DOWNUNDER CRIME UPDATE, AUGUST 2024: NEWS, REVIEWS AND PREVIEWS

Welcome to the August wrap-up of things happening in Australian and New Zealand crime fiction. There is a bit of news this time, mainly around awards and events, plus a mix of short reviews and previews. Hope you find it interesting.

NEWS

We are entering Awards Season and the main focus of the News Update is the various awards and short lists, which have been recently announced:

• Laraine Stephens’ historical Melbourne mystery, A Deadly Game, has been selected as one of the Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Awards Top Picks for ‘Best Historical’. Killer Nashville is an annual writers’ conference in the USA, and is a major forum for all genres incorporating mystery, thriller, suspense, action, and/or romance. This year the Killer Nashville Convention is being held the weekend before the Nashville Bouchercon (see below) on 22-25 August. Big congratulations to Laraine, who is possibly better known overseas than she is here! Here is a link to my review of A Deadly Game: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/serial-killers-mobsters-1920s-melbourne-and-a-drowning-plane-new-crime-fiction-from-t-j-newman-jo-nesbo-james-comey-and-laraine-stephens/

• The Australian Crime Writers Association has announced the short list for the 2024 Best Debut Crime Novel Award:
  • Four Dogs Missing – By Rhys Gard
  • Gus and the Missing Boy – By Troy Hunter
  • Lowbridge – By Lucy Campbell
  • Murder in the Pacific: Ifira Point – By Matt Francis
  • The Fall Between – By Darcy Tindale
  • The Beacon – By P.A. Thomas
  • Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl – By Fiona Britton
    
• The nominees reflect the great diversity of Australian crime fiction at the moment. The settings and storylines range from 1930s Sydney, rural New South Wales, including Mudgee and Byron Bay, and across to our Pacific Ocean neighbour Vanuatu. While there are traditional police investigations, there are also stories led by plucky teenagers, a winemaker, a historian and a mismatched pair of journalists. Congratulations to all the nominees!

• The longlist for the 2024 New Zealand Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel has also been announced. The Ngaios are named for Dame Ngaio Marsh, a contemporary of Agatha Christie and one of the Queens of Crime of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, who penned bestselling mysteries that entertained millions of global readers from her home in the Cashmere Hills in New Zealand. The Award celebrates the best in New Zealand crime writing and the 2024 longlist includes a mix of past winners and finalists, some first-time entrants and new voices, and several authors who’ve won a variety of other major awards including CWA Daggers

• The longlist for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel prize is:
  
  • DICE by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)
  • THE CARETAKER by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)
  • RITUAL OF FIRE by DV Bishop (Macmillan)
  • BIRNAM WOOD by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
  • PET by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
  • EL FLAMINGO by Nick Davies (YBK Publishers)
  • DOUBLE JEOPARDY by Stef Harris (Quentin Wilson Publishing)
  • THE QUARRY by Kim Hunt (Spiral Collectives)
  • DEVIL’S BREATH by Jill Johnson (Black & White/Bonnier)
  • GOING ZERO by Anthony McCarten (Macmillan)
  • HOME BEFORE NIGHT by JP Pomare (Hachette)
  • EXPECTANT by Vanda Symon (Orenda Books)

• The winner will be announced in late August 2024. Again congratulations to all the nominees.

• As previously announced, there is also a strong contingent of New Zealand authors on the short lists for the Barry Awards, the winners of which will be announced at the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Bouchercon in Nashville on 29 August:
  • Michael Bennett is on the short list for the Best First Mystery or Crime Novel for his book Better The Blood;
  • Anthony McCarten is nominated for Best Thriller for his book Going Zero; and
  • Vanda Symon is nominated for Best Paperback Original Mystery or Crime Novel for Expectant.
  • While former multi winner of a Ned Kelly Award, Adrian McKinty, is also nominated for Best Mystery or Crime Novel for his The Detective Up Late
  • Reviews of the above Barry Award nominees can be found on this blog by searching under the author’s name.

I will be in Bouchercon for the Barry Award presentation and will be very keen to see how the Downunder nominees go! I am looking forward to catching up with some of the reviewers and authors that I know, and hopefully meeting some of the nominees and other authors.

Personal Disclosure: I am on the judging committees for the Barry Awards and the Ned Kelly Debut Award, and I am an international judge for the Ngaio Marsh Award.

Finally, on other news, Canberra readers can look forward to an interesting night on 20 August 2024, when acclaimed author Chris Hammer talks to Hayley Scrivenor about her new book, Girl Falling. Hayley earned world-wide praise for her first book, Dirt Town, and her new book promises the same mix of bold narrative and vivid setting. It should be a great night. More details here: https://www.anu.edu.au/events/meet-the-author-hayley-scrivenor

REVIEWS 

Tony Park is Australia’s leading writer of adventure thrillers, and his books always deliver a good mix of thrills and heart felt details about poaching and conservation in southern Africa.

His latest book, The Protector (Macmillan 30 July 2024), is another great read and deals with the terrible trade in pangolins.

Professor Denise ‘Doc’ Rado is South Africa’s expert on pangolins, busting poachers and freeing the endangered anteaters in elaborate undercover stings. After a risky operation backfires, Doc’s life is shattered, but she still has to lead an eclectic group of donors on a wildlife tour of southern Africa. However, as the safari ventures deep into remote areas, Doc fears they’re being followed and she will do anything to keep them all safe, especially Ian Laidlaw, a handsome Australian businessman turned accidental philanthropist. But as the danger mounts, Doc begins to question whether she is being hunted by the poachers she once fought, or is there some other bloodthirsty predator after her.

From the dramatic opening chapters to the final explosive showdown in the jungle, The Protector is a very exciting thriller that really holds your attention through-out. The pace is brisk and the action scenes are well choreographed and gripping. The core story of pursuit and deceit is well handled, and there are some solid twists towards the end.

As usual, there are also evocative descriptions of the African countryside, and the animals that inhabit it. The details on pangolins and the heartless trade in them, over 20,000 are killed and trafficked each year for their scales and flesh, is fascinating and moving. These descriptions and the background information, however, do not significantly slow the nicely plotted story, and the various strands come together in dramatic fashion. The characters are well fleshed out and convincing, especially ‘Doc’ who is loosely based on some real life protectors of African wildlife.

In all, The Protector is another top-notch thriller by Park. Highly recommended.

The Protector was released in Australia by Pan Macmillan on 30 July 2024 and overseas by Ingwe Publishing.

J. P. Pomare takes a sharp look at justice and the true crime podcast business in his latest book, 17 Years Later, (Hachette, 31 July 2024).

The violent slaughter of the wealthy, high profile British expatriate family, the Primroses, while they slept, shocked New Zealand, especially those in the idyllic town of Cambridge. The family’s young live-in chef, Bill Kareama, was swiftly charged with murder and brought to justice. But the brutal crime scarred the community forever. Seventeen years later, award winning true-crime podcaster Sloane Abbott tracks down prison psychologist TK Phillips. Once a fierce campaigner for an appeal, TK now lives a quiet life with Bill’s case firmly in his past. Sloane wants to re-investigate the Primrose case, mainly to broaden the demographics of her program, and lures a reluctant TK back into the fight. Evidence soon emerges that casts new light on the Primroses, and who might have wanted them dead, but also raises unanswered questions about Kareama’s involvement.

17 Years Later is a clever, well structured book that tells its story across multiple timelines and through three main narrators: Bill, TK and Sloane. A good sense of suspense and mystery is created early on, and the plot is smoothly unfolded in way that does not overly challenge credibility. The pacing is occasionally sluggish, but it certainly picks up in the second half, and the final fifty pages, or so, are very gripping as the plot winds its way through several good twists and some tense confrontations. The final denouement is well worked out, and totally unexpected.

The characters are well fleshed out and believable, with all of them having a good mix of flaws and strengths. The true crime podcast aspects are credibly handled, with just the right amount of cynicism. Sloane’s initial interest in the Primrose case was initially sparked by criticisms of the ‘white bias’ of her shows, and while she is keen to pursue the ‘wrong man convicted’ aspect, she is aware that it also broadens the podcast into new areas of race and class. Pomare does a good job on the ethics around podcasts, and his reflections the New Zealand legal system and its well-documented failures are also sharp and telling.

In all, an engrossing crime story and probably Pomare’s best book to date.

17 Years Later was released on 31 July 2024 in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Fans of small town murder mysteries with a slightly quirky edge will enjoy James O’Loghlin’s Liars, (Echo, 30 July 2024).

Set in the sleepy New South Wales coastal town of Bullford Point, Liars revolves initially around the discovery of a woman’s body. The homicide detectives are quick to pin it on a local drug addict, Joe, who has recently returned to the town. When Joe is found dead from an overdose, that seems to cement his guilt. Barb Young, a middle-aged local woman who had employed Joe in her handyman business, is not convinced of his guilt, and with the help of the local policewoman she sets out to find the real killer.

With touches of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club about it, Liars is an enjoyable yarn with some good humorous touches and a decent central murder mystery. The opening section of sixty pages is mainly comprised of texts, transcripts and emails, which compresses the lead-up to Barb’s investigation, but takes some getting used to. Once the narrative gets underway, the story is quite good, although some trimming would have helped. The descriptions of Bullford Point and its community are entertaining and there is a good selection of possible suspects to work through.

Overall, a good cosy mystery for those who enjoy small town crime and ‘down-to-earth’ amateur detectives.

Liars was released on 30 July 2024.

PREVIEWS

Some quick previews of four books due out over the next few months.

Pip Drysdale is one of the brightest stars in the realm of ‘sexy-cool’, first person psychological suspense. Her books feature young, edgy, slightly unreliable female narrators, who mix bad decisions with courage, and a willingness to take chances to achieve results. Her first four books were very good, and did well in Australia and overseas, and her forthcoming The Close-Up, (Harper Collins, 30 October 2024), seems set to mirror that success.

The publisher has provided the following details:

“Things have not been going well for Zoe Ann Weiss. Once a young novelist full of promise, now she has a failed debut under her belt, a mountain of debt, a dead-end job, and an agent who’s about to drop her if she doesn’t write something new and brilliant soon.

Worst of all, she’s blocked. Can’t-write-a-word blocked. But all that changes one night when she runs into her old flame, Zach Hamilton. It’s like no time has passed at all. They start casually dating, and Zach makes her feel like anything is possible. Like the stars have finally realigned themselves in her favour.

Best of all, her writer’s block has disappeared.

The only issue is Zach isn’t just some hot guy with a dream anymore. Now he’s a movie star with billboards and PR people and fans and paparazzi, and even though they’re dating in secret, Zoe soon finds herself splashed all over the press. Now everyone seems to know her name.

But the problem with everyone knowing your name is that everyone knows your name … including the stalker who’s obsessed with Zach. The stalker who’s re-enacting violent, creepy plot twists from Zoe’s first novel, exactly how she wrote them – except now, she’s the victim.”

Sporting an eye-catching cover, The Close-Up is sure to be a hit in the lead-up to Christmas.

The Close-Up will be released in Australia on 30 October 2024 and in the United Kingdom and the United States on 3 December 2024.

Antarctica based crime novels and thrillers are not that common, and I am looking forward to reading Riley James’ debut chiller, The Chilling (Allen & Unwin, 3 September 2024).

The publishers have provided the following:

“Keen to flee the wreckage of her marriage, Australian scientist Kit Bitterfeld accepts a coveted winter research position at Macpherson Station in Antarctica. On the way there, Kit and her fellow researchers field a distress call from a nearby ship.

By the time they reach the vessel it is on fire and the crew has vanished. A lone survivor is found, but he can’t remember who he is or what has happened.

They bring the survivor, identified as geophysicist Nick Coltheart, to Macpherson, but it’s clear that something is wrong. More and more of Kit’s colleagues are acting strangely. And she can’t shake the suspicion that Nick knows more than he’s letting on. With the winter darkness setting in, Kit must figure out the truth before they are completely cut off from the outside world. But is the danger lurking out on the ice, or is it closer than she thinks?”

The Chilling seems to offers a fresh twist on the Australian thriller setting and will be high on my list to read when I get a copy.

The Chilling is released in Australia on 3 September 2024.

Auckland based author Rose Carlyle attracted significant local and international praise for her previous book, The Girl In The Mirror, and her new novel, No One Will Know (Text, 1 October 2024), seems to offer a similar mix of suspense and character driven drama.

“Eve Sylvester is young and broke and needs a job fast. After years of foster homes, backpacking and a sailing trip across the Pacific Ocean, she has lost contact with friends and family. She is alone, desperate—and pregnant.

Then she meets Julia and Christopher Hygate, a charming and glamorous couple, who seem to have the perfect life: loads of money and a breathtakingly beautiful mansion on a remote Tasmanian island. They make her a lucrative offer. Eve can move into their empty summerhouse and take up a very easy job.

Eve thinks she’s fallen on her feet—she has found a home, and her child will grow up in the aptly named Paradise Bay. But some things about the job don’t add up. Why must Eve stay out of sight? Why have the Hygates employed an ex-con to run their yacht-charter business? And what about the mysterious boats sailing in and out of the Hygates’ private marina? Has Eve made a deal with the devil? It’s too late to ask questions. Eve is already in far too deep.”

Apparently set against the backdrop of a remote windswept island and its mysterious lighthouse, No One Will Know, offers an interesting variation on the outback noir genre.

No One Will Know is released in Australia and the United States on 1 October 2024 and in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2024.

Based on the real life figure of Kate Cocks, Lainie Anderson’s The Death Of Dora Black, (Hachette, 28 August 2024), would seem to be a must read for fans of historical mysteries.

“Summer, Adelaide, 1917. The impeccably dressed Miss Kate Cocks might look more like a schoolmistress than a policewoman, but don’t let that fool you. She’s a household name, wrangling wayward husbands into repentance, seeing through deceptive clairvoyants, and rescuing young women (whether they like it or not) with the help of a five-foot cane and her sassy junior constable, Ethel Bromley.

When shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on a city beach, Miss Cocks and Ethel are ordered to stay out of the investigation and leave it to the men. But when Dora’s workmate goes missing soon after, the women suspect something sinister, and determine to take matters into their own hands. After all, who knows Adelaide better than the indomitable Miss Cocks?”

Lainie Anderson is a well respected Adelaide historian, and The Death Of Dora Black promises a good mix of historical reflection and murder mystery.

The Death Of Dora Black will be released in Australia on 28 August 2024, release dates for overseas are yet to be confirmed.

Well, hopefully there are some books above that you will be interested in. I am off to America in a few weeks time for Bouchercon. I am looking forward to reporting back on the convention and the various award winners when I get back. Happy reading!