Dave Warner's Blog

My fourteenth crime novel `Double Exxxpresso' will be published August 29.

In Australia you will be able to get hard copies via my website and that of publisher, Ligature. You can also download the Ebook via Ligature. The usual big, on-line distributors will also be carrying the ebook for local and international fans. 

So what's it about? Well, my fifth crime novel `Exxxpresso' that came out back in 2000 when the Twin Towers were still standing, introduced a cast of crazy characters headed by Rick Boski, a small-time crim who had the knack of being too kind-hearted for his own good. With a psychotic loan-shark after him, Rick found himself at first in competition with - and ultimately in league with - duplicitous Zeen. Zeen herself was in trouble with a homicidal mining magnate after her. She also had a treacherous business partner Joe Harris, ready to double-cross her at every turn.

`Double Exxxpresso' is set five years after `Exxxpresso'. Rick and Zeen have teamed up in bed and business. Rick's dream of owning a prison-themed cafe has been realised, while Zeen is going gangbusters in the coffee import business. 

Everything is going well until Rick's former prison chaplain Father Paul Monaghan turns up. He has invested the entire parish savings on a `sure thing' in an upcoming horse race. The good father's intentions are pure but horse racing people are not. Especially Zeen's old double-crossing partner Joe Harris.

Very soon Rick and Zeen find themselves in a dangerous `turf war' involving a psychotic Gold Coast crim, a tenancious Gaming Squad detective, and a shonky, ruthless bookmaker. 

Like `Exxxpresso' the pace is fast and furious, particularly once the plot turns for home and the antagonists get the whips cracking and guns blazing. 

If you like a crime caper that gallops and twists and keeps you glued in the saddle from start to finish while never being short on fun, then `Double Exxxpresso' is for you.

I'm offering a special deal on my website where you can get both the old and new Exxxpressos at a discount, and without double postage. If you'd like an ebook AND hard copy go to Ligature for a great deal. 

Any library or bookshop who would like to be able to offer `Double Exxxpresso' to discerning readers please contact me via the website. I'll be doing a number of appearances in WA and NSW through October to December where you will be able to hear me talk about `Double Exxxpresso' and my other books, as well as cop some music.

Whether you enjoy my books, smaller intimate shows with comedy, or full-on raging Suburbs, there will be opportunities in the latter half of the year to join me at a gig.

October 18 I will be at DUKE OF GEORGE, East Fremantle, WA for an evening show that features music with my band of Tony Durant, Phil Bailey and Nicole - as well as - book readings, humourous performance poems - and comedy sketches with Damien O'Doherty. Almost sold out so don't delay. http://bit.ly/4jbm5Hy

October 19 for book fans, I will be at the Festival of Fiction in Joondalup talking about my work festivaloffiction.com.au

October 20 (evening)  Tony and I will be doing a book/music event at the Busselton Library. This was brilliant last time so contact the library for a ticket.

Oct 21 (morning) we will be at the Bunbury Library doing the same event. Again, please contact the library for a ticket.

October 24-26 it is the turn of Geraldton when Tony and I visit the BIG SKY FESTIVAL. This was a blast last time so don't miss out - I will be doing a number of author appearances PLUS Tony and I will be perfroming music at the poetry night https://library.cgg.wa.gov.au/big-sky-2025.aspx

November 7-8-9 sees the Mugs Game Suburbs line-up from 1978 visiting Queensland. It looks like Nov7 will be Eumundi in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, Nov 8 a big 4ZZZ 50th anniversary show and the Sunday looks like Lismore. Stay tuned

More events follow - Kiama (writer workshop in November) and Goulburn Library Dec already confirmed 

There will be many opportunities to come and say hi and enjoy my music and book events in March and April

SYDNEY MARCH 23 - RUDE CREW debut gig with WESTERN DISTRIBUTORS at the Leichhardt Bowlo, Piper St, Lilyfield evening  BOOK

BRAIDWOOD LIBRARY WED MAR 26 2 PM - Dave and Tony music & author talk 1 hour

SHEPPARTON LIBRARY THU MAR 27 6 PM - Dave and Tony music & author talk 1 hour

GEORGE LANE ST KILDA FRI MAR 28 7 PM  - Dave and Tony 2 full sets music plus poems, humour  BOOK

ODESSA CRESWICK SAT MAR 29 7 PM - Dave and Tony 2 full sets music plus poems, humour 

NORTHERN ARTS HOTEL, CASTLEMAINE SUN MAR 30 CASTELMAINE FRINGE FESTIVAL  EVENING - Dave and Tony 2 full sets music plus poems, humour 

CROYDON LIBRARY MON MAR 31 6 PM - Dave and Tony music & author talk 1 hour

FRANKSTON LIBRARY TUE APRIL 1 6 PM  - Dave and Tony music & author talk 1 hour

It is very exciting to have `When it Rains' finally out in the public domain. Reaction has been enormously positive with Jeff Popple of the Canberra Weekly calling it `First class outback noir.' Read the full review.

If you would ever like me to talk to your bookclub please contact me via the website and we will see what can be arranged. Live might not be possible but we could look ay a video link.

I will be in Perth soon as will have a couple of public appearances I would love to have fans attend. Wed Oct 16 I am at Planet Books in Mt Lawley. And then Wed Oct 23 at 1.30 pm at the Boya Library for an interview/chat. I love Mundaring Libraries. Book a ticket.

And please try your hand at my quiz to match the title of my 13 crime novels with a clue - answers on my you tube channel.

The first review for `When It Rains' is in and it's just the best from @michelethe bookdragon -

𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗜𝗧 𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗦 by @davew.author

🐊🐊🐊🐊.5/5

I really enjoyed this book. It is my favourite of the author's books that I have read.

Dan Clement is also one of my favourite police detectives. He is relatable, he is fallible, and he is dedicated to his job wholeheartedly. He loves being a detective, loves being on the ground and solving crimes. He has a great team around him that he can rely on to help him get the job done.

In When it Rains Dan is up against it in one of the most inhospitable environments there is. With unending kilometres of road, croc infested rivers and life sapping heat, there is a murderer on the loose and they may have more victims in their sights. Dan and his team are up against it as it seems that just as they think they know who the killer is, they end up dead.

I was as stumped as the police reading this one, thinking I knew who was voicing their thoughts, and then realising that I was wrong, again. There was a sense of foreboding and unease as the case continued and the police were not sure who they were up against.

I loved the build up to the resolution of this crime and it is something this author does well. The blending of Dan's personal life with his policing life lends him a genuineness that is endearing.

If you love Aussie noir and great storytelling, then Dave Warners books will fit the bill. I have read four of his books now and IMO Dave is an outstanding author and you should do yourself a favour and check out his books.

Many thanks to @goodreadingmag @fremantlepress and the author for an ARC for an honest review.

 THIS WEEK EVENTS

This coming week I'm involved in some exciting book activities to mark the publication of my latest Dan Clement book `When It Rains' - officially due October but I believe it will be available to coincide with the BAD Sydney crime writing festival.  Now first off on Thursday September 12 at 7.30 PM ES time I will talking live-stream about 'When It Rains' with Better Reading's Cheryl Akle. This is a special event as joining me to talk about their terrific crime stories too are David Whish-Wilson and Alan Carter. We are all published by Fremantle Press and our books can be bought online anywhere in the world, or in hard copy from most places. If you are in North America just ask your local bookshop to get it in.

If you forget to tune in on Thursday night, don't fret, you will be able to download at a later date.

And then on Saturday Sep 14 at 10.30 AM I will be part of an exciting crime panel for BAD Sydney at the State Library with fellow authors Anna Downes and Holly Craig. In the chair is Andy Muir. I have read both Anna and Holly's books and they are really good. If you are in Sydney we would love to see you there.

Perth people, I aim to see you in October at both Mundaring Library and the Hungerford Awards at Fremantle Press at October 23 and Oct 24 respectively.  Any bookshops who would like to me to pop in and sign please contact Fremantle Press, I am very happy to oblige while I am there.

In an AFL season that all acknowledge has been remarkable, nobody has yet commented on the most remarkable thing of all – There has been an incredible reversal this year in hometown umpiring.

 For around twenty years I have been keeping free kick statistics that conclusively proved that home-town umpiring is real. These stats are generally, year-by-year very consistent.

 If you split the games into categories delineating teams by the home state, you almost invariably got this:

 HOME VIC TEAMS v AWAY VIC TEAMS    A small but consistent advantage to the home team, both in overall free kicks over the season, and in those Games Of Large Differential (GOLD) where one team gets 56% or more of frees and the other gets 44% or less.

 HOME NON-VIC TEAMS v AWAY NON-VIC TEAMS A consistent advantage to the home side, in many seasons a very large advantage to the home side, both in overall free kicks and in GOLD GAMES

 HOME NON-VIC TEAMS v AWAY VIC TEAMS   A consistent advantage to the home side, in many seasons a very large advantage to the home side, both in overall free kicks and in GOLD GAMES

 HOME VIC TEAMS v AWAY NON-VIC TEAMS A consistent advantage to the home side, in almost all seasons a very large advantage to the home side, both in overall free kicks and in GOLD GAMES.

 INTERSTATE DERBIES/SHOWDOWN - inevitably a very large advantage to the ‘home’ team both in overall free kicks and in GOLD GAMES.

 In almost every season up until this season, while ALL home teams had an advantage, the advantage for Home Victorian teams was greater when playing Non-Vic Away teams than it was for the Non-Victorian Home teams playing Victorian Away teams.

 BUT NOT THIS YEAR. IN 2024 THE ADVANTAGE HAS REVERSED WITH NON-VIC SIDES HAVING A SUBSTANTIAL ADVANTAGE.

 Interestingly, it has also been an aberrant year when Vic teams play one another with Away Victorian sides doing far better than their home counterparts.  See Table below with home side mentioned first.

2024

Vic  v Vic  

Non-Vic v Non-Vic

Non-Vic v Vic

Vic v Non-Vic

Non-Vic Derbies

OVERALL

48.88 H     51.12  A          

51.24 H     48.76 A

51.42  H  48.58 A

49.82 H 50.18 A

55.08 H   44.92 A

GOLD GAMES

 9    H     

15   A

7      H       

4       A

18     H    

 9   A           

 8      H        15    A

 4  H

 0   A

 So, this year in blow-out free-kick games between Non-Victorian and

Victorian teams, the figures are about double in favour of the Non-Vic sides. And the Away Vic sides versus Home Vic sides also have done extremely well.

Only in games between Non-Vic teams are figures as expected.

 Perhaps it has been the change in the umpiring heirarchy that has brought about this change. Some will say it is because the Non-Vic sides are stronger this year they are winning more free-kicks but history would suggest that the strength of teams has little to do with the free kicks they receive.

 As to which teams have come out best in GOLD games of 2024. The Brisbane Lions have done best, Gold Coast second best and Richmond worst.

 GOLD GAME NET 2024

Brisbane 9, Gold Coast 7,  Essendon/Fremantle 4, Carlton 3, Adelaide/West Coast 2, Western Bulldogs 1, Sydney Swans 0, Port Adelaide/St Kilda -1, Collingwood -2, North Melbourne -3, Geelong/Hawthorn/Melbourne -4, GWS -5, Richmond -8.

 WATCH ON YOU TUBE

Part one of 2024 is back in the sheds and the second half is underway, so for  you my cherished fans who keep me inspired, here is what is on offer for the remainder of the year.

 In BOOKS the big event will be the publication in October of `When It Rains' - the fourth in my series featuring Kimberley based detective Dan Clement.

After finding himself bored with his police work and wishing for more excitement, Clement is reminded of the old saying 'be careful what you wish for' when caught in a crime deluge.  A horrifying murder involving a victim staked down for crocodiles becomes an increasingly complex case, leaving Clement less certain of his own abilities as things race to a dramatic climax.

Keep an eye out to see if I'm doing any author events around October. As information comes to hand it will be on my Facebook, X, Tik Tok and Instagram.

One event I am extremely excited about is my participation in BAD Sydney the special crime book event for crime afficiandos. I'm on a panel at the Metcalf Auditorium 10.30-11.30 Saturday September 14.

MUSIC 

While I have no live events booked, I am back in the studio with Martin Cilia and the other Rude Crew working on a second album.  And Martin, Nicole and I are also working with Jamie Mercanti to do a special Christmas song for our old home town Perth. 

Please remember to check out my bandcamp page. I often post unusual tracks, demos etc on it. If you are interested in my quirky, often rough versions of little heard tracks, or after the classics you should definitely sign up for my You Tube channel.

My crime novel for next year is pretty much complete, and I'm working on a number of other projects including movies and stage musicals. Fingers crossed they come off.

Once again, thank you all for your support.

While the Surburbs have a huge and very special gig coming at Port Beach Brewery Anzac Eve, for those who enjoy my books I am doing some library shows in Perth that I know are going to be very special too as my right-hand man Tony Durant joins me, so that in addition to reading from my latest books and talking about the characters and series I've done, we add a dash of music. These events go for about an hour and have a minimal cost usually of around $5. All libraries and details can be found here

There's a lot happening bookwise and in music in the early part of 2024.

In BOOKS, I've now managed to get 'Big Bad Blood' back in print where it always should have been. This is a huge book and the forerunner to last years `Summer of Blood'. It took 25 years but I finally came up with a story worthy of Ray Shearer and John Gordon. Order your signed copy.

On the subject of books, please vote for any of my books in the Better Reading top 100 books event. 7 lucky winners will get 100 books each.

LIVE SHOWS AND BOOKS 

Plenty going on. Friday March 15 Tony Durant and I are special guests at the Footy Almanac Lunch in Melbourne where we will be playing and doing bookstuff with an emphasis on fun and footy. Please join us for what is always a top event.

Next day, at  3pm Sat Mar 16 we will be doing a books and music event at Shepparton Library, still fun and footy but readings too.

AND THEN THERE'S ANZAC EVE IN PERTH where the original Suburbs will present an entire night of suburban Australian rock. And the best thing is, not only will you get all the Suburbs classics but we've assembled an amazing one-off support band LIZARDS OF OZ playing classic Australian and NZ songs with guest vocalists led by DICK HAYNES our great mate from Loaded Dice. Get your ticket and don't be late or you will miss a great band.

I really hope to see you at one of these shows carrying the 100 books you won!

Our Rude Crew album `Dirty Windscreens, Heartache and Beer' is released tomorrow (Dec 29) and I'd love you all to check it out.

While in Dave Warner's from the Suburbs I wrote, recorded and played a number of tracks that would work in the Rude Crew context, it didn't feel right to keep this new batch of songs under the Suburbs banner. For a start, Martin Cilia did a heap of work on all the songs, but also we'd like this to be a loose collection of musos who can be Rude Crew on the day in question - whether playing live or recording. 

'Stella' our first single released off the album sounds bouncy and cheerful but if you check the lyrics you'll see it's anything but. Today's song in focus 'Crazy Little Annie' follows a similar bent. What appears to harmless playground banter is actually something dark and deadly.

Lots of people have helped along the way in getting this album together. Pete Bloomfield created the cover image and then Steve Panozzo got that into a cover format. Bleddyn Butcher took great photos of the core band. Tony Cooper did some masterful things in production aiding and abetting Martin.

Want to hear some? Try this link 

rudecrew.hearnow.com/dirty-windscreens-heartache-and-beer

CRAZY LITTLE ANNIE

Hey everybody come out to play  

It's crazy little Annie from down the way

Hey everybody let's have some fun 

Crazy little Annie she's got herself a gun

Come on Damon come on Lisa 

Remember you compared my face to a pizza

At the time I didn't see the humour 

Got me me sorer than a honeymooner

Hey everybody come out to play  

It's crazy little Annie from down the way

Hey everybody let's have some fun 

Crazy little Annie she's got herself a gun

Now all that stuff is all forgiven

Mr Automatic's gonna take you straight to heaven

Sticks and stones may break your bones

But you'll have fun dancing with my gun

With my gun

Heh everybody why you cryin?

There's nothing very scary ‘bout dying

I did it every day for all those years

That crazy little Annie stuff ringing in my ears

Hey everybody come out to play  

It's crazy little Annie from down the way

Hey everybody let's have some fun 

Crazy little Annie she's got herself a gun

Come on guys get off the floor

Ready or not on the count of four

You got no reason to be afraid

It's just crazy little Annie come out to play

Hey everybody come out to play  

It's crazy little Annie from down the way

Hey everybody let's have some fun 

Crazy little Annie she's got herself a gun.