The Tea Ladies, by Amanda Hampson

Set in Sydney’s garment district in the 1960s, this ‘cosy crime’ novel features four tea ladies solving a murder ahead of the corrupt local police, with a side of bigamy. Head tea lady Hazel is an interesting character with hidden depths, if a little too good to be true. Kidnapping, arson and Russian gangsters keep the action moving in a society on the cusp of great change, particulalry with regard to the role of women, but in the end it’s all a bit twee.

The Death of Dora Black, by Lainie Anderson

Based on the real life of pioneering Adelaide woman police officer Kate Cocks, this murder mystery attempts to educate as well as entertain. The balance is not quite right at the start, as there is too much description and the author’s undoubtedly excellent research takes over the plot. This improves as the tale progresses, but it’s a slow road, with too many mentions of Miss Cocks's five-foot stick. It's fun to have Adelaide in WWI the centre of the action and Kate Cocks is a fascinating, larger than life character, with her fictional offsider providing a more progressive, if somewhat unrealistic counterpoint.

Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl, by Fiona Britton

Miss Fisher meets Underbelly in this tale of a young sex worker in 1930s Sydney. Academically gifted and beautiful teen Violet Kelly sees few prospects for a good life on leaving the orphanage in Paddington with her best friend Albert. While he apprentices as a butcher, she joins the local brothel, La Maison des Fleurs, to train as a high class provider of sexual services to men with money. But Madame owes favours to gangsters who are connected to powerful and dangerous people, which puts her house and everyone connected to it at risk. Britton creates some interesting characters and paints a vivid picture of life in the violent Sydney slums, particularly the hardships faced by women and children. Unfortunately the book needed several more drafts, better historical research and more attentive editing and proofreading, which would have avoided the typos, mistakes and sloppy anachronisms that let down the story. There is so much packed in, including a Chinese curse, a missing twin, police corruption and a conveniently devoted diplomat that it becomes a hodgepodge of action, much of which is not believable. Sex work is lauded as a positive choice for a working class girl with no family, but there is little reference to any downside, like STDs, abortion or violent punters and Violet’s purported intelligence and looks would have given her more options than most. The title and the ending clearly set up the novel for Violet Kelly sequels, a la Kerry Greenwood, but Phryne Fisher she ain’t.

An Expert in Murder, by Nicola Upson

In the 1930s writer Josephine Tey travels from Scotland to London for the final week of her play in the West End. A young woman is brutally murdered at the end of the train journey and her connection to the play draws Josephine into the investigation. Another murder then makes it clear that everyone involved in the play is at risk, especially its writer. Between the wars is a fascinating period to set a story. The legacy of the great war lingers, affecting former soldiers and civilians who lost people in different but equally damaging ways. And the prospect of another global conflict looms, with chilling effect. It is an interesting choice to base it on a real person, or the pseudonym of one. Josephine Tey was an accomplished writer of detective fiction, who never received the recognition of her (arguably) lesser contemporaries. This novel aims to emulate Tey’s skill, but falls a little short with too many coincidences and convenient connections between people inhabiting a world not that small.