"A tasty amuse-bouche" - review of THE BABY IS MINE

THE BABY IS MINE by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic Press, 2021)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandemic, Bambi has to go to his Uncle's house in lock-down Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find his Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib.

At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby's cries, and during the days he is disturbed by a cockerel that stalks the garden. There is sand in the rice. A blood stain appears on the wall. Someone scores tribal markings into the baby's cheeks. Who is lying and who is telling the truth?

Readers around the world have been looking forward to another novel from Nigerian star Oyinkan Braithwaite since her superb My Sister, the Serial Killer debuted to global acclaim pre-pandemic. That darkly funny slice of Lagos domestic noir was shortlisted for the 2019 Women’s Prize and longlisted for the Booker Prize, among other accolades.

The wait is nearly over, as next month Braithwaite’s second novel, Cursed Daughters, will be released. In the meantime however, readers can enjoy this fascinating novella. Set during the pandemic, it sees our protagonist Bambi kicked out of his girlfriend’s house. With Lagos in a blackout as well as lockdown, and with nowhere to go, he drives across the city to his late uncle’s house, only to be surprised by his Aunty Bidemi, and his uncle’s mistress, Esohe. And a baby.

Already under pressure, longtime playboy Bambi finds himself in a surreal world of bottle feeding, dirty nappies, and two women who both claim to be the baby’s mother. A stray cockerel stalks the garden. Someone puts sand in the rice. His aunty has to scrub blood stains off a wall. The baby’s cheeks are scratched with tribal markings. Who can Bambi believe – his grieving aunty, or Esohe, who had once shared Bambi’s bed too?

Braithwaite crafts a fast-flowing read full of darkness and humour. Aptly touted as a ‘blackly funny piece of Lagos gothic’, The Baby Is Mine is a lovely wee gift from a talented storyteller; a tasty amuse-bouche between the fuller courses of her novels..

[This review was first published in the August 2025 issue of Good Reading magazine in Australia]

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.

Review: THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER by Margie Orford (Canongate, 2022)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

When danger lies in the eye of the beholder, what happens when you reject its pull?

Cora carries secrets her daughter can't know. Freya is frightened by what her mother leaves unsaid. Angel will only bury the past if it means putting her abusers into the ground.

One act of violence sets three women on a collision course, each desperate to find the truth, when the people they love are not what they seem

A decade ago, Margie Orford had firmly established herself as the ‘Queen of South African Crime’ thanks to her captivating series centred on Cape Town journalist and part-time police profiler Dr Clare Hart. Book such as LIKE CLOCKWORK, DADDY'S GIRL, and GALLOWS HILL dragged readers into the Rainbow Nation’s seedy underbelly, explored tough issues such as violence against women and children, and showcased a fresh and exciting voice in African crime writing that demanded global notice.

Readers have had to wait several years for a sixth novel from Orford, and with THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER she delivers something outside her Clare Hart world in terms of setting and characters, while confronting some of the same tough issues. 

Cora Berger is a renowned painter living in Scotland who tries to turn trauma into art, whether capturing the stories of women who’ve survived war crimes, or her own troubled childhood in rural South Africa. But her fame has recently turned to infamy thanks to her ‘Forbidden Fruit’ exhibition, which sparked a public furore and had police questioning Cora’s now-adult daughter Freya. Has Cora’s often-edgy art crossed a dangerous line? Meanwhile, a young woman named Angel lives in the snowy Quebec wilderness, caring for wolves and trying to bury her past. When art dealer Yves Fournier disappears from his cabin, Angel is determined to find him. Cora, Freya, Angel, and Yves all have secrets, and as their lives entwine and collide, the consequences could be deadly.

Orford masterfully spins a chilling tale that takes readers into some uncomfortable, confronting areas, including child abuse and online pornography. As she did with her Clare Hart series, Orford centres her female characters and deeply explores real-life fears and salient issues such as abuse endured by women and children and its poisonous impact that lingers far beyond the violence itself. Orford is fearless in her storytelling, which given the content won’t be for every reader, but is very, very good.

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer who's interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at festivals on three continents. He's been a judge of Australian, Scottish, and NZ crime writing awards, and is co-founder of Rotorua Noir. He's the author of the HRF Keating award-shortlisted non-fiction book SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, and the series editor of acclaimed anthology DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER. You can heckle him on Twitter. 

Review: LIGHT SEEKERS

LIGHTSEEKERS by Femi Kayode (Bloomsbury Raven, 2021)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Three young students are brutally murdered in a Nigerian university town, their killings - and their killers - caught on social media. The world knows who murdered them; what no one knows is why.

As the legal trial begins, investigative psychologist Philip Taiwo is contacted by the father of one of the boys, desperate for some answers to his son's murder. Philip is an expert in crowd behaviour and violence but travelling to the sleepy university town that bore witness to the killings, he soon feels dramatically out of his depth.

Years spent first studying, then living in the US with his wife and children mean he is unfamiliar with many Nigerian customs and no one involved in the case seems willing to speak out. The more Philip digs, and the more people he meets with a connection to the case, the more he begins to realise that there is something very wrong concealed somewhere in this community. 

Two years after three university students are paraded through the streets of a dusty Nigerian town then brutally murdered, investigative psychologist Dr Philip Taiwo heads south from Lagos to find out why. An academic researcher with expertise in crowd behavior and mob violence, Taiwo and his family have recently returned home after many years in the United States. He’s not used to being out in the field, but is arm-twisted by the pleadings of his own father, and the father of one of the murdered boys.

An angry crowd. Beatings, bricks, and burning tyres. A modern-day lynching in southern Nigeria, broadcast for the world to see on social media. Why? What could have possibly provoked such a brutally violent act by so many townsfolk? Even if the boys were thieves, as some have claimed, why such a vicious response, and why did so many people stand around and watch it happen? While several people are now on trial for the killings, plenty of questions remain. Can Taiwo utilize his research into lynchings in the American South and other acts of mob violence around the world, to uncover the truth?

Hired by a banking magnate whose son was a victim, and ably assisted by Chika, a driver who seems to have a lot of other skills, Taiwo is confronted by a hostile township and local police force. Do they just want to move on, understandably, from the horrors inflicted in their community and the global notoriety that followed, or are they covering up something even worse? Something to kill for, again.

LIGHTSEEKERS is an exceptional crime novel, that just happens to be a debut. Kayode crafts a wonderfully evocative sense of people and place, immersing readers in the physical and societal landscapes. The Namibia-based author finely balances exciting action and rising tension with thoughtful explorations of a variety of issues such as social media misinformation and the conflation of justice and violence. As Taiwo undertakes a harrowing, dangerous investigation he traverses luxury hotels to scummy apartments of drug addicts, and broaches conflicts between Muslims and Christians, locals and students. There’s quite a lot of texture to this tale but it never overwhelms the story. A bruising, intense read from a powerful new voice in crime fiction. Hopefully just the beginning for Femi Kayode and Dr Philip Taiwo.

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. He has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His first non-fiction book, SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, was published in 2020. You can heckle him on Twitter. 

Ambitious publishers and generous crime writers: an interview with Leye Adenle

Kia ora and haere mai, welcome to the first instalment of our 9mm interview series for the New Year - and the first in almost an entire year. 

When I published the most recent 9mm interview last January, with the remarkable Steph Cha (YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY), like everyone else I had no idea what the future held, or how much our lives would be upturned in 2020 in so many ways. I hope that all of you reading this are doing alright. Bizarrely, despite it being such a terrible year in many other ways, personally for me 2020 was a great reading year. 

There was a lot of really terrific crime writing released last year, even if we weren't able to celebrate it in the usual way with bookshop launches, festivals, and other in-person gatherings that we perhaps took for granted in the pre-COVID days. The 9mm interview series on Crime Watch also went into hiatus last year, like a lot of other things, but in 2021 we're back. 

This author interview series has now been running for over a decade (though perhaps we shouldn't really count the last year), and today marks the 213th overall edition. Thanks for reading over the years. I've had tonnes of fun chatting to some amazing writers and bringing their thoughts and stories to you. 

My plan is to to publish 40-50 new author interviews in the 9mm series this year (to crack the 250 mark, at least). You can check out the full list of of past interviewees here. Some amazing writers.

If you've got a favourite crime writer who hasn't yet been featured, let me know in the comments or by message, and I'll look to make that happen for you. Even as things with this blog may evolve moving forward, I'll continue to interview crime writers and review crime novels.

Today I'm very pleased to welcome the terrific Leye Adenle to Crime Watch. Leye is a Nigerian storyteller who comes from a family of writers, the most famous of whom was his grandfather, Oba Adeleye Adenle I, a former king of Oshogbo in South West Nigeria. Leye now lives in London - where he's been an author, actor, and agile coach (a trainer of computer geeks) - but his crime fiction is set in his homeland. His first thriller, EASY MOTION TOURIST, takes readers into a gritty world as British journalist Guy Collins stumbles into the underworld of Lagos then teams with local lawyer Amaka - a tough woman with a saintly streak - in a dangerous tale involving local gangsters and the organ trade. 

Amaka returned in WHEN TROUBLE SLEEPS, and Adenle was shortlisted for a CWA Dagger for his short story in the SUNSHINE NOIR anthology. He has written many short stories, and enjoys telling stories across a variety of genres including crime, thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy. He has also written satirical pieces under other names, his writing has appeared in publications such as the Big Issue, and he has written and recorded pieces for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service.

But for now, Leye Adenle becomes the latest author to stare down the barrel of 9mm. 

9MM: AN INTERVIEW WITH LEYE ADENLE

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?

James Patterson's Alex Cross. I remember reading ALONG CAME A SPIDER and going back several times to check that the hero was black and the author was white. Such is the power of representation, and sadly, the dearth of representation in most literature for people or are not white male hunk, genius, etc. Alex Cross showed me what is possible and encouraged me to create a black female kickass protagonist. 

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?

Amos Tutuola's THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD deliberately written in non-grammatical English to, in my opinion, retain the poetry of the author's native tongue of Yoruba. I first read it in primary school, then I returned to it several years later. It's a supernatural story that's part sci-fi, part fantasy, and part magical realism. 

3. Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) - unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?

My first complete manuscript was titled Alarinka (Wanderer), written in longhand and in the genre of Amos Tutuol's writing. Sadly, I lost the entire manuscript when my mum handed it to her secretary to type and save on a computer diskette. 

4. Outside of writing, touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?

Is there anything else worth doing? 

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? 

My hometown of Osogbo in South West Nigeria is home to a world heritage centre, the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, and as such there is little about the ancient town that won't be known to visiting foreigners.  The annual Osun festival attracts visitors from around the globe. 

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?

I'm not sure there's anyone who can play me :-)

7. Of your writings, which is your favourite or particularly special, and why?

THE BEAUTIFUL SIDE OF THE MOON is a sci-fi, fantasy, thriller that I wrote because my young niece and nephew wanted to read my  debut crime thriller which at the time was not age appropriate for them. It was a return to my love for Amos Tutuola's writing and I had loads of fun writing it. 

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?

The first time I saw my debut book in a bookshop, it was displayed alongside authors I'd read and respected for a long time. I was there in the middle of the bookshop, looking at my book in great company, and I was surrounded by strangers who had no idea or could care less who I was or how I was feeling the best feeling I'd ever felt in my life till then. It's a one in a lifetime feeling. Literarily. 

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?

At Quais Du Polar festival in Lyon in 2016, I was next to Deom Meyer in the large singing hall. My French publisher had ambitiously brought 250 copies of my debut novel to the festival. A long line of Deon Meyer's French fans snaked around the edges of the hall. Each time he signed a book, he told the person about me, calling me his brother and telling them how great my book was. We had only met that afternoon. I sold all 250 copies. Crime writers are just the best!

Thank you Leye. We appreciate you chatting to Crime Watch

You can find out more about Leye Adenle and his storytelling at his website, or by following him on Twitter. 

Review: MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER

MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday, 2018)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in "self-defence" and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating a doctor at the hospital where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other... 

Just how far would you go to protect your family? That's a tough question that Nigerian nurse Korede has had plenty of chances to ponder, thanks to her vain and entitled little sister Ayoola. The pragmatic and hard-working Korede is one of those older siblings who is regularly having to clean up the messes their younger counterparts make of their lives.

Though in this case the messes aren't social, emotional or financial, but the kind that require rubber gloves, bleach, and a working knowledge of blood removal and body disposal. For Ayoola seems chronically unlucky in love, sashaying her way through the world only to find herself 'forced' to kill yet-another boyfriend. Always in self-defence, of course. Not that anyone is alive to contradict her.

Korede had witnessed the violence on one occasion, but has begun to doubt whether Ayoola has really been dating a string of abusers, or has become something far darker herself. Can the family bonds and belief survive when Ayoola starts dating a doctor that Korede has long had a crush on?

Debut crime writes Oyinkan Braithwaite certainly stamps a mark with her first effort, a deliciously deadpan tale that's as bold and in-your-face as its title. There's a fierce energy to this slim novel, a crackle and fizz through the prose as Braithwaite weaves a dark tapestry from threads of noir, black comedy, and family drama. MY SISTER THE SERIAL KILLER is a compelling read that draws you in quickly and keeps you cemented to your seat throughout. Braithwaite textures her debut with the Nigerian setting and the everyday lives of her characters, showing plenty of talent and promise.

A novel to enjoy from a writer to watch.

Craig Sisterson is a lapsed lawyer who writes for leading magazines and newspapers in several countries. He has interviewed around 200 crime writers, talked about the genre onstage at literary festivals on three continents, and on national radio and popular podcasts, has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards, the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. You can find him on Twitter: @craigsisterson

Review: DYING TO LIVE

DYING TO LIVE by Michael Stanley (Orenda Books, 2017)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

When the body of a Bushman is discovered near the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the death is written off as an accident. But all is not as it seems. An autopsy reveals that, although he's clearly very old, his internal organs are puzzlingly young. What's more, an old bullet is lodged in one of his muscles... but where is the entry wound? 

When the body is stolen from the morgue and a local witch doctor is reported missing, Detective 'Kubu' Bengu gets involved. But did the witch doctor take the body to use as part of a ritual? Or was it the American anthropologist who'd befriended the old Bushman? As Kubu and his brilliant young colleague, Detective Samantha Khama, follow the twisting trail through a confusion of rhino-horn smugglers, foreign gangsters and drugs manufacturers, the wider and more dangerous the case seems to grow. 

There's a wonderful dichotomy in this fascinating Botswana-set series: Detective 'Kubu' Bengu is a portly hero, a good detective who can veer towards comical moments at times. There's plenty of humour salted in, but the events and underlying issues in the books delve into some very dark places.

Co-writers 'Michael' Sears and 'Stanley' Trollip, a pair of retired university professors, strike a great balance between light and dark. They do a fine job sprinkling in some laughs while addressing serious and often nasty issues - some specific to the African setting, and others more universal. They also tread the line really well in terms of exposing readers to a variety of themes and issues without hopping on a soapbox or becoming polemic. Coupled with a great narrative drive that makes DYING TO LIVE a really good read with layers of setting and theme adding to the mystery storyline, giving it more depth and texture rather than slowing or overwhelming it as can happen elsewhere.

In this sixth instalment, Kubu ("Hippo" - an appropriate nickname given his manner and build - seemingly slow and serene but deadly when roused) is distracted from his police work because his little adopted daughter Nono is very ill. As the Bengu family search for answers, tensions rise and beliefs are put to the test. Kubu has to rely even more on his team as they investigate the strange death of the old-yet-young Bushman, the subsequent theft of the body, and the disappearance of a local witch doctor. Kubu puts Detective Khama on the latter case, testing whether she can overcome her ingrained hatred of witch doctors to find justice for anyone. As Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch would say, "Everybody counts or nobody counts".

Like Connelly's masterful series, Michael Stanley's books are well-balanced and very good across the board - intriguing mystery storylines, engaging and interesting characters, and a vividly evoked setting that transports readers to the scene - all entwined with thought-provoking real-life issues.

The authors give readers a wonderful taste of Botswana - the good and the bad. The integration of cuisine, language, history, and cultural issues unique to the locale adds great flavour. In each book I learn more about the country, and in DYING TO LIVE challenging topics like AIDS and biopiracy are addressed, along with muti (traditional medicine, delivered by witch doctors) and poaching.

There's plenty here for both long-time Kubu fans and new readers. (You don't need to have read the previous books to thoroughly enjoy this one). A great instalment in a highly engaging series.

Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned features writer from New Zealand, now living in London. In recent years he’s interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at books festivals on three continents. He has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards. You can heckle him on Twitter. 

Review: A SEASON IN THE SUN

A SEASON IN THE SUN by Robert Rees (Troubador Publishing, 2017)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Henry Fanshawe, the last family member of Fanshawes Commodities in the City of London, leads a quiet life trading spices in a large dealing room. His day consists of ignoring requests to tidy his desk, making money and spending it on his three great loves: French landscape paintings, fine wine, and cricket. But the new City does not agree with him, and he finds himself falsely accused of financial chicanery, and summarily dismissed. 

In a stroke of extremely good fortune, a legacy from an elderly aunt allows Henry to move to the Seychelles – though there are strings attached. He must manage her Village Cricket Club, and propel it through the formative years of the Seychelles Cricket league to the position of greatness it deserves. For his colourful and talented team of amateurs, who include a depressive ex-county opener, a drug-taking fast bowler, and the local Chief of Police, this would be difficult enough a task. But in addition there are darker forces within Seychelles cricket, forces from the murky world of gambling who wish to twist the beautiful game to their illicit ends. 

Henry’s first season in the sun becomes a high stakes contest of amateur talent against organised crime, leading to a thrilling climax...

What a delightful read this book is, with something of a timeless feel: a light-hearted crime tale that combines some fun characters in an exotic place, with more than a spot or two of cricket.

I wasn't quite sure what to think when I started the book, but found myself smiling throughout what turned into a one-sitting read. A lovely palate cleanser from some of the much darker and award-nominated crime tales I've been reading lately. There's a really pleasant 'lightness' to this book, even among some violence and nefarious deeds sprinkled throughout the cricket.

In a way, Robert Rees has captured that sense of village cricket known throughout the British Commonwealth - a leisurely feel with moments of intense action, a sunny, summery vibe. Seriousness and hilarity (absurdity?) all rolled into one as eager amateurs battle it out on the field.

Henry Fanshawe is a commodities broker on the spice desk for what was once a family business (now owned by 'the Americans'). In his fifties, he's well-liked by almost all of his colleagues. But not by all, and this proves his downfall: having cross swords repeatedly with the head of HR, Henry finds himself out on his ear, wrongly accused of skimming profits. His beloved wife having passed away years before, and now his longtime career hitting a brick wall, Henry isn't quite sure what to do.

The clouds have a silver lining though, thanks to the unfortunate passing of Henry's eccentric aunt Esme, a colourful character who'd occasionally visited Henry in London, from her home in the Seychelles. Henry is bequeathed Aunt Esme's property and more, on the condition he continues what she's started with her local club, a village cricket club on the African island. Henry loves his cricket (he was a useful left arm spinner at lower levels), so is delighted by the unexpected opportunity, even as he struggles to adjust to tropical heat and different ways of doing things on the islands.

A Season in the Sun tracks the exploits of Henry and his colourful assortment of players as they battle for glory in the local cricket competition, up against other village teams and corporate clubs with the odd professional ring-in. A season that gets more complicated when some unusual results crop up, and the eyes of Indian betting syndicates seem to have turned their way to the competition.

I grew up playing cricket for many summer seasons in New Zealand, and enjoyed the way Rees entwined the game with a fish-out-of-water tale that was part mystery, part farce.

I think both fans of light-hearted mysteries and fellow cricket-lovers will enjoy A Season in the Sun (even if it could have used a stronger edit - there are a handful of inconsistencies in description or scoring in some of the games, eg a team being five down, losing two wickets , then only being six rather than seven down etc - this may not bother non-fans, but 'pings' for those who know the game). There is a fun cast of characters, from the pot-smoking fast bowler, the village reverend and his Catholic counterpart, to the mirrored-shades wearing Chief of Police wicketkeeper. The nefarious deeds of the betting syndicates provide some threat, but the tale always has a light-hearted feel.

This is the kind of book that, like watching a lower-grade cricket game with a drink in hand on a summer evening, you can just sit back and enjoy for what it is, rather than thinking too much. Taking in the atmosphere, the mix of action and a leisurely vibe, curious about what might unfold from the players on the field but loving the experience more than desperately invested in a particular result.

I wouldn't mind seeing another instalment in the cricketing adventures of Henry Fanshawe.


Craig Sisterson is a lapsed lawyer who writes features and reviews for a wide range of magazines and newspapers in several countries. He has interviewed almost 200 mystery writers, discussed crime writing onstage at festivals in Europe and Australasia, and on national radio and top podcasts. He has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards, the McIlvanney Prize, and is the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards. You can follow him on Twitter: @craigsisterson

Review: RECONCILIATION FOR THE DEAD

RECONCILIATION FOR THE DEAD by Paul E. Hardisty (Orenda Books, 2017)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Fresh from events in Yemen and Cyprus, vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker returns to South Africa, seeking absolution for the sins of his past. Over four days, he testifies to Desmond Tutu’s newly established Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recounting the shattering events that led to his dishonourable discharge and exile, fifteen years earlier. 

It was 1980. The height of the Cold War. Clay is a young paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in Angola against the Communist insurgency that threatens to topple the White Apartheid regime. On a patrol deep inside Angola, Clay, and his best friend, Eben Barstow, find themselves enmeshed in a tangled conspiracy that threatens everything they have been taught to believe about war, and the sacrifices that they, and their brothers in arms, are expected to make. Witness and unwitting accomplice to an act of shocking brutality, Clay changes allegiance and finds himself labelled a deserter and accused of high treason, setting him on a journey into the dark, twisted heart of institutionalised hatred, from which no one will emerge unscathed. 

Put simply, this is a horrifying, brutal, brilliant piece of crime writing.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Clay Straker novel, THE ABRUPT PHYSICS OF DYING, which was an excellent, substantial read. As I said in my review of that book in 2015, I felt it was "an outstanding debut, full of fascinating characters and insights" that heralded "the arrival of a tremendous new voice who straddles the border between popular thrillers and weighty literature".

But I think this third (final? hope not) book in Paul E Hardisty's Straker series is even better. It's a richly evoked expose of what made Straker who he is, and the brutalities and horrors of a largely forgotten war (globally). The way power and money can play a terrible part in how people get so easily divided into groups, with some seen as 'lesser', as obstacles or acceptable collateral damage in the fight for what's 'right'. The way things can get manipulated and obscured by the powerful, and how easily it can be for many to shed character and humanity in order to protect their own survival.

RECONCILIATION FOR THE DEAD is a gripping, page-turning thriller that is overflowing with substance to go along with Hardisty's atmospheric prose and strong narrative style. It's a heck of a book, which I devoured in a few hours, barely putting it down (despite having lots to do that day).

After being accused of being a terrorist, and barely surviving events in Yemen and Cyprus in the previous books, Straker faces up to his complicated past in the South African military by appearing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, convened to look into events in the Apartheid years. This allows Hardisty to examine a fascinating - if at times horrifying - time in South Africa's history, as the post-Apartheid country looked to mend wounds and bring itself back together by putting its past under the microscope. Straker appears before the Commission, seeking amnesty and forgiveness for his own acts that have haunted him since he was a young soldier, while also lifting the lid on secrets and events relating to the war in Angola that many would rather stay buried.

As Straker reveals his story, alternately encouraged, questioned, provoked, and disbelieved by a panel of commissioner who clearly each have their own agendas, we're taken back to the various conflicts in southern Africa around the turn of the 1980s, where - like with Southeast Asia in the previous decades - struggles over post-colonialism, control of resources, and fears about the potential spread of Communism, resulted in brutal civil wars with sides supplied and supported by other powers.

While the war in Angola may not be as well known as Vietnam or the recent Middle East conflicts, it had a great effect on everyone involved, with the Apartheid South African government determined to shore up its interests in its neighbouring countries, while also battling dissent on the home front.

Into this sweltering mess is dropped young Clay Straker, a barely-out-of-school paratrooper who quickly witnesses the horrors of war. He's grown up certain of the way things are, and should be, but finds himself questioning what he believes, and what he sees, out on the battlefield.

Hardisty brings an even stronger sense and understanding of the highly conflicted Straker, who wants to be an honorable man but has done dishonorable things, to this book. But he's not the only strongly drawn character. From Straker's paratrooper buddies and superiors, to allies and enemies and those who often switch between, Hardisty brings the cast of this book to stark, authentic light. This is the kind of book that can really get to you, that makes you want to throw it against the wall or yell at a character. Not because it's poorly written, but because it's so well-written you're fully caught up in all the events happening - the horrors and injustices among them. It's emotional stuff, to be honest.

RECONCILIATION FOR THE DEAD is an excellent, five-star read on a number of levels. It takes us into a little-known part of southern African history, which has plenty of universal themes that tickle your conscience and scarily echo things going on all over the world. It reveals more about an intriguing main character, fleshing out an already fascinating character arc through three excellent books. It’s a page-turner, that doesn’t let its strong themes and substantial ‘weight’ slow down the storyline. Hardisty expertly balances the thriller and the thoughtfulness.

I’ve been fortunate to read a number of excellent novels already this year, and hope to read many more in the coming months. But RECONCILIATION FOR THE DEAD may be the very best of all – now and then. It’s not a thriller that will be for everyone (eg if you much prefer breezy, easy-read stuff), but it is a sublime book. Very strongly recommended.

Craig Sisterson is a lapsed lawyer who writes features for leading magazines and newspapers in several countries. He has interviewed more than 180 crime writers, discussed crime writing onstage at arts and literary festivals in Europe and Australasia, on national radio, has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards, and is the Judging Convenor of the Ngaio Marsh Awards. You can follow him on Twitter: @craigsisterson

Review: THE SOLDIER WHO SAID NO

THE SOLDIER WHO SAID NO by Chris Marnewick (2010)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

New Zealand was supposed to be where Pierre de Villiers would escape his past. A misadventure in Angola had cost him his faith in the military, and almost his life and sanity. Another event cost him his family. After a bizarre attempt on the Prime Minister s life De Villiers recognizes the arrow used is of Bushman origin. And suddenly he, now a policeman in Auckland, is a suspect. He must go back to South Africa for answers, and to face his demons. Can he unscramble his memory? Will he find the men who devastated his life? 

Recently South African lawyer Chris Marnewick's debut novel, SHEPHERD'S & BUTCHERS (2008), was adapted into an award-winning film starring Steve Coogan as a lawyer defending a death row prison guard who goes on a killing spree after participating in 32 hangings in a fortnight. Among other things, that extraordinary book, which blended fact and fiction and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize, introduced the character of Pierre de Villiers, a former soldier familiar with killing.

In THE SOLDIER WHO SAID NO, Marnewick's second novel, de Villiers has moved to New Zealand (a shift Marnewick made himself), where he's serving as a police officer in Auckland, catching criminals and trying to move on from fractured memories of his traumatic past.

But when an attempt is made on the life of the New Zealand Prime Minister, using an African weapon, de Villiers' past comes crashing violently into the present. The soldier turned policeman must delve deep into his own unsettling history to uncover the truth, and get justice. Legal or moral.

Marnewick is a very interesting writer, one who packs his books with strong real-life threads, while delivering gripping fictional stories. THE SOLDIER WHO SAID NO is more of a conventional thriller than his debut, but still retains a sense of asking some big social and moral questions. Pricking at uncomfortable topics, getting the reader wondering about more than just the story going on between its covers. It's not a 'breezy' tale, even if it's fast-paced and action-packed in parts.

Candidly, it took me a little while to settle into this book - the author's style and de Villiers' perspective - but once I did I really enjoyed the read. Seeing New Zealand - often considered one of the more liberal, peaceful, and egalitarian countries in the world (relatively speaking) - through the jaded eyes of a man who fought for a racist regime is an unsettling, at times jarring, experience.

Marnewick grew up and became a lawyer in a South Africa ruled by a racist Apartheid regime. In this tale he picks at racism lying beneath the multicultural veneer of modern New Zealand. De Villiers exhibits, witnesses, and suffers from racial prejudice. He's a brusque, tough man that's surprisingly (over)sensitive to things others may consider innocuous banter, perhaps due to lingering guilt for his own part in fighting for a racist regime. He's being eaten away inside, physically and emotionally.

THE SOLDIER WHO SAID NO is a very good read that poses some fascinating moral questions, about its characters and the events in the tale, but also the wider world in which we live. It's the kind of story that gets you thinking, lingering with you far beyond the final page.


Craig Sisterson is a lapsed lawyer who writes features for leading publications in several countries. He has interviewed more than 170 crime writers, discussed crime writing at arts and literary festivals in Europe and Australasia, on national radio, and is a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and the Judging Convenor of the Ngaio Marsh Awards. You can follow him on Twitter: @craigsisterson

Review: THE SERPENTINE ROAD

SERPENTINE ROAD by Paul Mendelson (Constable, 2015)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

A Cape Town cop whose career dates back to the dark days of Apartheid finds himself juggling politics and policing in modern-day South Africa when a rich heiress is found murdered and displayed in a macabre homage to the explicit art she promoted.

Playwright turned crime writer Paul Mendelson's second Vaughn de Vries novel is a superb South African thriller, full of twists and intrigue.

There is so much to like about this book, but in particular, I found Colonel De Vries to be an incredibly interesting 'hero'. In a way. De Vries makes me think of a South African version of  hit television show NYPD Blue's outstanding centrepiece, Andy Sipowicz - a gruff and somewhat bigoted man, very flawed, but dogged in his pursuit of justice and with a touch of nobility and many redeeming qualities that make it quite easy for readers/viewers to follow him through his search for the truth, in among all the political machinations of his situation.

In modern-day Cape Town, the daughter of a rich Apartheid-era industrialist is found slaughtered in her home. Her body has been posed in a grisly fashion that looks like a black-on-white racial hate crime, but as the police dig into her life, may also be linked to her controversial art exhibitions, or her sexual preferences.

The victim and the nature of the killing attracts media and political vultures, who quickly start swirling around De Vries' investigation. The haunted investigator finds himself butting up against his own paymasters, the progeny of a Mandela-era hero, and other powerful forces as he searches for the culprit.

It's a case that puts his career, and more, into jeopardy. De Vries' own life is in danger, because of both the current case and tendrils from his Apartheid past. Twenty five years before, as a young captain in a police force struggling with beginning of significant shifts in South Africa's power regime, he'd served under Major Kobus Nel, one of the most feared white police commanders. It was a turbulent time: Nelson Mandela had been released from prison, free elections were on the horizon, but extremist groups were looking to split the country further. Churches were bombed, gunman opened fire in public. Domestic terrorism.

Back then, Nel had urged his team to come down brutally hard on suspects, and their actions reverberated for decades afterwards. Nowadays, De Vries knows there are moral stains on his own record, and as a white cop in a black-ruled country that is still struggling to find its modern footing, and peace with its violent past, he rubs many the wrong way. He's jaded, both by his history working for Apartheid authorities and then ANC-controlled South Africa. He's witnessed failings and corruption under both systems, and endeavours to avoid the spiderweb of political maneuverings, even if he can't remain immune to them.

THE SERPENTINE ROAD is a searing read. From its sweltering setting to the sweat-inducing politics, Mendelson defly juggles the crime storyline while also providing intriguing insights into life in 1990s and modern-day South Africa: the prejudices, the power struggles, and the Rainbow Nation realities. Everything is far from black and white in a country whose history has been so much about black vs white.

Overall, this is a very fine thriller, a gripping read that provides some welcome sociological and psychological texture to go with a page-whirring narrative. I'll be reading more of Mendelson and De Vries, for sure.

Recommended.

I read THE SERPENTINE ROAD back in May 2015, and wrote a shorter review of Mendelson's excellent crime novel elsewhere at that time. This is a much more in-depth review based on my contemporary notes and further reflections on a very fine book. The book was later longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger; I believe a well-deserved accolade. 

Craig Sisterson is a features writer from New Zealand who writes for magazines and newspapers in several countries. He has interviewed more than 140 crime writers, discussed crime fiction at literary festivals and on national radio, and is the Judging Convenor of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. Follow him on Twitter: @craigsisterson

Review: NOBODY DIES

NOBODY DIES by Zirk van den Berg (Black Swan, 2004)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

A South African policewoman has found an easy way to make criminals in her witness protection programme impossible to find; she kills them. When Daniel, a relatively innocent man, is placed in her ‘care’, he must find a way to survive the cop and the criminals who both want him dead. 

I always find it an interesting experience plunging into a book I've heard lots of good things about. There's that strange mix of hopeful anticipation, and fear that it won't match the acclaim - meaning I'll be left disappointed, even if it would otherwise have been a good read. Expectations can be funny things.

Zirk van den Berg's debut thriller left no doubt. I closed the covers thinking, 'man, they were right' - it's a terrific tale that easily matched my high expectations, a searing literary thriller that's both beautifully written and an enthralling page-turner, the kind of book that lingers in your mind even years later.

It's also a book with an unusual history. Zirk van den Berg is a Namibian-born South African who moved to New Zealand, like a number of his countrymen, in the 1990s. After it's release in 2004, NOBODY DIES garnered superb reviews, was listed as a 'Top 5 Thriller of the Year', then later fell out of print. I discovered the book after Stephen Stratford, a former head judge of New Zealand's premier literary award who also loves good thriller writing, mentioned how great a book it was when interviewed for a Sunday Star-Times feature article about New Zealand crime writing in 2010. So I grabbed a copy from a secondhand store, but it sat on my shelf for a while. Recently it's been re-released in ebook form, then translated into Afrikaans for the South African market, going on to win a major award over there last November.

So NOBODY DIES has earned some big props, so to speak, in countries half a world apart, a decade apart. Very unusual. It's well-regarded by several esteemed crime critics who've read it, but due to the vagaries of the publishing world, continues to fly under the radar for even quite keen thriller fans.

The very definition of a hidden gem; a big old diamond in this case.

The beauty of this book begins with its characters. Erica van der Linde is a well-liked young cop on the career fast-track, but she has plenty of demons she keeps hidden, spurred by a tragic past. Her policeman father was gunned down, and Erica has very black/white views about criminals, including those under her care in the witness protection programme. Daniel Enslin starts out as a bit of a 'failure', a man with a broken marriage and crumbling life who gets his only kicks by hanging out with notorious Cape Town gangster Frank Redelinghuys. As van den Berg writes, Daniel's "personal life had little more allure than a game of solitaire played with an incomplete deck of cards".

Meanwhile, Frank likes to portray himself as a successful businessman, if embracing a 'slighty dodgy' image, but in reality he's a cold-hearted drug dealer willing to kill to retain his position. Nic Acker is a middle-aged cop relegated to the lower leagues after failing to nail Frank in the past.

When Daniel witnesses Frank kill someone, he realises he's way over his head, and goes to Acker for help. Buoyed by a chance at redemption, Acker ends up arranging witness protection for Daniel as the case is delayed. Frank wants Daniel dead - but he has Erica to protect him at least... right?

NOBODY DIES is a terrific page-turner, with plenty of action to keep the story moving at pace. But it never feels breezy or 'thin', there's a lot of depth to this thriller. It has an excellent plot, but is firmly character driven. Daniel, Erica, and Acker are all fully-formed characters who've lost their way, regardless of how their outward costumes of success or failure seem to fit. NOBODY DIES operates superbly as an exciting crime tale with depth, but it's also more than that; it's a story of the character arcs of three people who are all searching for something in their own lives, and themselves.

Powered by impeccable prose that veer poetic at times, van den Berg's debut brings South Africa vividly to life, from the social clutter of the big cities to the wide expanses of the countryside. An absorbing, tense tale that delves into the grey areas in human hearts and minds. Terrific.

If you speak Afrikaans, you can find NOBODY DIES in print form under the name N' ANDER MENS. 

Parker Bilal: Khartoum fish and learning from Agatha Christie

This week, the team at Bloody Scotland has released the programme for its 2015 festival, to be held in the historic town of Stirling in September. It's a heck of a line-up, with an array of fantastic crime writers appearing on a wide variety of panels. Plus an England vs Scotland football (soccer) game too.

Last year I had the privilege of attending Bloody Scotland, a couple of days after I'd arrived in the UK from New Zealand (via stints in Australia and the United States). It was a marvellous festival, full of terrific people and events, and I came away even more reinvigorated about crime writing. While there I caught up with several authors I'd met before, such as Denise Mina, Stuart MacBride, and Mark Billingham, while also meeting many new-to-me authors. One of those latter authors, who I'd heard terrific things about, was Parker Bilal, who writes a wonderful series of thrillers set in Cairo, starring Sudanese private eye Makana (perfect for those completing the Global Reading Challenge).

Parker Bilal is the crime writing pen-name of Jamal Mahjoub, a British/Sudanese author praised for his widely translated literary works that "illuminate the human condition" (THE DRIFT LATITUDES) and "bring a humane and original voice" while addressing aspects of "Sudanese history and the links between Europe and Africa" (TRAVELLING WITH DJINNS). He has also written four books in the Makana series, the latest being THE BURNING GATES, released earlier this year.

But for now, he becomes the 116th author to stare down the barrel of 9mm.

9MM INTERVIEW WITH PARKER BILAL

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?
It varies constantly. I’ll become fascinated by a writer for a time and read everything before moving on. Right now I am divided between Lawrence Block’s Mathew Scudder and Hercule Poirot. Block has a very economic way with plot. Very pared down and elegant. He doesn’t spend a lot of time on the language but he still manages to keep it bright and fast. Poirot is a lesson in detail and character. It’s easy to dismiss Agatha Christie as old fashioned but you can learn a lot from her writing.

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?
One book I remember distinctly was an Arabic language book, probably because my father would read it to me at night. It had a boy and a camel. I don’t remember much more about it. After that it was probably C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books, beginning with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I don’t remember how many times I read it.  Snow, Turkish Delight and a streetlamp in a pine forest.  Magical stuff.

3. Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles? 
It took me about five years and at least three attempts at a crime novel before I actually finished the first Makana book. I came to crime writing late. I’d actually published a number of novels beforehand, none of them within the crime genre. I learned a lot in those five years. I like to think I’m still learning now.

4. Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise? 
I seem to spend a lot of time at indoor climbing walls, which is a bit like vertical yoga. And I like walking in the mountains, which I left off for many years until I suddenly realised how much I missed it. Other than that I do the usual things, reading, watching movies, cooking.

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? 
If we take Khartoum as my home town then they should definitely try one of the local restaurants along the river that specialise in fried fish. They are very simple. They don’t offer much in the way of sophisticated accoutrements, and the facilities are fairly basic, but the fish is fresh and that’s what it’s all about. We could also take Barcelona, where I live now, but I’m afraid anything I might say is already in some tourist brochure or another.

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you? 
It would have to be Denzel Washington, or Morgan Freeman. I can’t really see it happening, though. They must have better things to do with their time.

7. Of your writings, published and unpublished, which is your favourite, and why? 
It always has to be the book I’m writing right now. If you don’t love it and believe in it more than anything you have ever done, you will never finish it. Books rarely come out the way you imagine them. In the process of writing they become transformed and that’s part of the pleasure. So, it’s discovering that unplanned line, as you are going along, that really makes it interesting.

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 online or physical bookseller’s shelf? 
You always believe, deep down, that you’re going to be published eventually, but I think it always comes as a surprise when it actually happens. I once went to Turkey and saw a window full of my books, accompanied by an enormous photo of me that was about ten years old. I thought someone must have made a mistake.

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival? 
I once gave a talk to the women on a maternity ward in a hospital in Guadaloupe. I don’t know whose bright idea it was but I found myself in a basement corridor facing a group of exhausted mothers who had just given birth. They listened patiently and seemed happy to just have a break from looking after their newborn babies.


Thank you Parker. We appreciate you talking to Crime Watch

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You can read more about Parker Bilal's and his writing here: 

• Author website
• "My wife says Parker Bilal is much nicer" - 2013 feature in The Guardian
• "How Jamal Mahjoub’s life of crime writing has paid off" - 2014 feature in The National

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Have you read the Makana novels? Do you enjoy crime fiction set in exotic locales? Comments welcome. 

Wanderlust, Argentinean stars, and Oprah: Annamaria Alfieri

Do you like your crime fiction in traditional locations such as contemporary London or the big American cities, or do you prefer to read great murder mysteries set in different times and places much more exotic? If you're fond of a bit of history, or intrigued by South America or Africa, then you might want to try an author I met for the first time at Iceland Noir last year: Annamaria Alfieri.

Alfieri, who had a successful business career and wrote several popular business books under her legal name Patricia King before becoming a novelist, is a keen global traveller who is fascinated by the history and culture of the places she visits. She has used that passion and knowledge in her crime novels, starting with CITY OF SILVER, which is set in the Bolivian city of Potosi - once the coin-making capital of the Spanish empire and the richest city in the world (along with being the highest city in the world). Having visited Potosi myself back in 2007, including a trip down into the still-working silver mines (blowing up things, and making offerings to El Tio, the devil guardian for the above-ground-Catholic miners), I had a wonderful conversation with Alfieri at Iceland Noir about the magic and magnificence of South America. Her passion and enthusiasm for travel, history, and mystery writing was infectious.

After three novels set in historic periods in South America (Potosi, Paraguay, and Buenos Aires), Alfieri turned to East Africa for her latest mystery: STRANGE GODS. Described as Agatha Christie meets Out of Africa, the book delves into both the natural beauty of the continent, and the complications caused by colonisation and clashes between cultures. All in all, Annamaria Alfieri would be a terrific pick for anyone working on the 2015 Global Reading Challenge, as I've often found that South America and Africa can be the continents that are toughest to complete. In the meantime, however, Annamaria Alfieri becomes the 109th author to stare down the barrel of 9mm.

9MM: AN INTERVIEW WITH ANNAMARIA ALFIERI

1. Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?

I am sure I should think about this for while longer so I can make myself out to be extremely well read and erudite. I tried that, but I keep coming back to the same answer anyway: Amanda Peabody, the creation of the late, great Elizabeth Peters. The series begins at the end of the 19th century in Egypt where Amanda falls in love with an archeologist. The ensuing books are all absolutely delightful. Peters, whose real name was Barbara Mertz, had a PhD in Egyptology so she was no slouch when it came to research and knowing her subject, but the book are anything but labored. They are pure fun—with suspenseful, twisting plots and vivid pictures of the time and place. They move along at breakneck speed and are hilarious. Reading them is like watching Fred Astaire dancing—pure entertainment that looks absolutely effortless. But if it were that easy, everyone would do it. Peters is an idol and an inspiration for me.

2. What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?
As a child, most of what I read came from the nearby public library, but the one book we had a home—called the Wonder Book of Knowledge as I recall—had everything to fire a child’s imagination. A huge volume, with a blue linen cover, at least five inches thick, it contained an encyclopedia, a collection of children’s stories, brain teasers and riddles, glossy pages showing the flags of all nations and birds and animals of the world. And best of all, an atlas. My brother and I would lie on the living room floor for hours on end, pouring over the maps. I especially liked ones that showed small islands off exotic coasts, remote and intriguing. I would point to a tiny pink speck in the blue ocean off a pale green coast and say, “Imagine going to a place like that.” Those maps fed the wanderlust I still carry.

3. Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?
Before my first novel, I had five published nonfiction books—all on business subjects, using my legal name Patricia King. The most popular was Never Work for a Jerk, which landed me on the Oprah Winfrey Show. It remained in print for over seventeen years, and was translated into Dutch and Spanish. A sequel, Monster Boss, is still available. My first published crime fiction was a short story “Baggage Claim” in the anthology Queens Noir.

4. Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?
Like a lot of writers, I like to cook. It’s nice to have a creative activity that begins and ends and gives pleasure all in an hour or two. Living in New York, I have a panoply of cultural possibilities at my disposal—opera, concerts, theater, cabaret, museums, galleries. These are the things I like to enjoy with my family and my friends. I serve on the board of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. I am a Bardolator, so a connection with a company that performs the plays is wonderful to me.

I am also an active member of the Mystery Writers of America/ New York Chapter—a tribe of generous and friendly writers who give one another much needed moral support and cheer one another on.

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?
Since New York City is my home, the territory has been gone over with a fine-tooth comb. Because it is spring here, I offer the Conservatory Garden in Central Park. One enters at 105th Street and Fifth Avenue. Soon the flowering trees and the wisteria will be in bloom. It will be gorgeous; its loveliness will change as the seasons go on but will last into the fall. Not many tourists go there, but it is well worth a visit.

6. If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?
Yikes that’s a hard question. The one who comes to mind is the great Argentine actress Norma Aleandro. But most people will not have heard of her. She looks more like me than any other actress I can think of. Female movie stars are usually glamorous, which I am not. So yes, I think I will stick with Norma. If people want to see her, I highly recommend her movie The Official Story, which is a brilliant film and worth seeing regardless of the reason.

7. Of your books, which is your favourite, and why?
Another very tough choice to have to make. That is like picking a favorite child. Strange Gods is the latest, and I am attached to its characters. It is the first of a series. My others have been stand alones. Now I have characters that I will be going with through several books, and this is a new and very nice experience for me. The second in the series is with my agent. I have just finished a first draft of the third. I like the characters. They are growing and learning and deepening. I am finding them good company.

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?
I wanted to be a novelist when I was nine years old. But I grew up in a working class neighborhood in a moribund city. We kids of that place and time did not aspire to be starving artists. So, I had a business career before I wrote a novel worthy of publication. Then it took ten years for it to find an agent, then a publisher, and come out in print. I was deliriously happy. In my 60s, I realized my childhood dream. That is pretty special! After my agent called me to tell she had sold City of Silver, every once in while over the next couple of weeks, I went to look at myself in the mirror and said, “You are going to be published novelist.” It felt unreal and HAPPY!

9. What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?
As I said, my first published fiction was a short story in an anthology. The publisher arranged an event at a big Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Queens—the borough of New York where all the stories take place. The editor and four of the storywriters were there to do readings and to sign books. There were five of us on the dais. In the audience were the spouses of the three of us, the bookstore marketing coordinator, the janitor, and a homeless person! We soldiered on and had fun teasing and joking about the situation. Since then, I have had my self-promotion ups and downs, but none has been as disappointing—and few have been as much fun. Mystery writers are such a mutually supportive group. We can get each other through some tough moments.


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

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You can read more about Annamaria Alfieri and her writing here: 

• Video interview at Bouchercon 2013
• Annamaria Alfieri on Murder is Everywhere
• Author website
• "The Africa Scene" - an interview with Michael Sears for The Big Thrill

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Do you enjoy historical mysteries? Crime novels set in Latin America or Africa? What have been some of your favourites? Have you read Alfieri's books - if so, what did you think? Comments welcome. 

Review: THE ANUBIS SLAYINGS

THE ANUBIS SLAYINGS by PC Doherty (Headline, 2001)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Paul (PC) Doherty is the author of several acclaimed historic mystery series, including the Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan, the Hugh Corbett Medieval Mysteries, and the Canterbury Tales of Mystery and Murder. He has also written series set in the days of Ancient Rome and Alexander the Great. The history-loving headmaster has been prolific in his mystery writing, setting multiple series in many diverse moments and fascinating eras throughout history. Unlike many historical mystery authors, Doherty doesn't concentrate on one particular location and time period - instead researching and setting mystery tales in many. He has written more than 75 novels, under a variety of names.

With the Ancient Egypt Mysteries, Doherty takes murder mysteries even further into the past than his medieval tales. In a total of seven books (Doherty has also written another three separate novels set in Ancient Egypt), the Ancient Egypt mysteries centre on the various investigations of Lord Amerotke, wise and trusted judge and adviser to powerful female Pharoah Hatusu. I was introduced to Doherty's Ancient Egypt Mysteries while travelling through Egypt; in fact, I picked up a copy of THE ANUBIS SLAYINGS, the third book in the series, while visiting Luxor (the modern-day site of historic Thebes - one of the locations in the series).

In THE ANUBIS SLAYINGS, a series of grisly slayings ignite passions in Pharoah's Egypt. It begins in the temple of Anubis, the jackal-headed God of mummification and guardian of the afterlife. With the hated but humbled Mitanni camped outside Thebes, preparing to prostrate themselves before Hatusu, few things could be worse for Egypt's bargaining position during the peace negotiations than a series of sensational murders right in the inner sanctum of its most heavily guarded temple. Except perhaps the daring theft of its most treasured national treasure. Or maybe the mysterious death of several Mitanni ambassadors who'd been assured Pharaoh's divine protection...

Are the killings the work of humans or has Anubis himself come to earth intent on disrupting Pharoah's plans? Hatusu turns to Amerotke to sort through the tangle of intrigue that surrounds the killings and discover the truth. Amerotke finds himself surrounded by intrigue, and then he himself becomes a target of the unknown killer. But how can he protect himself from someone or something that seemingly appears from, and disappears into, thin air - like a God?

Doherty creates an enjoyable and intriguing murder mystery within a particularly well-evoked setting. He uses lively and fascinating details to bring Ancient Egypt to life. Having travelled through the ruins and remains of many of the sites mentioned in THE ANUBIS SLAYINGS, and having learned quite a lot about the Ancient Egyptian Kingdoms, the hieroglyphics, gods, traditions, etc, I was impressed by not only the accuracy of the 'world' Doherty creates, but the way he weaves history into his fictional murder mystery, without overwhelming the reader or smothering the tension and progress of the plot. He uses details to bring the story vividly to life, and although there are moments when his writing slightly veers towards being a little bit of a history lesson, it always remains fascinating, and doesn't take away from Amerotke's hunt for the culprit behind the killings.

Amerotke himself is an intriguing protagonist; we're first introduced to the Pharoah's judge while he is sentencing a criminal to a particularly vicious (if deserved) death, but then at other times he also shows compassion and mercy. He is alternately trusted and shut out by Hatusu, and never quite knows what is going on with all the political goings-on behind the scenes, but forges ahead anyway, doing his best to catch the killer and find the truth. There is plenty of corruption, plotting, and intrigue - and Doherty achieves that wonderful authorial art of weaving an engrossing story in a world that on the surface seems completely unlike our own - exotic, strange, and alluring - while at the same time being more than a little familiar. The universality of human emotions, motivations, and actions - we find that underneath all the fashionable trappings of the time, there may not have been that many differences between our modern lives and ancient times.

THE ANUBIS SLAYINGS provides crime fiction fans with something different from the masses of other mysteries on the shelves, while still delivering plenty of what they love about such stories. It was the first of Doherty's Ancient Egypt series I read, but it certainly won't be the last.

4 STARS

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Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned journalist from New Zealand who writes reviews and features about crime fiction for many magazines, newspapers, and websites around the world. He has discussed crime writing both at book festivals and on radio, is the creator and Judging Convenor of the Ngaio Marsh Award, and the founder and editor of Crime Watch. 

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'Best Thriller Writer in New Zealand' wins SA Books Award

Zirk van den Berg scooped a 2014 KykNET Report Book Prize in South Africa last week for the recent Afrikaans translation of his acclaimed debut thriller NOBODY DIES, which was first published in English in New Zealand ten years ago. 

van den Berg won the film category of the prestigious awards, which offer a total prize money of 500,000 rand in three categories: literary fiction, non-fiction, and book with the most film potential.

When announcing the 'most filmic book' award, Kerneels Breytenbach noted that the visual aspects of novels are often overlooked, and the award was designed to give a boost to books that would work well on the silver screen. The judges were looking for books in Afrikaans with great potential to be turned into a screenplay, stories with strong narratives, especially memorable characters, and could be commercially viable projects for the South African film industry.

Having read the English language version of NOBODY DIES I can heartily agree that it is a book that very well could make for an excellent film, with terrific visuals, action sequences, twisting plot and intriguing hero.

Namibian-born van den Berg moved to New Zealand in 1998. After having written screenplays and fiction in Afrikaans while living in South Africa, he published his first story in English in 2004 (the thriller NOBODY DIES). At the time, van den Berg told Iain Sharp of the Sunday Star-Times that he moved his family from South Africa partially because of the violent crime there; an atmosphere and setting that was very well evoked in a novel 'about identity' that went on to receive great reviews and acclaim. The New Zealand Listener asked if van den Berg's impressive debut made him the 'best thriller writer in New Zealand', and the New Zealand Herald chose the book as one of the best five thrillers, worldwide, of that year. 

Here's the backcover blurb for NOBODY DIES/N ANDER MENS: 

Erica van der Linde has found the perfect way to make sure the witnesses in her police protection programme in Cape Town stay hidden. She kills them. But she hasn't encountered anyone like Daniel Enslin before. You'd hardly call him a criminal. An apathetic loner in a nothing job, Daniel gets his kicks by associating with Frank Redelinghuys, a dealer in all kinds of merchandise, unfettered by the normal rules of morality. But when Daniel witnesses Frank commit a murder, he feels compelled to do something about it. He betrays Frank to his arch enemy, policeman Nic Acker, even though this puts his own life in danger. When the case against Frank collapses, Acker has no option but to put Daniel into the witness protection programme. With Erica to set up a new life for him, Daniel will be safe, at least

It's nice to see, in a way, that van den Berg has somewhat come full circle - from writing in Afrikaans, to moving to New Zealand and getting great acclaim for his debut English-language story, to seeing that story ten years later win him an award for its eventual translation into Afrikaans. The obvious question now: is anyone working on a screenplay for this book? Perhaps Zirk himself?

You can read my 9mm interview with Zirk van den Berg, conducted in June 2012, here.

If you'd like to read NOBODY DIES, and like me your Afrikaans isn't up to scratch, then the book is now available in ebook form in English, with a new cover, directly from van den Berg's own website, Say Books. He has also published a second thriller, NO-BRAINER, a mystery romp featuring sculptor cum blackmailer Jules Dijkstra, which is also available from the same website.

Comments welcome.

Kiwi thriller to be published in Afrikaans

It has just been announced that New Zealand author Zirk van den Berg’s acclaimed crime novel NOBODY DIES, which was rated as one of the year's best thrillers on its original print release in 2004 (see cover image right), will now be published in Afrikaans translation in South Africa in 2013.

After falling out of print and becoming hard to find for a few years, this terrific thriller became widely available in English (in ebook form) earlier this year (Smashwords, Amazon, Say Books). Which was great. NOBODY DIES centres on apathetic loner Daniel Enslin, who after witnessing a criminal big-wig commit a murder finds himself taken into witness protection for his own safety; only the cop in charge of witness protection has a tendency to make her charges 'disappear' more permanently off the radar.

NOBODY DIES seems to be one of those books that sticks in peoples heads. It caused the New Zealand Listener to ask whether van den Berg was the best thriller writer in the country (after only one book), and in late 2010, Stephen Stratford, the head of judges for the literary-fiction focused NZ Post Book Awards (our Kiwi equivalent of the Booker Prize or Australia's Miles Franklin Award), said in an excellent article by Mark Broatch in the Sunday Star-Times that he was "still waiting for a new novel from Zirk van den Berg whose outstanding Nobody Dies came out in 2004".

I read an old print copy of NOBODY DIES, sourced from a secondhand store, earlier this year, and really enjoyed it. I could certainly see what all the fuss was about on its initial 2004 release. In a brief review for the Herald On Sunday, I said:

Several years ago, Namibian-born Kiwi Zirk van den Berg’s debut thriller (in English) was published to high acclaim, before becoming ‘hard to find’. Now, at last, it is widely available as an e-book. A South African cop has found an easy way to make criminals in the witness protection programme impossible to find; she kills them rather than relocating them. When Daniel, a relatively innocent man, is placed in her ‘care’, he must find a way to survive not only the crime boss who is after him, but his ‘protector’. 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. Terrific.

You can read another, more in-depth,  recent review of the ebook version of NOBODY DIES at Mack Lundy's blog, Africa Screams (read Mack's review here).

As the announcement about the upcoming Afrikaans translation notes, it is rare for New Zealand books to be published in Afrikaans translation, though it has happened to authors such as Margaret Mahy. The Afrikaans language community is almost twice as large as the New Zealand population.

South African publisher Kwela (part of the country’s premier Afrikaans publishing group, Media24) approached Van Den Berg, proposing an Afrikaans translation of the book. Though Nobody Dies was originally written in English after the author had migrated to New Zealand, Van Den Berg’s first language is Afrikaans and he made his debut writing in the language. He is undertaking the translation himself.

“The translation is surprisingly challenging in parts, especially the more poetic passages,” says Van Den Berg. “One of the real difficulties was translating the title. A direct translation or anything close to it simply didn’t work, so we ended up opting for something completely different.”

The Afrikaans title, 'N ANDER MENS, can mean both “another human” and “a different person”, as in someone who has changed.

The book is slated for Afrikaans publication in May.