The place to be this Sunday: Hamilton

We have some great international and local crime fiction events on the horizon here in New Zealand for 2012. First up on the festival front for lovers of crime writing is the 2012 Waikato Times Hamilton Garden Arts Festival, which kicks off this week.

 The Festival consists of many terrific events, ranging from visual arts to music, comedy, film, theatre, dance, food and wine, and books. It should be great.

Amongst the literary/books events at this year's festival is a crime writing event this Sunday, 19 February, that features local crime writers of both the fictional and true crime persuasion. There has been a slight change to the line-up, with Joan Rosier-Jones (THE MURDER OF CHOW YAT) unable to attend due to personal reasons. However, there are still four terrific writers who will be there:

Crime Writers
"Delve into the mind of crime"

Scott Bainbridge
New Zealand law means that all unsolved murder files are inaccessible for a period of 70 years. Even after this period, restricted access is rarely given. Bainbridge has been given unprecedented access to the police files for ten of New Zealand¹s most baffling unsolved murders.

Ben Sanders
At 20 years of age, Ben Sanders fascination with crime fiction has paid off having just signed a two-book contract with HarperCollins Publishers. Ben's sophisticated and edgy writing style signals the emergence of a major new talent.

Vanda Symon
Vanda is the author of the Sam Shephard detective fiction series. Her latest novel Bound, went straight to number one in the New Zealand bestsellers lists.

Paul Cleave
At 24 Paul wrote The Killing Hour. A year later he wrote The Cleaner. In 2006, six years after it was written, The Cleaner was published. It became one of the biggest selling books ever to come out of New Zealand, picking up several international contracts within it's first year and introducing Joe, the 'loveable' serial killer who works at the Christchurch Police Department.

The Crime Writers event will be held at 5pm on Sunday 19 February 2012 at the Garden Terrace restaurant. Penny's Bookstore will be selling a range of the writers' books at the event.

I really hope to see some North Island-based Crime Watch readers and crime fiction fans there on the night. It should be a great evening! Thanks to the organisers of the 2012 Waikato Times Hamilton Garden Arts Festival for embracing local crime writing in such a great way.