New #yeahnoir: THE EASTER MAKE BELIEVERS (free copy)

Finn Bell made history in this year's Ngaio Marsh Awards (to be presented next Saturday at a special event in Christchurch); the first-ever author to have two books as finalists in one year.

The international judging panels for both the Best First Novel and Best Crime Novel awards were wowed by Bell's writing. They praised his incredibly strong narrative voice and sense of place, blended with page-turning storytelling and great characters.

Remarkably, Bell is a self-published ebook author who has been published for just over a year, and whose tales aren't yet available in print. I wonder how long it might take before he'll be snapped up by a publisher (as happens with top ebook authors abroad).

Local mystery fans have the chance to meet Finn next weekend at Scorpio Books, at the Ngaio Marsh Awards and Literary Pub Quiz. It should be a terrific evening, with most of the finalist authors in attendance, and many taking part in the quiz.

In the meantime, Bell's much-anticipated third crime thriller has now been released.

THE EASTER MAKE BELIEVERS
When an innocent family is taken hostage in their home no one is ready for how fast it all goes terribly wrong. As the close knit community of small town Lawrence reels from the shock, detectives Nick Cooper and Tobe White stand among the dead bodies knowing that it’s not over. Because while grateful that at least the two young daughters survived unscathed, they now know that their father is still missing, somehow impossibly vanishing from a house surrounded by police. 

The mystery deepens as Nick and Tobe realize that they know every gunman lying dead here – because up to last night they were the leaders of the biggest criminal gang in the country. As the desperate search and rescue mission starts it soon collides with their own challenging investigation leading them into the center of a deeper, older tragedy. Where they begin to learn just how far someone will go for those he truly, dearly hates.

I was highly impressed by Bell's first two novels - they're two of my favourite reads of the past couple of years, so I've already downloaded a copy of THE EASTER MAKE BELIEVERS. If you'd like give this super-talented new voice a go, for a limited time you can download a free copy here.