And Then There Were Nine: Ngaio Marsh Award

THREE debut novelists and two established authors dipping their creative pens in the crime and mystery well for the first time help bring a fresh look to the longlist for the 2015 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, revealed today. “It is fantastic to see more and more talented New Zealand writers bringing their unique voices, perspectives, and interests to one of the world’s most popular storytelling genres,” said Judging Convenor Craig Sisterson. “Crime fiction is a broad church nowadays, and this year’s excellent longlist illustrates that well. It will be very interesting to see which of these books the judges prefer.” The nine longlisted titles are:

• DROWNING CITY by Ben Atkins (Random House)
• FIVE MINUTES ALONE by Paul Cleave (Atria)
• DATABYTE by Cat Connor (Rebel ePublishers)
• THE PETTICOAT MEN by Barbara Ewing (Head of Zeus)
• A HISTORY OF CRIME: THE SOUTHERN DOUBLE-CROSS by Dinah Holman (Ravensbourne Books)
• TRILEMMA by Jennifer Mortimer (Oceanview Publishing)
• SWIMMING IN THE DARK by Paddy Richardson (Upstart Press)
• THE CHILDREN’S POND by Tina Shaw (Pointer Press)
• FALLOUT by Paul Thomas (Upstart Press)

The judging panel (crime fiction experts from New Zealand, Australia, the United States, United Kingdom and Iceland) will announce the finalists in May. The winner will be revealed at a special event held later this year in association with WORD Christchurch, which has supported the Award since its establishment in 2010.

For more information, please contact: Craig Sisterson, Judging Convenor: ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com 

Ngaio Marsh Award: Who's next?

Exciting times here at Ngaio HQ, where we're about to announce the nine book longlist for the 2015 Ngaio Marsh Award. It's crazy to think of how far the Award has come since it kicked off in 2010, and all the wonderful people who have been involved along the way. I'll be posting a fair bit about the Award in the coming weeks, as the longlist, finalists, then winner are announced. There are also some ideas bubbling away to further bring New Zealand crime fiction to the fore at home and abroad, so watch this space.

If you're on Facebook, it would be terrific if you could 'like' the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page (click here). You'll be able to keep up with what's happening with New Zealand crime writing, announcements, go into the draw to win sets of New Zealand crime novels, see photos from events, and much more. I really appreciate everyone who has supported the Award along the way, from authors to festivalgoers, judges and readers to bloggers, reviewers, and mainstream media all over the world. It feels like a big family, so thanks for being part of it.

SNEAK PEEK: some of the 2015 Ngaio Marsh Award longlist

The longlist for the Ngaio Marsh Award will be officially announced later this month, but today I can share with you all a sneak peek at six novels that have made the longlist (which will be eight to ten novels in total).

It's going to be another tough year for the judging panel, with the diversity of crime and mystery writing styles, settings, and storylines on show amongst these books (and the wider longlist). From homosexuality trials in Victorian London to the trials of personal relationships in rural New Zealand, FBI investigators to laconic bootleggers on the mean streets of Depression-era cities, there's quite a range here.

You can follow what is going on with the Ngaio Marsh Award at its Facebook page here. 

New Kiwi crime: SASSAFRAS

A friend in the New Zealand publishing industry made mention of a new New Zealand thriller recently, which caught my eye.

It seems more and more budding New Zealand authors are stretching their fiction-writing muscles in the crime and thriller genre, perhaps spurred on by what some academics and others have called a new 'golden age' of Kiwi crime writing.

It is great to see.

So here's a quick first look at a new New Zealand thriller, which has a fascinatingly realistic setting, given the history of drug trafficking in Asia and into Australia and New Zealand, such as the infamous 'Mr Asia' drug cartel of the 1970s (as recently dramatised in the Underbelly TV series).

SASSAFRAS by Richard Gooch

The blurb: Two thousand litres of sassafras oil is enough ingredient to manufacture 2.5 million tablets of pure MDMA aka Ecstasy with a street value of over 30 Million Euros. Sassafras oil is difficult to make, harder to find and almost impossible to smuggle. Garry Carter is 39 and starving for adventure and a sense of meaning in his life. He decides to put everything on the line – including his life – to deliver this huge shipment from where it is produced high up in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia to the port town of Mawlamyine in Myanmar.

Garrys’ Cambodian partners, Fa and Dang, are river traders. Between them, the father-and-son team have 70 years of experience navigating the spectacular river routes of South-East Asia – and dealing with the corrupt officials and soldiers along the way. Garry’s Dutch partners are drug manufacturers who have the skill and experience to navigate the European drug trade. The Cambodians and Dutch are ruthless. Garry, a New Zealander, isn’t. He’s just looking for a good time, then he unexpectedly falls for the beautiful Noy. The stakes are high: his money or his life.

The author: 42-year-old New Zealander Richard Gooch has spent decades travelling and working his way around the world. He now lives back in New Zealand, working as an importer. Travelling and writing are his passions, and Sassafras was written on location in Laos, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia.

You can find SASSAFRAS on Amazon here, and Goodreads here.

Updated: New Zealand Crime Bibliography

New year, new start, as they say. It's been a while since I've updated the bibliography of New Zealand crime writers and crime novels here on Crime Watch. I first put together a much-longer-than-expected list back in 2010, based on research I'd done and many hours combing through secondhand bookstores and online and other resources.

(See the 'Kiwi Authors' tab above).

New Zealand has a far richer, deeper, and more diverse crime writing history than most people - even well-informed people within the literary community - realise. There are now more than 150 local crime writers on my list, who've published several hundred crime, mystery, and thriller novels between them. Many are out-of-print and hard-to-find, of course, but there is still a wide array of intriguing crime novels written by New Zealanders, available in print and online.

Today I've added a further 20 authors and 51 novels to the list, ranging from 'forgotten fiction' from 1956 (found in the Arty Bees Bookstore in Wellington), to ebooks and print novels published in 2014. The photo above is from 2010, with about 120-130 of the books in the photo (I had another 30-40 others elsewhere, and have collected many more since).

You can check out the new bibliography here.

I'll continue to work on this resource in future, adding publication dates and links to author pages and further information about the books listed (as well as adding any further writers and novels as they arise).

I'd really appreciate any feedback you have - or if you know of any books I've overlooked, please do let me know in the comments section. Cheers!

Ngaio Marsh Award: win a signed copy of the winner!!

Earlier this month, the four finalists for the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel were announced. From an outstanding long-list of eight excellent novels, the deepest and most diverse long-list in the Award's five-year history, the following four books were selected by the international judging panel:

• JOE VICTIM by Paul Cleave
• FREDERICK'S COAT by Alan Duff
• MY BROTHER'S KEEPER by Donna Malane
• WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO by Liam McIlvanney

To celebrate the upcoming announcement of the winner of the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, at the WORD Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival on 30 August, we're running a competition where you can win a personally signed copy of the winning book. The book will be autographed, with a personal message for the winning entrant(s) from the winning author. That's pretty cool!

Entering is simple. All you have to do is 'like' the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page. Nothing else. Easy as. The more entries there are (ie likes on the page), the more personally autographed copies of the book will be given away as part of the competition. Just click on the image above or right here to go to the Award's Facebook page. The winner(s) will be drawn on 31 August 2014, following the official announcement of which book has won the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.

You've got to be in to win! So get 'liking'. 

Win a personally signed copy of 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award winner

Yesterday, the four finalists for the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel were announced. From an outstanding long-list of eight excellent novels, the deepest and most diverse long-list in the Award's five-year history, the following four books were selected by the international judging panel:

• JOE VICTIM by Paul Cleave
• FREDERICK'S COAT by Alan Duff
• MY BROTHER'S KEEPER by Donna Malane
• WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO by Liam McIlvanney

To celebrate the upcoming announcement of the winner of the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, at the WORD Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival on 30 August, a competition is running where you can win a personally signed copy of the winning book. The book will be autographed, with a personal message for the winning entrant(s) from the winning author. That's pretty cool!

Entering is simple. All you have to do is 'like' the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page. Nothing else. Easy as. The more entries there are (ie likes on the page), the more personally autographed copies of the book will be given away as part of the competition. Just click on the image above or right here to go to the Award's Facebook page. The winner(s) will be drawn on 31 August 2014, following the official announcement of which book has won the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.

You've got to be in to win! So get 'liking'. 

Kiwi crime: Meet Angus McLean

The modern world of digital publishing and reading allows new authors many avenues to get their stories before the eyes of readers. While I am still a proponent of print publishing, and the quality standards that are inherent in the industry, there is a lot to be said for indie publishing that allows talented authors that may not otherwise make it through a busy agent or publisher's slush pile, for whatever reason (not always quality) an easier and greater opportunity to get their work out there. I have read several self-published and indie-published e-books that have been flat-out terrific, and could easily sit alongside traditionally published books in a store (almost an anachronism nowadays?), in terms of enjoyment and quality.

Along with a great number of New Zealand crime, mystery, and thriller writers being published by the traditional publishers, large and small, there are also a growing number of New Zealand authors putting out crime, mystery, and thriller tales in ebook format, via Amazon, Smashwords, and other avenues. It's great to see creative New Zealanders choosing to write in this genre, which I think can be tremendously exciting, combining page-turning storylines with memorable characters and a texture of setting or social issues. a

Recently I've discovered a pseudonymed Kiwi crime writer who has published two private eye novels in recent weeks: Angus McLean. The pseudonym is for a good reason: McLean is a working police officer who writes in his(?) spare time. An avowed fans of 80s cop and adventure shows, music, and classic crime and action stories, McLean says he aims for entertainment over literary genius.

His first novel is OLD FRIENDS, in which:

"tough Auckland private eye Dan Crowley faces off against a gang of murderous thugs when he is called on to help out his old mate, Mike Manning. A trucking firm faces collapse from unexplained stock thefts and Mike's reputation and freedom are on the line when he stands accused. He brings in his old mate Dan, proprieter of Chase Investigations, to clear his name and catch the real culprits. Backed up by Dan's resourceful wife Molly they investigate further and try to keep one step ahead of his long standing nemesis, DI Kennedy, but the boys are up against it to close the case unscathed and with their friendship intact."

McLean's second novel continues the tales of Chase Investigations, HONEY TRAP:

"When an undercover sting goes wrong, Molly Crowley faces the unpredictable violence of a burned lover. Meanwhile Dan is forced to face a list of psychopaths and killers to uncover a dangerous stalker who has their sights on the team at Chase. Mike Manning's own mysterious past, a past he would sooner forget, is threatening to raise its head, while he is fighting tooth and nail to protect those closest to him. Quick thinking and fast fists might not be enough this time to get them through unscathed."

You can read an interview with Angus McLean here.

Grab a New Zealand thriller for free

I've often been told by Crime Watch readers and other friends and acquaintances overseas that they'd love to try more Kiwi crime and thriller fiction, but that it's hard to find where they are, in print or even online.

This is a legit gripe. While increasingly books by some local authors, such as Paul Cleave, Paul Thomas, Liam McIlvanney and Neil Cross, are available to readers in the UK and USA, many other equally fine writers are not. Vanda Symon, Paddy Richardson, and Alix Bosco have been published in Germany, but not the English-speaking northern hemisphere markets. Ben Sanders' upcoming fourth thriller is set in the USA, and will be published there next year, but his first trilogy is harder to come by.

So I'm pretty stoked to be able to share today that Wellington author Cat Connor's books SNAKEBYTE is currently available for free on Amazon Kindle, meaning wherever you are in the world, you can give a Kiwi thriller a go. If like me you don't have a Kindle, you can download a free Kindle app to read the book on your laptop or other devices.

I haven't yet read SNAKEBYTE, but I did really enjoy one of the earlier books in the series starring FBI Agent Ellie Conway. Connor writes exciting, visual tales. You can read her 9mm interview here.

Try some Kiwi crime writing and download SNAKEBYTE for free here. Happy reading!

New Kiwi crime: BEST SERVED COLD

It's always great to see more authors joining the growing Kiwi crime fiction wave. With some international success for some of our crime writers, and lots of acclaim for the quality of the writing from many, it's great to see budding New Zealand writers choosing to write crime and mystery as stories they want to tell. One of my favourite things is to try a new author, always hopeful that there could be an unknown gem there that is going to provide entertainment, enlightenment, and maybe make me think a little more - for one book, or perhaps even more.

Last year Christchurch author Mark McGinn released his first thriller, TRUST NO ONE, on Smashwords, which is a good website for budding authors looking to go down the self-publishing route. I've been very impressed by a couple of books I've discovered and read from there.

This year, McGinn has released three further books, including a legal thriller, BEST SERVED COLD, which has as a heroine a Queen's Counsel (a highly regarded trial lawyer who's attained a merit-based elevation by the Crown to a higher status, for our non-Commonwealth friends reading here). Here's the blurb:

Remember what they say about revenge?
They were once on a jury together, forty years ago, when a man was executed for killing his wife. Now three of the four are dead, amid personal vendettas and accusations of pornography, and the last man standing is arrested for the murders. 
It’s up to Sasha Stace QC to secure his conviction. But the case is circumstantial, the trial sensational, and nothing is as it seems. In her fight for justice, Sasha embarks on a course that imperils her life and endangers those she loves. 
Best Served Cold is a fast-moving and gripping legal thriller with more twists than the rope that strangles its victims. Be warned, 

As both a former lawyer and a lover of crime fiction, I'm excited to give this book a go.

Do you enjoy legal thrillers? What are some of your favourites?

New Kiwi crime: The Southern Double-Cross

A new New Zealand crime-centric historic novel has been released this month. A HISTORY OF CRIME: THE SOUTHERN DOUBLE CROSS is historian and biographer Dinah Holman's first crack at fiction, after she produced three non-fiction books between 2001-2006.

Here's the blurb:

The most dangerous people are those with the most to lose. It is 1887. The young colony of New Zealand is in the grip of a deep depression. Insolvent speculators conspire with corrupt politicians while Maori land slips from the hands of its owners. Into this landscape of barely suppressed conflict steps a young Anglo-French-Maori soprano, visiting New Zealand for the first time. Frederique Bonnell - known to her family as Riki - meets another performer, the italian tenor Francesco Bartellin. Unofficially, Bartellin has been persuaded to spy on lawyer Thomas Russell and his powerful associates, whose tentacles penetrate the political establishment. Riki is pitched into this treacherous underworld when she witnesses the attempted murder of Kaituhi, a young Maori man apprehended in Russell's shipboard cabin. Kaituhi and Riki are thrown overboard yet manage to save each other's lives. Their plans to expose Russell are complicated by a growing attraction between Riki and Bartellin. There are three murders as a noose of suspicion closes around them. A breathless pursuit through the wilderness leads to further attempts on Riki's life and an unexpected intervention by Signor Bartellin. Mingling timeless themes of misunderstanding and betrayal, A History of Crime interweaves real and fictional crimes in 19th century New Zealand. It explores the seamy side of Victorian society, with echoes that resonate into the present day.

Certainly sounds intriguing...

Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel

The Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel was created in 2010 to celebrate quality crime, mystery, and thriller writing by New Zealand authors. Now in its fifth year, it looks like the 2014 Award may be the toughest yet for the judges, with several terrific books in the running, including a Man Booker Prize winner, and a New Zealand crime novel that's a finalist for the prestigious Edgar Award (which in some ways could be considered the Oscar of the crime writing world).

I will of course be keeping you up to date with what's happening with this year's award here on Crime Watch, including upcoming announcements about any longlist, the finalists for the award, the judging panel, and the ceremony itself, which is scheduled to be held during the Christchurch Writers Festival, in Dame Ngaio's hometown.

The Award also has its own Facebook page, where photos from prior ceremonies, as well as information about the Award and general crime fiction happenings, are shared. If you are a Facebook user, it would be terrific if you could 'like' the page, which can be found here.

The return of Wiki Coffin

Readers of marine historian and mystery writer Joan Druett's acclaimed Wiki Coffin series of nautical crime novels will be pleased to see that Druett finally added to the terrific four book series in recent months, with the release of THE BECKONING ICE, an ebook.

Since the publication of DEADLY SHOALS, the fourth book in the series on part-Maori linguist Wiki Coffin (who sails the nineteenth century seas on US ships, playing investigator as strange happenings and deaths occur), the striking character has been restricted to short stories appearing in the likes of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. So it's great to see Wiki back in a full-length novel again.

I'll publish more about this book (just scored myself a copy today) in the near future, but for now just wanted to give you all a heads-up, as I think Druett is a terrific writer, and provides something kind of cool in the mystery genre, with her mix of maritime history and murder. I'd definitely recommend checking her out.

You can read more about the book on her website here.

Weta Digital project manager releases debut thriller

The New Zealand crime, mystery, and thriller canon continues to go from strength to strength, as new voices are added to our established stars who are becoming more well-known on the national and world stage.

Now Jennifer Mortimer, an R&D manager for Weta Digital, the Oscar-winning company behind the special effects on many of the biggest blockbusters you'll have seen on your movie screens in recent years (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong, Avatar, Ironman, etc), has released her debut thriller, TRILEMMA.

Here's the official blurb:

Asian-American Lin Mere follows her father's trail to New Zealand to try to establish a relationship with her father's estranged family, and maybe rekindle a romance, but she gets distracted by the offer of a job as chief executive.


When danger enters Lin's life from an unexpected source, she has to face an ordeal even more challenging than the battles in the boardroom. 


Confronting a trilemma - a choice between three bad options - Lin must make her move.

Mortimer lives in her birthplace of Wellington with her husband and two kids. She has previously worked in the UK, USA, Australia, and South America, as well as Nerw Zealand. Degress in English Literature, Philosophy and Information Science led to a career in IT, and roles as a Chief Information Officer. She completed a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing in 2011, and TRILEMMA is her first novel.

Advance reviews of TRILEMMA, published in hardcover in the USA by Oceanview Publishing, have been positive, with New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry calling it “An utterly engaging tale, with a pitch-perfect plot, jam packed with surprises".

You can read an interview with Mortimer in The Big Thrill, the official magazine of the International Thriller Writers, here.

Marsh, Mansfield, Mahy? Help find the most-loved Kiwi read

Join the hunt for the Great Kiwi Classic – help us choose the most loved Kiwi read

The Auckland Writers Festival and the New Zealand Book Council invite readers throughout the country to embark on a hunt for the ‘Great Kiwi Classic’.

Which book is more deserving of classic status: the twisted rural gothic of Ronald Hugh Morrieson’s The Scarecrow or the wildly popular detective fiction of Ngaio Marsh, considered a ‘Queen of Crime’? Should we give a nod to the internationally celebrated short stories of Katherine Mansfield or revere the bush yarns of Kiwi prankster Barry Crump? Is it too soon to call Eleanor Catton’s Booker Prize winner The Luminaries a classic, alongside Keri Hulme’s 1983 Booker Prize winner The Bone People? And is the Edmonds Cookery Book a classic in the same way that Margaret Mahy’s The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate is?

The Auckland Writers Festival and the New Zealand Book Council invite you to ponder these questions and together search for the ‘Great Kiwi Classic’. The quest to find the country’s greatest classic read for 2014 covers all genres, from fiction to non-fiction, children’s books to poetry – we just want to hear what your most loved classic read is and why.

We’re asking everyone – from fanatic readers of literature to those who can recite Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy by heart – to help us decide which book deserves the supreme title in 2014. Your choice might be decades old or hot off the press. It could be celebrated or obscure. It might be a charming romantic romp or a piece of social commentary so searing it has ended friendships.

To nominate and praise your ‘Great Kiwi Classic’, visit the ‘Great Kiwi Classic’ Facebook page www.facebook.com/greatkiwiclassic or email your suggestions and why you love the book to greatkiwiclassic@bookcouncil.org.nz.

Nominations close at 5pm on Friday 14 February. A panel of experts will then convene to consider nominations, weigh your arguments and select our classic title. The ‘Great Kiwi Classic’ will be unveiled at the launch of the Auckland Writers Festival programme on 18 March.

Following this, the Auckland Writers Festival will present a ‘Great Kiwi Classic’ panel event at this year’s 14–18 May festival, where the chosen title will be the subject of a star-studded tournament of opinion, featuring writers, experts and a member of the public who nominated the chosen book, teasing out just why this book deserves to be called the greatest. The panel will also explore the book’s wider influence and where it sits alongside other great works from Aotearoa.

The Auckland Writers Festival’s Great Kiwi Classic panel event is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

For further information contact New Zealand Book Council Chief Executive Catriona Ferguson on 021 024 82637 or Catriona@bookcouncil.org.nz.

Ellie Catton, Neil Cross, and Paul Cleave share their favourite reads of the year...

Earlier this month the New Zealand Listener began a series talking to New Zealand writers, reviewers, politicians and other 'prominent Kiwis' about their favourite reads of 2013.

Amongst the writers involved are several who will be familiar to readers of this blog, including Man Booker Prize winner Ellie Catton, and Ngaio Marsh Award winners Neil Cross (pictured right: photo: David White) and Paul Cleave.

You can read their recommendations and favourites here.

The Millenium Quadrilogy?

Quercus will publish a fourth book in Stieg Larsson's Millennium series, written by Swedish author David Lagercrantz, in August 2015. Original Swedish publisher Norstedts Förlag announced today they had signed a fourth book in the series. Larsson died in 2004, before he saw his trilogy of novels, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, become an international publishing phenomenon.

Lagercrantz is the co-author of I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the 2013 autobiography of the Swedish footballer. Norstedts Förlag publishing manager Eva Gedin said in an email reported in Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter: "We are proud and excited to now have signed an agreement with David Lagercrantz who, urged by his agent Magdalena Hedlund, has undertaken the challenging task of providing Blomkvist and Salander a second life, in a fourth stand-alone part of the Millennium series."

Lagercrantz said: "I'm running and writing and it's insanely fun. It's an amazing world to step into."

New Kiwi true crime: THE BASSETT ROAD MACHINE-GUN MURDERS

On 7 December 1963, the bodies of Kevin Speight and mobster George "Knucklehead" Walker were found in an illegal beerhouse at 115 Bassett Road, Remuera, Auckland. Both had been shot with a sub-machine gun, a weapon not thought to have been in existence on our shores before, sending shockwaves throughout the country. True Crime author Scott Bainbridge has written about this historic NZ crime to coincide with its 50th anniversary. With access to the police files and rare recollections from those closely involved, this book promises to be a fast-paced thriller, engaging and controversial.

This fascinating book was released in New Zealand this week, and will be available online from 1 December. 

Scott Bainbridge is one of New Zealand's foremost investigative and True Crime authors. His first two books; Without Trace and Still Missing about missing persons, led to several cold-cases being re-opened, and inspired the acclaimed TVNZ series, The Missing. In his third book; Shot in the Dark, Bainbridge accessed old murder files to examine unsolved NZ murders of the 1920s and 30s, dispelling decades-old myths and uncovering hidden truths.

You can read Bainbridge's 9mm interview with Crime Watch here.

In a Word: Murder

If you love reading mystery short stories, then perhaps you'd like to check out this brand new anthology put together by California mystery writer and acclaimed blogger Margot Kinberg.

I recently caught up with Margot in San Diego - she's a fantastic host - and she was excited about the launch of IN A WORD: MURDER, which is an anthology of mystery short stories from some great authors, set in the world of writing, editing, publishing, and reviewing.

In a nod to the late Maxine Clarke, a British crime fiction reviewer, proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to Prince Alice Hospice. In the introduction to the anthology, which contains stories from Martin Edwards, Pamela Griffiths, Paula K. Randall, Jane Ridson, Elizabeth S. Craig, and Sarah Ward, as well as illustrations from Lesley Fletcher, Kinberg says:

‘Maxine Clarke encouraged those of us who write crime stories, and always welcome new authors and new readers of crime fiction. She was an expert in the genre, and her blog (Petrona) and reviews were a source of new ideas and inspiration for many. She also moderated an online crime fiction group that brought together crime fiction readers and authors from all over the world. She is sorely missed.’

You can take a further look at the anthology, and purchase it, here.

Vanda Symon on Kathy Reichs

First, apologies for the absence. I have been in rural British Columbia for the last fortnight-plus, volunteering and living in a wilderness cabin with no internet, running water, etc. It was fun, and I read several crime novels (no TV or other entertainment - awesome!). There will be reviews and other posts about that in the next few days, but for now, I just wanted to highlight a recent blog post by Vanda Symon, the Queen of contemporary Kiwi crime fiction, about Kathy Reichs' visit to New Zealand this month, and her latest novel, BONES OF THE LOST.

You can read Vanda's post, and listen to her radio review of the book, here.