Review: OBLIVION by Arnaldur Indridason

OBLIVION by Arnaldur Indriðason (Vintage, 2015)

Reviewed by Grant Nicol

Arnaldur Indriðason’s Hypothermia was the first Icelandic crime novel I ever picked up and read. I can’t remember exactly when that was but it feels like an awfully long time ago now and it's hard to believe that this is the eleventh book in his Reykjavík Murder Mysteries series. The eleventh translated into English anyway. When he first started writing crime fiction in the late 90s many people here in Iceland laughed at him as it had never really been done before and wasn’t taken at all seriously by the literary crowd on this little island.

My how times have changed.

In 2003, he had five novels on the Icelandic best-sellers list for a week and is the only author other than J.K. Rowling to simultaneously hold the top three spots. In 2004, his books were seven of the 10 most popular titles borrowed in Reykjavík City Library. He single-handedly launched Icelandic crime fiction as a legitimate international entity and since then it has not only joined the ranks of its Scandinavian counterparts but in many ways overtaken them with the hugely successful Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and the much more recent phenomenon Ragnar Jónasson. Other Icelandic crime writers to have been translated into English include Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson and Árni Þórarinsson who I am sure will be joined by the likes of Sólveig Pálsdóttir and Lilja Sigurðardóttir (no relation to Yrsa) in the not too distant future, such is the depth of talent here now.

In Oblivion we are once again heading back in time as we did in Reykjavík Nights. It’s 1979 and Erlendur and Marion Briem, his mysteriously genderless boss, are investigating the discovery of a body found sunken in a remote milky-blue pond that sounds suspiciously like the predecessor of today’s internationally famous ‘Blue Lagoon’ spa. The unlucky chap didn’t drown in the warm run-off water from the nearby Svartsengi power station though but rather died elsewhere after a fall from a great height before being dumped in the blue soup in an awkward attempt to hide his body from the world.

And if it hadn’t been for an imaginative psoriasis sufferer trying to relieve her itching arms he might just have stayed there until the recent tourist boom when he would have been charged retrospectively for all those hours spent lolling about at their precious resort. He is soon identified as one of the local contractors who work at the American Naval Air Station at Miðnesheiði where he had access to the enormous Hangar 885 that was designed to be large enough to hold even the mighty B-36 bombers.Iceland’s relationship with their American ‘friends’ is strained at the best of times and this really puts their ability to work together to the test. A number of conspiracy theories emerge as motives for the murder involving America’s intelligence agencies, illegal movement of weapons, nuclear deterrents and an airbase in Greenland. Hangar 885 seems to be the most exciting and dangerous place in the whole country and with the help of an outsider on the inside Erlendur and Marion are determined to get to the bottom of it all.

As if he doesn’t already have enough to do Erlendur is also obsessed with a cold case that dates back to the days of the American barracks on the site of the modern day Vesturbæjarlaug swimming pools. Once the Americans abandoned the barracks they became ghetto housing for impoverished locals known as Camp Knox (Kamp Knox was the original title of the book). When he’s not chasing shadows at the secretive air-base he’s reopening old wounds with questions about the disappearance of Dagbjört on her way to school past Camp Knox one day. There’s a creepy connection reminiscent of a scene in ‘American Beauty’ with her oddball neighbour Rasmus but no real leads of any sort to go on apart from an alleged boyfriend from the ‘Camp’. This doesn’t deter Erlendur in the slightest because he’s not the sort of guy who gives up on anything. Elsewhere in the country two men are lost in a blizzard bringing back painful memories of Erlendur’s childhood for him. A theme that is revisited in the later books and which plays a central role in the detective’s psyche.

Indriðason’s writing is short and clipped in the same way that Ellroy’s is but without the alliteration and epoch-defining colloquialisms. It’s simple, sometimes disarmingly so, and that is why it works so well. Good crime fiction needs straightforward ideas and short sentences. There are very few writers in this genre who deliver such consistent quality as this guy does and this book is no exception. I used to read his books so that I would learn something about Iceland until the day came when I would finally make the place my home. I’m living here now and I’m still learning about the history of the place from him. Just another reason why I love this guy’s books so much.

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Grant Nicol is a New Zealand crime writer living in Reykjavik, Iceland. 
You can follow him at his blog 'My Little Pile of Rocks' or on Twitter: @GrantNicol1

Review: CONTAINMENT

CONTAINMENT by Vanda Symon (Penguin, 2009)

Reviewed by Kerrie Smith

When the container ship the Lauretia Express runs aground near Dunedin and spills containers across the Aramoana sands the city's normally staid and law abiding denizens turn out in force to apply their own rules of salvage. Detective Constable Sam Shepherd can't believe the pillage she is witnessing. Nor does she expect to be walloped when she intervenes in a squabble between two looters. To complicate things Sam's assailant very nearly dies in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and Sam saves his life.

One of the containers held a well-documented antique collection, now widely dispersed, which the owner is anxious to recover. The discovery a week or so later of a body in the sea off Aramoana, with all the signs of foul play, adds another complicating element.

And if work is not complicated enough, Sam's personal life hypes up a notch when her boyfriend announces he has applied to come to work in Dunedin, and she's not at all sure she wants him that close.

Containment is the third instalment in Vanda Symon's Sam Shepherd series. I thought there were elements of humour in this one that I had not noticed in the earlier novels, Overkill and The Ringmaster. Sam Shepherd is a likeable, feisty character who doesn't always make the wisest decisions. She is constantly in trouble with her section boss DI Johns, but then she often causes headaches for him.

I must admit there were times when I wondered if a detective constable would really behave that way, would really  take that action on herself, but those slight stretches of credibility aside, Containment is a well plotted page turner. I like the way the character of Sam Shepherd is developing and I think New Zealander Vanda Symon is an author well worth keeping an eye on. There is a fourth book in the series, Bound.

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Kerrie Smith is a renowned Australian crime fiction reviewer and the creator of Mysteries in Paradise, an outstanding online crime fiction resource where this review was originally published. She also runs the Global Reading Challenge. Kerrie has been kindly agreed to share her New Zealand crime fiction reviews here with the Crime Watch audience.  

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9mm interview: Stephen Booth

The Peak District is a gorgeous national park a few hours north of London, picturesquely desolate in parts, filled with an assortment of stark rock formations, verdant scenery, intriguing caverns, quaint historic villages, and a very different kind of life to that of the crushes of humanity in the UK's larger cities. I recently had an opportunity to visit, and similarly to when I've travelled elsewhere, from Buenos Aires to Bangkok, Istanbul to Iceland, I hunted down some locally set crime fiction.

Recently, Sarah Ward has deservedly been getting attention for her debut IN BITTER CHILL, a classic intriguing mystery set in the Peak District. But there is another local author who has been setting some outstanding crime novels in what is a lovely region for more than a decade: Stephen Booth.

A former journalist (he started as a rugby reporter), Booth debuted his acclaimed series starring young Derbyshire detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry back in 2000, with BLACK DOG. In that book Cooper, a local, teams up with Fry, and outsider recently moved into the area, to solve the death of a young woman whose body is discovered by a recalcitrant miner. The book was widely praised, won the Barry Award for Best British Crime, and the famous Reginald Hill hailed it as the birth of a crime writing star.

This year, Booth released the fifteenth title in the Cooper and Fry series, MURDER ROAD. Over the years the series has earned Booth the CWA Dagger in the Library, as well as further wins or short-listings for the Barry, Anthony, Gold Dagger, and Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Awards. But for now, Stephen Booth becomes the latest author to stare down the barrel of 9mm.

9MM INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN BOOTH

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective, and what is it you love about them?
I suppose everyone mentions Sherlock Holmes? He was my introduction to crime fiction as a reader. Holmes is such an enduring character that he’s gained a kind of immortality and is open to continual reinterpretation. As an author, there’s nothing better to hope for than having your characters live on for many years after you’re gone. More recently, my favourites have included John Harvey’s Charlie Resnick, Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks, Aline Templeton’s Marjory Fleming, and Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch. I like any strong, believable central character with the potential to drive a series.

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?
Strangely, the first novel I can remember reading was George Eliot’s ‘Silas Marner’. That was mostly because it was the only novel we had in the house when I was a child. But it made a big impression on me, and encouraged me to seek out more and more books from my local public library. I became a big science fiction fan at an early age, and adored the books of a rather forgotten British SF writer called Eric Frank Russell, particularly ‘Wasp’ and ‘Next of Kin’. Unlike most of the science fiction being written then, they were wry and funny. They’re probably rather dated now, though.

3. Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?
Far too much! I began writing at a very young age – pretty much as soon as I could read, I think. I started with short stories, then wrote my first novel when I was about 13 years old. It felt so satisfying that I knew it was what I wanted to do when I grew up. But I knew I couldn’t just leave school and become a novelist, so I went into newspaper journalism because it was a way of earning a living by writing. I was happy doing that until the newspaper business changed, and I wanted to get out. Even so, I produced six unpublished manuscripts before I wrote the first Cooper & Fry novel ‘Black Dog’ - and that changed everything. So I’ve actually earned my living by writing and editing for over 40 years, and I’ve never done anything else. I think I’m very lucky to be able to say that, especially as I’m now living my childhood dream of being a full-time novelist.

4. Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?
My main leisure activity has always been walking in the countryside. It’s great to get outdoors when you work on a screen all day, and I’m lucky to live near some beautiful and inspiring landscapes. In fact, this is how I first fell in love with the area I write about, the Peak District, which has become such a feature in the Cooper & Fry series. Many readers will also know that I used to breed dairy goats as a hobby (it still appears in my bio on some book covers as one of those quirky author details). I always found them fascinating and productive animals, with great personalities. At one time, I was at shows every weekend during the summer, and became a judge myself. When I was a journalist, it was so relaxing to come home after a stressful day in the office and milk the goats. I think everyone should have a hobby that is as far away as possible from the day job. It helps to keep you grounded.

5. What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider?
I live in a small rural village, which you could walk through in a few minutes. But the area I write about, the Peak District, has lots of hidden places off the beaten track. Not far from my fictional town of Edendale, there’s a place called Castleton, which sits on top of a huge cave system. For something unique, I’d recommend an underground boat ride through the tunnels to reach the Bottomless Pit. You do need to descend 105 very steep stone steps down to the caves, though. And preferably you shouldn’t suffer from claustrophobia.

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?
Heart throb Aidan Turner (of ‘Poldark’ fame) could definitely play the younger me. But the older me is a role for an ancient character actor like Bernard Cribbins (or so my wife says).

7. Of your writings, which is your favourite, and why?
Of course I have a big soft spot for the first Cooper & Fry novel Black Dog, because it literally changed my life. But as writers we like to think we improve over time. I tend to put a book out of my mind as soon as I start writing the next one, so it’s always the latest book I feel closest to. Right now, that’s The Murder Road, which I really liked the ideas and characters for when I was writing it. It’s also moving the series in a new direction, which is a great feeling.

8. What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form?
It took me a long time to accept that it was actually happening. It all felt so unreal. My agent ran an auction in the UK for that first book, and she had three publishers bidding against each other. I was still working at my day job on a local newspaper while it all happened down in London, so it seemed to have nothing to do with me. My boss at the time was the kind of guy who was always talking about the novel he was writing – though we all knew he would never finish it. But I said nothing until the day I could walk into work and say “Oh by the way, I’ve just signed a two-book deal with HarperCollins.” That was a good feeling!

But I’m not sure I really believed it until I got the finished book in my hands 12 months later. Holding that physical book with my name on the cover was an enormous thrill, and I’ve never got over that feeling. It’s still the most exciting thing in the world, even after 14 more books.

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?
There have been many! I once agreed to auction myself for charity at the Bouchercon mystery convention in the USA and ended up taking two ladies out for lunch who’d bid the highest amount for me. They seemed to enjoy themselves, because they said I was worth every cent!


Thank you Stephen. We appreciate you taking the time to chat to Crime Watch 

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Have you read Booth's Cooper and Fry series? What do you think of the Peak District as a crime setting? Share your thoughts in the comment section. 

Win a personally signed copy of a cracking Kiwi novel

Readers from around the world have the opportunity to win personally autographed copies of this year's Ngaio Marsh Award finalists, as the "Reading Kiwi Crime" competition kicks off for 2015. 

Going into the draw to win is simple: all you need to do is take a picture of yourself reading any New Zealand crime, mystery, or thriller title - from old classics like Ngaio Marsh, Fergus Hume, Elizabeth Messenger and Laurie Mantell, to the latest from award winners like Paul Cleave, Paul Thomas, and Neil Cross. Then share it with the Award organisers by:

1. Tweeting the pic and tagging @ngaiomarshaward; OR
2. Posting the pic to the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page; OR
3. Emailing the pic to ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com. 

If you follow the Award's twitter account or like the Facebook page, you'll get a bonus entry in the draw.

The prize winner(s) will be drawn following the announcement of the Ngaio Marsh Award winner, likely on or around 4 October 2015. The more entries we get, the more winners there will be. 

Just to clarify: the book in your photo doesn't have to be set in New Zealand, just written by an author connected to New Zealand (citizen, resident, grew up here, etc). If you're scratching your head for choices, here's a long list of possibilities.

So grab something from your shelf or hit your local bookstore or library, and get snapping.

Ngaio Marsh Award on Twitter

Rather belatedly, the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel now has a Twitter account, so if you want to keep up with the news and happenings in relation to Kiwi crime, mystery, and thriller writing that's a great place to do so. Look us up on Twitter: @ngaiomarshaward. 

Crime Watch will continue to publish and curate great content about New Zealand crime, mystery, and thriller writing, but moving forward there will be more of a focus on analysis and reviews, features, and op-ed columns like last weeks's "10 Kiwi Crime Writers Who Should be Chained Up..." piece.

Breaking news, awards, and events news will feature more on Twitter and the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page in future. Although as Crime Watch evolves (a new look is coming) there will be Facebook or Twitter feeds of such news in the new sidebar.

Click here to go to the Ngaio Marsh Award Twitter page, and here for the Facebook page. Join the discussion! And say kia ora, hi, gidday or hello to New Zealand crime writing on social media.

9mm interview: Alan Carter

While the United States and the United Kingdom are the traditional powerhouses of crime writing, in recent decades booklovers have slowly become more aware of the cornucopia of talented authors from other countries.

Plenty has been written about the Scandinavians, while the likes of France's Fred Vargas had a lock on the International Dagger for a while, but it's not just novels in translation where gems are found. Friends, look to the antipodes: Australian and New Zealand authors are penning tales amongst the best in the world. We're often the harshest critics of that with which we're most familiar, but stepping back a little, I'm continually impressed by the depth and breadth of the crime, mystery, and thriller storytelling from both countries.

So today, I'm very pleased to welcome Alan Carter, a crime writer who calls both Australia and New Zealand home, to Crime Watch. Alan was born in Sunderland (northern England), but immigrated to Australia twenty-five years ago. He announced himself on the crime writing scene in 2011, with PRIME CUT, which introduced fascinating investigator DS Phillip 'Cato' Kwong, an Australian of Asian heritage. Kwong's on the outs with his superiors, demoted to the Stock Squad, digging into animal deaths on farms in Western Australia. He discovers a juicier case when an unidentified torso washes up onshore - no one else cares, they're too caught up with all the troubles in a mining town.

The book went on to win the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Novel, and Alan has since continued the series with GETTING WARMER (2013) and BAD SEED (2015). I recently met Alan at Crimefest Bristol, and today he becomes the 125th author to stare down the barrel of 9mm.

9MM INTERVIEW WITH ALAN CARTER

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?  
DC Paul Winter from Graham Hurley's Portsmouth-set 'Faraday & Winter' series. From the moment he's introduced in Turnstone, one of the best character introducing paragraphs I've ever read, I was hooked. He's amoral, funny, resourceful and very effective. But no matter how far over the line he steps you know he's ultimately on the side of the angels - even if they'd prefer it if he wasn't.

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?  
Alistair MacLean's When Eight Bells Toll. I read it when i was about 11 or 12 and saw the movie with a very young Anthony Hopkins in the lead role. Thrown straight into the thick of things from page one with a bloke describing in detail the history of the big gun being pointed at him.

3. Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) - unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?  
Nothing.  Although in my day job I'd been writing narration for two decades worth of TV documentaries, some cheesy, some less so.

4. Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?  
I do a fair bit of ocean swimming, not fast but dogged, and I'm recently cycled from Lands End to John O’Groats - it's a mid-life crisis thing.  A Dwight Yoakam song comes to mind, "a thousand miles of misery".

5. What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider?  
Hometown?  Home in WA is Fremantle: take a six-pack or a nice bottle of red up on to Monument Hill and watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean and glance off the dockside cranes of the port. In New Zealand, it's Havelock - get an inner tube and jump into the Wakamarina River and float down to the Trout Hotel at Canvastown.

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?  
It'd be pretty tough, they'd have to pull off a Geordie (Northeast England) accent, but I hear Sir Ian Mckellen is quite good. He might need to buff up a bit though.  And eat a few pies.

7. Of your books, which is your favourite, and why?  
While I'll always have a soft spot for my first, Prime Cut, I have to choose my latest – Bad Seed. As well as digging deeper into my hero's character and getting kinda deep, I've also had a whole lot more fun with some of the support characters, So much so that I’m thinking of a spin-off series based on one of them.

8. What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form on a bookseller’s shelf?  
It was a blast hearing first of all I was to be published as I'd never written it with that expectation.  And then seeing it on the bookshelves in the shops, I still have to check myself from doing something really sad and pathetic like going up to the shop assistant and saying - hey, that's me!  Celebration? I think alcohol might have been involved, in moderation.

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?  
Like many authors, I draw some of my inspiration from real life people or events so inevitably that's going to come home to roost at some point. For both Prime Cut and Getting Warmer I've had people come up to me and say they know the person upon whom the fictional killer is based, and I’d thought the original cases had been pretty obscure. The Bad Seed killer is a complete fabrication so fingers crossed.

Thank you Alan. We appreciate you taking the time to chat with Crime Watch

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Have you read Alan Carter's Cato Kwong novels? Please share your thoughts with a comment. 

Bloodied in Scotland

Congratulations to the six authors whose books have today been announced as the shortlist for the Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year. Add these to your TBR pile; fantastic storytelling.

Review: A MAN LAY DEAD

The first edition cover of Ngaio's first novel,
published by Geoffrey Bles in 1934

A MAN LAY DEAD by Ngaio Marsh (1934)

Reviewed by Kerrie Smith 

This is Ngaio Marsh's debut novel, a classic country house party murder mystery, where the reader is tempted to map the location of all of the characters at the location of the murder. Nigel Bathgate, with his cousin Charles Rankin, is attending his first houseparty at Frampton. He has heard these houseparties hosted by Sir Hubert Handesley are both "original" and unpretentious. There will seven or eight guests, and, upon arrival, he learns that the main event will be a Murder. Sir Hubert has his own rules for the Murder Game, and eventually a murder there is, but not the theatrically staged one they have anticipated.

This is not Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's first murder case, although it is Ngaio Marsh's first novel. Alleyn is already a seasoned detective, with a reputation for thorough and careful sleuthing. His reputation preceds him. He arrives at Frampton from Scotland Yard the morning after the murder. The body has already been moved, and the local constabulary and the police doctor are already in attendance.

In essence what Marsh does in this first novel is establish some of the characteristics which will become Alleyn's "signature" in subsequent novels. Alleyn does not appear as the other characters expect a detective to be. He is tall, cultured, detached, thorough, and objective. He professes to have a poor memory and keeps a small note book of important facts, with an alphabetical index. We learn that Alleyn is an Oxford man who initially became a diplomat, before turning to policing. He likes to inspect things first hand, and likes to reconstruct events until he gets them right. He may also lay traps for suspects. In A MAN LAY DEAD he decides one of the characters is innocent, and then uses him as his "Watson", not only involving him in some of the sleuthing, but also as a sounding board for his deductions. Thus we see the action often through two sets of eyes, both Alleyn's and the other characters.

This is an interesting novel as Marsh has included the element of "the Russian threat". First of all there is the Russian dagger with which the victim is stabbed, then the Russian butler who disappears, the house guest who is a Russian espionage agent, and then the Russian secret society that binds them all together. A MAN LAY DEAD was published in 1934 and is indicative of the fear of Russian communism that had had Europe in its thrall for the previous decade or so.

Ngaio Marsh is a New Zealander but this novel puts her right into the vein of the Golden Age writers like Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham. It is a British cozy murder mystery through and through. In A MAN LAY DEAD she is exploring a classic scenario, and bringing a new sleuth onto the crime fiction scene. There is no hint of her Antipodean origins. The language, the slang, the setting are thoroughly British.

From a 21st century point of view A MAN LAY DEAD has survived eight decades pretty well. We wouldn't put it at the top of the tree these days, because there are things that date it. Marsh was more concerned to write a carefully constructed whodunnit, and not so taken with "why". Nevertheless it is very readable.

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Kerrie Smith is a renowned Australian crime fiction reviewer and the creator of Mysteries in Paradise, an outstanding online crime fiction resource where this review was originally published. She also runs the Global Reading Challenge. Kerrie has been kindly agreed to share her New Zealand crime fiction reviews here with the Crime Watch audience.  

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10 Kiwi Scribes who Should be Chained Up until they Write Another Crime Novel (Part 1)

After decades of being maligned and overlooked, New Zealand crime writing is flourishing right now. But I want more. 

There are good signs everywhere: the media is regularly featuring our masters of murder and mayhem in reviews and articles; local crime novels are becoming bestsellers and picked up for overseas deals and translations; and more and more talented authors of all styles are choosing to write crime and mystery tales for the first time.

The Ngaio Marsh Award long-list is becoming deeper and more varied each year, and the judges are having a heck of a time picking the finalists, let alone the winner - there's so much good writing out there. But like a bear that's got a taste for honey, I want more. More crime-loving local readers giving our own authors a go, more distribution of our great tales overseas. More recognition and respect.

I want one more thing: some of our local crime writing talents who've stepped away to come back to the game. Let me explain: three years ago Paul Thomas - Godfather of modern Kiwi crime, 'Elmore Leonard on acid', one of the finest crime writers around, etc - published his first Ihaka novel in 15 years, DEATH ON DEMAND (2012). It went on to win the Ngaio Marsh Award. He'd taken a winding road back, via sports biographies, media columns, and screenwriting. Always writing, just not crime.

Likewise, it was fantastic to see Joan Druett recently continue her superb Wiki Coffin series (set on the 1800s high seas), after a hiatus of several years that was filled with short stories and much-acclaimed maritime-themed non fiction. THE BECKONING ICE was longlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award.

But other terrific authors have turned away from crime and not yet returned. They are Thomas or Druett mid-hiatus, working on other writings and other projects. Letting the demands of life steal their time, and worse, steal new crime tales from the voracious crime and mystery fans out there.

So over the next month I'll be delivering my 'most wanted' list of Ten New Zealand crime writers who should be locked to their desks until they deliver us another crime novel. 

Here's the first five: 

1. VANDA SYMON
In a five-year period starting in 2007, Symon delivered four gripping books featuring Sam Shepherd (one of the most engaging female characters in New Zealand literature), then a dark and twisted standalone, The Faceless, to rival the likes of Linwood Barclay, Harlan Coben, and Gillian Flynn.

Then the three-times Ngaio Marsh Award finalist stopped: purportedly to work on a PhD examining Dame Ngaio's use of poisons in her novels. Time-consuming for sure, especially combined with looking after a family, reviewing books for radio, delivering the Ngaio Marsh Memorial Lecture, and skewering opponents on the masters' fencing circuit. En garde! 

I have some sympathy. Some. But it's a crime that we haven't had any new Sam Shephard tales in almost five years now. Like Ihaka, she's too good a character to disappear forever.

And Symon is too good a crime writer. Back in 2011 she told me, for a feature in Canvas magazine, that she took great joy in dropping Sam into all sorts of nasty situations, and seeing how she'd get herself out of them. Well then Ms Symon, it's time to find your happiness, put fingers to keys, and drop Detective Constable Shephard back in the proverbial again, methinks!

2. ALIX BOSCO (GREG MCGEE)
Another reprobate from Otago, although McGee calls Auckland home nowadays - when he's not winning Katherine Mansfield fellowships and swanning off to Menton to write sweeping epics that deservedly have the critics atwitter (The Antipodeans).

McGee vaulted into the local crime writing scene back in 2009 with the startlingly good Cut & Run. Who was this mysterious 'Alix Bosco', a "successful writer in other media", we wondered. My money was on Rachel Lang, a talented TV screenwriter, given the heroine's strong voice, city/suburban Auckland setting, cover quote from Outrageous Fortune's Robyn Malcolm, and the cinematic storytelling in this excellent debut.

A couple of years later McGee, the former Junior All Black, playwright of classic rugby-themed Kiwi play Foreskin's Lament, and screenwriter (at least I got that part right), outed himself as Bosco in the lead-up to the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award event. He was a finalist for his second Alix Bosco book, Slaughter Falls. He'd won the inaugural award the year before for Cut & Run.

Five years on from Slaughter Falls, we're still waiting for a third tale featuring legal researcher Anna Markunas. Like Sam Shephard, she's a layered and complex heroine, really fun to read about, and has many more stories to tell I'm sure. It's not like McGee hasn't been busy in his un-closeted interim: he wrote the bestselling biography of arguably the greatest rugby player of all time (Richie McCaw), a fine novel under his own name in Love & Money, and now The Antipodeans, described as "wonderful" by reviewers.

But whether it's as Bosco or McGee, we need at least one more book to finish Anna's trilogy. So put back on your fishnets and boa mate, and get to work. We're waiting...

3. STELLA DUFFY
Like Val McDermid, Tokoroa-raised Stella Duffy first broke through with a groundbreaking crime series starring a strong and engaging lesbian protagonist. After 1994's Calendar Girl, Duffy went on to write four more Saz Martin books - the last (so far) being 2005's Mouths of Babes. But unlike McDermid, Duffy hasn't continued with her crime novels.

Instead, over the past 20 years the multi-talented Duffy has produced a staggeringly impressive resume of projects across the creative and charitable spectrums. Along with her five crime novels, Duffy has written eight literary novels, two of which were longlisted for the Orange Prize. She's twice been the Stonewall Writer of the Year, and has also edited the anthology Tart Noir and twice won the CWA Dagger for Best Short Story. So there's been a wee bit of crime apart from the Saz novels.

The former Victoria University drama student has also acted on stage and screen, been a comedian and improv artist, written many stage plays, and directed many others - including Murder, Marple, and Me. If that wasn't enough, she's battled cancer, toured her solo show Breaststrokes in several European cities, and been a driving force behind Fun Palaces, a movement to encourage community engagement with creativity and the arts which saw 138 'laboratories of fun' created by local communities across Britain last year.

I think if we tried to handcuff Stella Duffy to her desk, she'd just break the chains. The woman's a creative dynamo, and an inspiration. So it's just as well that word on the street is that she's already working on a new crime novel. I don't know where she's finding the time, but I'm very glad she is.

4. ZIRK VAN DEN BERG
Back in 2010, as the Ngaio Marsh Award was launching, then Sunday Star-Times Books Editor Mark Broatch wrote a feature looking at the state of New Zealand crime writing. In that article, renowned editor and literary critic Stephen Stratford told Broatch (now New Zealand Listener Books & Culture editor) that he was "still waiting for a new novel from Zirk van den Berg whose outstanding Nobody Dies came out in 2004".

I've since read Nobody Dies, and Stratford is spot-on. It's an outstanding crime novel, a searing tale centred on a loner who's thrown into the witness protection programme in South Africa after witnessing a murder, unaware the cop in charge has taken it upon herself to eliminate her charges in a more permanent manner. In a Herald on Sunday review in 2012 I called it "an absorbing, tense tale that brings the expanses of South Africa to life on the page, along with the grey areas in human hearts and minds." Back in 2004 it's release caused the Listener to ask if van den Berg was New Zealand's best thriller writer - after only one book! And it was rated a Top 5 Thriller, globally, by the New Zealand Herald.

Despite it's acclaim, Nobody Dies fell out of print, in print, though van den Berg resurrected it in ebook form a few years later, and also published another thriller in ebook, No Brainer (2011). The recent Afrikaans translation of Nobody Dies won the kykNET-Rapport Prize as Best Filmable Book. But van den Berg hasn't written any thrillers in the past few years, instead concentrating on his communications business, and writing his historic drama/war and love story, Half of One Thing (2014).

That's all well and good, but whether it's a thriller set in Africa or in his adopted home of New Zealand, we need another crime tale from Zirk van den Berg. He's just too good to just stop.

5. CHAD TAYLOR
For a period from the mid '90s onwards, Chad Taylor was the author who, alongside Paul Thomas, dragged contemporary Kiwi crime writing into a darker, grittier place. His superb tales of urban noir crackled with venom and were powered by skillful, stylish prose. Thomas and Taylor were a long way away from Ngaio Marsh and Laurie Mantell's decidedly cosy tales.

Taylor kickstarted things with his intriguing novella Pack of Lies (1993), and followed that up with Heaven (made into a film by Miramax), Shirker (2000), Electric (2003), and Departure Lounge (2006). Taylor received widespread global acclaim for his 'neo-noir' novels, which both danced eccentrically in and around the edges of 'crime and mystery', and subverted the genre too. Leading UK critic Maxim Jakuboski called Taylor's work "entropy noir" and "hypnotic". The Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Yardley compared Taylor's stylised storytelling to Chandler, saying "cool certainly is the word for him, but there's a good deal of heat beneath".

Unfortunately for us, Taylor hasn't published any novels since 2009's The Church of John Coltrane. In a 2010 interview he mentioned he'd just finished writing a "noir, very hardboiled" novel, "Tijuana Bible", but I can't seem to find any trace of that book ever being published. In recent times, Taylor has written a sci-fi/noir film REALITi, which was nominated for several 2014 New Zealand Film Awards, including Best Screenplay. Perhaps it's time for Taylor to return to his noir novel roots - though chaining him to his desk and forcing him to write a crime novel sounds like something he might do to his own characters.

The rest of the "10 Kiwi Scribes who Should be Chained Up until they Write Another Crime Novel" will be named here on Crime Watch in the coming weeks. I hope you've enjoyed this op-ed piece - I'd love to hear your thoughts on the writers above, or other New Zealand or international crime writers you want to return to the page. Join the discussion and leave a comment. 

Review: CRASH & BURN

CRASH & BURN by Lisa Gardner (Headline, 2015)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Lisa Gardner's latest psychological thriller includes appearances from private security specialist Tessa Leoni and Boston detective DD Warren, two fabulously real and complex heroines who've endured plenty over the course of various appearances and escapades in Gardner's #1 bestselling novels. But while Tessa and DD add texture to this tale of a mysterious woman who survives a car crash only to lead rescuers on a chase for a child that may not exist, they aren't the central characters this time around.

CRASH & BURN is Nicky Frank's story. But just who is Nicky Frank? Is she a drunk who ran off the road then tried to elicit sympathy with a search for her 'missing child'? Is she confused from a series of concussions and accidents the past few months? An abused wife? Or someone trying to hide her past, even from herself?

Gardner has the reader off-balance and intrigued right from the start, as we switch between Nicky's perspective on the events around her, and that of others involved. Sergeant Wyatt Foster (Tessa's new man) is investigating the car crash and trying to work out just what the heck is going on. Does he need to protect the public from Nicky Frank? Or Nicky Frank from her husband, who is acting suspiciously? Gardner captures well the confusion and frustration of those suffering traumatic brain injuries or repeated concussions, as well as the uncertainty and emotion for the people around them who struggle to cope and understand.

If Nicky herself doesn't know what is real and what is not, what is a memory and what is fantasy, how can Wyatt know whether her husband wants to help or harm her? How can he keep her and everyone else safe?

There is a terrific sense of pace and narrative drive in CRASH & BURN, building slowly but surely before a helter-skelter crescendo as things rapidly come together. We know that something sinister is going on, but Gardner keeps the answers tantalisingly out of reach of both Wyatt and the reader. The book is full of her trademark twists upon twists. Even when we know they're coming and try to predict things, she still manages to surprise in just how things unfold, and why. Gardner also does a great job touching on the problems of those suffering from a brain injury – the confusion and fear, the way in which these physical injuries can have such a profound impact on the mental and physical health of a person. Nicky's head injuries aren't just a convenient plot device – Gardner gives us an insight into this very real issue. She makes us question, and care.

And that's the key to Gardner's storytelling talent – she makes us care. While her plotting is sublime and she nicely evokes the settings of her stories, it is in the depth and feeling of her characters where she excels the most. She makes us care about what happens to them, and engenders a visceral, very 'real' feeling as we turn the page and hurtle along the story. She can make us think, and feel, while being entertained.

A top-notch thriller from a top-notch writer.

This review was originally written for and published on Reviewing the Evidence. 

9mm interview: Julia Heaberlin

Back in 2012 I read an intriguing debut from Texan journalist turned novelist Julia Heaberlin, PLAYING DEAD. The book included some fascinating characters, a swirl of family secrets, and enough raw promise to make me look forward to her later offerings. Next month, Heaberlin's third novel, the outstanding psychological thriller BLACK-EYED SUSANS, is published.

Advance reviews have been full of praise for BLACK-EYED SUSANS, which centres on the sole survivor of a serial killer who starts to doubt that the man about to be executed for the murders, who has spent almost twenty years on death row in Texas, is the true culprit. It's an absorbing page-turner that adroitly dissects the phenomena that is state-sponsored killing in the Lone Star State - including some surprising revelations of the truth behind the headlines - while delivering a a twist-filled plotline and interesting characters. I read it earlier this month, and was impressed - it's a definite step up from PLAYING DEAD.

Today, I'm pleased to welcome Julia Heaberlin to Crime Watch. The proud Texan becomes the 124th author to stare down the barrel of 9mm. I think you'll enjoy her interview.

9MM: AN INTERVIEW WITH JULIA HEABERLIN

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective, and what is it you love about them? 
My all-time favorite is Kinsey Millhone of the Sue Grafton alphabet series. I generally pick books by their own worth and don’t always follow specific authors, but I have never, ever missed a Kinsey Millhone mystery after I sunk myself into A is for Alibi a very long time ago.

Kinsey could just sit in her kitchen and eat one of her peanut-butter-and-pickle sandwiches for an entire book and I’d read it. She is clever without a fancy degree, cares about people at a cost to herself, has cut her hair with nail scissors and relies on a wrinkle-free black dress for upscale occasions. There’s all that to love, but at the heart of her is darkness and loss. As Kinsey lovers know, she was trapped with her parents’ dead bodies when she was a child for hours before being rescued. Kinsey was one of the first strong female protagonists in a male-dominated genre and set the course for the rest of us. She gets to my feminist side.

In more recent history, I’d vote for Lisbeth Salander, who’s about as badass and fascinating a “detective” as you’ll ever get. The worlds that these two live in are so different, but I think she and Kinsey would get along just fine.

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?  
I generally name Rebecca as the very first book I read that made me want to write a novel. I was 15 or so, and it swept me from hot, small-town Texas to a gothic, moody place I could only imagine.

But if you’re talking about the VERY first book, I’d say Harriet the Spy. A little black-and-white sketch of her has been my Facebook profile picture for years. She’s scratching out something spy-like in her secret journal, glasses plugged on her nose. I think, like her, I’ve always preferred to be in the background observing people and wondering at their little quirks.

3. Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles? 
I was a features and arts editor at metro newspapers before quitting to try a novel and most of my career was spent assigning and editing stories other people produced. It was very helpful in that by editing myriad voices, I was able to more easily find my own. I liked best working on narrative stories that involved a mystery of some kind, or examined what happened to victims or killers years after a crime took place: the man who walked into his house, tried to slaughter his whole family, disappeared for years, and was finally caught living another domestic life; the blond, bubbly suburban mom who ended up on Death Row after slashing her children (and herself), setting up a crime scene and claiming a strange man broke into her home and committed the crime. More recently, I wrote an interesting piece for D Magazine about Rhonda Roby, the world-renowned forensic scientist who consulted on my book (and appears there as a fictional version of herself).

4. Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise? 
Read outside on a beautiful day or in a cozy bed at night. That’s No. 1. Watch movies in a cold, dark theater, binge on Netflix, cook, grow herbs and flowers, walk the dog, road trip, beach, hang out with my husband and son in any capacity, swing on the front porch of the old house where I grew up with my 85-year-old parents. I would also LIKE to be a poet and a photographer. And a painter. And a country western singer. Hopefully there is time for all but the last one.

5. What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider? 
I live smack between Dallas and Fort Worth. People often drift toward Dallas, but Fort Worth is a fantastic combination of cowboy and culture (you can sit among Remingtons and bask in Tadao Ando architecture or watch a cattle drive and then eat chicken fried steak). As for off the beaten path, I’d suggest wandering Grapevine Main Street for weird Texas trinkets or heading to the small town of Roanoke for Babe’s fried chicken or a Kevin Bacon burger at Twisted Root.

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you? 
Maybe a combination of actors? I’ll name women who’ve portrayed characters I have related to on a personal level: vulnerable, self-deprecating, weird, make me laugh, smart but don’t think they are the smartest person in the room. I’d say a combination of Kyra Sedgwick, Renee Zelwegger and Tina Fey. They can all do Southern accents.

7. Of your writings, which is your favourite, and why? 
My first character, Tommie McLeod, in Playing Dead will always be special because she led the way for everything else. But I’d say this book, Black Eyed Susans, is my best work. For a few years now, I’ve been getting a master’s class in thriller writing from my editor (Kate Miciak at Random House), who picked me out of her enormous slush pile and decided to give me a go. This book combines my fictional voice with my journalism skills. I wanted the themes in this book …Texas death penalty, forensic science, psychic trauma, memory loss … to be as authentic as possible and yet not get in the way of a flip-the-page pace.

8. What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form?
I was alone in my house when my editor called to tell me she was saying yes to two books. When I got off the phone, I screamed and scared the dog. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt such instant and pure joy (by comparison, birthing a child was more joyful but long and painful). When my husband came home, we toasted with a beer, I think, probably Rolling Rock. And then we went on to taking care of a kid and our life as we still know it. I’m a practical person and knew how very lucky I was; I’d had more than two years of rejection by publishing houses despite my agent’s dogged efforts and faith in me. I have so many talented friends sitting on books that can’t get published. I tell every beginning writer I meet: At least half of it is never giving up no matter how crummy the rejections make you feel. The other half is rewriting and rewriting.

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival? 
I am constantly touched by the kindness of strangers who come listen to me speak about writing (because, as you know by now, I’d rather be on the last row writing in my secret spy journal). That said, my talented indie singer/songwriter niece Laura Heaberlin and I have compared bad “gigs,” where we are reminded how insignificant we are (which probably isn’t such a bad thing except at the time it is happening).

My most awkward speech/signing was at a “marketing” event at an assisted living center. The audience was made up of eight or nine people, many in wheelchairs, some who couldn’t hear anymore. I’m pretty sure they got trapped in there with me because they didn’t finish their dinner on time. But my niece was able to top that gig. Her band, Cricket Blue, played a combination burrito/bagel “café” called Bagitos. One woman walked in and left holding her hands to her ears. Laura’s only tip was $2 from a homeless man (although she did leave with a free Bagito). So if you get nothing else from my rambling here: Support the struggling artists! And the homeless!

Thank you Julia. We appreciate you taking the time to chat to Crime Watch

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You can read more about Julia Heaberlin and her writing here: 

• Author website
• Kirkus Reviews take on BLACK-EYED SUSANS

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Have you read any of Julia Heaberlin's crime thrillers? Comments welcome. 

Review: SOMETHING IS ROTTEN

SOMETHING IS ROTTEN by Adam Sarafis (Echo, 2015)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson


Late one night at the University of Auckland library, Brent, a troubled young man, feels a sense of accomplishment as he clicks 'send' and emails a life-changing manuscript, then soon after tumbles headlong over a guardrail and is impaled on the glass of the stairwell far below. 

So begins this intriguing debut from Adam Sarafis, the pen-name for a collaboration between acclaimed Swedish-born novelist Linda Olsson and award-winning young playwright Thomas Sainsbury. 

Sam Hallberg is muddling through life as a mechanic, having given away his role as a government terrorism advisor following a personal tragedy. When he’s beseeched by Jade, a young sex worker, to investigate the library death of her friend (ruled a suicide by authorities), he reluctantly becomes involved in a hunt for answers, and a missing manuscript. 

Is it just Jade’s grief talking, or is something really rotten going on: a cover-up in New Zealand's biggest city? Sam doesn't think there's much to it, but he starts to feel the old juices flowing when a few things just don't add up. But, besides Jade, who would care so much about Brent, a slovenly wannabe writer who had fantasies about a relationship with a more-dashing British immigrant? He was hardly a threat. Simultaneously, Sam’s friend, business journalist Lynette Church, is getting stonewalled by the government advisors and powerful businesspeople as she delves into dirty politics in relation New Zealand’s meat exports to Europe. 

Something is Rotten is an assured first offering, combining page-turning storytelling with some thought-provoking themes, including how we deal with tragedy, the nexus between politics, big business, and the media, and the power imbalances in society. The authors create a nice 'what's going on here?' vibe early on, which permeates as the tale evolves. It's an easy read, with some interesting characters and ideas sprinkled throughout. The Shakespearean quotes to kickstart chapters are a nice touch, and the way the plot comes together is very intriguing. All in all, a solid first offering and a promising start to a series that is well worth reading. I'll be looking forward to the second instalment, and learning more about Sam and Lynette. 

Something is Rotten can be ordered via your friendly local bookstore in Australia and New Zealand. 
For those further afield, it is also available in ebook form from Amazon Kindle. 

I Can't Wait to Read: TRUST NO ONE

Last year I launched an irregular series here on Crime Watch, "I Can't Wait to Read", which features myself and some great guest bloggers highlighting crime novels that we're really looking forward to reading. Today I'm showcasing the upcoming thriller from one of the southern hemisphere's finest crime writers. 

The book blurb: 
Jerry Grey is known to most of the world by his crime writing pseudonym, Henry Cutter - a name that has been keeping readers at the edge of their seats for more than a decade.

Recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at the age of forty-nine, Jerry's crime writing days are coming to an end. His twelve books tell stories of brutal murders committed by bad men, of a world out of balance, of victims finding the darkest forms of justice. As his dementia begins to break down the wall between his life and the lives of the characters he has created, Jerry confesses his worst secret: The stories are real. He knows this because he committed the crimes. Those close to him, including the nurses at the care home where he now lives, insist that it is all in his head, that his memory is being toyed with and manipulated by his unfortunate disease. But if that were true, then why are so many bad things happening? Why are people dying?

The author: 
Over the past decade, Paul Cleave has become the dark prince of antipodean crime writing. He shot to international fame with the publication of THE CLEANER, which was a smash-hit in Germany, topping sales charts alongside Lee Child and Stieg Larsson. The English-speaking world took a wee while to catch up, but now as his ninth book looms, Cleave is a critically acclaimed international bestseller published in a dozen languages, more than 20 countries, has been a #1 bestseller in three countries, won prestigious awards in France and New Zealand, and also been a finalist for the Ned Kelly, Edgar, and Barry Awards. You can read more about Paul Cleave at his website.

Why I Can't Wait: 
I've been a fan of Cleave's writing since I stumbled over CEMETERY LAKE in Papatoetoe Library in late 2008, having just returned from a yearlong round-the-world adventure. That book, along with Vanda Symon's THE RINGMASTER, kick-started this whole 'Kiwi crime' thing for me, from reviewing to features to this blog, appearing at festivals, chatting on radio, and creating the Ngaio Marsh Award. 

But the cool thing is, that Cleave has never disappointed me. He fast became one of my 'must-buy' authors, and unlike some other former favourites (where often as a series progresses, there can be blips or a slide from excellent to formulaic or "enjoyable but not quite so good anymore"), he's continued to thrill me with every single read. He's a writer who just seems to get better and better, and every time I've opened one of his books the past few years, whether BLOOD MEN (2011 Ngaio Marsh Award winner), or COLLECTING COOPER, THE LAUGHTERHOUSE, FIVE MINUTES ALONE and more, I've been absorbed into a darkly hypnotic tale. His writing has a fresh edge to it; one of those authors where you can immediately tell within a few pages that this is on another level to most of the other good and readable crime writers out there. 

TRUST NO ONE is something of a departure for Cleave - a true standalone (perhaps his first since BLOOD MEN - other books have had Joe Middleton or Theo Tate front and centre). But it is still set in Christchurch - so I'm curious to see how he'll deliver this tale - and will other familiar characters pop up in minor roles? One cool aspect about Cleave's  writing is he has built this world, a fictionalised version of Christchurch, in which his characters operate. Major characters in some novels turn up as minor characters in others, even his standalone stories have links in time and space. 

There's also the writer-as-character aspect, which one of Cleave's heroes and influences, Stephen King, does so well. I'm very curious to see what Paul Cleave does with Jerry Grey/Henry Cutter. 

Publisher's Weekly raved about this book in a starred (p)review, and for all the reasons above it is arguably my most highly anticipated release of the year.

When it's available: 
It will be released in the United States in hardcover on 4 August 2015. Available for pre-order. Here's the Amazon link, but you could support your local bricks-and-mortar bookstore and order it there. 

Michael Robotham touring next month

In some great news, Michael Robotham, a terrific crime writer from Australia, will be touring New Zealand in August and appearing at a series of public events. 

Robotham's LIFE OR DEATH, which has recently been shortlisted for the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger, was one of my personal 'best reads' of 2014, and I've really enjoyed his earlier Joe O'Loughlin and Vincent Ruiz books, so I'm very excited about CLOSE YOUR EYES, which is getting great early reviews.

I've had the pleasure of interviewing Michael for both the New Zealand Herald (read feature here) and the New Zealand Listener (paywalled feature here) over the years, as well as appearing with him onstage at events in New Zealand. He's a terrific onstage personality, as well as being one of the best writers around. So I'd highly recommend that New Zealand booklovers take this chance to meet him and hear about CLOSE YOUR EYES at his events in late August in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, and Christchurch.

Here's the official itinerary, courtesy of Hachette NZ:

AUCKLAND

AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL ROBOTHAM
TUESDAY 25 AUGUST
6.00PM – 7.30PM
LEYS INSTITUTE LIBRARY,
20 ST MARYS ROAD
PONSONBY
AUCKLAND

Light refreshments provided. Wine kindly supplied by award-winning vineyard, Coopers Creek. Gold coin donation, bookings are recommended. Books will be available courtesy of Paper Plus.
Please RSVP at Leys Institute Library or phone 09 374 1315

CHRISTCHURCH

AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL ROBOTHAM
WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST
6.00PM – 7.30PM
SOUTH LIBRARY
66 COLOMBO STREET
CASHMERE
CHRISTCHURCH

Free event, complimentary tickets can be picked up from South Library or Paper Plus South City. Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Paper Plus. For more info or to reserve tickets please call Kathryn Hartley Ph: 03 941 6649 or email: kathryn.hartley@ccc.govt.nz

NELSON

A MORNING WITH MICHAEL ROBOTHAM
THURSDAY 27 AUGUST
10.30AM – 12.00PM
ELMA TURNER LIBRARY
27 HALIFAX STREET
NELSON

Free event, limited seats. Complimentary tickets can be picked up or reserved at Page & Blackmore. Books will be available for purchase. For more info please phone Page & Blackmore Booksellers on 03 548 9992 or email: info@pageandblackmore.co.nz

WELLINGTON

AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL ROBOTHAM
IN CONVERSATION WITH CATHERINE ROBERTSON
THURSDAY 27 AUGUST
6.00PM – 7.30PM
WELLINGTON CENTRAL LIBRARY
GROUND FLOOR
65 VICTORIA STREET
WELLINGTON

In association with the New Zealand Book Council. Free event, bookings are recommended. Books will be available courtesy of Whitcoulls Lambton Quay. Please RSVP: Linda Bruce Ph: 04 801 4064 or email: Linda.Bruce@wcc.govt.nz

Review: WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO

WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO by Liam McIlvanney
Faber, paperback edition, October 2014

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Glasgow stands on the precipice: of hosting the Commonwealth Games; of a nationwide vote on Scottish independence; and of an explosive rekindling of a brutal gangland war. Enter Gerry Conway, the protagonist of Liam McIlvanney’s superb debut thriller ALL THE COLOURS OF THE TOWN (Faber, 2009).

McIlvanney, the son of the man Ian Rankin credits as the godfather of Tartan Noir, famed Scottish novelist and ‘Laidlaw’ creator William McIlvanney, has made us wait for the second instalment in his Gerry Conway trilogy. But is the wait worth it?

In short, ‘och aye!’

Having returned to the Glasgow Tribune after three years marooned in public relations, Conway is no longer the prodigal son. Instead, he’s the golden child fallen. A jaded, jobbing journo in a dying industry, clinging to the coat-tails of the man who usurped his place, his once-protégé, star crime reporter Martin Moir.

But when Moir’s body is fished from a quarry just as a big story about a gangland shooting breaks, Conway finds himself once again thrust to the forefront. Does he still have what it takes?

Does he still want to have what it takes?

The criminal underbelly of Glasgow swirls around Conway as he tries to discover the truth behind his colleague’s death. But it’s a truth that many in the city would prefer to keep hidden, with the Commonwealth Games and the vote for independence on the horizon.

Gangsters, politicians, and other predators are all circling Conway.

McIlvanney delivers a terrific crime novel that is about much more than its page-turning plotline. Pressing social issues and a fantastic evocation of place are delivered by quality prose as we follow Conway’s journey into the murky grey of his city and himself. The decline of newspapers, and the flow-on impact that is and could have on politics, justice, and so many other issues is beautifully captured.

McIlvanney raises questions in the reader’s mind not just about ‘whodunnit’, but also about broader, universal things that potentially touch all of us. Importantly, however, he does so through the prism of an exciting, tense story filled with interesting characters and incidents, rather than from a soapbox.

WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO is an outstanding thriller, well-deserving of being named the winner of the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, and one of my favourite reads of the past couple of years. I really hope we see more Conway books from McIlvanney soon.

This is an expanded version of the short review I wrote about the original release of WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO in 2013, when I rated it as one of my favourite reads of the year. McIlvanney won the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award

A Dame, a Bard, and a Danish Prince

I came across this wonderful image this week, of Ngaio Marsh backstage during a production of Hamlet.

It was taken in the 1930s in Christchurch by William Baverstock, and the actual physical photograph is held in Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand in Wellington, having been purchased with a lottery grant in 1999.

I think it's a striking image, and a different look at Dame Ngaio, (as she would later become, thanks to her tireless passion and inspiring involvement with theatre), than many of the other photographs floating around the place.

Ngaio, who was likely in her early to mid 30s when the photo was taken, was playing the role of Hamlet in this production. She loved Shakespeare, and was largely responsible for bringing the Bard back to the professional stage in New Zealand. Theatre was perhaps the greatest of her three loves (the others being painting and detective fiction).

Her knowledge of and passion for the stage comes through strongly in several of her Inspector Alleyn tales, both in terms of murder mysteries set in and around both professional and amateur theatre, and her skill with dialogue, setting, and characterisation (particularly of her many supporting characters - not just the central detective - perhaps owes some debt to that background).

Regardless, it's a nice look behind the curtain at one of the greats of crime writing.

Comments welcome.

Forgotten Books: THE DEAD DON'T MATTER (1960)

There are some wonderful old crime, mystery, and thriller tales that have fallen by the wayside over the years, no longer remaining in print, but available here and there through secondhand dealers, online and bricks-and-mortar stores.

I love browsing secondhand stores, coming across authors and tales I hadn't heard of - and how great were some of those old covers from the post-war era? Much more evocative than a lot of what's out there nowadays.

Here's a recent find: THE DEAD DON'T MATTER (John Long, 1960) by Spenser Smith - an author who in a way followed in the footsteps of Fergus Hume (creator of the bestselling crime novel of the 1800s) - being born in England, moving to New Zealand, and then later shifting across the Tasman to Australia, where he set his debut mystery novel.

Smith also served in the Australian military in the Second World War, being stationed in the Middle East and in northern Australia, before becoming an author later in life. THE DEAD DON'T MATTER was published in 1960, and copies of the original edition are still available online, as well as a Mystery Guild edition.

Here's a review of the original release, from The Spectator archive (p30 of 5 February 1960 edition):

"Four tough and rather over- described Sydney layabouts get together to tunnel into a bank and half a million quid. Quite exciting to watch whether they'll get the money and which of them will kill whom first as they fall out over it. Not very stylish but pretty well plotted."

Sounds like a precursor to the 'crims turning on each other' stories I saw onscreen growing up, like Fargo and A Simple Plan.  I'm curious to learn more about this book and author, so please share in the comments if you've read this book, or know anything more about Spenser Smith the writer.

Hilary scoops Theakston prize

Last night in Harrogate, Sarah Hilary was named as the winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for SOMEONE ELSE'S SKIN. 

Hilary is a relative newcomer to the British crime fiction scene, but has made a big splash with her DI Marnie Rome series, gobbling up both critical and reader acclaim. SOMEONE ELSE'S SKIN introduced readers to DI Marnie Rome, who walks in on an attempted murder while visiting a women's refuge to take a routine witness statement.

Radio Times TV editor Alison Graham, who was on the judging panel, described Hilary's novel as "an emotionally exhausting and powerful story". Programming Chair Ann Cleeves called this year's shortlist "really strong", and said the judging panel, which was assisted by a reader vote during the process, felt Hilary's debut was "so finely written and tightly written"

Simon Theakston, executive director of T&R Theakston, said "It was a very tough decision as it is every year as all the books on the shortlist were outstanding but I’m delighted to hand the trophy to Sarah".

The 2015 Award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston Ltd, WH Smith and the Radio Times. Hilary collected a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade oak cask provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

Congratulations to Sarah Hilary.