A Capitol Death, by Lindsey Davis

The Emperor Domitian is getting a grand triumph through the streets of Rome and it had better go smoothly or heads will literally roll.
In the lead up to festivities the transport coordinator falls from a cliff on the Capitol Hill. Did he jump or was he pushed? It’s up to intrepid informer Flavia Albia to find out.
There are a few too many coincidences in this mystery and Albia seems slower on the uptake than usual, with the reader ahead of her in making the connections on several occasions.
Perhaps she has taken on too many cases in too short a time, as this is around the third murder she has tackled since her wedding a scant two months previously.
The glimpses into her domestic life and the cameo from her well-beloved parents are the most entertaining elements of the story.
This is a pity as it means it falls short of Davis’s usual high standard tales of ancient Rome. This one has way too many descriptions of navigating the city’s hills, streets and landmarks, rather than its industries and underbelly.
The colourful characters just about save the book from the shortcomings of its plot. It is possible that Flavia Albia has run her course, although hopefully not as there is at least one more book in the series.

After Life (Netflix) Season 2

Grief-stricken Tony is slowly getting himself together in this second series of Ricky Gervais’s tragi-comedy.
He is not ready to move on from his lovely wife and will not even contemplate the first steps of doing so, much to the frustration of Emma - who could be more than his father’s carer.
But he is able to look beyond his sadness enough to actually help out other people and demonstrate what Lisa saw in him.
He shows support and kindness to friends and colleagues who have helped him, offering hope of better times.
Many of the supporting characters are fleshed out a little more, allowed to have agency beyond Tony, which adds greatly to both breadth and depth. And the cast is just great.
There are some self-indulgent aspects to the series, enabling an unnecessary gross-out factor that adds little to the story. The prime example is the disgusting psychiatrist, whose toxic masculinity serves no purpose.
This aside the series is once again sad, funny, moving and hopeful.

Wolfe Island, by Lucy Treloar

The author’s first novel, Salt Creek, was a moving and frustrating look at Australia’s dystopian past. This one takes a leap forward to a dystopian near future in the US, where climate and other refugees are demonised and persecuted.
Artist Kitty Hawke has an almost mystical connection to the island she lives on, the last of generations of her family. Her attachment has cost her a marriage and a good relationship with her children and she is the last inhabitant, all others having fled to the mainland as their houses succumbed to the sea.
Her satisfying if solitary life is disrupted when her estranged granddaughter turns up with some friends, who clearly have secrets and troubles that could threaten everyone’s future.
Kitty is drawn back into a family of sorts, which ironically takes her off her beloved island.
But with love comes loss and Kitty becomes a vagabond, adrift in a dangerous land, searching for what is truly home.
Treloar employs poetic and evocative language that never goes OTT into the realms of pretension in the telling of her tale.
The scenario is all too believable and Kitty’s painful reengagement with the world and her family is moving and emotional.

Ogin, KI Spirits

Small distillery gin is just so different from the mass-produced product.
This distinctive offering from Kangaroo Island has a heady herbal bouquet, with a tinge of orange blossom, which promises all that the gin delivers.
This is not one for a classic G&T – the quinine swamps the delicate flavours. It is far better sipped neat, served over ice with the suggested orange and rosemary garnish. Also recommended on the label is using it as the foundations for a martini and this is a great suggestion – stirred, not shaken.
A worthy winner of an international trophy for best contemporary gin, the only quibble is with the rather awkward glass stopper. Once this has been successfully navigated, it’s all good.
KISPIRITS.COM.AU

A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan

This is a very odd book, a story told in a series of interconnecting vignettes from different points of view. They start with Sasha, a kleptomaniac music industry executive with commitment issues. The vignettes move back in time with snapshots of people closely and distantly connected to Sasha, although at first it’s not at all clear where we are going or how it will all connect. This happens with a sudden leap forward to Sasha’s future and a particularly annoyingly structured entry from her daughter. It all ends back where it started, although much later in time, with the connection of two men who were in Sasha’s life in very different ways. It’s an interesting way to paint a picture of a life - in fragments, memories, perceptions and tangents. The whole does give a movingly bleak picture of how women move through the world, dealing with the damage inflicted by men. It is reminiscent of a Robert Altman film, with a bewilderingly large array of characters and some hit and miss storylines that add up to a not-quite satisfying result.

The Cuckoo’s Calling (BBC)

Glamorous model Lula Landry fell to her death from the balcony of her luxury London flat. It is considered a suicide but her brother is not convinced and he hires private investigator Cormoran Strike to find the truth. What follows is a twisty whodunnit with plenty of juicy red herrings. Adapted from the first Strike novel by Robert Galbraith, the alter ego of JK Rowling , this three-part drama series is very well cast. Tom Burke is just right as war veteran turned private investigator Strike and Holliday Grainger perfect as his new offsider Robin. Both capture the nuances and development of their complex characters, which are actually more interesting than the murder mystery. The series is very true to the book, even down to the plot weakness at its heart. As with the books, London is a major character rather than just a backdrop.

Darkness for Light, by Emma Viskic

Private detective Caleb Zelic is determined to make better decisions. He is in therapy, has reconnected to the deaf community and may be on the verge of reconciling with his pregnant ex-wife. But it’s not so easy to escape the past. The Australian Federal Police and his treacherous ex-partner Frankie will make sure of that. A brutal murder, a violent assault and a child in danger draw him away from his safer choices and back into a world of pain. He risks losing everything he has fought to gain, but there is a child’s safety on the line so good decisions are not an option. It’s satisfying to see Caleb growing and trying, but chilling to realise how a twist of fate could bring it all undone. A few minor plot holes and the odd typo could have been fixed with an extra edit and proofread, but the speedy action skates quickly over most concerns. Sometimes success can extend a franchise beyond its natural life. This is the third outing for Caleb Zelic and it will be interesting to see if there is sufficient energy and appetite for more.