Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Festival you have when you’re not having THE Festival

    Unless you’ve been under a rock or locked up (some of you probably should be !) or had some other weird stuff happening in your life, you would know about the furore over the Adelaide Writers’ Festival. While there was a lot of ‘stuff’ in the media, there wasn’t much said about the kids lit…

  • A Light on the Rocks – Helen Edwards

    I’ve quickly come to realise that Helen’s historical novels are impeccably researched and completely engrossing, so much so that it is not just your young readers who will enjoy them, but also adults. As I have mentioned previously I, for one, didn’t know much about Adelaide’s or South Australia’s history, certainly not as a child,…

  • Murder on North Terrace:a Petticoat Police Mystery #2 – Lainie Anderson

    Hachette Australia Sep 30, 2025 | 9780733652097 | RRP $32.99 Around this time last year, I reviewed the first Petticoat Police mystery after thoroughly relishing it, so I was extra keen to get my hands on this one. And it is no disappointment. Equally engaging as the first, cleverly weaving in fact to the fictional aspects, with a little…

  • Brightest Wild – Tania Crampton-Larking

    Hachette Australia January 2025 9780734420657 | RRP $16.99 Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books This is a ‘bright’ start to a writing career for Tania Crampton-Larking, with a whole lot going on in this novel: loss/grief, moving/changes, mixed heritage families, family/changes to family, bullying, climate change, First Nations culture to mention a few. Alex and her mum move from…

  • Maggie: in her own words – Maggie Tabberer

    Awards: Short-listed, APA Book Design Awards, Best Designed Book (Hardback), 1998, AU Short-listed, Book Data/ABA Book of the Year Award, 1998, AU Allen & Unwin January 2025 ISBN: 9781761472916 RRP: $34.99 TV and fashion personality Maggie Tabberer dies aged 87 When Maggie Tabberer died in early December last year, I felt her loss almost personally,…

  • Picture Book Month extra: The Death of Dora Black: a Petticoat Police Mystery – Lainie Anderson

    Hachette Australia Aug 28, 2024 | 9780733652066 | RRP $32.99 What a thoroughly enjoyable read this has been over the past few nights! I’m a tragic when it comes to cosy crime and murder mystery books and over the past couple of years I’ve had quite a number of YA titles to review, and also listened to a few…