"Joyfully upturns expectations" - review of MURDER AT THE HOTEL ORIENT

MURDER AT THE HOTEL ORIENT by Alessandra Ranelli (Baskerville, 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

In modern Vienna, the infamous Hotel Orient glitters at the heart of the city, luring lovers inside for an evening of debauchery. Behind its velvet curtain, cameras are forbidden, aliases are required, and every guest has something to hide.

For those seeking illicit liaisons, Sterling Lockwood is the perfect concierge. Sultry and poised, she's the ultimate keeper of secrets, including her own. But when dawn breaks and two of the anonymous guests are found dead in their suite, Sterling must break the Orient's sacred code of discretion, turning detective to find a killer and clear her own name.

Alongside Fernando, her quick-witted friend and bellhop, Sterling steps beyond the hotel's stained-glass doors, venturing from grand coffee houses where power whispers between porcelain cups, to dimly lit bars where the curious seek rapturous oblivion, and risking everything to solve an impossible case.

With her corsets and curves, trail of lovers, and mysterious past, Sterling Lockwood would have made a fine femme fatale in a classic crime novel. Instead the night concierge at an infamous Vienna hotel is the captivating heroine and amateur sleuth at the heart (or loins?) of Alessandra Ranelli’s debut whodunnit, Murder at the Hotel Orient. 

It’s a fantastic read that joyfully upturns expectations; draped in some timeless Golden Age mystery threads, while weaving in plenty of raunchiness and modern sensibilities too.

Sterling is a keeper of secrets; of the hotel guests, and her own. At the Hotel Orient, cameras are banned, aliases are required, and every guest has something to hide. But when two guests are found murdered, including one of her past lovers, Sterling must go beneath the falsehoods to find the truth. Inveigling herself into the official investigation alongside police detectives Andreas and Beata, a male-female duo who each make her pulse race, can Sterling keep her own dangerous secrets hidden as she digs into the private lives of others? Ranelli, a Vienna-based American author, writes with zing and spark; there’s a strong sense of personality and style in Murder at the Hotel Orient.

Ranelli crafts a strong sense of the world of her story, bringing Vienna to life from its bureaucracy to swingers clubs, alongside a fascinating cast of characters. There’s plenty of craft and cleverness beneath the seductive façade too. Highly recommended. 

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.

"Another good read in a very good series" - review of THE CROSSROADS

THE CROSSROADS by CJ Box (Head of Zeus, 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

When Joe Pickett is shot in the line of duty, his daughters must work together to find his attacker. Marybeth Pickett gets the call she has always her husband Joe is unconscious after being shot in the head.

He was found slumped behind the wheel of his pickup at a crossroads linking the ranches of three powerful families. Each have reasons to want the Wyoming Game Warden dead, but with no witnesses, no one knows who pulled the trigger.

As Joe clings to life, Marybeth keeps watch while their daughters – Sheridan, Lucy, and April – play the role their father cannot, investigating each family to expose long-held grudges and reveal the truth.

Diving into a new novel starring Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett has become something of an annual tradition for plenty of crime readers over the past quarter century, as CJ Box’s likable protagonist, wild settings, and some fascinating storylines and family dynamics have built up a large following since an excellent debut with Open Range back in 2001.

Family has always been vital to Pickett; he’s something of an antithesis of the troubled, loner detective we often see in the genre (though he regularly works alone, and still finds plenty of trouble along the way). In The Crossroads the Pickett family has to come together in a way they never have before, when Joe is shot in the head on a road near the ranches of three powerful families.

While Marybeth keeps watch over her husband, barely clinging to life in hospital, their daughters Sheridan, Lucy, and April turn investigators, digging into the families and trying to work out who wants their Dad dead. In the 26th Joe Pickett novel (to go along with several short stories, and two good seasons of a sadly short-lived Paramount+ screen adaptation, starring Michael Dorman as the titular hero), Box throws readers a bit of a googly, mixing in familiar aspects with new.

With Box’s usual star somewhat sidelined – something that admittedly could frustrate some series readers, while others may really enjoy the change-up Box pitches - other characters come more to the fore, and the author once again demonstrates his very fine touch for rural landscapes and life, and the people and pressures that come with it. Another good read in a very good series.

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.

"Atmospheric, character-centric historical mystery" - review of THE BURNING GROUNDS

THE BURNING GROUNDS by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker, 2025)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

In the Burning Ghats of Calcutta, where the dead are laid to rest, a man is found murdered, his throat cut from ear to ear. The body is that of a popular philanthropist and patron of the arts. A man, who was, by all accounts, beloved by all. So what could possibly be the motive for murder? 

Though out of favour with the Imperial Police Force, Detective Sam Wyndham is assigned to the case, and finds himself thrust into the glamorous world of cinema when his investigation leads him to a film the victim was funding.

Meanwhile Sam's former colleague, Surendranath Banerjee, recently returned from Europe after three years running from the fallout of his last case, is searching for a vanished photographer, one of the first women in the profession. When he discovers the missing woman is somehow linked to Sam's murder investigation, the two men are forced to work together once again—but will Wyndham and Banerjee be able to put their differences aside to solve the case?

After scooping a host of accolades for his contemporary standalone thriller Hunted - most notably both the 2025 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and 2025 British Book Awards (aka the 'Nibbies') Crime & Thriller of the Year, Scottish-Bengali author Abir Mukherjee makes a welcome return to his ancestral homeland and the historical mystery series where he first made his name, with The Burning Grounds, a terrific sixth novel in his Wyndham and Banerjee series set in 1920s India. 

Mukherjee does an exquisite job transporting readers through space and time, and soaking us in the atmosphere of times - the place, people, and politics, as the British Raj was still in control but in decline, and India was moving towards eventual independence. You can almost smell the smoke from the burning ghats and feel sweat trickling as we traverse Calcultta (now Kolkata) and beyond with Sam and 'Surrender-not', the duo that give this historical series plenty of heart among the mysteries. 

In The Burning Grounds, both are still recovering from the events and fallout from the previous book, The Shadows of Men, which saw Banerjee framed for murder, imprisoned, and accused of terrorism. It's an uneasy reunion, a few years later, as cases and dangerous circumstances bring the former friends back into each other's orbits. But can they trust each other, after all that has happened? 

At a time when the country seems on the brink of tearing itself to pieces, and they're each roiling through their own self-sabotaging or self-destructive tendencies, two puzzling cases offer some salve. 

Mukherjee crafts a very good mystery tale that is enriched by his great touch for character and setting. There's plenty of intriguing historic details and perspectives to please history buffs, but not too many where they overwhelm or stall the plot. The Burning Grounds is a propulsive tale that will have pages whirring, but it doesn't feel 'thin'; there's a nice mix of depth and detail, of humanity and whodunnit. 

Overall, this is a very good read that will likely please newer readers to the series, while also delivering plenty for long-time fans. Mukherjee has shown with Hunted that he also has a good touch for contemporary tales, but hopefully there's still plenty of mileage left in the investigations and adventures of Detective Sam Wyndham and fellow sleuth Surendranath 'Surrender-not' Banerjee. Recommended. 

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.

"Sharp dialogue, unforgettable characters" - review of THE FINAL SCORE

THE FINAL SCORE by Don Winslow (HarperCollins, 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

In six all-new short novels written with the trademark literary style, trenchant wit, and incisive characterization that have made Don Winslow “America’s greatest living crime writer” (Providence Journal), this repeat New York Times bestselling author serves up a collection of tales sure to delight Winslow’s most devoted fans and first-time readers.

With a foreword written by award-winning crime author Reed Farrel Coleman, The Final Score is a propulsive, perceptive, and deeply immersive collection of crime writing — the ultimate testament to Don Winslow's prowess as a living legend of the genre.

Masterful storyteller Don Winslow has shown in The Border and The Cartel that he can write epic literary crime novels that tilt the scales around 700 pages, maintaining multi-layered, crisp and compelling storytelling throughout (unlike some bloated tomes from other bestsellers). Now, in The Final Score he underlines that he’s also a dab hand at pitch-perfect short stories; intense tales, memorable characters, high-pressure situations.

In the titular tale, a legendary thief on the cusp of a life sentence plans an audacious casino heist to secure the financial future of those he loves. Elsewhere, we meet an ambitious teen looking to raise college funds by delivering illegal liquor to his town’s residents (“The Sunday List”), two gangsters before a hit sharing breakfast and reminisces (“True Story”); a promising cop facing a life-changing dilemma for love of family (“The North Wing”); and surfer-private eye Boone Daniels and his crew - who feature in earlier Winslow novels like The Dawn Patrol - battling with the high-maintenance, drug-addicted film star they’re hired to protect (“The Lunch Break”).

All building to the lengthiest story, “Collision”, where a moment of madness unfurls a whole new life for a high-achieving hotelier and family man. Short story collections can be tricky to review, as often quality can vary, and different readers may prefer different tales, but in Winslow’s case he knocks it out of the park each and every time. Sharp dialogue, unforgettable characters, tight storytelling.

The Final Score is a delightful buffet of humanity caught up in dark deeds where every morsel is moreish. A treat for long-time Winslow fans, and great entrée for those new to his talents.

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.

"Visceral, powerful, finely crafted" - review of BEARTOOTH

BEARTOOTH by Callan Wink (Spiegel & Grau, April 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Thad and Hazen live off the grid, struggling with debt after the death of their father. Thad, the elder brother, is the capable one, while Hazen is a dreamer, more in tune with the wilderness than with people. Then a shadowy out-of-towner called the Scot appears—dressed in a kilt and with a mysterious young woman in tow. He makes the brothers a proposition that is both lucrative and a federal crime—removing resources from Yellowstone National Park, a scheme that becomes more appealing when their long-gone mother shows up, raising troubling questions about the past. 

A contemporary tale with a timeless feel, Beartooth explores the bonds between brothers, the natural world versus society, and what happens when everything you believed to be true is turned on its head—for worse and for better. 

There’s a deep contrast between the stark beauty of Callan Wink’s writing and the visceral nature of what he describes at times in his sublime novel Beartooth. A literary rural noir centred on the (mis)adventures of a pair of backwoods brothers, we initially meet Thad, the relative brains of the duo, and younger Hazen, the intuitive one, as they’re elbows deep in an eviscerated bear. Freshly poached, emitting smells “with a flavour of nightmare”; the brothers are willing to get bloody as they grasp for the golf-ball sized gall bladders that can bring in as much cash as ten truckloads of firewood.

But how much would they risk in order to preserve their family home and way of life? 

Initially Thad doesn’t entertain the notion put forward by their menacing buyer, ‘the Scot’ to surreptitiously enter Yellowstone National Park to harvest elk antler sheds. Federal land and felony crimes = big time prison time. But as things worsen, Thad and Hazen must make some tough choices, that could have deadly consequences.

Those who enjoy ‘grit lit’ are likely to love Beartooth. 

It’s an atmospheric, vivid and finely crafted tale of family relationships, desperation and death set against a ruggedly magnificent backdrop. Wink, a fly-fishing guide in Montana as well as literary starlet, expertly soaks readers in “nature, red in tooth and claw”. 

Compact and powerful.

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.

"Exquisite modern take on a classic mystery" - review of THE GOOD NAZI

THE GOOD NAZI by Samir Machado de Machado, translated by Rahul Bery (Pushkin Vertigo, 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

1933. A body has been found on a luxury airship en route from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro. Police Detective Bruno Brückner, travelling on board, is immediately asked to investigate - and soon discovers that the murdered man was not the proud Nazi he claimed to be. What's more, he was carrying a stash of banned 'degenerate' material. 

As Brückner interviews his fellow passengers - a wealthy baroness, an antisemitic doctor, a debonair Englishman - he realizes that each of them has something to hide. Uncovering the truth will reveal a story of secret identities, forbidden love and revenge, where nothing is as it appears.

For those fancying something fresh and atypical, while a little lighter, perhaps try this fun mystery from Brazilian writer, translator and graphic designer Samir Machado de Machado, which won him the Jabuti Prize for Best Entertainment Novel (among Brazil’s most important book awards), for a second time.

Thanks to translator Rahul Bery and the fine folks at Pushkin Vertigo,  The Good Nazi is now available for English-speaking readers, who’ll discover an enjoyable tale with echoes of Agatha Christie or Dame Ngaio Marsh, while still its own unique thing.

Rather than Poirot, Marple, or Inspector Alleyn, our sleuth here is German police detective Bruno Brückner, who’s travelling on a trans-Atlantic zeppelin flight to Rio de Janeiro in 1933. Far faster, and pricier, than a seagoing voyage, it sees Brückner rubbing shoulders with an unusual grouping. Alongside some Brazilian passengers and the forty-member crew who coax the giant airship across the ocean from continent to continent, Brückner is joined by wealthy German Baroness Fridegunde van Hattem, who chases summer back and forth; Dr Karl Kass Voegler, who’s set to speak at a eugenics conference on the dangers of racial mixing; and debonair Englishman William Hay. 

They’re joined in Recife by another German, Otto Klein, for the final legs of the journey. But Klein doesn’t make it to Rio alive, dying overnight, after a dinner where the European quintet discuss classic art, how rising Nazism would fix what ailed Germany, and racial purity. Brückner is asked to investigate, and as he interviews the crew and passengers he uncovers a stash of banned ‘degenerate’ material, and a startling tale of fake identities, queer love, and revenge, where little is what it seems.

de Machado crafts an exquisite modern take on a classic mystery, with a unique historical setting that soaks readers in at-times disturbing pre-war viewpoints, while speckling his tale with several delightful surprises, right up until he absolutely sticks the landing of this aeronautical whodunnit.

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.

"Dares to go where many others won't" - review of THE TRUTH ABOUT RUBY COOPER

THE TRUTH ABOUT RUBY COOPER by Liz Nugent (Penguin, March 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

'If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of it would have happened.'

Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close-knit church community in Boston. But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that causes her family’s world to implode. Across decades, the fallout leaves a wake of destruction behind Ruby in Dublin and Erin in Boston.

Not that Ruby wants to think about the past. But it can’t stay a secret forever.? 

Let’s start with understatement: Liz Nugent certainly knows how to spin a compelling yarn. Not just compelling with a capital C, but in all caps. 

The bestselling Irish author has a masterful touch for hooking readers with intense, high-stakes situations then leading us through an emotional minefield alongside pretty hard-to-like protagonists. 

There’s a bravery throughout her oeuvre; she dares to go where many others don’t, via characters studies of some rather horrendous people. A wife-beater (Unravelling Oliver), a wealthy judge and his wife covering up a horrible crime (Lying in Wait), a trio of brothers taking sibling rivalry to toxic, deadly levels (Our Little Cruelties) – Nugent’s thrillers are atypical, and her characters often the worst in the room, or many rooms, yet bizarrely engaging.

In her sixth novel in twelve years, The Truth About Ruby Cooper, Nugent immerses readers in the family-shattering aftermath of a life-altering incident between Ruby, the sixteen year-old daughter of a popular Boston pastor, and Milo, her older sister Erin’s boyfriend, one afternoon when the pair are alone together in the Cooper family home. 

Accusations, he-said/she-said, DNA evidence, lawyers and courtrooms, traumatising cross-examination. A community in shock. Lives never the same. Ruby and her mother flee to Ireland. Erin and her father stay in Boston. Can time, or distance, really heal?

Guilt and shame, anger and blame. 

How do you come back from the worst thing you’ve ever experienced? Nugent doesn’t spare readers, delivering haymaker reveals early that other authors may save til a finale; before diving deeper. How far will a poisonous act flow – over years and decades, through relationships and generations? 

Nugent has a rare ability to pack a novel’s worth of drama into the first half or third of a book, without it feeling overstuffed, then delivering even more unforgettable moments the rest of the way. She delves into deeply personal matters, while touching on wider themes of justice, addiction, and family. Smooth writing, layered and nuanced storytelling that hums with authenticity. 

The Truth About Ruby Cooper isn’t an easy read, but it is a brilliant one..

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.

"An engrossing ride" - review of THE SHARK

THE SHARK by Emma Styles (Sphere, March 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

At the height of Australian summer, a serial killer dubbed The Shark stalks a beachside suburb, targeting young female swimmers whose bodies are later found on the shoreline.

Disempowered and angry at the failures of the police to protect them, two young women are hell-bent on revenge. Raych has lost someone and will go to any length to discover what happened to her, while Carmen suspects her own disturbing connection to the killer.

Together they form an uneasy alliance and, in a moment that changes the trajectory of their lives, Carmen and Raych abduct and imprison the prime suspect. Do they think they can save the day, or are there intentions darker? Can they trust one another's agenda? And when another young woman goes missing, what stops them from going to the police?

Almost four years ago, British-Australian author Emma Styles burst onto the crime (writing) scene with the fresh and fantastic [book:No Country for Girls|165812428], a riveting tale of two young women thrust together in Western Australia, at the wheel of a dead man’s twin-cab ute with a bag of stolen gold bars under the seat, with little idea where they were heading, or how they’d survive.

That helter-skelter thriller saw Styles hand-picked, alongside Māori storyteller [author:Michael  Bennett|17854263], by modern-day Queen of Crime Val McDermid as one of the most exciting new voices in global crime fiction, getting featured on the ‘New Blood’ panel at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, UK. No Country for Girls went on to be shortlisted for several awards, and win the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.

What next? Second-time around Styles returns to Western Australia, where she grew up, with another duo of troubled young women who find themselves in deadly circumstances. 

The Shark is a serial killer thriller, with a difference. A hot Australian summer. A year ago, self-confessed ‘gutless wonder’ Raych’s best friend Piper vanished, taking with her Raych’s hopes for ‘more than friends’. Unlike some other young women who’ve gone missing, Piper’s body hasn’t been found, but Raych is sure she was taken by the same local serial killer that has been terrorising Perth’s coastal suburbs. The police have a suspect, but don’t seem to be getting anywhere. 

Meanwhile, high schooler Carmen wonders about a disturbing connection to the killer. Raych and Carmen met on the psych ward, but now they’re out, and end up forming an unlikely (and untrusting) alliance. They both desperately need answers, and desperate times call for desperate measures.

A man cable-tied to a chair. An abandoned garage. A bag of tools. 

But what if they’ve got the wrong man? 

Alternating between Raych and Carmen’s unreliable narratives, Styles takes readers on an engrossing ride where the real villains are unclear, all building to a harrowing finale. 

The Shark is a strong sophomore effort from a rising star in the crime thriller genre. 

This review was first written for publication in the New Zealand Listener magazine

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: BLACK VELVET AND VENGEANCE

BLACK VELVET & VENGEANCE by Deborah Challinor (HarperCollins, 2026)

Reviewed by Alyson Baker

Late 1872. When twenty-five-year-old Sydney undertaker Tatiana Crowe travels to Auckland to embalm the body of Evan Hunter's father events go horribly wrong, leaving Tatty stricken.

Back at home, Tatty has some enormous decisions to make, but finds herself facing challenges both personal and professional. When bodies start to go missing, seemingly snatched from the funeral train en route to the cemetery, it looks like someone is targeting Tatty's business and everything she holds dear.

Who has a vendetta against Tatty, and why? With the aid of the family she has made for herself among the misfits of Sydney she must fend off extortion demands, an irate grieving mother, Darlinghurst Gaol tittle-tattlers and the threat of ruin.

This book is the third in Deborah Challinor’s Tatty Crowe Series, set in the second half of the nineteenth century in Sydney. Tatty Crowe is a woman, an undertaker, a good friend, and a fearsome enemy. As with previous instalments, the reader learns a lot about the funeral business (in this case more than they would probably prefer!), and about loyalty, the difficult decisions women must often make, and about learning to trust others.

Black Velvet & Vengeance includes bodies stolen and held for ransom, women abused, and people killed – these crimes being a springboard for character depiction and social commentary. Tatty is no stranger to weighing up justice and culpability, having previously “murdered a husband, killed a second man in self-defence, and hunted down and terminated the activities of several Sydney baby farmers”. Her busy life continues in this novel, the plot kicked off by Evan Hunter, a character from the previous novel in the series, luring Tatty to Auckland to embalm his father.

Her trip to Auckland, a “town of around only twelve thousand”, is made with her colleague Hannah. It is a frantic trip, with Tatty resorting to cannabis to get her across the stormy Tasman Sea. Tatty’s use of cannabis is just one of the mentions of the routine use of drugs at the time – cannabis, opium (laudanum), and cocaine – for nausea, pain (including during childbirth), and in baby tonics!

Auckland proves worse than the voyage over: Hunter executes his appalling plan to get his claws on her successful Sydney business. His mother Viola reveals herself to be just as nasty as her son. And my goodness, embalming a body that’s been dead a week! When they return to Sydney from such an eventful and horrible trip, Tatty is not sure how much to report back to the others at Crowe Funerals. Especially whether to tell Henry, groom at the business and devoted to Tatty: “She loved Henry but sometimes he could be a tiny bit … bossy.”

Needless to say, Tatty’s Auckland problems don’t stay on their side of the Tasman – and soon she’s losing bodies she should be burying and finding others she shockingly recognises. She navigates the turmoil in her usual straight talking (“No, she was a bitch”), no-nonsense style. But she does find herself getting moody, emotional, and becoming prone to mental wandering – her life is getting even more complicated.

Much of Black Velvet & Vengeance is about “all the different forms that motherhood could take”, and the dangers, social views, and confusion of childbearing. At the time there was a terribly high rate of death in childbirth and of infant mortality – Tatty knows this from running a funeral business. There are the genetic fears of bearing a child of a ‘bad’ person, especially if through rape. And the social dangers of having children in non-traditional situations: “people liked to draw their own conclusions, and the more sensational the better.”

In some circles childbirth was seen as brutish and to be kept hidden: “Most women didn’t even go out in public once they were showing.” Tatty’s cook and second mother, Maggie, talks to her about how parents don’t live on if their daughters die childless. She also advises Robert, Hannah’s lover, that fornicators getting trapped for eternity in the second circle of hell. Hannah’s mother Edith responds: “I wouldn’t worry about the second circle, I’ve heard it’s just a bit windy.”

Tatty is dealing with all these concerns while trying to protect her business and those she loves. As well as Tatty, Black Velvet & Vengeance is chock-a-block with great characters, some of whom are from other series by the author, all “women with their chequered histories”. Maggie is a character whose arc in the story the reader gets to see more clearly than the other characters do. And Viola Hunter, although an evil woman, becomes a stark tragic figure as she descends into dishevelled madness.

There are amusing bits in the book despite these serious topics – such as Tatty becoming delightfully easily distracted: “She felt like a tropical tiger she’d seen as a child at the zoo in Regent’s Park in London, stuck in its little cage, endlessly circling. Not that her body was as lithe as a tiger’s – small as she was, she still felt like a hippopotamus. There had been one of those at the zoo too.”

The historical details are fascinating – almost as good as the novel are the Author’s Notes at the end, where Challinor details some of her research. Black Velvet & Vengeance can be read as a standalone, although reading the series adds to the enjoyment of following Tatty’s exploits. Of which I’m sure there will be more!

Alyson Baker is a crime-loving former librarian in Nelson. This review first appeared on her blog, which you can check out here. 

Review: THE GAMBLER

THE GAMBLER by JP Pomare (Hachette, 2026)

Reviewed by Karen Chisholm

PI Vince Reid is visiting an old friend when he's offered a case he can't refuse: Why did a respected local woman open fire at a political rally, killing a promising young university graduate? It's easy money, he's told. A sure thing.

But as Reid delves further into the case, the stakes are higher than he imagined. There are invisible players pulling the strings. Will he walk away a winner or pay for the ultimate gamble with his life?

Any new novel from JP Pomare needs to be approached with caution. You're going to have to make sure that you've cleared your calendar, stacked up the pre-made meals, and maybe set some alarms to remind you of the animal medication schedules and feeding rounds, because I can just about guarantee that the "well I don't know what's going on here" is rapidly going to suck you in and hang onto you until the final page.

He's a deceptive writer, this man. Setting up a story in THE GAMBLER that started out almost gently, creating a few doubts that the planning mentioned above would be required (luckily I've been here before), it's a slow builder. Private Investigator, Vince Reid, is visiting an old friend when he's offered a case he can't refuse, and his friend can't do. Maybe therein lies the reason for the gentle deceptive start, Reid also thinks this one is going to be a bit of a doddle - find out why a young woman was shot at a political rally. Why she was targeted by a seemingly respectable older local woman who drove into that rally and fired, seemingly directly, at a young woman she didn't know or have any connection to whatsoever. The gunwoman herself was killed almost immediately afterwards by a young man who did actually have a connection to the victim, but he's elusive, hard to track down, hard to understand, increasingly hard to explain who or exactly what he is to do with the whole thing. It's as Reid tries to understand his part in the main that the connections get even more murky, and the layers in this deceptively chilling tale of manipulation, control, money, power and cruelty start to emerge. 

From small towns, to online communities, the Amish and working class families who just want to know what the hell happened, Reid starts out on an investigation that seems like it would be easy money, only to find it's anything but. In fact, it gets more and more dangerous as it gets more and more complicated, and it gets less and less clear who he can trust, and just how high the stakes are.

THE GAMBLER is the second novel in the PI Vince Reid series, the first being THE WRONG WOMAN. Both these novels are set in the US, in small towns dealing with what seems unimaginable, and turns out to be anything but. As is also often the way with his novels, victims are complicated, motivations are messy, and outcomes are always beset by edge cases and questions unanswered. Reid is a perfect character around which to centre such a complicated world, as is his friend and mentor - both of whom are either hiding, dodging or dealing with a lot of personal stuff. 

Clever and fascinating, utterly unputdownable, THE GAMBLER is standalone in story, but readers would benefit from reading the first novel simply because Reid is a character in whose company time is not wasted.

Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and has been a regular judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and Ngaio Marsh Awards. This review was first published on Karen's website; she kindly shares some of her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by New Zealanders and Australians on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction. 

"A pleasing brain-teaser" - review of THE KILLER QUESTION

THE KILLER QUESTION by Janice Hallett (Viper Books, January 2026)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Mal and Sue Eastwood were once the kindly landlords of a local village pub, The Case is Altered. They ran a weekly pub quiz and were well liked by their customers and colleagues alike, always happy to lend a helping hand. But now The Case stands empty, its windows boarded up. What could have happened to Mal and Sue?

Did The Case close because it was failing? Was it because of the body pulled from the nearby river? Or perhaps it had something to do with the quiz? It had always been a quiet affair, five teams of locals battling it out for a small prize pot. Until one day a mysterious new team of outsiders arrived, and started winning every round...

Former journo and British government speechwriter Janice Hallett burst onto the crime (writing) scene during the pandemic with The Appeal, a modern take on classic ‘puzzle-style’ murder mysteries, with an epistolary twist. Told in epistolary style, via letters, emails, and messages, readers were invited to solve the mystery alongside two lawyers looking for ‘the real killer’ among many case documents.

She’s continued the ‘found documents’ format through a string of bestsellers, and now in her fifth novel The Killer Question, it is WhatsApp messages and group texts, transcripts of police recordings, and emails pitching a true crime doco to Netflix that contain the clues, suspects, and red herrings. 

Along with sheets from a weekly quiz night at ‘The Case is Altered’, a local village pub down a quiet country lane run by former coppers Mal and Sue Eastwood. But who killed the man in the orange puffy jacket whose body emerged from the nearby river, after he was thrown out of a quiz night by Mal as a notorious quiz cheat? And who are the Shadow Knights, the mysterious team of seemingly elite quizzers who turn up out of nowhere and start winning every week, upsetting some locals?

With The Killer Question, Hallett crafts another pleasing brain-teaser. While there may be some wee pacing wobbles, and at times the conceit threatens to overwhelm our connection to characters, Hallett deftly brings her mystery all together very cleverly at the end.

This review was first published in a January issue of the New Zealand Listener magazine

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 JIBE

THE JIBE by Robyn Cotton (Hatherop Books, 2024)

Reviewed by Carolyn McKenzie

Ella Hampton makes a mayday call from Aurora on the Hauraki Gulf saying her husband has been lost overboard during a jibe manoeuvre. A body identified as Dean Hampton washes up with a gash to the head and other injuries. The coroner rules it an accident.

Amy Fagin, Dean's sister, while dealing with her recent diagnosis of young-onset Parkinson's disease, suspects something is amiss. Determined to find the truth about her brother's fate, she convinces Frank Smythe, of the Maritime Police Unit, to investigate the case further. Frank partners with Anahera Raupara to determine what really happened aboard Aurora.

Sailing back to Auckland after a few days on Great Barrier Island, Dean Hampton is lost overboard. His wife, Ella, is the only crew member and her mayday call sets a search in motion. Several days later Dean’s body is found with significant injuries probably caused by a propeller blade and a head injury which ties in with Ella’s account of Dean being hit on the head by the boom as the yacht changed direction. The coroner’s decision that it was an accident is widely accepted, although anyone who knew Dean is surprised that he wasn’t wearing a life jacket. Among the mourners at the loved and respected dentist’s funeral are his sister Amy, and Frank Smythe who had sailed with Dean many years ago. Now, as a detective in Auckland’s Maritime Police Unit, Frank also accepts that it was an accident until Amy contacts him to say there are some things which don’t add up. Could it have been murder?

What follows unwinds as a cunningly constructed plot which seesaws between the certainty that Ella must be innocent to no, she must be guilty, but then how did she do it? I can imagine readers with a sailing background joining Frank in calculating how winds and tides impacted the marine tragedy.

The story clips along at a good pace and is hard to put down, with any hint of the solution held back until the very last pages. 

Sailing on the Hauraki Gulf is central to the story but the terminology is so well explained that non-sailors won’t have any trouble understanding what supposedly happened and what really happened. Great Barrier Island, Waiheke, Westhaven Marina and Sea Cleaners all play their part in this mystery along with the police launch Deodar III. The concept of setting a lot of the action in the Gulf rather than onshore is a refreshing novelty.

The Jibe is a novel about Kiwis doing things that we can all relate to: in spite of not being close to her sister-in-law, Amy puts her all into catering for the visitors who flock to Ella’s place to pay their respects after Dean is killed. Amy is less stoic than Ella – her grief is heightened by her young-onset Parkinson’s disease and the book discreetly informs readers of what living with this illness is like and answers some FAQs about it.

Given the essentially kiwi nature of this novel, I was at first puzzled by Cotton’s choice of jibe rather than the British English gybe to describe the fatal manoeuvre. There isn’t a lot of US English in the book, so when there is, it grates – turn off the faucet, instead of tap. However, jibe has other meanings besides the sailing one and these sit well with how the plot unfolds. To jibe with means to agree with and as the story moves along, various accounts and theories of what happened to Dean certainly don’t jibe with each other. As well, to make a jibe at means to taunt and there is plenty of that in the lies and the surprising truths that lay a false trail throughout. 

The Jibe is Cotton’s first book in the crime fiction genre and I’m looking forward to reading more from her.

This review was first published in FlaxFlower reviews, which focuses on in-depth reviews of New Zealand books of all kinds, and is reprinted here with the kind permission of Flaxflower founder and editor Bronwyn Elsmore. 

"Excellent storyteller with knack for atypical protagonists" - review of BLACK AS DEATH

BLACK AS DEATH by Lilja Sigurðardóttir, translated by Lorenza Garcia (Orenda Books, 2025)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

When the chief suspect in the disappearance of Áróra's sister is found dead, and Áróra's new financial investigation leads to the street where her sister was last seen, she is drawn into a shocking case that threatens everything. A three-year-old claims she is the reincarnation of Áróra's sister, Ísafold, and knows details of her death that have never been made public. Is it a hoax, or could there be a more sinister explanation?

As Áróra delves deeper, she uncovers a web of secrets and lies, forcing her to confront her own guilt and the possibility that she never really knew her sister at all. With the help of her boyfriend, Daniel, and her eccentric friend, Lady Gúgúlú, Áróra must unravel the truth before it's too late. But as the lines between the past and present blur, Áróra finds herself in a race against time to save not only herself but also the memory of her sister. 

While Icelandic screenwriter, playwright and crime novelist Lilja Sigurdardottir brings the curtain down (for now, at least) on her award-winning Áróra Investigates series with this gripping fifth instalment. 

A few years after returning to Iceland to search for her estranged sister, financial investigator Áróra is forced to confront some hard truths after Bjorn, the abusive boyfriend and chief suspect in her sister’s disappearance, is found dead, folded into a suitcase in a volcanic fissure. What now?

When Áróra’s investigation into a strangely profitable coffee chain leads to the very street her sister Ísafold was last seen, her search for answers see hers tumbling into a dangerous Europol case.

As Áróra and her police detective boyfriend Daniel probe into the darker sides of the Icelandic community, readers also experience Ísafold’s life in the months leading up to her disappearance.

An excellent storyteller with a knack for atypical female protagonists, Sigurdardottir doesn’t shy away from the trauma and complexities of domestic violence, as Ísafold struggles with her love for, and fear of, Bjorn. While the climax to Isafold’s narrative seems inevitable, Sigurdardottir masterfully keeps the tension high, playing with what we and Áróra know, or think we do.

A fine slice of Nordic Noir that will likely have even more impact if you’ve read some or all of the preceding four books in what is an excellent series. 

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: OKIWI BROWN

OKIWI BROWN by Cristina Sanders (The Cuba Press, 2024)

Reviewed by Karen Chisholm

The Burke and Hare anatomy murders of 1828 terrify Edinburgh, until Burke is hanged and Hare disappears. Over a decade later, in the early days of New Zealand colonial settlement, a whaler washes up on the eastern shores of Port Nicholson. He calls himself Ōkiwi Brown, sets up a pub with an evil reputation and takes in a woman abandoned on his beach. Nearby, children sing dark nursery rhymes of murder.

One afternoon, Õkiwi is visited by a pair of ex-soldiers, a bosun looking for a fight, and itinerant worker William Leckie with his young daughter, Mary. When a body is discovered on the beach, it could be that a drunken man has drowned. But perhaps the gathered witnesses know something more.

Cristina Sanders is a new to me author who has written a number of books in the past along the same lines of ŌKIWI BROWN - a fictionalised version of historical events that incorporate early tales (tall and true) of Aotearoa. 

This story is told in a series of anecdotes, incorporating the story of a man, a waler who washed up on the eastern shores of Port Nicholson many years ago, in the early days of colonial settlement. He sets himself up with a pub and makes a home with a woman found abandoned on the nearby beach, quickly developing a reputation for evil and nasty going's on. 

The set up to this is an unusual one, perhaps not so out of the ordinary for Cristina Sanders if the blurbs for her other books (MRS JEWELL AND THE WRECK OF THE GENERAL GRANT, JERNINGHAM and DISPLACED) are anything to go by, although this one appears to be the only novel that so directly connects the possibility of past and present murders, and a potential character from history. 

Told with incredible strength, and a profound sense of place, ŌKIWI BROWN never shies away from the intrinsic evil of that unknown waler, or the difficulties of life in the new colony, whilst weaving in enough of the story of Burke and Hare to give the assumption of identity some credence. 

Overall it's well depicted, although populated by a lot of characters and some very disparate stories. All in all, it was increasingly disconcerting to think about the possibility of who else washed up on what shores in the days of very limited communications.

Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and has been a regular judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and Ngaio Marsh Awards. This review was first published on Karen's website; she kindly shares some of her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by New Zealanders and Australians on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction. 

"Full throttle thriller, well written" - review of NOBODY'S HERO

NOBODY'S HERO by MW Craven (Little, Brown, Oct 2024)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

When a shocking murder and abduction on the streets of London leads investigators to him, Ben Koenig has no idea at first why the highest echelons of the CIA would need his help. But then he realises he knows the woman who carried out the killings. Ten years earlier, without being told why, he was tasked with helping her disappear.

Far from being a deranged killer, she is the gatekeeper of a secret that could take down the West, so for years she has been in hiding. Until now. And if she has resurfaced, the danger may be closer and more terrifying than anyone can imagine.

So Ben Koenig has to find her before it's too late. But Ben suffers from a syndrome which means he can't feel fear. He doesn't always know when he should walk away, or when he's leading others into danger...

While I've really enjoyed some of MW Craven's excellent crime novels starring DS Washington Poe and civilian analyst Tilly Bradshaw - last year's The Mercy Chair was one of my top reads of 2024 - I hadn't read Fearless, Craven's then-standalone thriller that introduced Ben Koenig, a former US Marshall turned ghost of a man; a man who couldn't feel fear in the way normal humans do. 

So I went into Nobody's Hero, the sequel, not knowing quite what to expect. Overall, it was a highly compelling, page-whirring read. A little different in style - more full-throttle thriller with a shade less character development or layers compared to the Tilly and Poe books, while still being well written. 

And involving huge stakes. Save the world kind of matters, compared to Poe's more local investigations. Speckled too with memorable, if at times over-the-top, characters. Echoes of 007. 

The reappearance of the woman Koenig helped vanish ties to 'the Acacia Avenue Protocol'. In a CIA safe is a list of four names. Koenig is the only one still alive. But he has no clue what the Acacia Avenue Protocol is, or why he's on the top secret list. At first appearance, the nomadic Koenig also doesn't seem like the kind of operative to task with such a mission. But he knows that if the woman has resurfaced then something must be very, very wrong. Sent to London to pick up the trail, Koenig gets sucked into a globe-trotting, action-packed quest taking him from Scotland to New York to Nevada. While dodging or dealing with some very dangerous individuals, including a cabal of corrupt cops, and a peculiar hitman. 

With Nobody's Hero, Craven crafts a master class in action thrillers: lots of intensity, lots of movement, high stakes, interesting characters, an intricate plots and some wonderful set pieces. Koenig is an intriguing hero - even if he feels like nobody's idea of a hero - and the surrounding cast, including frenemy Jen Draper, add extra colour and intrigue. Other than blowing the budget with some spectacular set pieces, Nobody's Hero would likely translate very well to the screen. 

For now though, at least we can all enjoy a ripsnorter of a read. 

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.

"Cutting edge tech with timeless thrills" - review of THE PROVING GROUND

THE PROVING GROUND by Michael Connelly (Allen & Unwin, 2025)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Mickey Haller has moved from criminal to civil court, but murder remains in his sights—in particular, the case of a chatbot encouraging the killing of a teenage girl.

Mickey files a civil lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company responsible for the chatbot and instantly finds himself on the wild frontier of the billion-dollar AI industry. Grappling with a terrifying lack of regulation and data overload, Haller partners with journalist Jack McEvoy. But they are up against mega-forces, and even the bravest whistleblower faces grave danger.

In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue defeated chess master Garry Kasparov with an unexpected gambit. In a Herculean new match of man vs machine, can Haller pull off a winning play for humanity?

Long-time fans of Michael Connelly’s work have already had plenty to enjoy this year, with the crescendo of the excellent Bosch screen adaptation starring Titus Welliver, the launch of the Renee Ballard series on Amazon Prime, continuation of the hit Lincoln Lawyer adaptation on Netflix, and a new series character – LA County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell, exiled to rustic Catalina Island – introduced in Connelly’s previous 2025 novel Nightshade. But wait, there’s more… 

Now Mickey Haller is back on the page too, joined by another Connelly main character, in The Proving Ground. For nearly 35 years Connelly has been entertaining readers (and viewers) with top-notch storytelling that manages to be both timeless, and timely. He’s unafraid to delve into societal and other changes, show the impact of cases on his characters,  and offer modern takes on the detective fiction tropes that have served for more than a century, while still honouring readers and what we love or expect about the mystery genre. And with Michael Conelly’s tales themselves, long-time readers have built up an expectation of consistent excellence.

 

He delivers once more in The Proving Ground, blending familiar foundations with splashes of the new.

In search of a new direction, Mickey Haller, aka ‘the Lincoln Lawyer’, is taking on civil rather than criminal cases, and now he has an artificial intelligence (AI) company in his sights. The creators of a chatbot that may have played a key role in a sixteen-year-old boy killing his ex-girlfriend. 

Delving into unfamiliar ground, Haller joins forces with relentless journalist Jack McEvoy (The Poet, The Scarecrow, etc) as they take on a pioneering case that explores the dangerous sides of the booming AI industry where technological innovation and the race to cash in threatens to overwhelm outdated regulations or any guardrails. With billions at stake, and powerful forces in the tech industry not keen to have progress or profits slowed in any way, it’s an extremely dangerous case.

It's almost redundant nowadays to say Connelly is a master storyteller; it goes without saying. In The Proving Ground he draws readers into a hugely compelling tale that delves into cutting-edge technology while also delivering timeless intrigue and thrills. It’s great to be riding with the Lincoln Lawyer again on the page, and teaming McEvoy and Haller brings another fresh twist to the expansive ‘Bosch universe’ that Connelly has built over more than three decades. 

AI and technology – not to mention the legal system itself – is a hugely complex subject matter, but Connelly deftly draws readers in and provides enough information and background while still maintaining narrative drive and excitement. He’s a master of the ‘telling detail’ that delivers a sense of something without requiring lengthy description. I tore through this book in a day. Another very enjoyable read in Connelly’s ever-expanding canon. As he gets set to celebrate his 70th birthday next year, Connelly is a beacon among the mystery and thriller genre of maintaining the highest standards throughout a long-running series, and threading the needle of fresh and familiar. 

[This review was first published in the Fall 2025 issue of Deadly Pleasures magazine in the USA]

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 MIRES

THE DEEPER THE DEAD by Catherine Lea (Bateman Books, 2025)

Reviewed by Karen Chisholm

Three women give birth in different countries and different decades. In the near future, they become neighbours in a coastal town in Aotearoa New Zealand. Single parent Keri has her hands full with four-year-old tearaway Walty and teen Wairere, a strange and gifted child, who always picks up on things that aren't hers to worry about. They live next door to Janet, a white woman with an opinion about everything, and new arrival Sera, whose family are refugees from ecological devastation in Europe.

 

When Janet’s son Conor arrives home without warning, sporting a fresh buzzcut and a new tattoo, the quiet tension between the neighbours grows, but no one suspects just how extreme Conor has become. No one except Wairere, who can feel the danger in their midst, and the swamp beneath their street, watching and waiting.

Hopefully more and more of us are looking for answers to the state of the world in the right directions, but then again you look at the state of world politics and the rise of the nationalistic mobs, environmental degradation and climate change denial, and it's getting hard to see any light at the end of an increasingly long, dark tunnel. Tina Makereti has chosen to take this situation, and the hopelessness generated hyper-local, with THE MIRES. Into a small community, living on top of a swamp in Kapiti, on the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand which is trying to coexist, and it's in their interactions and responses to threats that we have been given the opportunity to learn something,

The story is centred around three women - all from different countries and different decades, all of whom with children and life experience that vary dramatically. First up is Keri, a Māori woman who lives with the aftermath of domestic violence, struggling to feed her two children - a lively four year old called Walty and her reserved teenage daughter Wairere, who hears the voices of her ancestors and has the gift of sight.

She lives between, on the one side, refugees from ecological breakdown in Europe - Sera, her husband Adam and baby Aliana. On the other Janet, another survivor of domestic violence, she's a white New Zealander woman with very fixed ideas about how everybody else should live. Meanwhile her son, Conor, is becoming increasing radicalised, behaving very secretly and strangely.

These three women - Keri, Sera and Janet - form the core of this novel, but it's Conor who becomes the catalyst, returning home without warning, sporting tattoos and a buzzcut, his behaviour really causing the tension to ramp up. Whilst the older women may not immediately realise just how warped Conor's beliefs have become, Wairere immediately senses the danger.

As with the outstanding and very moving KATARAINA, central to the core of the Māori people is their connection to vital areas of the landscape - in this case, again, a swamp that forms both part of the community and their sensibility for want of a better description. The novel starts out quite deceptively, with the feel of a gentle, domestic styled story about women, families and living in small communities or suburbs. As friendships are formed, and the younger children in particular form initial bridges between them, the novel itself starts to build through the gathering of strangers and the perceived threat of difference to a very particular threat within. Conor and his extremist right-wing connections, isolation, and targeting of women and migrants in particular becomes something that could break this small, almost insulated world apart.

Informed strongly by indigenous sensibilities, beliefs and spiritual connections to Country, and ancestors, THE MIRES also isn't afraid to use the examples of the horror of white supremacy, the massacres that are all too often performed in its name, and attempt to shine a light on that darkest of human behaviour whilst more importantly, providing examples of how the best of humanity can rise above. 

Whilst parts of THE MIRES were devastating, and very discomforting to read, it's message of hope and connection shone through. It has a particularly indigenous sensibility - the things that matter - people / community / connection to those and to place, always to place, feels very much like an answer we could all be looking towards. .

Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and has been a regular judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and Ngaio Marsh Awards. This review was first published on Karen's website; she kindly shares some of her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by New Zealanders adn Australians on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction. 

“Unique, enthralling mystery" - review of THE NANCYS AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING NECKLACE

THE NANCYS AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING NECKLACE by RWR McDonald (Orenda Books, Nov 2025)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Eleven-year-old Tippy’s uncle and his boyfriend turn up in her small New Zealand town to look after her when his mother is away over Christmas, but when her schoolteacher is found dead and her best friend has a near-fatal accident, the trio turns detective, dubbing themselves The Nancys, and launching a chaotic, hilarious investigation.

I don't know if I've grinned as much reading a crime novel for quite a long time. There's such a lovely sense of exuberance to Melbourne-based Kiwi author RWR McDonald's debut mystery, which is set in a fictional small town in the deep south of New Zealand.

Delightful, charming, heartfelt, exuberant; they're not usually the words that come top of mind when musing on a crime novel, but they absolutely fit for The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace, which has an adolescent heroine but is very much an adult mystery novel (not a young adult or juvenile mystery).

I can certainly see why the then-unpublished manuscript was highly commended in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards (a pipeline that has highlighted the likes of The Dry by Jane Harper, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, and The Nowhere Child by Christian White).

There's just something, well, je ne sais quoi, about The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace that makes it quite different to much of the great rural and small-town crime writing coming out of Australia and New Zealand in recent years. While it has some of the quirky local characters and secrets-behind-closed-doors you'd expect with 'rural noir', there's a different energy and tone, delightfully so.

At its heart, and the book has a big one, The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace centres on the misadventures of an unlikely investigating trio and the colourful South Otago townsfolk they encounter. along the way.

Tippy Chan is an eleven-year-old Riverstone local delighted by a visit from her beloved Uncle Pike, a Sydney hairdresser who could body double for Santa Claus. Pike has returned to the riverside town he fled years before - "the town that style forgot", as the blurb aptly describes - with his fashionista boyfriend Devon in tow, to look after Tippy while her mother goes on a cruise.

It's been a tough time for the Chan family, with Tippy's father passing away in the past year and even more stress heaped on her mother, Pike's sister, who could do with a good break away. Tippy loves her uncle’s old Nancy Drew books, and when her best friend falls off a bridge and then her teacher’s body is found near the town's only traffic light, the trio see a chance to solve a mystery for real. At the same time they're juggling other local adventures, including a surprising makeover of a glum teenage neighbour for a local show, and Pike dealing with his past history in the town.

Overall The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace is a real delight, a charming mystery that is much more than charm, packed with lovably unruly characters and chaotic events and perfectly seasoned with humour and heart. First-time novelist McDonald has opened his account with a real belter, a unique and enthralling tale.

[I originally reviewed this book for the New Zealand Listener and this blog on its original Australian and New Zealand release a few years ago. Today a newly edited and updated version, The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace has been published for the first time for UK, USA & global market] 

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: A HOUSE BUILT ON SAND

A HOUSE BUILT ON SAND by Tina Shaw (Text Publishing, 2024)

Reviewed by Karen Chisholm

Maxine has been losing things lately. Her car in the shopping centre carpark. Important work files—and her job as a result. Her marbles? ‘Mild cognitive impairment’, according to the doctor. Time for a nursing home, according to her daughter, Rose.

Rose has her own troubles with a recurring vision of a locked cupboard, claustrophobic panic. Something in the shadows. Something to do with the old family house in Kutarere.

Back in that house by the beach, Maxine and Rose try to find their bearings. But they can’t move forward without dealing with the past—and the past has a few more surprises in store.

The idea of losing things being a precursor to something more sinister is one of those noises lurking at the back of many minds of a "certain age". On the one hand we're always told that forgetting names, losing your keys, forgetting where the car was parked - it's all part of life busy noise. You get it when you're juggling too many things in too small a space of time with not enough sleep because along with that forgetfulness come the aches, pains and niggles. Did I mention dropping things? Am I projecting here? Quite possibly, but A HOUSE BUILT ON SAND was a memorable reading experience because of so many things it's hard to know where to start.

When Maxine's doctor diagnosed 'mild cognitive impairment', he probably should have included a diagnosis for her daughter Rose, who is on edge and suffering some form of PTSD right from the start of this novel. Which means, despite her doctor's explicit instructions not to drive, when Maxine heads out to drive from Auckland to the family bach at Kutarere, she causes panic and resentment. She's hoping that whatever it is that's really important about going there will come to her when she arrives, but a near miss with a truck and a crash into a ditch mean that Rose is called and she could really. Live. Without. The four-hour-drive to collect Maxine. This is not the first drop everything and run episode with Maxine and Rose is annoyed, Rose's husband is tetchy and Maxine doesn't seem to care.

Once Rose gets there though, the idea of an extra night at the house, where there are so many happy memories, seems like a good idea. And then the reader starts to discover just what a car crash Rose's own life has become, even without her mother's dramas. Infertility challenges and a less than invested partner, a job as an early childhood educator adding to the sense of personal failure, to say nothing of the strain of working with other people's children in general. Claustrophobia, and a therapist that can treat her over the phone, at the location of the worst of her childhood triggering memories seems like a good plan, as does the chance to find some way of reconnection with her mother. But Maxine is dealing with her own stirred memories - not all of them good, and there's something, in particular that's worrying her, making her feel guilty and stressed. 

A HOUSE BUILT ON SAND is a interesting approach to what is a very convincing portrayal of somebody's slip into dementia. Giving that the twist of a mystery to be solved seems to reflect the way that life goes - for the sufferer and their families, little mysteries of what / why and when being solved on a regular basis, but this time, with something bigger behind it. It seems that the author of this work has some personal experience of parts of this scenario and the narrative reads as both convincing and sympathetic but realistic, warts and all with humour and sadness, and past and present, leading inexorably to a future that needs some getting used to.

Karen Chisholm is one of Australia's leading crime reviewers. She created Aust Crime Fiction in 2006, a terrific resource - please check it out. Karen also reviews for Newtown Review of Books, and has been a regular judge of the Ned Kelly Awards and Ngaio Marsh Awards. This review was first published on Karen's website; she kindly shares some of her reviews of crime and thriller novels written by New Zealanders adn Australians on Crime Watch as well as on Aust Crime Fiction.