Kiwi crime grows: KICKING OUT by Tony Price

Those who enjoy crime and mystery tales with a touch of the paranormal, ala TV shows Medium and Ghost Whisperer, or the psychic-tinged Kiwi crime novels of Andrea Jutson, may want to try the recently released KICKING OUT by Tony Price, another Kiwi author.

It's great to see more Kiwi crime fiction becoming available for readers here and overseas, from a variety of authors, established and new.

KICKING OUT is a 'supernatural thriller', and is available both in paperback and e-book format (the latter meaning those of you overseas have a chance to give it a go too, which is great). Here's the blurb:

"For 20 year old Lily MacDonald, aside from the death of her mother when she was only a child, growing up in the small town of Hawthorne, New Zealand has been relatively idyllic - until the day her safe and carefree world is torn apart by the detonation of a bomb in her work-place. Friends and colleagues perish and Lily's life begins to spiral out of control as she fears that a psychopath is targeting her. Her initial terror quickly turns to desperation when events become darker and more bizarre as Lily is also forced to battle with a psychic gift awakening inside her... "

You can read an excerpt from the novel, by clicking here.

Price, in his mid 40s, worked in the travel industry for fifteen years (including for Air New Zealand), before turning to novel writing. According to his website, he also worked in advertising, banking and finance "a long, long, time ago", prior to taking off on the obligatory (for Kiwis) OE.

Tony is also "happily married to a (reluctant and non-practicing) clairvoyant, of true Romany ancestry, who has provided him much inspiration and understanding (not to mention three fabulous children)".

I know that the lack of availability of some great Kiwi crime novels does frustrate some Crime Watch readers in North America and Europe. Well, fortunately that's not the case here. You can buy an e-book of KICKING OUT for US$2.99 on Smashwords (here), or you can buy a print copy at Amazon.co.uk (here), Amazon.com, or Book Depository.

You can see a comparison of the cost and delivery times of several retailers at Price's website here (eg, it is available in print in New Zealand, but may be cheaper for NZ readers to buy via Amazon or Book Depository, even with delivery).

It's great to see Kiwi authors getting their books out there, more widely available. It would be terrific to see some of our established crime writers like Paul Cleave, Vanda Symon, Paddy Richardson etc, have more of their books widely available overseas in e-book and print copy format, so that those of you in the Northern Hemisphere can more easily give them a go.

Do you like the sound of KICKING OUT? How do you feel about crime, mystery and thriller novels that bring touches of the supernatural or paranormal into the story?