst also receiving lessons in love and loss.

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How the enthusiasm of locals can make a library work. We meet Jan Hunt, powerhouse behind the Bruny Island Community Library

Guests

Lauren Williams, author of "Neighbourhood Watch"

Jasmine Graetz, author of "Dracorian Whispers"

Jan Hunt, Bruny Island Community Library

Other books that get a mention:
Cath is checking out Kate Atkinson’s latest novel “Our Noble Selves” and Sarah reveals why the current trad-wife sensation "Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke isn’t working for her.

Author contacts:

https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/authors/Lauren-Williams/244423215

https://www.instagram.com/jasmine_h_graetz/

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It’s 1917, shop assistant Dora Black has been found dead on a city beach, and Adelaide’s legendary policewoman Kate Cocks is on the case. With World War I as it's backdrop this historically sensitive mystery is the first of Lainie Anderson's “Petticoat Police Mysteries”.

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Caro and Danny were children and later young lovers at their secret hangout, the local waterhole. Caro thought they would be together forever, but grief and Danny’s self-destructive spiral after his mother’s death complicates that dream. A poetic exploration of first love and loss, grief and addiction, "Frogsong" takes the reader inside Caro’s world, back to the joy and pain of growing up.

Guests:

Lainie Anderson, author of “The Death of Dora Black” and “Murder on North Terrace”

Melissa Manning, author of “Frogsong”

Author contacts:

@lainie.anderson

@lissmanning

Other books that get a mention:

Cath recommends “Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark” by James Bailey and “Domination” by Professor Alice Roberts. Annie loved “Euphoria” by Lily King and our reviewer Maddie enjoyed “Yesteryear” by Caro Claire Burke

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