J.E. MacDonnell

 The Pawn

(A Peter Bentley Story)

by

J.E. Macdonnell

Captain Peter Bentley and the destroyer HMS Wind Rode are chosen for a mission so perilous that success depends upon remaining invisible. 

Deep inside enemy waters, Bentley must hide his ship off the Japanese coast, waiting for the moment a secret new super-battleship leaves harbour. One brief radio signal will summon the Allied fleet but if his destroyer is detected, the operation is doomed and every man aboard faces almost certain destruction. 

Bentley knew he was the pawn in this lethal game of naval chess and that his ship’s survival depended on several factors. Outnumbered, hunted by enemy warships and submarines, and forced to navigate treacherous waters under cover of darkness, Bentley and his crew must rely on courage, skill and unwavering discipline to survive.

The tale of how Peter Bentley earned his VC is a fast‑moving naval adventure that keeps the pages turning. Bentley and Wind Rode are sent north on a simple mission: wait for a Japanese battleship to emerge and signal the rest of the fleet. Once warned, the fleet will close in and destroy the enemy ship.

But the plan unravels quickly, and Bentley soon finds himself locked in a life‑or‑death fight against a behemoth of the sea.

This was one of my favourite MacDonnell novels years ago, and it still is — well written, action‑packed, and an all‑round enjoyable read about the Australian navy in World War II.

This story will soon be available from Piccadilly Publishing. 5/5 

D.B. Newton

 The Manhunters

(A Jim Bannister Western)

by

D.B. Newton

Jim Bannister had ridden too long with a noose at his back to trust any man carrying a rifle.

Branded a murderer for a killing he didn’t commit, Bannister has a twelve-thousand-dollar bounty on his head and half the territory hunting him down. So when a hard-eyed posse surrounds him on the desert trail, he figures his luck has finally run out.

But the posse isn’t after Bannister—not yet.

They’re hunting another fugitive, and after shooting his horse and stripping him of his gun, they force Bannister to lead them through the badlands. Trapped among desperate men spoiling for blood, Bannister soon realizes the hunt is turning ugly. Tempers are short, nerves are raw, and more than one rider seems ready to hang somebody first and ask questions later.

Worse still, it’s only a matter of time before someone recognizes the most wanted man in the territory.

In a land where justice comes from the barrel of a gun, Jim Bannister will need every ounce of grit and fast thinking just to stay alive.

Still on the run with a price on his head, Bannister blunders into a posse hell‑bent on handing out vigilante justice. The deputy leading them is barely holding the reins, especially with a bullet in his leg, courtesy of Bannister, after they mistook him for the man they were hunting.

Then there’s the fugitive’s wife, determined to get her husband back alive. Before long the whole affair tangles into a dangerous mess, leaving Bannister fighting to keep his true identity hidden, not just to save himself, but to protect the very man the posse wants to hang.

It’s a well‑crafted story that kept me hooked and the pages turning. The tense, mob‑justice atmosphere strongly echoes the 1940s Henry Fonda film The Ox‑Bow Incident. 

This book can be bought from Piccadilly Publishing. 5/5

William M. James

  Death Dragon

Apache #20

by 

William M. James

Apache warrior, Cuchillo Oro, vows to protect an attractive white woman through thick and thin on her way to lay claim to a piece of land. Unfortunately, the two are not the first to arrive. Or the last. Judging by the amount of killings, it's a valuable plot. And nobody's going to leave without a fight to the finish.

After being rescued by a woman who desperately needs his help, Cuchillo Oro agrees to protect her—posing as her husband to keep her safe. Their journey quickly turns violent, and after she is brutally attacked, the Apache unleashes a ferocious and uncompromising vengeance on those responsible.

This is one of the more violent Apache instalments I’ve read, packed with relentless action that keeps the pages turning. A grim, bloody, and ultimately satisfying entry for readers who love the series.

This story is available from Piccadilly Publishing.

Clay Randall

Showdown

 (Amos Flagg)

by

Clay Randall

In a town where whiskey flows faster than justice, Sheriff Amos Flagg is barely keeping order on the Texas frontier. Then a reckless killing in a saloon changes everything.

A fast-drawing gambler with a deadly reputation is suddenly wearing the marshal’s badge. A notorious gunfighter is hiding in town. And every dusty street in Academy seems ready to explode into violence.

Caught between ruthless killers, frightened townsfolk, and a lawless West where survival depends on speed and nerve, Amos Flagg must decide just how far he’s willing to go to keep the peace—and stay alive.

The showdown is coming… and not everyone will walk away alive.

When newly appointed town marshal Ottie Spain guns down a crippled gunfighter, Ab Slater, in what he calls a “fair fight,” he sets off a chain of consequences he never imagined. Overnight, Spain becomes a marked man — hunted by killers, outlaws, and even the dead man’s widow.

Caught in the middle is Amos Flagg, doing his best to hold the town together while Spain swaggers around, convinced he’s untouchable. But when death finally closes in, Spain’s bravado cracks and his true nature is laid bare.

I read a Flagg story years ago and had forgotten just how tough, gritty, and tightly wound they are. This one delivers real tension, plenty of action, and has me keen to dive into more.

Thanks to Piccadilly Publishing for an ARC of this book. 5/5

Colin Burgess

 Sisters in Captivity

by

Colin Burgess

The incredible account of Sister Betty Jeffrey OAM and the Australian war nurses who survived the bombing of evacuation ship SS Vyner Brooke in February 1942, and subsequently spent three years in Japanese prison camps in Sumatra.

During those perilous years surviving in squalid conditions, Sister Jeffrey kept a secret diary of day-to-day events which, after the war, was turned into a hugely successful book and radio serial: White Coolies. She would often write of the powerful sisterhood that evolved as the prisoners of war took strength from each other, even forming a vocal orchestra. White Coolies was a major inspiration for the 1997 film Paradise Road.

Sisters in Captivity builds on those diaries to not only re-live the years the nurses spent as POWs but also recounts the early life and influences that encouraged Betty Jeffrey into the field of nursing as a lifelong endeavour. A tireless advocate for returned nurses, she co-founded the Australian Nurses Memorial Centre with sole survivor of the Banka Island Massacre, fellow POW, and her longtime friend Vivian Bullwinkel.

Featuring 32 pages of photos including personal mementos of Betty Jeffrey, courtesy of her family, and her drawings from the prison camps, this is a powerful account of women’s resilience amidst the devastating brutality of war.

I bought this book some time ago, started it, and for reasons I can’t even remember, set it aside. When I finally picked it up again, I immediately wished I hadn’t waited. This is a tragic and deeply moving account—not only of Betty Jeffrey, but of a group of nurses who served in World War II. From the sinking of the Vyner Brooke to the massacre on Radji Beach and the brutal years in captivity that followed, Colin Burgess has crafted a powerful and fitting tribute to a group of extraordinarily determined women. Nurses who watched their friends die around them, powerless to intervene.

One of the most heartbreaking moments is a simple black‑and‑white photograph of eight nurses from the same unit—only one of whom would ever return home.

Yet even after surviving the horrors of war, Betty Jeffrey and her friend Vivian Bullwinkel—the sole survivor of Radji Beach—went on to achieve remarkable things in both their lives and their profession.

I’ve read accounts of POWs before, but nothing has ever struck me as deeply as this.

5/5 plus more.  

Tom Lewis

 Australia's Coastal War

by

Tom Lewis

For the first time, acclaimed military historian Dr Tom Lewis OAM uncovers the full scale of World War II’s forgotten battles along our coastline.

From German surface raiders laying deadly mines to Japanese submarines prowling offshore and enemy aircraft launching hundreds of attacks, the war on the coast stretched across thousands of kilometres—from Darwin to Hobart, from Townsville to Melbourne.

This landmark book rewrites history, revealing a long and brutal struggle between German and Japanese forces and those of Australia, Britain, and the United States. Scores of ships were sunk, thousands of lives lost—yet much of this story remains unknown.

Among the tragedies are gripping accounts of heroism and heartbreak: the sinking of the cruiser Sydney with 645 lives lost in a duel with the raider Kormoran; a deadly mine explosion on a quiet South Australian beach; and the haunting fate of a priest abducted and executed by an enemy floatplane crew.

There are also tales of misjudgement and misadventure—like the flawed decisions during the Sydney midget submarine raids, partly redeemed by the courage of small ship commanders whose bravery remains unrecognised. Other stories are only now coming to light, including the daring attack by two RAAF bombers on a Japanese submarine still lost off the coast of New South Wales.

Australian Coastal Wars reveals it all—a sweeping and deeply human account of a war far closer to home than most Australians ever realised.

It took me a few pages to settle into this book, but I’m glad I stuck with it. When Australians talk about the war, we usually hear about Papua, Crete, Greece, Malaya, the Thai–Burma railway, and the fighting in North Africa, along with a handful of well‑known naval actions. What Tom Lewis does here is shine a light on the lesser‑known parts of Australia’s war — the events that unfolded close to home.

He digs into the smaller engagements: the bombings, the merchant and naval ship sinkings, and the scattered incidents that rarely make it into mainstream histories. Yes, the book covers the bombing of Darwin, which everyone knows, but it also reveals the 50‑plus other raids on the Top End that almost never get mentioned.

Then there are the midget submarines that slipped into Sydney Harbour, another familiar story — but Lewis goes further, exploring the submarine attacks that occurred all along the east coast, episodes I’d barely heard of.

The book is packed with these smaller, fascinating details, many of which were completely new to me.

Well worth the read. 4/5

Kirk Hamilton

 Somebody Owes Me

by

Kirk Hamilton

(Keith Hetherington)

They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Ward Tracy found that out the hard way, when he chanced across a man in the desert who was more dead than alive, and against all the odds nursed him back to life. Before he knew it, however, he was accused of being an outlaw named Al Danton and standing trial for his very life.

What made it worse was the fact that the local lawman, a seedy prosecutor and a greedy judge all knew the truth, but they wanted to show the good folks of Darby that they knew how to deal with hardcases … with hang-rope.

Ward survived, though. He served five years in prison, breaking rocks day after day, week after week, month after month, in all weathers, and when he was finally released, he remembered the lawman, the prosecutor and the judge. And he decided that somebody owed him, big-time – and they were all going to pay the ultimate price.

Ward Tracy saves a dying man on the trail, only to discover he’s a notorious outlaw. Before Ward can explain, the local sheriff brands him as Al Danton, another wanted outlaw. The trial is a sham, the sentence is swift, and Ward is handed five years in prison. Lucky for him, because the rope was already waiting.

But prison didn’t kill the fire inside him. Three years later, after a desperate escape attempt, the truth finally surfaces and Ward walks free with a full pardon. Now he’s riding out to settle the score with the men who stole his life.

It isn’t simple. The crooked sheriff who framed him is running for mayor, and his hand‑picked man now wears the badge. Ward has enemies in every direction and none of them intend to let him live.

Then there’s the outlaw’s dying secret: a hidden cache of stolen loot. Everyone who knows about it wants their share, and Ward is caught in the middle. Greed, revenge, and old grudges collide, building toward a final gunsmoke showdown where only one man walks away.

This will be available from Piccadilly publishing through Smashwords when published.