Bookman Beattie' thoughts on latest Bosch novel

 My fellow Ngaio Marsh Award judge Graham "Bookman" Beattie, deservedly one of the most well-respected figures on the New Zealand books scene, regularly reviews crime novels for Radio New Zealand.

This morning, as part of Kathryn Ryan's popular 'Nine to Noon' show, Beattie reviewed THE DROP, the latest Harry Bosch thriller from Michael Connelly, who both Beattie and I think is one of the very best in the business when it comes to global contemporary crime fiction.

"In my view it's Connelly at his best, and really there aren't many better," says Beattie of THE DROP. He also praised Connelly's touch for underlying themes and ambiquities, as well as noting that he likes the character of Bosch enormously. "I read the book late into the night over the weekend, it is a must read for crime fiction fans." You can listen to Beattie's full 5mins review here, or read a near-transcript of his review at his always-informative blog, Beattie's Book Blog, here.

Are you a Michael Connelly and/or Harry Bosch fan? Have you read THE DROP? Thoughts welcome.

Currently reading: MILKSHAKE

A few weeks ago I shared some information about a debut New Zealand thriller I'd come across, MILKSHAKE by Matt Hammond. The book, which seemed like something of a global conspiracy thriller, set right here amongst the forests, dairy pastures, and small towns of Aotearoa, was available in a variety of ebook formats from Smashwords (a site I've come to quite like, in terms of discovering lesser-known authors), and in Kindle format from Amazon (US$0.99), and is now also available in hardcopy/paperback format from Amazon. Here's the blurb:

On the day David Turner is supposed to emigrate to New Zealand, he witnesses a savage murder and becomes caught up in ruthless global conspiracy. A thirty year-old technological discovery threatens his own future and jeopardises the lives of millions of others as David discovers that starting a new life is about to become a deadly game of cat and mouse... and, somewhat surprisingly, cows.

The early reviews on Smashwords and Amazon have been very positive - although you always need to take those with a grain of salt - but the premise of New Zealand being unwittingly used as a testing ground for a dangerous new biofuel, and an ordinary man being unwittingly caught up in a multinational global conspiracy laced with politics, spies, environmental activists, and more, certainly had me intrigued. So I've decided to give the debut thriller a go myself, and have been reading it this week.

I'm about 60 per cent of the way through, and so far am quite enjoying it (and it's growing on me as I go). There is a good narrative drive, and plenty of action - but sometimes the writing isn't as smooth as some crime fiction fans might like. A little too much exposition and 'telling' (sometimes repeatedly - which is a pet peeve of mine, but doesn't bother some other readers as much), and Hammond seems to feel the need to regularly remind the reader of the situation the protagonist, David Turner, finds himself in (a bit too much 'spelling it out'). But despite some irritating flaws - which in all honesty aren't unexpected for a debut book that hasn't come through the editing process of a major publisher - I am still finding myself compelled to keep turning the pages. Hammond has brought together some really good ideas and interesting concepts, and also shows a nice turn of phrase and descriptive passage now and then, in amongst all the action, with some good 'visuals'. I'm certainly intrigued, or hooked, to find out how it all comes together. And whether my home country will just become a testing ground for fuel-hungry Americans.

It's a good solid debut, that might have moved into the very good/great category with some tighter editing. In all fairness, there are plenty of big-name, hugely popular bestsellers that suffer from the same flaws - plot and action-centric conspiracy thrillers where the writing is a little 'on the nose' (eg Dan Brown etc). So I imagine many, many people would enjoy MILKSHAKE, which is entertaining and interesting. I am looking forward to seeing whether the final third moves my final the book up or down in my estimation.

Comments welcome.

Booklover interview: Paul Cleave

Each week in the Herald on Sunday (one of the New Zealand publications I review crime fiction for), books editor Nicky Pellegrino includes a quickfire 'Booklover' interview with an author or other famous person - asking them about the books they're reading, their favourites of all time, and more.

This past weekend, along with my monthly round-up of crime fiction picks (read here), the Booklover interview was also crime fiction-centric, with 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award winner Paul Cleave sharing his thoughts on various books. Cleave's most recent novel, COLLECTING COOPER, was published in the USA a few months ago, and I understand has just been released in Germany under the title DIE TOTEN SAMMLER (and has already hit the bestseller list there).

In the interview Cleave shares that the book that changed him was MIND HUNTER by John Douglas, a former FBI criminal profiler. "He's the guy who helped create the FBI Behavioural Science Unit," says Cleave, who at the time was concentrating on horror fiction as a budding author. "I read that book about 12 years ago. This guy pointed out that the real horror is crime. I read his books and then wrote The Cleaner."

You can read Cleave's full Booklover interview, including comments on the books he loves most, is reading now, will read next, and more, on the Herald website here.

Multiple chances to see Jo Nesbo in New Zealand

Earlier this month I shared the terrific news that Norwegian crime writing superstar Jo Nesbo would one of the authors appearing in Wellington in March next year as part of the the 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival's "Writers and Readers Week". That should be a fantastic festival, filled with terrific event showcasing several other crime writers (including Denise Mina, and some yet-to-be-announced New Zealand authors) and other interesting authors. Nesbo is visiting New Zealand to promote his new Harry Hole thriller, PHANTOM, as well as the release of the film adaptation of his standalone thriller HEADHUNTERS.

Now, I'm very pleased to reveal that Nesbo not just be visiting Wellington, but in fact will be doing multiple events around New Zealand in March 2012, allowing many keen crime readers an opportunity to meet this talented storyteller. According to his publisher, Random House, who are "delighted" about his visit, there will be a Nesbo event and movie premiere held on the same evening in each of the following locations:

• Tuesday, 6 March - AUCKLAND
• Wednesday, 7 March - CHRISTCHURCH
• Thursday, 8 March - WANAKA
• Saturday, 10 March – WELLINGTON (presented as part of the New Zealand International Arts Festival)

Further details about each event will be announced in due course. But for now, it's just great to see that plenty of people will get a chance to meet Nesbo. It's really good to see international crime writers of his and Mina's calibre coming all the way down here to New Zealand, promoting the genre, and supporting our burgeoning crime fiction scene.

THE PHANTOM will be released in New Zealand on 3 February, and marks the return of Nesbo's popular detective Harry Hole. Here's the publisher's blurb:

Summer. A boy is lying on the floor of an Oslo apartment. He is bleeding and will soon die. In order to place his life and death in some kind of context he begins to tell his story. Outside, the church bells toll.

Autumn. Former police inspector Harry Hole returns to Oslo after three years abroad. He seeks out his old boss at Police Headquarters to request permission to investigate a homicide.

But the case is already closed: the young junkie was in all likelihood shot dead by a fellow addict. Yet, Harry is granted permission to visit the boy’s alleged killer in jail. There, he meets himself and his own history. What follows is the solitary investigation of what appears to be the first impossible case in Harry Hole’s career. And while Harry is searching, the murdered boy continues his story.

A man walks the dark streets of Oslo. The streets are his and he has always been there. He is a phantom.
 
Have you read any of Jo Nesbo's thrillers? What do you think of Harry Hole as a 'hero'? Are you looking forward to the film adaptation of HEADHUNTERS?

Reviews: THE DROP by Michael Connelly, THE LOCK ARTIST by Steve Hamilton, and TRACES OF RED by Paddy Richardson

This year I've been asked to provide a monthly crime fiction round-up for the Herald on Sunday, one of New Zealand's most well-known newspapers. I'm very pleased to be able to contribute in my small way to getting crime fiction into the books sections of some local media. My latest column was published yesterday NZT. As I've said before, these are just 'mini-reviews' of only 100 words or so, so I can't go into great depth about any of the books, but hopefully I provide readers with a little bit of an indication.

Crime Picks

The Drop
By Michael Connelly (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
Put simply, Michael Connelly is a modern master of crime fiction, and LAPD detective Harry Bosch is one of the genre’s greatest characters. Connelly has an uncanny knack for keeping a long-running series fresh. Now, Bosch is spending his final pre-retirement years working cold cases, including one that threatens the integrity of the new Regional Crime Lab, when he’s hauled into a fresh investigation - the seems-like-suicide death of the son of his long-time nemesis, Councilman Irvin Irving. Readers are given a gripping, high quality ride as Bosch tries to find the truth behind the collision of police and politics.

The Lock Artist
By Steve Hamilton (Orion, $29.99)
Winner of the prestigious Edgar Award, this intriguing tale centres on Michael, who survived a terrible incident as a kid, but has never spoken since. The story switches between two major periods in Michael’s life, including his teenage years where he discovers his uncanny ability to open locks, and a prank gone wrong brings him into contact with a man who will end up changing his life. A mixture of thrills and chills as Michael goes about a rollercoaster criminal career, and an interesting character study of a troubled young man trying to escape from his tough life.

Traces of Red
By Paddy Richardson (Penguin, $30.00)
Acclaimed Dunedin author Richardson once again shows her skill at mixing personal drama and creepy psychological chills in her latest novel. Struggling television journalist Rebecca Thorne needs a big story, and thinks she might have found it when she discovers despised convicted triple murderer Connor Bligh might have a chance at freedom. Richardson excels at evoking the human aspects behind the plotline, as Rebecca struggles with her status and career, her relationships with Bligh’s barrister, a married man, and her interactions with many others as she tries to dig the truth from the past.

Craig Sisterson helped establish the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. He writes about crime and thriller fiction for several publications here and overseas, and blogs at http://kiwicrime.blogspot.com.

Have you read any of these authors or books? If so, what were your thoughts? Do the reviews make you more or less likely to want to read these three books? What books should I feature next month?

Meeting Margot Kinberg

It's funny, in the age of the Internet we can feel like we 'know' some people, at least in some small way, or in relation to a particular thing, even when we've never met them before. That we're familiar with them, in that one respect, at least. Email, Facebook, blogs, and other Internet-based conversations allow us to talk about and debate some of the things we are interested in, from sports to books to movies to parenting to the meaning of life, with a vast variety of people all over the world.

One of the people I've felt like I've got to know a little over the past couple of years in a crime fiction context is US-based mystery writer and university academic Margot Kinberg.

Kinberg has written two mystery novels herself (PUBLISH OR PERISH and B-VERY FLAT), starring former police officer and now university academic Joel Williams. I read and enjoyed B-VERY FLAT last year, and am looking forward to reading PUBLISH OR PERISH at some point soon. Kinberg has completed a third Joel Williams manuscript, which hopefully we will see published in the near future.

This week I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Kinberg (pictured above at an Auckland cafe), who also writes the impressive Confessions of a Mystery Novelist blog, and knows a heck of a lot about the crime fiction genre, while she was visiting New Zealand for a university conference. As is often the case when two people who share a certain interest get together, we ended up chatting for a couple of hours about all sorts of things, from crime fiction, to US and New Zealand politics (we have a nationwide election here on Saturday), to the place and power of the media, and more. It was terrific, and I'm hoping to catch up with Kinberg again before she flies home to California.

I will have more to say about Kinberg's writing (I enjoyed the academic setting, the pleasant pacing, and the interesting characters in B-VERY FLAT) in due course. But in the meantime, you can read more about her at her blog here, and in her previous 9mm interview with Crime Watch here.

Have you read any of Kinberg's mystery novels? Have you met new people from places abroad thanks to your shared interest in crime fiction? Do you enjoy commenting on the genre with people from all over the world? Thoughts and comments welcome.

Book Launch: TRACES OF RED by Paddy Richardson

Q & A with Mons Kallentoft (MIDWINTER SACRIFICE)

One of the great things about being a crime fiction reviewer is that I get sent books from authors I might not have otherwise tried - and some end up becoming new favourites. Over the past two and a half years I've 'discovered' many such new-to-me authors, some through my own experimenting (just trying new books from the stores or libraries), and others from publicists who've recommended someone new-to-me, to me.

Recently I received a review copy of MIDWINTER SACRIFICE by Mons Kallentoft, another exceptional writer being noticed now as part of the ever-growing Scandinavian crime wave. Whatever you think of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, one great thing about it is it has opened the wider reading world's eyes to the talented crime writers in Scandinavia (many of whom were already big successes at home and in other non-English speaking nations pre-Larsson mania), and led to more Scandinavian crime fiction being translated into English, for all of us keen crime readers to enjoy.

MIDWINTER SACRIFICE is Kallentoft's fourth novel, but his first foray into crime fiction. It's always fascinating to see published writers, who've written in other styles or genres, turning their hand to crime fiction. Published in Sweden in 2007, it has been a bestseller, and has now been translated into several languages. It introduces Malin Fors, a single mother  and the most talented and ambitious detective on the local police force. Kallentoft has since written four more Malin Fors tales (MIDWINTER SACRIFICE is the first to be translated into English). The books are set in his childhood hometown of Linkoping, Sweden.

I will soon be doing a 9mm interview with Kallentoft, but in the meantime I thought you might enjoy this recent Q&A session his publisher has sent through to me:

Linkoping: how does it fit into your life?
It’s an average Swedish town where I grew up, and where I moved away from as soon as I could. I left at 20, so it is a huge part of me, and writing the stories helped me to reconnect to my childhood and young adulthood.

Would you live there again?

You can’t actually run away from who you are. In one of my earlier books I wrote about it, but it is only possible to go back in my books. These stories are like echoes from that era and I can look back and work out a lot of things and emotions.

Mercy in an author?

Mercy? No. To write you have to be merciless. You can’t turn away when the story gets too dark and scary. You have to keep going. I find the books very emotional to write because I can’t get away with side-stepping the hard bits.

Why is your main character a girl?
I was trying to do something a bit different and I talked with my wife about it. Most detectives are middle-aged and jaded, and we thought a young woman in the middle of her working life would be a good place to start. I do talk about her with my wife when I get stuck on the emotional side of things, but I reckon I know her pretty well by now – and she is definitely NOT my wife! In fact she is more like me – her frustrations with small town life come directly from my own experience.

How many other countries are you published in?
My books are now in 22 languages and I have been to many of the countries involved. I have yet to go to Romania, but I travel a lot – so one day I will!

Your first books?
They were set in Madrid and Brussels – all over the place – and I wrote about what I saw and the people I watched. They weren’t really crime novels, but they touched on the dark side of life. It was when I started to write about Linkoping that crime seemed the right genre for me!

Awards?
Pesetas was my first novel, and won the Swedish equivalent of your Whitbread Award. For a debut. The book came from the year I spent in Madrid. I also wrote a non-fiction travel and food book, Food Noir, which won a travel award. I’d like to do another one of those as I have a lot of material ready and waiting. I only need the time to do it!

How many books altogether?
Five Malin Fors novels, one travel, and novels set in Stockholm, where I live now, Belgium and Spain. If the house burned down, I’d save one called Fresh, Healthy and Spontaneous (that title is a bit of a mouthful!). It’s about a branding expert and his views on life and family, about how he applies branding strategy to manage all the details of his life. It’s a black black black comedy.

Seasons and the weather and the part they play?
I had the idea that crime novels benefit from easy symbols for the reader to catch hold of. So I have written the seasons into the Malin Fors novels. The cold is an easy way to reach people, on one level it represents the cold inside all mankind … it runs through all the characters too – emotionally and figuratively cold. I also like to give the books the feel of different colours and sounds. Midwinter Sacrifice, for instance, is icy and blue – and it is quite a silent book because the sounds are muted by the winter and snow. My Summer book (ed - "SUMMERTIME DEATH" - pictured right) has much more noise. Using seasons also gives me a tight framework for the stories. Like a Greek drama – it is all very contained!

The translation?
My English translator, Neil Smith, is excellent. He is not the first to try my books, but he is the best. It’s so hard to get it right, and he seems to capture the tone and voices in them.

Mountain or valley?
Mountain

River or Sea?
Sea

Best food?
In the Basque area of northern Spain. It is without doubt the best food in the world.

Favourite book?
The Great Gatsby. It’s perfect in every sense – form, character, plot and creation. I love reading it – every time. And also Cormac McCarthy’s book Blood Meridian.

Favourite film?
That is a really hard one. The French Connection I think. I also love those slow, stylish, mystery thrillers you can just sink into.

Favourite city?
Madrid, Hong Kong, Sydney, Bangkok … Macau because of its sense of the underbelly

Have you read MIDWINTER SACRIFICE, or any other Mons Kallentoft books? If not, do they sound intriguing? What do you think of his Q&A? Comments welcome.

Reviews: THE AFFAIR, THE RETRIBUTION, and BY ANY MEANS

This year I've been asked to provide a monthly crime fiction round-up for the Herald on Sunday, one of New Zealand's most well-known newspapers. I'm very pleased to be able to contribute in my small way to getting crime fiction into the books sections of some local media.


My latest column was published a couple of weekends ago, but I didn't realise - missing that issue of the newspaper - so I hadn't yet shared the reviews online. Here they are:

Crime Watch

The Affair
By Lee Child (Bantam Press, $39.99)
A return to form for Child after the underwhelming Worth Dying For, this latest Jack Reacher tale goes back to before the beginning, to 1997 when he was still a Major in the military police. Sent undercover to Mississippi after a woman has her throat cut behind a bar just down the road from a large Army base, Reacher finds himself entangled with the attractive female sheriff, and questioning everything, unsure just who he can trust. A page-turner, The Affair sheds new light on the enigmatic wandering hero, and should please new and old fans alike.

The Retribution
By Val McDermid (Little, Brown, $34.99)
The doyenne of Tartan Noir, McDermid not only brings back her popular pairing of dysfunctional profiler Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan (of Wire in the Blood fame) in her latest novel, but also celebrity broadcaster turned serial killer Jacko Vance. Just when Hill and Jordan are about to take themselves to another place, professionally and perhaps personally, their nemesis escapes after years behind bars, throwing them, their colleagues, and their wider lives, into disarray. McDermid creates a pulse-pounding plot, but her writing shines brightest in the emotional turmoil of her characters’ relationships.

By Any Means
By Ben Sanders (HarperCollins, $24.99)
This sophomore effort from 21-year-old Aucklander Sanders has plenty of the crisp prose, vivid imagery, and page-turning plotlines that powered his #1 bestselling debut, The Fallen, last year. Detective Sergeant Sean Devereaux juggles murder investigations: a Friday rush-hour drive-by shooting, and a suspicious double-killing in an affluent suburb. Meanwhile Devereaux’s ex-cop buddy John Hale finds himself chasing kidnappers, and being chased by the Police. While there are flaws (a tendency to get ‘listy’ with musical references or travel details), overall Sanders has crafted another very enjoyable thriller, set right here in our biggest city.

Craig Sisterson helped establish the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. He writes about crime and thriller fiction for several publications here and overseas, and blogs at http://kiwicrime.blogspot.com/.

BLOOD ROOTS launch party this weekend

As I mentioned last month, New Zealand writer Michael Green has now brought his post-apocalyptic 'Blood Line' thriller trilogy to a close with the completion of BLOOD ROOTS, the third book.

I've now been sent an invitation for myself and any Crime Watch readers who may be interested and in the area to attend the book launch celebration at the Gulf Harbour Yacht Club this weekend.

Not only can you enjoy a good event and a great book, but support a terrific charity - as, like with his first thriller novel, BLOOD LINE, Green is donating all his author royalties to Lifeline (read about his reasons for supporting this very worthwhile charity here).

The Blood Line trilogy is a thriller series set in Gulf Harbour, New Zealand (a scenic area north of Auckland), the UK, and on the high seas in between. It narrates the fortunes of various branches of the Chatfield family as they struggle to survive a deadly world-wide pandemic.

Here are the official details about the book launch:

At The Gulf Harbour Yacht Club

1299 Laurie Southwick Parade, Gulf Harbour, Whangaparaoa
Sunday 20 November 2011 - 3PM
Cash bar (nibbles provided)
Copies of Blood Line & Blood Bond will also be available (the first two books in the trilogy)

If you can't make the book launch, but would like to order a copy of BLOOD ROOTS, you can do so through the author's website here.

So Brilliantly Clever: a detailed look at a decades-old crime

Previously on Crime Watch I've talked a little about bestselling crime writer Anne Perry, who writes some very good historical crime fiction, but also has been entwined in historic real-life crime herself; she was one of the teenage perpetrators of the infamous Parker-Hulme murder in 1950s New Zealand that was made into an acclaimed film, Heavenly Creatures, by Sir Peter Jackson (the first film to star a young Kate Winslet).

Last year, a new documentary, Anne Perry: Interiors (filmmaker: Dana Linkiewicz), looking at Perry's reclusive life, her almost single-minded dedication to writing, and her tiny band of close friends and devoted supporters that she surrounds herself with, living in otherwise rural isolation near the small Scottish village of Portmahomack, was released, and had screenings here in New Zealand. At the time there were some stories in the local media, including some that spoke to lawyer and true crime writer Peter Graham, who had been working on a book on the Parker-Hulme murder, about his thoughts on Perry and the way she came across in the documentary.

Now Graham's true crime book, SO BRILLIANTLY CLEVER, is being released this week by Awa Press.

You can read more about the book here, and a good story in The Press here. Apparently there is also a story in this week's New Zealand Listener about Graham and his research into the long-ago murder.

Ian Rankin wishes he'd never read Brady's book

Each week in the Herald on Sunday (one of the New Zealand publications I review crime fiction for), books editor Nicky Pellegrino includes a quickfire 'Booklover' interview with an author or other famous person - asking them about the books they're reading, their favourites of all time, and more.

This week's interviewee was acclaimed Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin, whose latest thriller, THE IMPOSSIBLE DEAD (the second book in the Malcolm Fox/Complaints series) was released recently.

Amongst other things, Rankin shares that the book he wished he'd never read was THE GATES OF JANUS by Moors Murderer Ian Brady. "Brady is an infamous serial killer and this book is his credo. I read it only for research purposes and it made my skin crawl," says Rankin.

I've watched a few documentaries about the Moors Murders, and read a little bit about Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, but haven't ever read THE GATES OF JANUS - after Rankin's comments I probably wouldn't want to either - or anything that Hindley wrote herself. Although I used to be reasonably fascinated by true crime when I was younger, I don't read a lot of it lately - and I'm not sure how much I'd want to read about a serial killer's justifications for what they did.

On a sunnier note, you can read more about the books Rankin is currently reading, and has really enjoyed, in the full Booklover interview here.

Crime aplenty: Jo Nesbo and Denise Mina announced for 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival

In some terrific news that I can finally reveal, it's now been announced that there will be some strong crime writing content as part of the prestigious 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival, to be held in Wellington next year. The Festival will include 300 arts events over 24 days in late February and March next year, and a Writers & Readers Week is also part of the festivities. Amongst the visiting international writers for 2012 are two big names from European crime fiction: Norwegian Jo Nesbo, and Scottish writer Denise Mina.

I understand there will also be a New Zealand crime writing event, with several local writers. More details about the full Festival line-up will be released in due course. It's great to see important local festivals, such as the New Zealand Arts Festival, starting to embrace and include crime fiction, particularly local crime fiction, more and more, in their line-ups. I'm very much looking forward to the 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival.

You can read more about the international authors attending, and their events, here.

Chad Taylor featured on Guardian's Halloween reading list

All around the world, people are recovering from a wide array of Halloween festivities. Let's be honest, Halloween can be a pretty fun sort of celebration whether you're young or old, with its costumes, creepy films, and all sorts of let-your-hair-down shenanigans. After all, we all like to be frightened, at least a little, now then.

As Darragh MacManus of The Guardian says, "Halloween is my favourite holiday, though I'm not quite sure why. It may be some blood-deep ethnic link to the ancient Celtic festival from whence it came; it may be the fact that I'm crazy-stupid for slasher movies and monkey nuts. Either way, Halloween puts the frights on Christmas, terrorises Easter and sends Valentine's Day bawling for its mommy. And one of the best ways to spend 31 October is by curling up with a creepy book, in a room lit by candles, with stiff drink and loaded revolver close at hand. Just in case."

In preparation for Halloween, The Guardian put together a Halloween reading list packed with "novels that are eerie, horrifying or disturbing in unusual and different ways" (eschewing the obvious choices such as Stephen King's THE SHINING). And from a New Zealand crime writing perspective, it's great to see Kiwi author Chad Taylor feature for his book SHIRKER. McManus says "this tale of one man cheating death is one of the best crime novels I've ever read. Beautiful artful prose, a great, twisting noir story, and a seriously spooky, sexy atmosphere." High praise indeed.

You can read the rest of McManus's spooky reading list here.

Do you like reading crime and thrillers that veer to the scary/horror end of the spectrum? What did you do to celebrate Halloween? What are some of your favourite 'scary' novels?