2017 Ngaio Marsh Award Longlist

The Longlist for the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel: The Ngaio Marsh Award represents the very best in Kiwi Crime.

Dead Lemons, by Finn Bell (e-book)
Pancake Money, by Finn Bell (e-book)
Spare Me the Truth, by C.J. Carver (Bonnie Zaffre)
Red Herring, by Jonothan Cullinane (HarperCollins)
The Revelations of Carey Ravine, by Debra Daley (Quercus)
The Three Deaths of Magdalene Lynton, by Katherine Hayton (Katherine Hayton)
Presumed Guilty, by Mark McGinn (Merlot)
Marshall’s Law, by Ben Sanders (Allen & Unwin)
A Straits Settlement, by Brian Stoddart (Crime Wave Press)
The Last Time We Spoke, by Fiona Sussman (Allison & Busby)

Craig Sisterson, organizer of the Ngaio Marsh Award, is a lapsed Lawyer, and major Crime Fiction Fan and Writer who writes for magazines and newspapers in several countries. He also blogs at Crime Watch.

Here's what Craig has to say about this year's long list:

A self-inflicted, self-described cripple dangling off the edge of a cliff above the raging sea near the bottom of New Zealand, clinging precariously to life after getting too noisy with his dangerous neighbours, probably wasn’t the kind of hero Raymond Chandler ever had in mind.

 “Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid,” wrote the cranky king of crime fiction in “The Simple Art of Murder”, an oft-quoted essay for the Atlantic Monthly published a few short weeks after the end of the Second World War.

Seventy-plus years on, the hero of Otago author Finn Bell’s exciting crime debut Dead Lemons is both tarnished, and afraid. And he’s not the only ‘hero’ among this year’s crop of Ngaio Marsh Award longlistees who breaks the classic crime mould. New Zealand authors are unafraid to put their own spin on crime, blending it with other genres, and taking their tales into varied locales and times.

A record number of entries gave the judging panel plenty to ponder, with plenty of new blood joining the local #yeahnoir ranks (credit to Steph Soper of the Book Council for the cool hashtag).

Candidly, it was a tough ask for our judges to narrow down the longlist, with plenty of good local reads that judges liked missing out. While that’s a great situation for the overall health of New Zealand crime writing, it made for some tough calls, differing opinions, and debate.

With such variety on offer (and the fact I’m only personally batting about .500 in terms of correctly picking the winner over the years), I’m not even going to try to play bookie with the contenders.

If you’re a fan of crime fiction, or just good writing, I’m sure there’s something here that could tickle your fancy.

The international judging panel of Ayo Onatade (UK), Greg Fleming (New Zealand), Janet Rudolph (United States), Karen Chisholm (Australia), Paddy Richardson (New Zealand), Stephanie Jones (New Zealand), and Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Iceland), are currently considering the long list.

The finalists will be announced in August, along with the finalists for the Best First Novel and Best Non Fiction categories. The finalists will be celebrated and the winners announced at a WORD Christchurch event in October.

C J Carver and her 5 Inspirational Snacks

CJ Carver is the bestselling author of seven crime fiction novels including Blood Junction. She has won the CWA debut dagger and the Barry Award for Best British Crime Fiction. She has been a long-distance rally driver and is the founding judge for Women’s World Car of The Year. Her latest novel is Spare Me the Truth. We persuaded her to tell us her 5 inspirational snacks and why.

1)    Warmed almond croissant and creamy cappuccino

This one is for writer’s block.  Not that I have – thankfully - suffered from such a thing,

but I’ve definitely come to an occasional T-junction in my book and before I know 

whether to turn left or right, I find I need some mental energy to drive me in the right 

direction.  Cafés are perfect for this, and while I allow the sugar, protein (yep, almonds 

are good for you, right?) and caffeine do its work, I people watch, doodle, and by the

time I get home I’m refreshed and ready to take the right (or is it left?) turn.

2)   Iced water

Drinking iced water and splashing it on your face apparently triggers the stimulating

hormone adrenaline, which boosts blood flow to the brain.  I say apparently as I haven’t

tried it yet, just read about it.  Instead, I drink tea.  Lots of it, because it’s incredibly

important that I get a break from time to time, not just to re-energise my brain but get 

my body moving.  I’ve tried drinking beer, wine and coffee to see if they boost my 

writing, but no, they don’t.  It’s tea that does it for me.

3)    Maltesers

One of the easiest snacks that can be eaten in the car.  Not that I’m advocating eating in 

the car as it distracts the driver and can be dangerous.  However, during the ideas and 

into the plotting stage, Maltesers nestled between my thighs so I don’t have to take my 

eyes off the road (my High Performance Instructor will go berserk if he reads this), I find 

the combination of sugar to my system and the effect of movement on my eyes from the 

countryside flashing past kicks in the right side of my brain.  The creative side.  This is 

when the best of ideas flow.

4)    Nothing.  Just Air.

Writing slightly hungry is excellent for creativity.  Even better though, is inducing what

could be termed the “artistic coma”.  I lie down on the sofa, flat on my back, and quiet

my mind.  I lie there looking at the ceiling, or the big piece of abstract art I have on my 

wall, not quite asleep but not quite awake.  After a while, maybe fifteen or twenty 

minutes, I feel a surge of energy and am quite awake.  I go straight to my computer and 

write.  This is when I usually come up with plot twists that have even me blinking in 

surprise.

5)  70% dark chocolate

 When I’m fed up with air and writing slightly hungry – usually when my characters are tucking into a full English breakfast or a burger – and I need something small but satisfying, I reach for the dark chocolate.  I break the bar into squares and put it on a plate.  I usually only need three or four squares – they’re 50 calories a square, or so it tells me on the packet – and they hit the spot, taking away my hunger and giving me a bit of a boost without filling me up and deadening my brain, which a larger snack would do.  Perfect.

Spare Me The Truth by C J Carver (£12.99 Zaffre Publishing) published 7th April

Dan Forrester, piecing his life back together after the tragic death of his son, is approached in a supermarket by a woman who tells him everything he remembers about his life - and his son - is a lie. Grace Reavey, stricken by grief, is accosted at her mother's funeral. The threat is simple: pay the staggering sum her mother allegedly owed, or lose everything. Lucy Davies has been forced from the Met by her own maverick behaviour. Desperate to prove herself in her new rural post, she's on the hunt for a killer - but this is no small town criminal. Plunged into a conspiracy that will test each of them to their limits, these three strangers are brought together in their hunt for the truth, whatever it costs. And as their respective investigations become further and further entwined, it becomes clear that at the centre of this tangled web is a threat more explosive than any of them could have imagined.

More information about C J Carver and her work can be  found on her website. You can also follow her on Twitter @C_J_Carver. You can also find her on Facebook.