What I Read: September 2025

After a quiet August, my September went off. It was a month of cozy murders, clever detectives, and (just to keep me balanced) one sprawling generational epic. I think it was a month of murde,r rather than anything challenging, to counter balance my challenges at work - but regardless it was a great month. 

Working backwards, I ended with The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, which I absolutely loved. It’s historical crime fiction at its slow-burn atmospheric best. Then came a run of classic and not-so-classic detective stories. 

I finally met Lord Peter Wimsey Dorothy L. Sayers books Whose Body? Clouds of Witness and Unnatural Death (on audiobook, wonderfully narrated by Richard Meadows), and I was hooked. The narration really brought it alive.

Then I fell down a Maisie Dobbs rabbit hole. I read Maisie Dobbs and Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear. Both are thoughtful, quiet mysteries set in the shadow of World War I. Maisie is such a refreshing detective. She is introspective, kind, and methodical. I am going to read the whole series. 

Australia made a strong showing too, with Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson which was pure fun. Plus A Deadly Dispute by Amanda Hampson and Death on the Water by Kerry Greenwood (a Phryne Fisher audiobook). There’s something comforting about returning to witty dialogue, eccentric detectives, and tidy resolutions which I think was what I was looking for recently.

And then there was Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, the outlier of the month. Sweeping and serious.

I began the month with The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith which was heavier and much longer than everything else I read, but still deeply satisfying. It’s probably what tipped the balance of the month from “cozy mystery” to “crime marathon.” I love this series, and while it isn't the best of the series (a little repetitive), I must say that I enjoyed that it was a little shorter than the others. 

September was the month of murder and mystery, but also of comfort reading. It was a great reading month that got me out of my more recent funk. 

Review: Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy L Sayers

I’ve been on an audiobook streak lately now that my new job involves an hour long drive to and from work and recently I have used the time to dip into Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey novels, my first time reading (well, listening to) her work. As a long-time Agatha Christie fan, I wasn’t sure how they’d compare but I needn’t have worried. These are clever, funny, and have a lot of different layers to them.

I listened to three in a row, Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness, and Unnatural Death, all narrated by Richard Meadows, who deserves his own round of applause. He did an incredible job with the voices. Lord Peter has a slightly flippant upper-class drawl, Parker is the model of a stedy policeman, Bunter has  a slow deferential manner. His narration brings the characters alive and makes you forget you’re listening to a single person.

Whose Body?

The first book introduces Lord Peter Wimsey, upper-class amateur sleuth. A naked body turns up in a bath wearing only a pince-nez, and Peter can’t resist investigating. The plot is intricate and I was hooked immediately to the series. 

Clouds of Witness

This one really stepped things up. Peter’s brother, the Duke of Denver, is accused of murder after a man is found shot outside their family lodge. The trial scenes are gripping, and Peter is able to demonstrate his more serious side occasionally. 

Unnatural Death

This one was probably my favourite of the three. It’s darker  and a little more unsettling. An old lady dies under seemingly natural circumstances, but Peter isn't convinced. What follows is a twisty investigation involving inheritance and deception. It also introduces a new character, a Mrs Climpson who is devout but nosy and is such a fascinating example of people from that time in history. 

That said, Sayers does rely on some conveniently timed coincidences like Mrs. Climpson just happening to pick the exact apartment she needs at the end. Very narratively convenient. 

In short, I absolutely loved these. Compared to Agatha Christie's novels I feel like they are less about solving the murder yourself and more about watching the reasoning unfold. 

Six Degrees of Separation (Oct): I Want Everything to Every Secret Thing by Marie Munkara

  The meme is hosted by Books are My Favourite Best and is described thus: On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book. Each person’s chain will look completely different. It doesn’t matter what the connection is or where it takes you – just take us on the journey with you.

This month we begin with I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena. Although I own this book, I haven't read it yet. I have started it but found it a bit hard to get into and moved onto something else. I did see Dominics Amerena at the Sydney Writers' Festival 2025, speaking on a panel for debut authors. For anyone curious, here is a link to my post about the panel event. 

Green Dot by Madeleine Grey

The compare of the event was Madeleine Gray, an Australian author who wrote Green Dot which I read earlier this year. I really enjoyed Green Dot: Hera’s affair with her older, married boss plays out as a slow unraveling. It's a story about some coping with the inconsistency between what she thinks her life should be, and what her life actually is. 

Bliss by Peter Carey

Bliss by Peter Carey is what then comes to mind. It's a novel about man who realises that his life isn't what it seems and isn't what he wants. A crisis of meaning I suppose you could say - but in a slightly different context to what we see in Green Dot. 

The Secret River by Kate Grenville 

A weird shift perhaps. At first I couldn't quite put my figure on why I thought of The Secret River next, but I think it's because in Bliss the protagonist questions the life that he has built and in The Secret River that moral discomfort is felt more so by the reader watching the immoral acts of the colonists as they invade and take what isn't theres. It could also just be the Australian connection. 

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards 

OK, hear me out. I've gone to the Memory Keeper's Daughter because they are both about control. The Secret River is about control of land and lives. The Memory Keeper's Daughter is also about control of the lives of others. Who gets to decide what is best for others and who faces the consequences of those decisions. 

100 Years of Betty by Debra Oswald

Both of these novel revolve around children separated from their mothers because of societal pressures and shame. In The Memory Keeper’s Daughter a father decides to hide his daughter’s disability by giving her away at birth.Iin The 100 Years of Betty, the protagonist's decision to givs up her baby for adoption is also shaped by the harsh moral expectations of her time. 

Every Secret Thing by Marie Mukara

I read this one a long time ago. In Every Secret Thing the theme of forced familial separation is even more central. Munkara writes from lived history: Aboriginal children removed from families, cultural dislocation, the mission system. It’s a more painful reflection on the cost of forced familial separation, especially when identity is not just personal, but deeply communal.