Murder with Malice

by Deirdre Oliver

Disgraced. Angry. Demoralised. Former rising star, Georgia West now grinds along in her new job at the bottom of the police ladder.

When the body of a young woman is found in Georgia's precinct, her boss, Senior Sergeant Graham Causton freaks out. He's never been in charge of investigating a murder. But his new Constable Georgia West has.

The crime scene screams serial killer and Georgia is well aware that solving a case like this could be her ticket out of the backwater dump. Evidence of a link between the killer and Georgia's own past changes everything. Now, it's personal.

Teaming up with pathologist Liam Carney, Georgia is determined to stop the murderer. Juggling her attraction to Liam and threats from the killer, she's soon pushed to her limit.

A gripping crime thriller, MURDER WITH MALICE is the first book in Deirdre Oliver's new Georgia West Mysteries series.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Mystery Thriller

323 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 27, 2025

Reviews

[Cidney · Rating 3 out of 5]

well having had no internet for 2 weeks and no laptop for 3 weeks (and no tv for 3 years) it's about time I began to write up all the books I've read in the last few weeks when internet and laptop connections merged into one, if I can remember all the plots now! I'll begin with Murder with Malice by Deirdre Oliver, this is the first in the Georgia West books, Georgia was a top police officer, this is set in Australia, but her lover of a policeman set her up to fail a case and she was demoted to a lowly in uniform grade and sent to work in a police station which had a motley uninspiring crew led by a man heading for retirement and wanting a quieter life. All that was shaken up by the discovery of a very very badly mutilated body of a young girl outside a shop. What made it worse was that she was alive for most of the horrific mutilations, her feet were slashed so she couldn't crawl away from her attacker. Georgia badly wanted their station to deal with this murder, and then she discovered that this young woman was one of many from a couple of places elsewhere in the world with the same pattern of mutilations. She managed to gee up her commanding officer and get him motivated to keep the case and then gee up the uninspiring group of young officers to sweep them along with her leadership.

This was a very good book, the mutilations were truly truly horrid and some of the language left a lot to be desired but maybe australia is like america, they swear a lot there as well. This is a good opening starter for a new series by Deirdre Oliver, have read all the Hannah Tree books too and they were good!

[M.K. Pachan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder with Malice is the first in a new series by Deirdre Oliver. I was unfamiliar with this author previously but I really enjoyed her writing style and in particular the way she is able to blend humor into the dark subject matter of the story. She quickly established the main characters and the short chapters worked well to keep the story moving at a blistering pace. I did notice some copy editing errors (or perhaps the lack of copy editing) and the ending seemed a little long after the climax scene. Otherwise, a thoroughly enjoyable read in the serial killer/crime fiction genre.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to author Deirdre Oliver for this free Kindle copy of Murder with Malice.

I really liked it. Engaging story and characters. However, the editing needs another go through - lots of extra, missing or misplaced characters that should have been caught. Nicely done jacket to wrap an otherwise good read.

[Dan A. Foster · Rating 1 out of 5]

Malice

Another person attempting to write with a weak grasp of good grammar. The use of the names of deity as profane utterances, as well as extensive f-bombs and other guttural language ruins any book. Clean it up.

[Josephine Pizzimenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

What a fabulous book. Had me hooked from the start! Even though I guessed early on about Henry it didn't spoil my reading. A page turner for sure. Great characters and little bits of humour now and again. Loved it

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fast moving murder/crime novel that was easy to read and better than many! I prefer this sort of escapist easy read to be set somewhere vaguely familiar but this is set in Australia but nevertheless it was a good way to pass a journey!

[Garrett Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely good and interesting story well told.

The story was very complex with a lot of different characters in a variety roles that added to the complexity and interest of the story.

[Vanessa Sauls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read.

I enjoyed this book,the protagonist is smart and driven. I also liked the other characters. I will definitely read more from this author.

[Judy Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book

I liked this book because it showed how strong a person can be even when your life is filled with tragedy,

[James Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great story

The author has created an amazing and innovative plot to go with an imaginative group of characters making this hard to put down

[Anne Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This book kept me interested what was going to happen. It had twists and turns that kept me wondering what would happen next. I highly recommend this book.