Yesterday, she spoke to Radio New Zealand about writing TRACES OF RED, which again underlines Richardson's skill at mixing creepy thriller plots that echo real life headlines with personal stories of people and relationships.
Here's the blurb for TRACES OF RED:
Rebecca Thorne is a successful television journalist, but her world is thrown into turmoil when her Saturday night programme is axed because of falling ratings. Not only will she lose her job but her big story on the convicted triple murderer Connor Bligh, whom Rebecca believes is innocent, has to be abandoned.
Rebecca's lover Joe, a married man and the barrister representing Bligh, also thinks Bligh is innocent – or does he? And if he loves Rebecca so much, why is he prepared to cast her off?
Meanwhile Bligh languishes in jail, convicted of three brutal murders and continuing to protest his innocence. He's clearly not a saint – but did he do it? Rebecca refuses to let the matter lie...
In a review for the Herald on Sunday, I said TRACES OF RED showed "Richardson excels at evoking the human aspects behind the plotline". My fellow Ngaio Marsh Award judge Graham Beattie also reviewed the book last week, saying TRACES OF RED was "psychological crime fiction at its best", and "the best she has written, and that is high praise" (read here). In a year which has seen some truly terrific crime fiction released by New Zealand authors, Richardson's latest further illustrates the growing depth and quality of the genre here. The 2012 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel is going to be another difficult call for the judges.
You can listen to Richardson talk about the writing of TRACES OF RED here. Hopefully New Zealand readers will get out there and buy this book, supporting quality local crime writing.
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