Two authors who returned to crime writing after more than a
decade away have today been named among an eclectic longlist for the 2018 Ngaio
Marsh Award for Best Novel.
“We shattered our
record for entries in the Ngaio Marsh Awards this year, with 69 different books
entered across our two fiction categories” says founder Craig Sisterson. “Along with a surge in first-time Kiwi
authors choosing to write tales of crime, mystery and suspense – more than
fifty new voices in the past three years - it’s been great to see more
experienced local authors veering to the darker side as well as past crime
writers returning to the fold.”
This year’s longlist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel
includes a mix of new and experienced voices, several authors who’ve won and
been shortlisted for a variety of awards in several countries, and writers
ranging in age from early 20s to early 80s.
“It’s a really eclectic
mix of tales on this year’s longlist,” says Sisterson. “Exhibits A-E: we have the return of Edmund
Bohan’s nineteenth century detective Inspector O’Rorke after a fifteen-year
absence, Stella Duffy’s first crime novel in more than a decade, a stunning
debut from an ex-undercover cop, and two tales that impressed the Ockhams
judges.”
The Ngaio Marsh Awards have celebrated the best New Zealand
crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense writing since 2010, and this year’s
longlist runs the full gamut, from detective fiction to gothic suspense to
psychological thrillers to historical mysteries and magic realism.
The longlist for the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel
is:
MARLBOROUGH MAN by Alan Carter (Fremantle Press)
BABY by Annaleese Jochems (VUP)
SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)
THE LOST TAONGA by Edmund Bohan (Lucano)
THE EASTER MAKE BELIEVERS by Finn Bell
THE ONLY SECRET LEFT TO KEEP by Katherine Hayton
TESS by Kirsten McDougall (VUP)
THE SOUND OF HER VOICE by Nathan Blackell (Mary Egan
Publishing)
A KILLER HARVEST by Paul Cleave (Upstart Press)
THE HIDDEN ROOM by Stella Duffy (Virago)
The longlist is currently being considered by a judging panel
of crime, thriller, and suspense writing experts from the United States, United
Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
The finalists will be announced in July, along with the
finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel. The finalists will be
celebrated, and the winners announced as part of a special event at the WORD
Christchurch Festival, held from 29 August to 2 September.
For more information on this year’s
longlist, or the Ngaio Marsh Awards in general, please contact founder and
judging convenor Craig Sisterson, craigsisterson@hotmail.com
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