CITY OF VEILS BY ZÖE FERRARIS, LITTLE, BROWN, $32.99. Who doesn’t love a forensic pathologist? The challenge is making your crime scene expert different. In City Of Veils, Katya Hijazi is a burqa-wearing police lab technician in Saudi Arabia, solving crime despite the disapproval of the religious establishment and her conservative admirer, Rafiq. When a […]

And Thereby Hangs A Tale BY JEFFREY ARCHER, PAN MACMILLAN, $44.99. And Thereby Hangs A Tale is Jeffrey Archer’s sixth collection of short stories and, this time, he takes the reader on a global journey with stories set in England, Germany, Majorca, Italy and India. One of the greatest strengths of the author’s stories are […]

Oculi, HARDIE GRANT BOOKS, $90 As the digital age creeps into every part of our lives, it’s good to see the power of photography hasn’t waned, especially when collected together in one place, as it is here. This anthology of 250 thought-provoking documentary photographs, from classic portraiture to images of youth culture, urban and bush […]

Next time you want a drink of water, don’t dismiss the good old tap. According to new Canadian research, bottled water holds more bacteria than tap water. The study conducted by a team of 70 scientists from the C-crest Laboratories in Montreal found that bottled water is not as pure as first thought. “Heterotrophic bacteria […]

Every day around Australia, thousands of people are bravely battling addiction. This cruel human affliction is not just reserved for ‘hard-core’ drug or alcohol abusers. The reality is that any of us can potentially become addicted to anything. “There are many and varied reasons why someone develops an addiction, and it’s a very complex issue,” […]

Extreme dieting is seen by some as a quick fix to fight the flab. But could you end up losing more than you bargained for? For some people, dieting means cutting down on chocolate and wine, and giving fast food a miss. For others it’s following a healthy eating plan or shaving a few kilojoules […]

What are telomeres? They are microscopic DNA sequences at the ends of individual chromosomes and they are essential for healthy cell function. As we get older, our telomeres become shorter, which is a sign of both chronological ageing (your body’s age in years) and biological ageing (your body’s ‘real’ age, which can be less or […]

As Marion Grasby furiously whips up another delicious dish in the MasterChef kitchen, the pretty brunette has clearly got her eye on the prize. But her ultimate life goal isn’t to win the coveted title – it’s to marry her boyfriend of four years. “I’m waiting for him to come home with a ring – […]

When you have a toddler, your world tends to move at their dawdling pace. Here’s how to keep active when things slow down. It may sound strange, but life can slow down when you have a toddler. Where once you could strap your bub in a pram and stride out for an invigorating walk or […]

Despite their genetic blessings most celebrities turn to their own quick-fix diet to get their body red-carpet ready. But do these celebrity detoxes actually work and are they safe? Naomi Campbell recently confessed that she puts her body through three lemon-and-maple syrup detox sessions a year, each lasting 18 days, the New York Times reported. […]