Great article on Paddy Richardson

There was more good media coverage of Dunedin thriller writer Paddy Richardson's recent release HUNTING BLIND in the Herald on Sunday over the weekend. Herald on Sunday Books editor Nicky Pellegrino (an acclaimed author herself) interviewed Richardson for a feature that included Pellegrino's own thoughts on HUNTING BLIND.

The Herald on Sunday is one of the biggest newspapers in New Zealand (along with the NZ Herald, Weekend Herald, and Sunday Star-Times), and is the most popular Sunday newspaper in the Auckland region (the Sunday Star-Times outsells it nationwide). So it is great to see local crime and thriller writers (especially those from the other end of the country) getting some good coverage within its book pages.

In the article Pellegrino refers to how Richardson and fellow Kiwi crime queen Vanda Symon have lived close to each other Dunedin, noting how the southern city is "becoming a mini-literary enclave for a certain sort of writer – nice, middle-class women with a fascination for the darker side of human nature".

Richardson also shares some of her inspiration for HUNTING BLIND, particularly how she was affected (like many New Zealanders) by the real-life disappearance of Teresa McCormack. “Like everyone else in New Zealand, when a child goes missing I watch TV and get drawn into the parent’s horror and anxiety," says Richardson. "But then inevitably it stops being news and the public moves away from it. I’ve always wondered how it is for the family and what happens later on.”

Pellegrino calls HUNTING BLIND "a compelling and involving read" and says Richardson "masterfully ... builds tension towards an all-action ending". I am partway through HUNTING BLIND myself at the moment, and am really enjoying it.

Although the Herald has not yet put Pellegrino's feature on Richardson online, you can read the entire feature (recommended - it's a well-written article with plenty of insight, and is a good read) at fellow book blogger Graham "Bookman" Beattie's blog, here.

Pellegrino is an Auckland-based journalist and author, half Italian, and a former editor of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly. In 2001 she published her first book, an autobiography of iconic broadcaster Angela D’Audney, ANGELA: A WONDERFUL LIFE. Pellegrino's own first novel DELICIOUS (2003) was published in New Zealand and the UK, and translated into five languages. THE GYPSY TEAROOM followed in 2007, and her most recent novel is AN ITALIAN WEDDING (2009). He next novel, RECIPE FOR LIFE, is scheduled for release in April 2010.