Christchurch writer Chris Stuart spent decades toggling between high-stakes overseas aid work and the strange safety of home. Out of that has emerged a crime novel: For Reasons of Their Own. I used to always tell people that when you work in war zones and disasters, you are only ever a brick in the wall … Read more
Karina Kilmore, author of new crime novel Where the Truth Lies, thought she had her own life story all figured out. Then six years ago she got an email … Families have always been living, breathing messed-up hot spots of dysfunction. Think about your last family get-together. Did that sister of yours cause trouble again? … Read more
Crime week: Chris Cessford welcomes a sumptuous crime story starring a ‘rule-breaking badass in a sari’. Sujata Massey kicks off the decade with the first book in a fresh new crime series – the historical, award-winning whodunnit A Murder at Malabar Hill. She introduces Perveen Mistry, in 1921 Bombay’s only woman lawyer and an amateur … Read more
Crime week: In 1931, 17 year-old Phyllis Avis Symons was buried alive by her partner in the fill from construction of Mount Victoria Tunnel. The man who killed her was hanged. The case was a sensation, and is the focus of Andi C. Buchanan’s new novel, extracted here. You know how the story will go, … Read more
Crime Week: One’s a charismatic Māori cop who gave us the word “cunthooks”. The other’s a Vietnam vet turned maverick LA detective. Ngaio Marsh Awards judge Stephanie Jones on why she loves them both. On a recent Saturday evening, the author Michael Connelly sat inscrutable on a stage at AUT while a devoted reader (front … Read more
Books editor Catherine Woulfe on the much-anticipated first thriller by New Zealander and New York Times bestseller, Nalini Singh. I finished A Madness of Sunshine five days ago. At first I was furious, then disappointed and deeply sad. It’s still eating me up more than any Christmas-release “compulsive thriller” should. The cultural moment no doubt … Read more
All seven seasons of Prime Suspect drop on Lightbox today, and Sam Brooks is here to tell you why its central character Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) is one of television’s most significant characters – ever. Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison doesn’t show up until five minutes into the first episode of Prime Suspect, which came out way back … Read more
Exclusive: a book by Steve Braunias, a memoir by the woman who was left for dead by Tony Dixon, and a former TV reporter’s investigation into the wrongful conviction of Teina Pora all feature in the shortlist for this year’s crime writing awards. Ye olde Spinoff Review of Books can exclusively reveal the finalists of … Read more
Marion McLeod reviews an ‘icy-cold’ account of a Scottish serial killer by the brilliant Denise Mina. Scottish writer Denise Mina has been dubbed Glasgow’s answer to Edinburgh’s Ian Rankin. Having written a dozen crime novels, several plays and films, a comic (Hellblazer) and three graphic novels (adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy), she has decided to … Read more
Yet another Spinoff Review of Books exclusive: the longlist for the 2017 Ngaio Marsh award for best New Zealand crime fiction. The dear old Spinoff Review of Books can exclusively reveal the longlist for the 2017 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. Now in its seventh year, the award recognises the best in New Zealand … Read more