CfP: The Golden Age of Crime: A Reappraisal

 

The Golden Age of Crime: A Reappraisal

22^nd – 23^rd June 2022 at Bournemouth University

The Golden Age of crime fiction, roughly defined as puzzle-based mystery fiction produced between the First and Second World Wars, is enjoying a renaissance both in the literary marketplace and in scholarship. This conference intervenes in emerging academic debates to define and negotiate the boundaries of Golden Age scholarship.

As well as interrogating the staples of ‘Golden Age’ crime (the work of Agatha Christie and/or Ellery Queen, the puzzle format, comparisons to ‘the psychological turn’), this conference will look at under-explored elements of the publishing phenomenon. Joining us in this fascinating debate, keynotes will be given by Shedunnit creator Caroline Crampton, and Alistair Rolls of the University of Newcastle. This is a hybrid event, taking place both at Bournemouth University and online. Please note, at least one keynote will be online. Our second keynote subject to travel restrictions.

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers or panel presentations of one hour. Topics can include, but are by no means limited to, the following:

• Defining the parameters of Golden Age crime

• The Queens of Crime (Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, Gladys Mitchell)

• Significant male writers of the Golden Age (John Dickson Carr, Anthony Berkeley, Ellery Queen)

• Lesser-known Golden Age practitioners

• Collaborative and round robin novels

• Continuation novels

• The Detection Club

• Parody, pastiche, and postmodernism

• Psychology and psychoanalysis

• Meta-fiction and self- or inter-referentiality

• The language of crime fiction

• The Golden Age and social value

• Nostalgia and heritage

• Writing the past

• Gender, sexuality, and queerness

• Clues and coding

• Crime and the Gothic

• Magic and the supernatural

• Place, space, and psychogeography

• Reissues and rediscovery

• Archival finds and innovations

• The ‘Second Golden Age’

• The influence of Golden Age crime writers on subsequent and contemporary writers

• Interdisciplinary perspectives

• Teaching Golden Age crime fiction

We welcome academic and creative paper proposals. Please email your 200-word proposal and short biographical note to goldenageofcrime@gmail.com no later than 18^th April 2022. Comments and queries should be directed to the same address.

Organisers: Dr J.C. Bernthal (University of Suffolk), Sarah Martin (Bournemouth University), Dr Stefano Serafini (University of Warwick).

Programme for the 2021 Bodies From The Library Conference unveiled.

The Golden Age Of Detective Fiction Conference - 15 May 2021

 The programme for the 2021 Bodies From The Library Conference has been unveiled.

We are very pleased to announce the return of Bodies From The Library with a new Conference for 2021 which, for the first time, will be a free event held online via Zoom on 15th May 2021.

As always, the Conference will celebrate the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and will be of interest to fans of Agatha Christie and her contemporaries – Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L Sayers, John Dickson Carr, Margery Allingham, the Detection Club -and also to those wanting to discover forgotten authors from the period.elebrate the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and will be of interest to fans of Agatha Christie and her contemporaries – Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L Sayers, John Dickson Carr, Margery Allingham, the Detection Club -and also to those wanting to discover forgotten authors from the period.

The conference will start at 1:30pm (BST) and will include an exciting programme of discussions, presentations and panels on Golden Age Detective Fiction Writers and, although we won’t be able to meet in person this year, there will still be an opportunity to talk to leading experts on classic detective fiction and modern authors whose novels follow in the Golden Age tradition. You will also be able to connect with and chat to old and new friends online.

The Conference is open to everyone and we very much hope that, by holding an online event this year, Golden Age fans from around the world will be able to join us.

1.30pm Introduction and Welcome

1.35pm Opening Panel: Martin Edwards, Alison Joseph and Kate Ellis discuss Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by The Detection Club

2.05pm Martin Edwards and Christine Poulson assess Anthony and Peter Shaffer

BREAK

2.45pm Jim Noy TBC

3.15pm Moira Redmond and Len Tyler examine The Great Gladys (Mitchell)

BREAK

3.55pm Mark Green looks at Fogginess: A comparison of the writing styles of the four Queens of Crime

4.25pm Steve Barge and Kate Jackson consider The Resurrection of Brian Flynn

BREAK

5.05pm Curtis Evans uncovers The Many Faces of Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge

5.35pm Closing panel with Jake Kerridge (Q/A subject to be decided)

The organisers reserve the right to change the programme and timings. Please register using the link below to receive the details for you to join the Conference on Zoom.

Registration link.

For more information visit - www.bodiesfromthelibrary.com

Call for Papers: The Golden Age of Crime: A Re-Evaluation

The Golden Age of crime fiction, roughly defined as puzzle-based mystery fiction produced between the First and Second World Wars, is enjoying a renaissance both in the literary marketplace and in scholarship. This conference intervenes in emerging academic debates to define and negotiate the boundaries of Golden Age scholarship.

As well as interrogating the staples of ‘Golden Age’ crime (the work of Agatha Christie and/or Ellery Queen, the puzzle format, comparisons to ‘the psychological turn’), this conference will look at under-explored elements of the publishing phenomenon.

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers or panel presentations of one hour. Topics can include, but are by no means limited to, the following:

Defining the parameters of Golden Age crime

The Queens of Crime (Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, Gladys Mitchell)

Significant male writers of the Golden Age (John Dickson Carr, Anthony Berkeley, Ellery Queen)

Lesser-known Golden Age practitioners

Collaborative and round robin novels

Continuation novels

The Detection Club

Parody, pastiche, and postmodernism

Psychology and psychoanalysis

Meta-fiction and self- or inter-referentiality

The language of crime fiction

The Golden Age and social value

Nostalgia and heritage

Writing the past

Gender, sexuality, and queerness

Clues and coding

Crime and the Gothic

Magic and the supernatural

Place, space, and psychogeography

Reissues and rediscovery

Archival finds and innovations

The ‘Second Golden Age’

The influence of Golden Age crime writers on subsequent and contemporary writers

Interdisciplinary perspectives

Teaching Golden Age crime fiction

Organisers: Dr J C Bernthal (University of Cambridge), Sarah Martin (University of Chester), Dr Stefano Serafini (Royal Holloway, University of London)

We welcome academic and creative paper proposals. Please email your 200-word proposal and short biographical note to goldenageofcrime@gmail.com no later than 15th December. Comments and queries should be directed to the same address.

Criminal Histories: tales of past eras dominate 2019 Ngaio Marsh Awards

The return of a queen of crime is not the only blast from the past as several tales exploring historic eras are named among this year’s Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists. 

Now in their tenth season, the Ngaio Marsh Awards celebrate the best of New Zealand crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense writing. “It’s been a really remarkable year for our international judging panels across all three categories,” says awards founder Craig Sisterson. “For one, we never could have envisaged when we began in 2010 and chose to honour our legendary Kiwi queen of crime with our awards name that years later a book that Dame Ngaio herself began more than 75 years ago would become a finalist.”

Tokoroa-raised Stella Duffy’s brilliant resumption of Dame Ngaio’s charming Inspector Alleyn in a wartime tale set on the Canterbury plains is among five outstanding finalists for the 2019 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel. Four of which are set at least fifty years ago:

THIS MORTAL BOY by Fiona Kidman (Penguin)

MONEY IN THE MORGUE by Ngaio Marsh & Stella Duffy (HarperCollins)

THE QUAKER by Liam McIlvanney (HarperCollins)

CALL ME EVIE by JP Pomare (Hachette)

THE VANISHING ACT by Jen Shieff (Mary Egan Publishing)

“We’ve been blessed with a particularly rich vein of tales exploring past eras in this year’s awards,” says Sisterson, “Not only in the Best Novel category - where our finalists have collectively brought 1940s to 1960s rural and urban New Zealand and late 1960s Glasgow to vivid life, warts and all - but in our Best Non Fiction and Best First Novel categories too.”

The lone contemporary tale among this year’s Best Novel finalists is a mind-bending psychological thriller from one of the freshest voices in Kiwi literature, JP Pomare. 

The Melbourne-based author, who grew up on a horse farm outside Rotorua, is also a finalist in the Best First Novel category alongside the authors of rollicking tale set in the Old West and a hard-hitting story set against the P epidemic. The Best First Novel finalists are:

ONE FOR ANOTHER by Andrea Jacka (Red River Pony Publishing)

CRYSTAL REIGN by Kelly Lyndon (Remnant Press)

CALL ME EVIE by JP Pomare (Hachette)

The finalists for this year’s Best Non-Fiction prize, a biennial category which was first won by Michael Bennett in 2017 for his book about the wrongful conviction of Teina Pora, are:

THE GREAT NEW ZEALAND ROBBERY by Scott Bainbridge (Allen & Unwin)

THE SHORT LIFE AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF JANE FURLONG by Kelly Dennett (Awa)

BEHIND BARS by Anna Leask (Penguin)

THE CAUSE OF DEATH by Cynric Temple-Camp (HarperCollins)

Each of this year’s non-fiction entrants had the ‘gosh’ factor, was impeccably researched, and showed strong knowledge of their subject matter, says judge Douglas Skelton, a Scottish true crime author and novelist. The four finalists stood out for their superior storytelling and ability to make their true tales come to compelling life on the page.

The 2019 Ngaio Marsh Award finalists will be celebrated with two special events in Christchurch on 14 September, as part of the WORD Christchurch special spring season.

Following a free ‘Meet the Ngaio Marsh finalists’at 1pm, the Great Ngaio Marsh Game Show & Awards event will be held at 7.30pm in the TSB Space at Tūranga. The winners of the 2019 Ngaios will be announced following a hilarious night of brain teasers and laughs as two teams of local and international criminal minds compete for the title of Sharpest Knives.

“We’re stoked we’ve been able to collaborate with WORD Christchurch to present our awards in Dame Ngaio’s hometown over the last decade,” says Sisterson. “Thanks to Rachael King and her team we’ve had some amazing events. This year raises the bar again.”

For more information on any or all of this year’s finalists or the Ngaio Marsh Awards in general, please contact founder and judging convenor Craig Sisterson, craigsisterson@hotmail.com

CfP - The Golden Age of Crime: A Re-Evaluation

The Golden Age of Crime: A Re-Evaluation

A 2-day international conference at the University of Chester 3-4 April 2020

The Golden Age of crime fiction, roughly defined as puzzle-based mystery fiction produced between the First and Second World Wars, is enjoying a renaissance both in the literary marketplace and in scholarship. This conference intervenes in emerging academic debates to define and negotiate the boundaries of Golden Age scholarship.

As well as interrogating the staples of ‘Golden Age’ crime (the work of Agatha Christie and/or Ellery Queen, the puzzle format, comparisons to ‘the psychological turn’), this conference will look at under-explored elements of the publishing phenomenon.

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers or panel presentations of one hour. Topics can include, but are by no means limited to, the following:

Defining the parameters of Golden Age crime

The Queens of Crime (Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, Gladys Mitchell)

Significant male writers of the Golden Age (John Dickson Carr, Anthony Berkeley, Ellery Queen)

Lesser-known Golden Age practitioners

Collaborative and round robin novels

Continuation novels

The Detection Club

Parody, pastiche, and postmodernism

Psychology and psychoanalysis

Meta-fiction and self- or inter-referentiality

The language of crime fiction

The Golden Age and social value

Nostalgia and heritage

Writing the past

Gender, sexuality, and queerness

Clues and coding

Crime and the Gothic

Magic and the supernatural

Place, space, and psychogeography

Reissues and rediscovery

Archival finds and innovations

The ‘Second Golden Age’

The influence of Golden Age crime writers on subsequent and contemporary writers

Interdisciplinary perspectives

Teaching Golden Age crime fiction

Organisers: Dr J C Bernthal (University of Cambridge), Sarah Martin (University of Chester), Stefano Serafini (Royal Holloway, University of London)

We welcome academic and creative paper proposals. Please email your 200-word proposal and short biographical note to goldenageofcrime@gmail.com no later than 15th December. Comments and queries should be directed to the same address.

Books I'm looking forward to the first half of the year.

Between now and at least June there will be a large number of excellent crime novels being published by the various publishers. The books being published are eclectic and range from, historical, psychological suspense to thrillers and others that are too numerous to mention.  My taste being what it is there are a number of books that are being published that I am thoroughly looking forward to reading.

The most important one for me and the one that goes to the top of my list is the new Ngaio Marsh novel Money in the Morgue that has been completed by the excellent novelist Stella Duffy. In Money in the Morgue it's business as usual for Mr Glossop as he does his regular round delivering wages to government buildings scattered across New Zealand's lonely Canterbury plains. But when his car breaks down he is stranded for the night at the isolated Mount Seager Hospital, with the telephone lines down, a storm on its way and the nearby river about to burst its banks.  Trapped with him at Mount Seager are a group of quarantined soldiers with a serious case of cabin fever, three young employees embroiled in a tense love triangle, a dying elderly man, an elusive patient whose origins remain a mystery ... and a potential killer.  When the payroll disappears from a locked safe and the hospital's death toll starts to rise faster than normal, can the appearance of an English detective working in counterespionage be just a lucky coincidence - or is something more sinister afoot?  This is a novel that all fans of classic crime fiction and certainly fans of Ngaio Marsh and Stella Duffy will want to get their hands on.  Money in the Morgue is published by HarperCollins.

In my opinion Laura Lippman is one of the best writers around at the moment.  Her latest novel that is due to be published by Faber & Faber in 2018 is Sunburn.  What kind of woman walks out on her family? Gregg knows. The kind of woman he picked up in a bar three years ago precisely because she had that kind of wildcat energy.  And now she's vanished - at least from the life that he and the kid will live. But we'll follow her, to a new town, a new job, and a new friend, who seems to know more about her than any new acquaintance should. Who is this woman, and how many times has she disappeared before? And who are the shadowy figures so interested in her whereabouts?  If you have not read a novel Laura Lippman novel do so now.

I have been in love with Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X series since the first one was published. It is the kind of novel that keeps you on your seat wanting more.  Hellbent is the third in the series and looks as if it will be as explosive as the others. To some he was Orphan X. Others knew him as the Nowhere Man. But to veteran spymaster Jack Johns he was a boy named Evan Smoak.  Taken from an orphanage, Evan was raised inside a top secret programme designed to turn him into a deadly weapon. Jack became his instructor, mentor, teacher and guardian. Because for all the dangerous skills he instilled in his young charge, he also cared for Evan like a son. And now Jack needs Evan's help. The Orphan programme hid dark secrets. Now those with blood on their hands want every trace of it gone. And they will stop at nothing to make sure that Jack and Evan go with it.  With little time remaining, Jack gives Evan his last assignment: to find and protect the programme's last recruit. And to stay alive long enough to uncover the shocking truth ...  Hellbent is published by Michael Joseph.

There has already been a lot of buzz about Stuart Turton’s The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and one is not surprised.  It has been billed as Gosford Park meets Inception, by way of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.   `Somebody's going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won't appear to be a murder and so the murderer won't be caught. Rectify that injustice and I'll show you the way out.' It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed. But Evelyn will not die just once. Until Aiden - one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party - can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot. The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...  My curiosity is getting the better of me over this book especially since Murder on the Orient Express is my favourite Agatha Christie novel and it is also set in Blackheath. Will the premise actually work.  I am looking forward to finding out.   The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is published by Bloomsbury.

Alex Reeve’s The House on Half Moon Street is one of the crime novels that is being published that has certainly piqued my interest. Mainly because of the character. I am hoping that not only will this be a fascinating story but that the characters especially Leo Stanhope live up to expectation.  Everyone has a secret... Only some lead to murder.  Leo Stanhope. Assistant to a London coroner; in love with Maria; and hiding a very big secret.   For Leo was born Charlotte, but knowing he was meant to be a man – despite the evidence of his body – he fled his family home at just fifteen, and has been living as Leo ever since: his original identity known only to a few trusted people.  But then Maria is found dead and Leo is accused of her murder. Desperate to find her killer and under suspicion from all those around him, he stands to lose not just the woman he loves, but his freedom and, ultimately, his life.   The House on Half Moon Street is published by Bloomsbury.

Who isn’t a fan of James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series. I would guess very few people. The Latest novel in the series aptly named Robicheaux is set against the backdrop of New Orleans where Detective Dave Robicheaux is fighting his demons to overcome his toughest case yet.  Powerful mob boss Tony Nemo has a Civil War sword he'd like to give to Levon Broussard, a popular local author whose books have been adapted into major Hollywood films. The sword's history can be traced back to Broussard's ancestors, and Tony figures it belongs to Levon. But Tony's intentions aren't so pure; he believes the gift will lead to a slice of Broussard's lucrative film adaptations.  Then there's Jimmy Nightengale, the young poster boy of New Orleans wealth and glamour. Jimmy's fond of Levon's work, and even fonder of his beautiful, enigmatic wife, Rowena. Tony thinks Jimmy can be a US Senator someday, and has the resources and clout to make it happen. There's something off about the relationship between these three men, and after a vicious assault, it's up to Robicheaux to uncover the truth.  Complicating matters is the sudden death of T.J. Dartez, the New Iberian local responsible for Robicheaux's wife's death, and all are looking to the detective as the murderer. Can Robicheaux clear his name before it's too late?  Robicheaux is published by Orion Publishing.

Brian Panowich’s first novel Bull Mountain was one of those novels that kept me guessing until the very end. The writing is dark, vicious and pulls you in.  The latest novel is Like Lions and like Bull Mountain shows no sign of letting up in the intensity of the writing.   Clayton Burroughs is sheriff of Bull Mountain and one-time black sheep of the brutal and blood-steeped Burroughs clan. It's been a year since a rogue government agent systematically crippled the family's criminal empire that left two of the brothers dead, and Clayton, the youngest and only surviving member of the clan, broken and haunted by wounds that may never heal.  Now Bull Mountain is vulnerable, ripe for predators wanting to re-establish the flow of dope and money through the town. And the death of a boy belonging to a rival clan brings the wolves straight to Clayton's door. The only good son born of a crooked tree, Clayton wants to bury his bloody family legacy for good. But he'll need to call on it if he wants to save his family, and his mountain, from the destruction that awaits.  Like Lions is published by Head of Zeus.

It is not often that you manage to find a series that is as brutal as it is fascinating that you want to read more.  In this case, if you have read Silver Bullets then the term narcoliterature will be familiar.  It's Christmas in Culiacan and Detective Edgar "Lefty" Mendieta can't believe his luck. An old flame has returned with a teenage son he knew nothing about. Happiness seems to finally beckon for our careworn hero. The only snag is that Jason Mendieta wants to follow in his father's footsteps-even as Mexico's drug war descends a slippery slope toward chaos.  While Lefty pursues a lunatic who has taken to bumping off dentists with a heavy-calibre pistol, a secret agent infiltrates a meeting of the drug lords and hears Pacific Cartel boss Samantha Valdes implore her underlings to stay out of the war. But an audacious murder provokes Samantha to change her mind and launch a wave of grisly killings across the country.  Samantha then persuades Lefty to help her find the killer that pushed her over the edge. The truth he discovers will underline an old adage: revenge is a dish best served cold. No quiet family Christmas for our detective.  If you enjoyed Silver Bullets then the Name of the Dog is bound to be as good. The Name of the Dog is published by Quercus/Maclehose Press.

Time after time Sarah Hilary never fails to amaze readers with her brilliant storylines and taut prose.  Come and Find Me is the next book of hers to be released in the DI Marnie Rome series.  The series gets better and better and if you have not read any then you should.    On the surface, Lara Chorley and Ruth Hull have nothing in common, other than their infatuation with Michael Vokey. Each is writing to a sadistic inmate, sharing her secrets, whispering her worst fears, craving his attention.  DI Marnie Rome understands obsession. She's finding it hard to give up her own addiction to a dangerous man: her foster brother, Stephen Keele. She wasn't able to save her parents from Stephen. She lives with that guilt every day.  As the hunt for Vokey gathers pace, Marnie fears one of the women may have found him - and is about to pay the ultimate price.  Come and Find Me is published by Headline.

CRAIG SISTERSON ON FRESH BLOOD FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Next month the winners of the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Awards will be announced in Christchurch, New Zealand, the hometown of Dame Ngaio Marsh, one of the four Queens of Crime of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

Although Dame Ngaio set most of her Inspector Alleyn tales (32 novels and several short stories) in Britain, she was ‘a Kiwi’, a colonial author from the far ends of the Empire.

So it’s only appropriate that the literary prizes for New Zealand crime, mystery, and thriller writing, which I helped establish back in 2010, bear her name and image.

From the very beginning, we’ve been proud to have an association with Shots! Magazine: columnist Mike Ripley brought his expertise to our nascent awards as one of the founding judges, and in recent years Ayo Onatade has been part of the international judging panel.

So I’m very glad to visiting Shots! blog today as part of our inaugural Ngaio Marsh Awards blog tour, and sharing with you all some more information about some of our finalists.

It’s been great to see the growth in New Zealand crime writing over the past few years, with several dozen new authors joining the #yeahnoir ranks (the term for Kiwi crime writing), both debut authors and authors from other genres making a switch to the dark side.

Today, I thought I’d share a bit more about our finalists in the Best First Novel category, which celebrates the best crime writing from first-time authors. We had a record number of entrants this year, and lots of good reads didn’t make the finalist list. But here’s a closer look at our ‘final five’; all great new voices with tales that span the crime writing spectrum.

DEAD LEMONS by Finn Bell (ebook)

This powerful and fascinating tale starts with a cliff-hanger, literally. Wheelchair-bound main character Finn is hanging from the side of a cliff above roaring seas in New Zealand’s rural south. He’d moved from the big city after wrecking his marriage, then his spinal column, with his drinking. Contemplating ending it all, he muddles along thanks to a blunt counsellor, new friends, and a growing obsession to uncover what happened to a father and daughter who vanished years before from the remote cottage in which Finn now lives.  Bell really hits the ground running with his debut; he has a strong narrative voice that brings plenty of freshness. There’s a zing to his writing, and he’s unafraid to take a deep-dive into the psychological, as Finn grapples with the demons in his own mind. Is he worthless, a ‘dead lemon’ merely bringing down those around him? Or does he have something to offer?

RED HERRING by Jonothan Cullinane (HarperCollins)

Kiwi filmmaker Cullinane blends mystery and history in this terrific debut. Readers are plunged headlong into 1950s New Zealand, where global politics are being played out in clashes between unions and business interests on the waterfront. The shadow of the Second World War, with its death and deprivation, still lingers. A growing spectre of Communism domino-ing its way down through Asia looms. New Zealand may be small and far away, but to plenty of power brokers it’s a battleground. One they want to control.  Into this murky world steps Johnny Molloy, a soldier turned private eye who leaned hard left in the past. Hired to track a supposedly dead man, he crosses paths with an ambitious reporter looking to make her mark, and the pair find themselves knee-deep in the muck. Cullinane weaves a fascinating noir tale textured by lesser-known aspects of Kiwi history. There's a muscularity and dry humour to his storytelling. A page-turner with much more.

 THE ICE SHROUD by Gordon Ell (Bush Press)

Distinguished wildlife photographer Gordon Ell brings his passion for nature to his first swing at fiction, setting this intriguing murder mystery against the backdrop of New Zealand’s spectacular Southern Lakes region. A woman’s body spotted by jet-boating tourists, half-frozen in a river canyon, is an abrupt introduction for new CIB head DS Malcolm Buchan. Especially when he recognises the woman; a fact he hides from his new colleagues.  As Buchan and his team investigate, they cross paths with powerful locals, people that feel their wealth and influence should reign, and whatever they do in private is no-one else’s business. Ell infuses his tale with a great sense of place, while also delivering with interesting characters and a fascinating storyline. A bit of a modern Kiwi take on a classic British village murder mystery, with detectives stymied by secretive locals and the wealthy elite. Full of suspects and red herrings, Ell’s debut is a heartily enjoyable read set in a gorgeous location.

THE STUDENT BODY by Simon Wyatt (Mary Egan Publishing)

Former detective Wyatt brings all his investigative experience to bear in this page-turning police procedural set on the ‘wild west coast’ of New Zealand’s biggest city, a place of beaches and bushlands on the outskirts of the high-rise CBD and its suburban sprawl.  A popular teenager is strangled at a high school camp, and newly promoted DS Nick Knight, who jettisoned his legal career to join the police, is thrust into a high-profile investigation. The crime seems sexually motivated, and there are plenty of secrets to unpick among the girl’s family, friends and school teachers, and the wider community. Fans of police procedurals that delve deeply into the inner workings of a police investigation will really enjoy this debut, as Wyatt delivers a real sense of authenticity and lots of detail about how modern police forces operate, issues they have to consider, and the challenges they face.  A fast-paced procedural set on the far side of the world.

DAYS ARE LIKE GRASS by Sue Younger (Eunoia Press)

This is an atypical crime novel, an elegant and emotional read that’s a deep character study and more about the lingering impact of criminal acts, and ongoing mysteries, rather than a traditional detective tale. It’s the kind of book that sticks with you, that days later you’ll still be pondering the choices characters make, the varying outcomes, and questions of justice.

Paediatric surgeon Claire Bowerman reluctantly returns to Auckland from London with her fiancée and teenage daughter, only to find her complicated past flaring up, threatening everything she’s carefully built. When a family refuses medical treatment for their tumour-stricken child, Claire is in the media glare, the sins of her own father resurrected.  Starting with a past crime that haunts the entire book, Younger’s debut is peppered with moments of crime and mystery, and packed with drama with a capital D. It has a lovely page-turning quality, deeply drawn characters, and a nice touch for the contemporary Auckland setting and landscapes.