Michael Robotham

2015 Christmas Book Suggestions & Ice Cream Cake Recipe!

Margareta-Admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:39:29 +0000

2015 Christmas Book Suggestions & Ice Cream Cake Recipe!

Margareta-Admin Tue, 22/12/2015 - 11:39 am

Amid 40 degree heat (with NO air conditioning I might add) we partied our way through the first family Christmas celebration yesterday. It was so much fun, with lots of laughter and jokes being shared around the Christmas tree and dinner tables.

That was AFTER they’d all managed to slog their way down the drive and negotiate the electrified bungy cord gateway keeping the cattle from entering the house yard. My brother-in-law from Brisbane (all 6’2” of him) was the only one who rang me from 100 metres away. ‘Ummm … this gateway? How do I open it?’

‘There’s a plastic handle. Grab hold of it and then drop the cord.’

‘Handle? Ummm … I don’t want it to bite me.’

‘You need me to come and save you?’

‘Yep.’

City slickers, I don’t know …

Christmas Book List

Last week I mentioned I’d give you a few book ideas to consider for your Christmas present list. I’ve let the side down this year a bit. Being away doing the mustering season in north western Australia from June to October, cut into my reading time in a large way.

BUT, I can give you a few recommendations based on the reading diet of both myself and a few others close to me whose reading tastes I admire.

Wild Lands, Nicole Alexander

My husband loves Nicole’s books and Wild Lands, her 2015 release, was no exception. For the lover of sweeping Australian saga novels with historical overtones.

The Secret Years, Barbara Hannay

My Great-Aunt adored The Secret Years. This contemporary and historical dual narrative moves from outback Australia to Cornwall, London to war torn Papua New Guinea in a story based on family, heroism and love.

The Saddler Boys, Fiona Palmer

My go-to girl of rural fiction, Fiona Palmer, has once again delivered the goods with this well-rounded lovely rural love story which packs a punch.

Close Your Eyes, Michael Robotham

It’s no secret that thanks to my amazing webmistress/assistant, Karen, I am a HUGE Michael Robotham fan. A man who beat Stephen King to the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger Award in 2015 for his standalone novel Life or Death. Close Your Eyes is another masterpiece. If you love, or have someone in your family who loves crime fiction, this incredibly talented Australian author is your man and this is your book.

(Karen - If you've not read Shatter (from earlier in this series) you might want to start there - which will be no trial!)

The Cuckoo's Calling, Robert Gailbraith

Aka J K Rowling, Robert Galbraith is my new literary love. I couldn’t put these books down. Cormoran Strike is my new Jack Reacher. Sigh. (Lee Child novels) These two books are from previous years but I suggest you start with The Cuckoo’s Calling so you can enjoy the series to the max.

The Silkworm, Robert Galbraith

What I want to read over Christmas …

I really want to read this book. The reviews have been fabulous and I have enjoyed Tricia’s other rural novels.

Between the Vines, Tricia Stringer

Set in and around the world famous Ghan train, deep in the Australian outback, Judy Nunn always delivers well researched, captivating Australian sagas.

Spirits of the Ghan, Judy Nunn

A master at work – the blurb of Kate Morton’s new release has me intrigued and I ADORE the cover.

The Lake House, Kate Morton

As you can probably tell from my comments as well, my webmistress is quite a fan of Crime Fiction. She's added a couple of recommendations that might work for fans of my books as well.

Historical Crime fiction set in England around the Suffragette Movement, Dody McCleland is a qualified doctor working as an autopsy specialist in a time of massive change for women. Beautifully researched and elegantly written, this is a great series from WA based Felicity Young.

A Dissection of Murder, Felicity Young

A Few Right Thinking Men, Sulari Gentill

Another Australian historical crime series, written by ex-lawyer and Truffle Farmer Sulari Gentill who lives in the stunning Snowy Mountains, these books are written with great historical authenticity and a beautifully pitched touch given that they sometimes cover very tricky subject matter.

And it wouldn't be a newsletter from me without a recipe!

Margareta's Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients:

4 litres of vanilla ice-cream

400 g of chocolate honey-comb pieces, chopped into chunks

or 200gms chocolate honey-comb pieces (chopped) and a bag of maltesers

220g bottle of chocolate Ice-Magic

Fresh berries & icing sugar

Put 4 litres of ice-cream into 2 big bowls (Half ice-cream between the two). Leave to soften for 10 minutes (don’t let it melt).

Gently fold in the chopped honeycomb (&/or maltesers). Grease a 26cm spring-form tin. Line base and sides with 2 layers of baking paper. I suggest you go 2-3cm above the edge of the pan with the paper, creating ‘hungry-boards’, so you can get all that yummy ice-cream into the tin.

Spoon ice-cream mixture into the tin and level with a knife or spatula. Freeze overnight.

Just before serving tip ice-cream cake from tin (I removed sides of tin along with the paper, laid a plate on the ‘top’ and tipped the cake upside down so the bottom became the top.) Drizzle immediately with Ice Magic, allow a minute or so to harden then top with fresh fruit. Sift icing sugar over the fruit to finish.

This cake goes ultra well with plum pudding but it would be terrific with any other desert or just by itself.

Note: You can replace the honey-comb/maltesers with other lollies or chocolate bar treats. Let your imagination run wild!

Need Help With Your Christmas Shopping List?

Margareta-Admin — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 10:16:17 +0000

Need Help With Your Christmas Shopping List?

Margareta-Admin Wed, 03/12/2014 - 9:16 pm

The first week of December - my official crank up week for Christmas. Unfortunately, as I have edits due at two publishing houses for both ROSE RIVER and my new US novella, I haven't gotten into festive mode yet. Although I'd better hurry, the kids are currently counting down the days until end of school and I haven't even STARTED Christmas shopping yet!

(Breathe Margareta, breathe.)

This led me to thinking about my Christmas list. What should I buy those nearest and dearest to me this year? Which then led me to thinking about YOUR Christmas list. What are YOU going to buy your nearest and dearest with regards to reading material this year?

Need a hand? (You also might like to join me in those breathing exercises?)

There have been many, many books on my TBR (To Be Read) pile this year and whilst I'd LOVE to mention a whole swag of them, that's only going to confuse both of us, and my brain is addled enough. Instead I focused on the books I simply could not put down. The ones that came with me to the bus stop, to the kids swimming and running training, netball and even to the shed when I thought H wasn't looking. These were the novels I had to have with me just in case I got the slightest excuse to stop and read.

AND I only gave myself five choices. Gulp. Do you know how hard that was?!

After much debate, here they are, in no particular order accompanied by a suggestion as to who they might be a good present for. Although (disclaimer following), I might get it wrong, so don't blame me if your mother-in-law/father-in-law won't speak to you for weeks, okay?!

Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty

A no brainer choice. I simply could NOT put this book down even going so far as to read it while having cups of tea, eating breakfast & lunch. Dinner was out of bounds but I can tell you I was wishing the family would eat up fast and then do the dishes for me so I could get back to reading!

Here's the blurb:

I guess it started with the mothers.' 'It was all just a terrible misunderstanding.' 'I'll tell you exactly why it happened.' Pirriwee Public's annual school Trivia Night has ended in a shocking riot. A parent is dead. Liane Moriarty's new novel is funny and heartbreaking, challenging and compassionate. The No. 1 New York Times bestselling author turns her unique gaze on parenting and playground politics, showing us what really goes on behind closed suburban doors. 'Let me be clear. This is not a circus. This is a murder investigation.'

BIG LITTLE LIES is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, school-yard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

For the mother/grandmother/aunt/daughter who has attended play groups, parents and friend groups, in fact been involved with committees of any sort - and made it out the other side in one piece. Or not.

Hello From the Gillespies - Monica McInerney

I'll admit it. I'm a HUGE fan of Monica's work and she'd have to do many things wrong for me to hate one of her books, but I honestly did love this one. At the time I needed 'a chocolate' (sweet and engaging) read and Monica delivered ... and then some.

Here's the blurb:

For more than thirty years, Angela Gillespie has sent friends and family around the world an end-of-the-year letter titled ‘Hello from the Gillespies’. It’s always been cheery and full of good news. This year, Angela surprises herself – she tells the truth . . .

The Gillespies are far from the perfect family that Angela has made them out to be. Her husband is coping poorly with retirement. Her 32-year-old twins are having career meltdowns. Her third daughter, badly in debt, can’t stop crying. And her ten-year-old son spends more time talking to his imaginary friend than to real ones.

Without Angela, the family would fall apart. But when Angela is taken from them in a most unexpected manner, the Gillespies pull together – and pull themselves together – in wonderfully surprising ways . . .

For the mother/grandmother/aunt/danughter/friend who loves an easy, warm and engaging story. There will be laughter, there will be tears, but once you turn the final page you will be more than satisfied. (Hint: Wrap it up with a box of tissues.)

Evergreen Falls - Kimberley Freeman

Inspired by elements of her own grandmother's life, this gem by Kimberley Freeman has a dual narrative. A master of the historical, I loved the way Kim brought the 1926 Evergreen Spa Hotel alive in my mind, with all it's grace and rich extravagance. She then effortlessly flips to modern day and a romantic love affair that will change one young woman's life.

Passion, romance and intrigue thread this novel together using both historical and modern day storylines.

The blurb:

1926: Violet Armstrong is one of the few remaining members of staff working at the grand Evergreen Spa Hotel as it closes down over winter. Only a handful of guests are left, including the heir to a rich grazing family, his sister and her suave suitor. When a snowstorm moves in, the hotel is cut off and they are all trapped. No one could have predicted what would unfold.

2014: After years of putting her sick brother's needs before her own, Lauren Beck leaves her home and takes a job at a Blue Mountains cafe, the first stage of the Evergreen Spa Hotel's renovations. There she meets Tomas, the Danish architect who is overseeing the project, and an attraction begins to grow. In a wing of the old hotel, Lauren finds a series of passionate love letters dated back to 1926, alluding to an affair - and a shocking secret. If she can unravel this long-ago mystery, will it make Lauren brave enough to take a risk and change everything in her own life?

Inspired by elements of her grandmother's life, a rich and satisfying tale of intrigue, heartbreak and love from the author of the bestselling Lighthouse Bay and Wildflower Hill.

For the great-aunt, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother in your life who loves a rich tale of bygone days spliced with modern-day life and love.

Life or Death - Michael Robotham

Simply incredible. I don't normally read thrillers but my lovely website manager (told you so ... told you so ... told you so!) talked me into reading this one and I was gobsmacked. The writing is superb, the storyline intense and intricate, the situation entirely plausible. I gave it to my husband after I'd finished and he read it in a matter of days as well. One hell of a read.

Why would a man escape from prison the day before he's due to be released?

Audie Palmer has spent a decade in prison for an armed robbery in which four people died, including two of his gang. Five million dollars has never been recovered and everybody believes that Audie knows where the money is.

For ten years he has been beaten, stabbed, throttled and threatened almost daily by fellow inmates and prison guards, who all want to answer this same question, but suddenly Audie vanishes, the day before he's due to be released.

Everybody wants to find Audie, but he's not running. Instead he's trying to save a life . . . and not just his own.

A great one for the male (or female) reader in your family (and then you can pinch it back from him to read first ... or second depending on who wins the stoush :)

The Sunnyvale Girls - Fiona Palmer

Fiona Palmer has become the author of my first personal choice when it comes to rural fiction. I can see, feel and breathe her stories, which seem to roll effortlessly from a very able pen. With the added Italian POW aspect embedded into this particular story, The Sunnyvale Girls, is a polished and well rounded tale that gives you plenty to think about.

Three generations of Stewart women share a deep connection to their family farm, but a secret from the past threatens to tear them apart.

Widowed matriarch Maggie remembers a time when the Italian prisoners of war came to work on their land, changing her heart and her home forever. Single mum Toni has been tied to the place for as long as she can recall, although farming was never her dream. And Flick is as passionate about the farm as a young girl could be, despite the limited opportunities for love.

When a letter from 1946 is unearthed in an old cottage on the property, the Sunnyvale girls find themselves on a journey deep into their own hearts and all the way across the world to Italy. Their quest to solve a mystery leads to incredible discoveries about each other, and about themselves.

For anyone who loves a rich, well-told yarn.

There you have it. My personal picks for 2014. Of course, there are a plethora of fabulous books to pick from this year so, whatever you choose, happy reading ... oh, I mean shopping! {blush}

RURAL BOOKS CURRENTLY HITTING THE SHELF

If you love your rural books, there are a few rural authors who have novels out in time for Christmas. (Just in case you want to put them on your own Santa list! ) These include THE GREAT PLAINS by Nicole Alexander, GEMMA'S BLUFF by Karly Lane, OUTBACK GHOST by Rachael Johns, RIVERBOAT POINT by Tricia Stringer and the list goes on. Check out http://www.australianruralromance.com for more rural books available in the festive season.

CHRISTMAS BARGAINS

If you're into romance eBooks along the lines of Nora Roberts, Linda Lael Miller and Diana Palmer, over at Tule there's a great lineup of Christmas eBook novellas, with some going really cheap at the moment. Our own Alissa Callen has one called HER MISTLETOE COWBOY available for approx. $3.39. There's also a few on sale for a limited time at 0.99c (titled Christmas at Waratah Bay; Just in time for Christmas; No Rest for the Wicked).

Oh and if that's not enough for you - some special offers on Amazon for Rural Romance (both Aussie & US based) The House at the Bottom of the Hill by Jennie Jones, Promise Me, Cowboy by CJ Carmichael and Marry Me, Cowboy by Lilian Darcy.

Should be something there to keep us all occupied in that post Christmas lull!

Christmas is Coming - Michael Robotham

Margareta-Admin — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 23:27:53 +0000

Christmas is Coming - Michael Robotham

Margareta-Admin Thu, 14/11/2013 - 10:27 am

Born in Australia in November 1960, Michael Robotham grew up in small country towns that had more dogs than people and more flies than dogs. He escaped in 1979 and became a cadet journalist on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney.

For the next fourteen years he wrote for newspapers and magazines in Australia, Britain and America. As a senior feature writer for the UK’s Mail on Sunday he was among the first people to view the letters and diaries of Czar Nicholas II and his wife Empress Alexandra, unearthed in the Moscow State Archives in 1991. He also gained access to Stalin’s Hitler files, which had been missing for nearly fifty years until a cleaner stumbled upon a cardboard box that had been misplaced and misfiled.

In 1993 he quit journalism to become a ghostwriter, collaborating with politicians, pop stars, psychologists, adventurers and showbusiness personalities to write their autobiographies. Twelve of these non-fiction titles were bestsellers with combined sales of more than 2 million copies.

His crime fiction / psychological thrillers have been shortlisted and awarded more times than you could mention - including multiple Ned Kelly Awards, shortlistings for the Barry Award, the Steel Dagger, ITV3 Thriller Awards and Boeke Prize. (see Michael's website for the full details!)

Michael lives on Sydney's northern beaches, where he recently moved house, swapping his 'pit of despair' (basement office) for a 'cabana of cruelty' - a name bestowed by his three teenage daughters, who happily poke fun at the man who feeds, clothes and caters to their every expensive whim. Where is the justice?

Michael Robotham

REMINDER:

Remember to share, tweet, retweet, mention any of these posts

Remember to share, tweet, retweet, mention any of these posts on Facebook and Twitter using the tag #bushchristmas and you'll go into the draw for a $75.00 Booktopia voucher.

Leave a comment here for your chance to get a Christmas Card direct from Michael, or maybe a free book from the giveaway pile.

My Latest Release - Watching You, Michael Robotham

In your own words tell us a little about your new release …

WATCHING YOU is a psychological thriller about stalking, but it’s not as straight forward as you might think because we can be stalked by many things – past tragedies, distant memories, ex-lovers, lives we could have led or our own paranoia.

This particular story concerns Marnie Logan – an abandoned wife and mother, whose husband has been missing for more than a year. Marnie came home and found a half made cup of coffee on the kitchen counter and a cooling kettle, but that was it. Daniel was gone. Vanished. No messages, no calls, no sightings, no bank withdrawals. He has simply dropped off the face of the earth.

Because the law regarding missing persons – she can’t access his bank accounts, cancel his direct debits, claim his life insurance, open his gym locker. She’s trapped in a legal limbo, struggling to raise two children and increasingly suicidal.

Enter psychologist Joe O’Loughlin, who tries to help her, but he soon discovers that Marnie isn’t all that she seems. Ever since she was a little girl, she has had the sense that someone has been watching her. It’s nothing she can put her finger on – it’s a fleeting glimpse of something in the corner of her eye, footsteps behind her, a weight upon her chest, a prickling on her skin.

What was the idea/the revelation/the ‘kicking off point’/the impetus for writing this particular novel?

The idea for WATCHING YOU came from a story that I covered as a journalist while working for The Mail on Sunday in London. I was sent back to Australia to write a about a stalker who had become obsessed with a woman who lived across the road. I can’t tell you much about the story – it will give the plot away – but I was fascinated with the different reactions from investigators. Some thought the woman was being paranoid. Others believed she was inventing stories to get publicity. The ultimate answer shocked everybody.

What is your funniest ‘real life’ Christmas story?

When I was growing up, my parents would take us camping every summer and we would pitch our tent at a campground somewhere on the NSW coast. Presents had to be well hidden. Pillow cases were hung from the bunk beds.

I woke during one Christmas Eve and saw two people in the doorway of the tent. My mother was kissing Santa Claus. She was really pashing the big guy, who didn’t seem very interested in the can of VB and Anzac biscuits.

I didn’t make a sound because I knew that Santa didn’t give presents to children who stayed away and tried to catch sight of him. For years I clung to this story – never once considering the possibility that Santa and my Dad were both rather bulky in stature and bearded.

Well…I know what I saw…it was definitely Santa Claus.

Best Christmas present you’ve ever received?

It’s not really a present – but last Christmas for the first time we decided that rather than troop off to the big family gathering with dozens of uncles, aunts, cousins etc…. we would have Christmas at home – just the five of us – me, my wife and three teenage daughters.

It was brilliant!

We played trivia games, wore funny hats, looked at old home movies and then sat down and watched Sean of the Dead on DVD. The girls said it was their best Christmas ever…which is why we’re doing it again this year.

Worst Christmas present you’ve ever received?

I seem to remember being given boxing gloves – which just made it official that the Degatardi boys who lived next door could beat me up without being censured.

There were also bow and arrow sets (the arrows had suction cups), which lasted about 12 hours before the arrows had been lost.

Best Christmas present you’ve ever bought for someone else?

We bought our eldest daughter her first guitar. She’s now a professional songwriter who is working with some of the biggest names in Australian music.

This Christmas, who would be the best person to buy your novel for?

WATCHING YOU is a book for someone who loves a mystery and doesn’t mind occasionally checking that the doors are locked.

photo courtesy: Tony Mott

"Her behind the website" says it comes as absolutely no surprise to find that Michael's writing is popular in all sorts of reader circles.

His ability to grab the readers attention and hold them on the edge of their seat for page after page is legendary and there's absolutely nothing in this world that beats a new book by Michael Robotham.

(Although she says that doors locked is only half the battle - there's the windows that need to be watched and nobody has yet suggested what to do about the manhole in the laundry...)

Fans of the books will know all about the main characters - psychologist Joe O’Loughlin, and ex-cop Vincent Ruiz. It seems that there are readers who particularly like one or the other. Or both?

Michael Robotham

2015 Christmas Book Suggestions & Ice Cream Cake Recipe!

Christmas Book List

What I want to read over Christmas …

Margareta's Ice Cream Cake

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Need Help With Your Christmas Shopping List?

Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty

Hello From the Gillespies - Monica McInerney

Evergreen Falls - Kimberley Freeman

Life or Death - Michael Robotham

The Sunnyvale Girls - Fiona Palmer

RURAL BOOKS CURRENTLY HITTING THE SHELF

CHRISTMAS BARGAINS

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Christmas is Coming - Michael Robotham

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