A FADING All Black, a teen runaway, a cop
in witness protection, and a robotic private eye are among the memorable
characters at the heart of novels named today as finalists for the 2016 Ngaio
Marsh Awards.
“We had a
record number of entrants this year, which gave several headaches to our
international judging panel,” says awards founder and Judging Convenor Craig
Sisterson. “Not only are our local authors producing novels of exceptional
international quality, they are breaking the shackles of convention and
stretching the boundaries of genre to explore crime storytelling in unique and
exciting ways. We were comparing apples with feijoas.”
An
extended judging process has led to two very strong shortlists, says Sisterson.
This year, not only will the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel,
established in 2010, be presented at the Great New Zealand Crime Debate at WORD
Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival on 27 August, but also a new Best
First Novel prize for debuts.
The
finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel are:
• INSIDE
THE BLACK HORSE by Ray Berard (Mary Egan Publishing);
• MADE TO
KILL by Adam Christopher (Titan Books);
• TRUST
NO ONE by Paul Cleave (Upstart Press);
• THE
LEGEND OF WINSTONE BLACKHAT by Tanya Moir (RHNZ Vintage); and
• AMERICAN
BLOOD by Ben Sanders (Allen & Unwin).
The
finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel are:
• INSIDE
THE BLACK HORSE by Ray Berard (Mary Egan Publishing);
• THE
FIXER by John Daniell (Upstart Press);
• THE
GENTLEMEN’S CLUB by Jen Shieff (Mary Egan Publishing); and
• TWISTER
by Jane Woodham (Makaro Press).
“I’d like
to thank all our entrants for making our job so tough,” says Sisterson, “along
with all our judges and WORD Christchurch for their ongoing support of the
Ngaio Marsh Awards. Local crime writing is in fine fettle.”
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