The onset of Alzheimers...

New Zealand's king of crime writing has just shared the first look at the cover of his new thriller, to be released in the United States in August. Paul Cleave has won awards and achieved bestseller status in several countries around the world with his ferocious, vivid crime writing that delves into the darkest places; that entertains while also making the reader think about wider issues in society and our own souls.

For me, Cleave is one of the finest crime writers out there - still shockingly overlooked in some quarters, while having a very devoted fan base in others. His writing and storytelling is superb. I understand it's not for everyone - especially the darkness and violence in parts, but for me he's never gratuitous, and it always fits the world he creates.

TRUST NO ONE is one of my most-anticipated titles of the year, an absolute must-read as soon as it's available. Here's the blurb:

In the exciting new psychological thriller by the Edgar-nominated author of Joe Victim, a famous crime writer struggles to differentiate between his own reality and the frightening plot lines he’s created for the page. 

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

Hailed by critics as a “masterful” (Publishers Weekly) writer who consistently offers “ferocious storytelling that makes you think and feel” (The Listener) and whose fiction evokes “Breaking Bad reworked by the Coen Brothers” (Kirkus Reviews), Paul Cleave takes us down a cleverly twisted path to determine the fine line between an author and his characters, between fact and fiction.

I remember talking to Paul about this book last year, and he said he thinks it's his best work ever. I got the sense this wasn't just a marketing plug that authors give out about a new book. He genuinely seemed very excited about and proud of this one. It's a bit of a departure, a true standalone, from his phenomenal Christchurch series that intertwines the lives of Theo Tate, Carl Schroder, Joe Middleton and others. Today on Facebook Paul said:

"This book is my most personal one in the sense that it's about a crime writer, so for the first time (I assure you) I really did get to write what I know. I loved writing this thing last year - I really did - and it completely consumed me in the process. It's also the first time I wasn't able to come up with a title - for twelve months I could never name this thing - so I'm super grateful for my very cool US publishers to have stepped in and given it a title... which is TRUST NO ONE. And the cover... bloody hell, this is by far the coolest cover ever. It's a hardcover too - it's going to look pretty amazing up on the shelf." 

So keep an eye out for when TRUST NO ONE becomes available. Definitely worth pre-ordering.

I Can't Wait to Read: SOMETHING ROTTEN by Adam Sarafis

Last year I launched a new irregular series here on Crime Watch, "I Can't Wait to Read", which features myself and some great guest bloggers highlighting crime novels that we are really looking forward to reading. Today I'm very happy to showcase the debut crime novel from a new New Zealand crime writer who is much more then he seems. 

The book blurb: 
When budding writer Brent Taylor dies a horrific death in the Auckland University Library, his friend, sex worker Jade Amaro, refuses to believe it is suicide. She seeks help from Sam Hallberg, a former government advisor on terrorism, now working as a mechanic.

As Sam reluctantly agrees to look into the death, a hunt for a lost manuscript leads him ever deeper into a complex case of corruption and deceit. Meanwhile, Sam’s friend, brilliant business journalist Lynette Church, embarks on an investigation of dirty political dealings with major global implications, and with ties to the Iraq War.

It soon becomes clear that something is indeed very rotten…

Beginning in New Zealand, a small, clean and green country at the end of the earth, then winding its way around the globe, this clear-sighted and tense thriller will have you on the edge of your seat. Something is Rotten is beautifully written morality tale with Shakespearean twists and turns.

The author: 
Adam Sarafis was born in 1967 in Auckland, New Zealand. He gained his undergraduate degree at Auckland University before completing his post-graduate studies at the university of Copenhagen. He worked as a reporter for various newspapers in Europe and Australasia eventually becoming a freelance foreign correspondent for some the world’s largest agencies. Based in Auckland, Adam also spends considerable time in the Greek archipelagos and Skagen, Denmark. This is his first novel. (Note: Adam Sarafis is the creation of author Linda Olsson and screenwriter Thomas Sainsbury. He has now taken on a life of his own.)

Why I can't wait: 
I'm always on the lookout for upcoming New Zealand crime novels, and intrigued by the potential of new authors joining the growing genre here - particularly writers who have been successful in other areas and have decided to dip their toes into the crime and thriller writing deep end. So when I came across word of this soon-to-be published novel over the weekend (thanks Linda Lee of Penny's Bookstore in Hamilton), I was keen to find out more. From the blurb, I'm curious about the characters involved and the story, as well as looking forward to reading the evocation of the setting - given I used to live across the road from the University of Auckland. 

I'm also very curious to see how this book, which I found out is a collaboration between two writers working together under a pseudonym, unfolds in style and substance. The two authors are both based in Auckland, and have both studied at the University of Auckland, but on the surface might seem like unlikely writing partners. One is a middle-aged Swedish-born woman with a family who has written novels about unlikely friendships, love and dealing with past, the other an energetic young man who has written dark and subversive comedies for stage and screen (including 30 plays in six years) and alternative work like a comic dance troupe and a Vietnamese children's show. How the two authors blend their styles and voice will be very fascinating.

I understand that SOMETHING IS ROTTEN is intended to be the first book in a trilogy (the Matakana series), so I'm also looking forward to how the series begins, characters are introduced, and where things are left when it comes to ongoing threads and developments. 

I really am looking forward to this one!

When it's available: 
May 2015 in Australia and New Zealand, from Echo Publishing

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You can read more about the book and the author(s) here: 

• Good Reads page
• An interview with Thomas Sainsbury in Craccum magazine
• Linda Olsson's website
• An interview with Linda Olsson
• "Playing for Keeps" - a 2008 interview with young playwright Thomas Sainsbury in the Sunday Star-Times newspaper

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What do you think of the blurb and backstory for SOMETHING IS ROTTEN? Would it be a book you'd like to read? Do you like crime novels where local incidents tie into global events? What writing partnerships or author collaborations have you enjoyed? 

GO SET A WATCHMAN: cover revealed

Back in February we all found out that Harper Lee, long considered perhaps the best one-book author of all time, would in fact, decades after the brilliant courtroom thriller TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, publish a second novel. Given that many of the crime writers I've interviewed over the past few years point to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD as a seminal book in their reading and writing development, this was huge news for anyone who loves the genre.

Today, the UK and Commonwealth cover for the new book, GO SET A WATCHMAN, has been revealed. Lee's sophomore novel (doesn't that seem like a ridiculous term in this completely unique situation?) will be published by William Heinemann, the original publishers of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in the UK back in 1960 (Harper were the US publishers). Here's the blurb for the rediscovered book:

Go Set a Watchman is set during the mid-1950s and features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some twenty years later. Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father Atticus. She is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand both her father’s attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.

Harper Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She attended Huntingdon College and studied law at the University of Alabama. She is the author of To Kill a Mockingbird and has been awarded numerous literary awards including the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

GO SET A WATCHMAN will be published in hardback and ebook on 14 July 2015.

I Can't Wait to Read: THE FIXER

Last year I launched a new irregular series here on Crime Watch, "I Can't Wait to Read", which features myself and some great guest bloggers highlighting crime novels that we are really looking forward to reading. Today I'm very happy to showcase the upcoming debut novel from a new New Zealand crime writer who has quite the unusual and interesting background. 

The book blurb: 
Topical and compelling, John Daniell, an award-winning writer, turns his attention to the illegal world of match-fixing in this page-turning novel. A story about greed and guts and honour, above all The Fixer is about what it means to be a man.

Mark Stevens is 32 and his career in French rugby is starting to slide — slowly at first, before picking up speed in front of our eyes. When a beautiful Brazilian asks for an interview, there is more than one temptation on offer . . .

Mark thinks he’s living the dream. As he tries to prolong that dream, it slowly becomes a nightmare.
Match-fixing is one of the biggest issues surrounding sport at this time. John Daniell, a former professional rugby player, shows how an innocent player can be drawn into an illegal world, one where your actions place your family, half a world away, in danger.

The author: 
John Daniell’s first book Confessions of a Rugby Mercenary won the British Sports Book Prize. It was described as ‘a gem’ (The Observer) ‘riveting’ (The Guardian) and ‘as good an insight into the everyday life of a professional sportsman as you could hope to read’ (The Telegraph). John is a New Zealander who has made a career playing professional rugby in France. He is now a writer and lives in France.

Why I can't wait: 
Two of the things I've loved my entire life - books and sports - combine here. I enjoy reading a variety of crime fiction, novels that swoop across a diverse range of locations, characters, and issues. Yet the sporting world, which is important to so many people (players, legions of fans, those working in the industry) on some level, is rarely seen in the pages of crime fiction. Which is a little strange. Outside of Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar books, and an occasional novel here and there (eg Arild Stavrum's EXPOSED AT THE BACK) there are few sporting crime novels. Which is interesting, when you think of all the issues and money tied up with various professional sports nowadays. Drugs, match-fixing, sports betting, big money and big issues would surely mean big motives? 

So this book ticks many boxes for me. A crime novel. Set in the sports world. By a new author. A new New Zealand author. Who is himself a former professional sportsman who has won awards for his insightful and honest writing about the inner world of professional sport. In the year of the Rugby World Cup, I am very excited to read this rugby-set crime novel.  

When it's available: 
9 April 2015 in New Zealand. 

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You can read more about John Daniell and THE FIXER here: 

• Official publisher page for the book
• Review of "Confessions of a Rugby Mercenary" 
• John Daniell Wikipedia page
• Sports Book of the Week in The Independent

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Do you like the idea of a crime novel set in the world of rugby? Have you read/enjoyed any other crime novels set in the world of sport? What do you think of professional sport as a fertile setting for crime fiction? Comments welcome. 

I Can't Wait to Read: IN BITTER CHILL by Sarah Ward

Last year I launched a new irregular series here on Crime Watch, "I Can't Wait to Read", which features myself and some great guest bloggers highlighting crime novels that we are really looking forward to reading. The series went into a hiatus, has now returned. I'm looking forward to sharing some fascinating books over the coming months - exciting titles from new, on-the-rise, and well-established crime writers.

Today I'm pleased to share the upcoming debut novel from someone who is pretty well-known in reviewing and festival circles: IN BITTER CHILL by British crime fiction blogger Sarah Ward of Crimepieces. 

The book blurb: In 1978, a small town in Derbyshire, England is traumatised by the kidnapping of two young schoolgirls. One girl, Rachel, is later found unharmed but unable to remember anything except that her abductor was a woman.

Over thirty years later the mother of the still missing Sophie commits suicide. Superintendent Llewellyn, who was a young constable on the 1978 case, asks DI Francis Sadler and DC Connie Childs to look again at the kidnapping to see if modern police methods can discover something that the original team missed. However, Sadler is convinced that a more recent event triggered Yvonne Jenkins’s suicide.

Rachel, with the help of her formidable mother and grandmother, recovered from the kidnapping and has become a family genealogist. She remembers nothing of the abduction and is concerned that, after Yvonne Jenkins’s suicide, the national media will be pursuing her for a story once more. Days later, the discovery of one of her former teachers’ strangled body suggested a chain of events is being unleashed.

Rachel and the police must unpick the clues to discover what really happened all those years ago. But in doing so, they discover that the darkest secrets can be the ones closest to you.

The author: Sarah Ward is an online book reviewer whose blog, Crimepieces, reviews the best of current crime fiction published around the world. She has also reviewed for the Eurocrime and Crimesquad websites. As a reviewer, her particular interests are European fiction and she is a judge for The Petrona Award for translated Scandinavian crime novels.

After years of writing professionally in a government agency, she moved to Greece to teach English as a Foreign Language. It was in the Athenian heat, homesick for the English countryside, that she started the crime novel she’d always wanted to write. Sarah now lives in rural Derbyshire in England where her debut novel, IN BITTER CHILL, is set.

Why I can't wait: 
I've known Sarah from around the crime fiction blogging traps for a while now, and we met in person recently at Iceland Noir. I was pretty excited to hear she had been picked up for publication by Faber, in a two-book deal, as I've always enjoyed her reviews and she seemed a thoughtful and articulate person when it came to crime fiction. I'm further intrigued by the story in her debut novel as I often enjoy crime stories that combine historic events that lie dormant then come to startling fruition in the present. I'm curious about the rural Derbyshire setting as well, as I've read many British crime novels over the years, but that may be a new setting for me. The plot sounds exciting, with lots of potential for twists and turns and the development and unveiling of character. The effect of the media on individuals caught up in big stories, the use of modern techniques to solve historic crimes, the quest for answers versus moving on - there could be a lot of terrific themes bubbling away beneath what will hopefully be a page-turning plot.

When it's available: 
2 July 2015 (UK) in hardback, 29 September 2015 (USA) in hardback

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You can read more about Sarah Ward and IN BITTER CHILL here: 

• Crimepieces blog
• "Faber to publish two novels by debut author", DGA press release
• "New Talent November" piece on exciting new authors from Crime Fiction Lover

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What do you think about contemporary crime thrillers set in rural England as opposed to the big cities? Are you a fan of book centred on historic events affecting the present day? Based on the book blurb, is IN BITTER CHILL something you could see yourself wanting to read this year? Comments welcome. 

I Can't Wait to Read: SNOW BLIND

Last year I launched a new irregular series here on Crime Watch, "I Can't Wait to Read", which features myself or other guest bloggers highlighting a crime novel (upcoming or already out) that they are really looking forward to reading. The series went into a hiatus, but returns in 2015, and I'm looking forward to sharing some great new and upcoming books over the coming months - exciting titles from new, on-the-rise, and well-established crime writers.

Today I'm happy to feature the first English-language translation from a very cool Icelandic author I met at Bloody Scotland in September last year, and then again at Iceland Noir in November. I was very excited to hear his Scandinavian thrillers have been picked up for publication in English, by Orenda Books, a new boutique publishing house.

The book blurb:
Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors – accessible only via a small mountain tunnel. Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik – with a past that he’s unable to leave behind. When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in the local theatre, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life. An avalanche and unremitting snowstorms close the mountain pass, and the 24-hour darkness threatens to push Ari over the edge, as curtains begin to twitch, and his investigation becomes increasingly complex, chilling and personal. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness – blinded by snow, and with a killer on the loose. Taut and terrifying, Snowblind is a startling debut from an extraordinary new talent, taking Nordic Noir to soaring new heights.

The author bio:
Ragnar Jónasson was born in Reykjavik in 1976, and currently works as a lawyer, while teaching copyright law at the Reykjavik University Law School. In the past, he’s worked in TV and radio, including as a news reporter for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. Before embarking on a writing career, Ragnar translated 14 Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic, and has had several short stories published in German, English and Icelandic literary magazines. Ragnar set up the first overseas chapter of the CWA (Crime Writers’ Association) in Reykjavik, and is co-founder of the international crime-writing festival Iceland Noir, selected by the Guardian as one of the ‘best crime-writing festivals around the world’. Ragnar Jónasson has written five novels in the Dark Iceland series, and he is currently working on his sixth. He lives in Reykjavik with his wife and two daughters. Nightblind will be published by Orenda Books in 2016.

Why I can't wait:
Along with having a similar background to me (lawyer, journalist, festival organiser, crime history buff, etc), Ragnar just seems a very intelligent and intriguing fellow. I've heard terrific things about his books from people who've read them in the original Icelandic, and the idea of a series set in small-town Iceland, which is reminiscent in many ways of New Zealand (ruggedly majestic scenery, isolated geographically, hardy people, reliance on the sea and land, sparsely populated, etc) is quite fascinating to me. I've also experienced the northern winter, where the sun doesn't even rise above the Arctic Circle, so am very curious as to how Ragnar incorporates that atmosphere into the setting and psychology of his debut thriller.

When it's available: 
15 June 2015, in paperback and ebook

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You can read more about Ragnar Jonasson and SNOWBLIND here: 

• Author website (in English)
• The inception of Iceland Noir
• Feature in Crime Time magazine

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What do you think about crime thrillers from Scandinavia, and Iceland in particular? Does SNOW BLIND sound intriguing to you, as it does to me? What Nordic Noir titles are you looking forward to this year?

FALLOUT to be published in UK and US

Unfortunately New Zealand crime novels aren't always easy to find in the northern hemisphere. Despite the great reviews, high quality storytelling, and award wins, there are many terrific Kiwi crime writers whose work isn't readily available in the UK and US. Which is a real shame.

Every year the international judges on the Ngaio Marsh Award judging panel rave about the range and quality of New Zealand crime writing. A repeated refrain is "I wish we could get this over here".

Fortunately, some contemporary Kiwi crime writers have been picked up by UK/US publishers, including 2013 Ngaio Marsh Award winner Paul Thomas. After publishing the book that won that award, DEATH ON DEMAND, Bitter Lemon Press is set to publish the follow-up (and fifth in the Ihaka series), FALLOUT - which has recently been released in New Zealand.

I read the latest Ihaka before coming to Europe, and really enjoyed it. I actually think it may be better than DEATH ON DEMAND, which was very well received. According to the Bitter Lemon website, their version will be released in the US in April 2015 and the UK in September 2015.

An excellent cover too. Here's the blurb for the new Ihaka:

Tito Ihaka, the unkempt, overweight Maori cop was demoted to Sergeant due to insubordination and pigheadedness. He investigates the unsolved killing of 17 year old girl at an election night party in a ritzy villa near Auckland. Ihaka is also embroiled in a very personal mystery. A freelance journalist has stumbled across information that Ihaka's father Jimmy, a trade union firebrand and renegade Marxist, didn't die of natural causes. The stories weave themselves into an exciting climax in an atmosphere of political manoeuvring and intrigue surrounding the USA's confrontation with New Zealand over its anti-nuclear stance.

You can read an extract here.

Ihaka to return in FALLOUT

We had to wait 15 years for Detective Tito Ihaka, who I described as an "anarchic knight errant" in an article for the New Zealand Listener, to return in DEATH ON DEMAND in 2012.

It was terrific to see Paul Thomas, the Godfather of contemporary New Zealand crime writing, come back into our indigenous mystery and mayhem fold after such a long absence. As much as I enjoyed his articles for the Herald and the Listener, there is just something special about a Thomas-penned crime tale.

Thomas went on to win the 2013 Ngaio Marsh Award for DEATH ON DEMAND, and I'm very pleased to say that we won't have to wait another 15 years for the fifth instalment in the Ihaka saga. 

In August, FALLOUT will be released by Upstart Press, a relatively new publisher founded and staffed by some highly experienced members of the New Zealand publishing industry (including ex-Hachette NZ managing director Kevin Chapman and publisher Warren Adler). 

There's not a lot of information about the new title yet, but I can share the cover, and this wee blurb: "The action-packed follow-up to the highly successful Tito Ihaka novel, Death on Demand, involves New Zealand’s confrontation with the USA over its anti-nuclear stance". 

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.

DEATH ON DEMAND released in northern hemisphere!

In some great news for lovers of high quality, intriguing crime fiction, Paul Thomas's latest Detective Ihaka novel (and the first in 15 years), has recently been published in the northern hemisphere by Bitter Lemon Press, a terrific publisher which specialises in bringing quality crime writers from smaller countries to US and UK readers. Here's the blurb for the UK edition:

"Maori cop Tito Ihaka is a cop unable to play the police politics necessary for promotion, but a man who has a way with women, and he's a stubborn investigator with an uncanny instinct for the truth. Called back to follow up a strange twist in the unsolved case that got him into trouble in the first place, Ihaka finds himself hunting a shadowy hitman who could have several notches on his belt. His enemies want him off the case, but the bodies are piling up. Soon he becomes involved with an enigmatic female suspect who could hold the key to everything."

You can read a lot more about Thomas here on Crime Watch, including interviews, news, and reviews of DEATH ON DEMAND, which will be eligible for the 2013 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, from last year when it was first released here. You can check out the Bitter Lemon Press edition on Amazon here.

Mistaken identities and creepy lakes...

Donna Malane, whose first crime novel, SURRENDER, won the NZSA Pindar Publishing Prize a couple of years ago, talks about the inspiration behind her crime writing and her upcoming second thriller MY BROTHER'S KEEPER, in the video above. Malane is an acclaimed New Zealand TV screenwriter and producer, with a long string of credits across genres. Her film-length drama Until Proven Innocent, based on the true story of David Dougherty (who was wrongly convicted of rape), won Best Drama at the Qantas Film and Television Awards. MY BROTHER'S KEEPER will be published in New Zealand on 1 February 2013.

Kiwi thriller to be published in Afrikaans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The book is slated for Afrikaans publication in May.

Donna Malane's Diane Rowe returns soon!

Earlier this year I revealed the terrific news that HarperCollins had picked up Donna Malane's NZSA Pindar Publishing Prize-winning debut thriller, SURRENDER, and that it was also going to publish the second book in Malane's series starring missing person's expert Diane Rowe.

Malane is an acclaimed New Zealand TV screenwriter and producer, with a long string of credits across genres. Her film-length drama Until Proven Innocent, based on the true story of David Dougherty (who was wrongly convicted of rape), won Best Drama at the Qantas Film and Television Awards.

I am very pleased to now be able to share more details about the second Diane Rowe book, MY BROTHER'S KEEPER, which will be published in New Zealand on 1 February 2013. Here is the official blurb from the publisher, and the book cover (right):

Diane Rowe, our missing persons expert, will once again take us on a dark ride through the underbelly of a city not prepared to give up its secrets easily.

Ex-con Karen needs Diane's help to track down her fourteen-year-old daughter, Sunny, who she's lost contact with while she's been in prison. To Diane, this appears at first glance to be a simple case of a mother wanting to reunite with a beloved daughter. But she soon learns that while Sunny miraculously survived her mother's attempt to kill her, little brother Falcon was not so lucky. Tracking the girl down is easy. However, convincing her to meet the woman who tried to kill her is no easy task. And at the back of Diane's mind is a nagging thought - that guilt and innocence aren't straightforward and nothing is quite what it seems. Does Karen really want to fix the wrongs of the past or is there something darker at play here that will take all of Diane's skills to uncover?

I was impressed by, and really enjoyed, SURRENDER, when I originally read it back in 2010. In a review for the Weekend Herald, I said:

Told in first-person through Diane’s eyes, SURRENDER is an impressive debut powered by a vivid and captivating ‘narrative voice’. While you’d perhaps expect great action, setting and description from someone used to the ‘sight and sound’ world of television, Malane also does a terrific job in terms of what separates a novel from a screenplay; the internal world inside her main character’s head. Diane is an intriguing heroine: at times frustrating; at times engaging; at times humorous; always compelling. Readers get a very real sense of how she sees the world, and it’s impossible not to ‘feel’ for her as she gets herself into all sorts of strife trying to do the right thing, if in an unconventional way

You can read the full review here. I am looking forward to the return of Diane Rowe, who was a character who really grew on me throughout the course of SURRENDER.  

Further reading about Donna Malane:

• 9mm interview with Donna Malane
• "Gritty crime thriller earns literary prize" - feature article by Linda Herrick in the Weekend Herald
• Review of SURRENDER by Mira Bradshaw for TVNZ
• Review of SURRENDER by Sarah Gumbley in NZLawyer
• My review of Until Proven Innocent (available on DVD) in NZLawyer

Are you looking forward to MY BROTHER'S KEEPER? Have you read SURRENDER? Do you like the sound of Wellington-set crime fiction?

COLLECTING COOPER to be published locally

Last year, Paul Cleave won the second ever Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel for his fourth dark Christchurch-set tale, BLOOD MEN (read the Herald on Sunday story here, and one in The Press here). A few weeks before the ceremony in Christchurch, the hometown of Dame Ngaio, Cleave's fifth novel, COLLECTING COOPER was published in the United States, to some very good reviews. Unfortunately, due to a publisher change here in New Zealand, COLLECTING COOPER hasn't yet been published locally.

In some great news, Cleave has now been picked up for New Zealand publication by Penguin, who add Cleave to an already very strong local crime writing stable including 2010 Ngaio Marsh Award winner Alix Bosco (Greg McGee), 2010 finalist Vanda Symon, 2011 finalist Paddy Richardson, and dual finalist Neil Cross (who is distributed in New Zealand by Penguin).

Penguin will be publishing COLLECTING COOPER in mid 2012 (New Zealand cover pictured above right), and following up with Cleave's next dark thriller, THE LAUGHTERHOUSE, in November this year. Great news for local crime fiction fans, who will get more of a chance to see why Cleave is so incredibly popular in continental Europe.

What do you think of the cover? Have you read an overseas version of COLLECTING COOPER? If so, what do you think? Who do you think might win the 2012 Ngaio Marsh Award?

SURRENDER's Diane Rowe to return!

I've received some great news on the Kiwi crime fiction front, with word that publisher HarperCollins has signed up Donna Malane for a two-book deal which will see Malane bring her missing persons expert heroine Diane Rowe back to the page for another bow.

Back in 2010, an unpublished crime thriller manuscript by acclaimed TV screenwriter and producer Malane, SURRENDER, rose above more than 500 entries to win the inaugural NZSA-Pindar Publishing Prize, and was published later that year to very good reviews and good sales for a debut New Zealand novel.

Unfortunately, the book was caught up a little in the collapse of Red Group (owners of Whitcoulls and Borders) who were a sponsor of the prize and stockists of the book. Leaving Malane and the NZSA a little high and dry when it came to broadening its publication, etc.

SURRENDER, which was long-listed for the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award, introduced Diane Rowe, a missing persons expert used to making sense of other people's lives, while not being so good at her own. The brutal murder of her little sister, Niki, and the break-up of her marriage, have tested her usual tough optimism.

When Niki’s killer turns up dead, Diane sets out to nail the truth. But uncovering Niki’s seedy past reveals truths and dangers she never expected – or wanted – to face.

SURRENDER was Malane's first foray into book-based crime fiction, but she did already have quite a true crime and crime fiction pedigree on the small screen. During her years researching and writing re-enactments for television’s Crimewatch series, Malane had unprecedented access to police files and cases. During that time she formed enduring relationships with police, forensic scientists, lawyers, victims and their families, as well as with the odd criminal. Malane also wrote and/or produced a variety of prime-time TV dramas and documentaries, including police drama series Shark in the Park, international doco-drama series Indelible Evidence, crime drama series Duggan (for which she won Best Drama Script at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards in 2000) and film for television Until Proven Innocent, the story of the wrongful conviction of David Dougherty for the rape and abduction of his 11 year old neighbour. Until Proven Innocent won seven major awards at the 2009 Film and Television Awards, including Best Drama.

I was very pleased to hear this week that HarperCollins have signed up Malane, and will republish SURRENDER in 2012, and publish a new Diane Rowe book in 2013. Great news!

Some reviews of SURRENDER:

• My review in the Weekend Herald
• Mira Bradshaw's review for TVNZ
• Sarah Gumbley's review in NZLawyer
• Margot Kinberg at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
• Bernadette at Reactions to Reading
• Debbie Cowens at her blog

Have you read SURRENDER? What did you think? Are you looking forward to following the continued exploits of Diane Rowe? What did you think of Rowe as a heroine?

Eleanor Catton discusses her historical, astrological, murder mystery

A few years ago, young Kiwi author Eleanor Catton (who was born in Canada while her New Zealand father was studying there) burst onto the literary scene with her debut novel, THE REHEARSAL, which dealt with the reactions to an affair between a male teacher and a secondary school student, contrasted with the more muted response to the death of another student.

Over the couple of years after the novel's initial publication in 2007, Catton's star continued to rise and rise, as she was awarded a Writers' Fellowship to Iowa University, won the UK-based Betty Trask Award, the Montana Best First Book Award (in New Zealand), was shortlisted for The Guardian First Book Award, and longlisted for the Orange Prize, amongst other accolades and acclaim.

Late last year I stumbled across an interesting note online suggesting that Catton's second novel, which she was then working on, might include something of a murder mystery. Understandably, this piqued my interest.

Now Catton has been interviewed by the Book Council about her upcoming second novel, THE LUMINARIES, which is set in the Gold Rush era of New Zealand, in the 1860s (side note - this was named one of the 'hot books' being sold at the Frankfurt Book Fair late last year).

You can read that interview, where Catton talks about why she believes history should be strange, her (changing?) views on astrology, and the most inventive murder mysteries she's read, HERE.

So Brilliantly Clever: a detailed look at a decades-old crime

Previously on Crime Watch I've talked a little about bestselling crime writer Anne Perry, who writes some very good historical crime fiction, but also has been entwined in historic real-life crime herself; she was one of the teenage perpetrators of the infamous Parker-Hulme murder in 1950s New Zealand that was made into an acclaimed film, Heavenly Creatures, by Sir Peter Jackson (the first film to star a young Kate Winslet).

Last year, a new documentary, Anne Perry: Interiors (filmmaker: Dana Linkiewicz), looking at Perry's reclusive life, her almost single-minded dedication to writing, and her tiny band of close friends and devoted supporters that she surrounds herself with, living in otherwise rural isolation near the small Scottish village of Portmahomack, was released, and had screenings here in New Zealand. At the time there were some stories in the local media, including some that spoke to lawyer and true crime writer Peter Graham, who had been working on a book on the Parker-Hulme murder, about his thoughts on Perry and the way she came across in the documentary.

Now Graham's true crime book, SO BRILLIANTLY CLEVER, is being released this week by Awa Press.

You can read more about the book here, and a good story in The Press here. Apparently there is also a story in this week's New Zealand Listener about Graham and his research into the long-ago murder.

From Sam to standalone: a sneak peak at Vanda Symon's upcoming thriller

When I interviewed contemporary Kiwi crime queen Vanda Symon earlier this year for a feature article in the Weekend Herald (read that article here), we talked not only about her latest novel, the excellent BOUND (Penguin, 2011), and the evolution of her fantastic heroine Sam Shephard, but also about what she was working on next. As it turned out Symon was/is taking a break from Sam, and trying something new: a darker, standalone novel told from multiple viewpoints that would be released in early 2012.

After four fascinating crime novels starring the irrepressible Sam, I can understand Symon wanting to stretch her writing wings and try something a little different - and as has been shown by other authors like Michael Connelly (THE POET, after several Harry Bosch novels), Mark Billingham (IN THE DARK, after several DI Tom Thorne novels) and Harlan Coben (TELL NO ONE, after several Myron Bolitar novels),  it can be a good thing for a crime writer to release a darker standalone thriller that might attract broader audience attention, and bring more readers into the fold for the main ongoing series as well. As I think Symon is a very good writer, I certainly hope that ends up being the case for her, as well.

Now, a'blurb' for FACELESS, Symon's upcoming standalone thriller, is available (thanks to Symon's UK-based agents, Gregory & Company):

Darren Fordyce is a man trapped in middle-class New Zealand. He is in his late thirties, married with two young children, a successful businessman and wondering what the hell happened to his life? How had it become so mundane? Life is a cycle of getting up, going to work, coming home, dealing with the family and going to bed, day in day out, week in week out, with no sight of change or opportunity on the horizon.

One day, when it all gets too much, in a rash and uncharacteristic moment he picks up a prostitute, but when overcome with guilt and shame, instead of walking away, he panics and kidnaps her. In this novel we see his first fearful interactions with the young woman he has taken, then we see his slow descent into masochism, when he discovers the inner pleasure he gets from finally being in control of something, controlling her, torturing her from his first tentative slaps, to his escalation into sadistic harm.

Vilimena Navai, known as Billy, is one of the faceless, an eighteen year old, Fijian illegal immigrant drifter and sometime graffiti artist. She has on occasion turned tricks to for cash, but only when in dire need of money. When again the need arises, she accepts a ride from a businessman.

Max Grimes is also a faceless. He was once a police detective and a high flyer with properties and investments, but the pressure of work, a series of financial catastrophes and then the brutal murder of his beloved 14 year-old daughter tipped him over the limits of his endurance. He now lives on the streets. The one bright light in his miserable world is Billy whose kind heartedness has kept him alive. When Billy suddenly disappears Max knows something bad has happened to her. When he reports her missing the Police aren’t interested. Max has to pull himself out of his mire and use all of his smarts to find her, and the clock is ticking.

It certainly sounds interesting to me, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Symon weaves the characters' stories together into a (hopefully) compelling thriller. When I interviewed Symon at the beginning of the year, she had just started FACELESS, and seemed to be pleased with how it was going. "It's early days, but it's good. It's fun to be writing from different persepectives," she said. "I love writing about Sam, but it's nice to have a wee break."

Symon has also thrown another change-up into the mix; the book isn't set in the southern part of New Zealand. "I've set it in Auckland," she told me. "It's crime fiction, but not a detective story in the police procedural sense. It's a bit darker. This is a book that I've been mulling over for a few years. It's been brewing in the background for quite some time. Something different to keep me fresh."

I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what Symon has to offer with her new book, although, like I imagine many who have read her earlier works, I certainly hope we haven't seen the last of Sam Shephard.

Have you read any of Vanda Symon's crime novels? What do you think of Sam Shephard as a main character? Do you like to read standalone thrillers as well as (or instead of/more than) ongoing series? Comments welcome.

TRACES OF RED by Paddy Richardson

One of the most pleasing things about the slowly growing Kiwi crime fiction scene is that we now have several talented writers who are publishing multiple books, whereas in the past we had many authors who published one or two crime, mystery, or thriller novels, and then that was it (for examples, click on the bibliographical list of Kiwi crime writers above). It's great to see the likes of Vanda Symon, Neil Cross, Paul Cleave and others writing three, four, five and more crime novels - and others like Alix Bosco and Ben Sanders look like they too will hopefully follow this path and keep writing crime.

Another talented Kiwi crime writer is Paddy Richardson, a finalist for this year's Ngaio Marsh Award for her acclaimed psychologial suspense tale HUNTING BLIND (Penguin, 2010), which hit #1 on the local bestseller list last year, and sold well locally, especially for a locally-written crime novel. I thought HUNTING BLIND was a really good suspense novel, that showed Richardson was really finding her stride as a thriller writer. For me it was a noticeable step up from her debut thriller A YEAR TO LEARN A WOMAN.

Here's what I had to say about the book to Nicky Pellegrino of the Herald on Sunday in the lead-up to this year's award announcement:

Richardson's tale of a woman who is trying to uncover what really happened to her sister years ago expertly melds family drama and psychological suspense. Highlights of this novel include the evocation of the South Island scenery, a lingering sense of unease, and the way Richardson delves into the complexity of human relationships and the aftermath of high-profile tragedy; uncovering the very real and ongoing effects after the media circus leaves.

As such, I was very pleased to see that Richardson has a third thriller (and fourth novel overall) coming out soon: TRACES OF RED. Here's the blurb:

Rebecca Thorne is a successful television journalist, but her world is thrown into turmoil when her Saturday night programme is axed because of falling ratings. Not only will she lose her job but her big story on the convicted triple murderer Connor Bligh, whom Rebecca believes is innocent, has to be abandoned.

Rebecca's lover Joe, a married man and the barrister representing Bligh, also thinks Bligh is innocent – or does he? And if he loves Rebecca so much, why is he prepared to cast her off?

Meanwhile Bligh languishes in jail, convicted of three brutal murders and continuing to protest his innocence. He's clearly not a saint – but did he do it? Rebecca refuses to let the matter lie...

New Zealand readers will realise that, like HUNTING BLIND with it's 'ripped from the headlines' hook of a young girl who goes missing from a small New Zealand town, there are plenty of echoes of some high-profile real-life events in the plot of Richardson's next novel, as recently we've had some notable cases of prisoners protesting their evidence, and plenty of discourse and debate over whether they are or not (eg David Bain, Peter Ellis, Scott Watson, etc). I'm really looking forward to seeing how Richardson weaves the associated themes into her thriller, and where she takes us with the book.

TRACES OF RED will be released in New Zealand in late November.