Kiwi author Roy Vaughan appearing at Dymocks Ponsonby tomorrow night

Tomorrow night at Dymocks Bookstore in Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand thriller writer Roy Vaughan will be instore to talk about his writing, his larger-than-life characters and action, and how his thriller novels came to be.

Vaughan is a former officer in the British and New Zealand Merchant Navies, and journalist for the New Zealand Herald (amongst other roles), who in his 'retirement' has now started a series of thriller novels. The first, THE MERELEIGH RECORD CLUB TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND, was originally launched in New Zealand in hardcover lastyear, and Vaughn has already completed the second, set in Japan, which will hopefully be released in the coming months. Last year Vaughan shared his memories of Dame Ngaio Marsh, who he met while writing for the Herald, with Crime Watch readers - read his interesting article here.

The 'blurb' for his first thriller, THE MERELEIGH RECORD CLUB TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND, says:"Tour guide and owner of a New Zealand travel company, Rick Foster, pulls together a group of old friends from their rock-n-roll days of the 60s. Known as the Mereleigh Record Club, these 60-somethings meet to reminiscent and hopefully, in Foster's case, rekindle an old romance as well. Foster envisions he and his old mates partying from Auckland to the South Island. What he doesn't bargain for is he and his group becoming unwilling targets of an international and very dangerous drug smuggling gang.

A senior customs agent and detective decide to use the group to set up a sting, and things get more out of hand-lives are threatened and deep-seated friendships are put to the test. Foster is in the precarious position of cooperating with the police and protecting his friends. As the drama escalates, strange relationships develop between the good guys and the bad guys and Foster doesn't know whom he can trust. Will Foster and the authorities be able to pull off the biggest sting of their careers with no one getting hurt?"

The thriller was published by a small New York-based publisher, and is available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Book Depository. You can read a short article in Northern Matters about the book launch in Mangawhai last year, here.

Here are the details about tomorrow night's instore event:

• Where: Dymocks, 344 Ponsonby Road, Auckland
• When: Tuesday 15 March 2001 6.00 pm to 7.00 pm
• RSVP to help with catering to Ponsonby@dymocks.co.nz

I will be heading along? How about you?