Paddy Richardson talks about TRACES OF RED

Last week, Paddy Richardson's third psychological thriller, TRACES OF RED, was officially launched at an event in Dunedin. The early reviews have been very positive. Richardson was of course one of the finalists for the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for HUNTING BLIND. You can read US mystery author Margot Kinberg's review of that book here.

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.

Bookman Beattie shares his thoughts on Michael Connelly's latest Harry Bosch novel

 My fellow Ngaio Marsh Award judge Graham "Bookman" Beattie, deservedly one of the most well-respected figures on the New Zealand books scene, regularly reviews crime novels for Radio New Zealand.

This morning, as part of Kathryn Ryan's popular 'Nine to Noon' show, Beattie reviewed THE DROP, the latest Harry Bosch thriller from Michael Connelly, who both Beattie and I think is one of the very best in the business when it comes to global contemporary crime fiction.

"In my view it's Connelly at his best, and really there aren't many better," says Beattie of THE DROP. He also praised Connelly's touch for underlying themes and ambiquities, as well as noting that he likes the character of Bosch enormously. "I read the book late into the night over the weekend, it is a must read for crime fiction fans." You can listen to Beattie's full 5mins review here, or read a near-transcript of his review at his always-informative blog, Beattie's Book Blog, here.

Are you a Michael Connelly and/or Harry Bosch fan? Have you read THE DROP? Thoughts welcome.

Michael Connelly talks to Radio New Zealand (interesting interview)

Last night Michael Connelly entertained a crowd of around 300 in Auckland during a fantastic evening that combined author talk, audience Q&A, a special New Zealand screening of the film adaptation of THE LINCOLN LAWYER, and a book signing session. He'd made a whistlestop trip to New Zealand as part of a longer Australian tour (he'd appeared at the Sydney Writers Festival and this morning returned to Australia for further events in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth) in support of his latest Mickey Haller novel, THE FIFTH WITNESS. It was a terrific night here in Auckland, and I will blog more about this at a later time.

In the meantime, I thought some of you may like to have a listen to a 30-minute interview Connelly had with Kathryn Ryan on Radio New Zealand yesterday morning. The full interview is now available to listen to online - CLICK HERE.

Graham 'Bookman' Beattie reviews FROM THE DEAD, Mark Billingham's latest Thorne thriller, on Radio New Zealand

Earlier today, as part of its daily (weekdays) book review slot on the Nine to Noon programme, Radio New Zealand took a look at the latest novel in British crime writer Mark Billingham's award-winning Tom Thorne series, FROM THE DEAD.

One of the great things about the Nine to Noon show, hosted by Kathryn Ryan - who also regularly does interviews with New Zealand and visiting authors - is that they do semi-regularly cover some crime and thriller titles. They can also be fascinating reviews to listen to, because rather than being just a print review of a reviewer's thoughts, Ryan 'interviews' the reviewer, and asks them questions about the book, drawing out comments. So it's more of a dialogue, than a monologue - which is a nice change of pace.

Today the reviewer was the always-excellent Graham "Bookman" Beattie, who is (deservedly) very highly regarded in the New Zealand book industry. He is the former head of Penguin Books, a Book Awards judge, a Books Editor, and is now an acclaimed blogger and consultant to the industry. He is also one of the seven judges for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel - the winner of which will now be announced later this year.

Beattie describes FROM THE DEAD, Billingham's tenth crime novel, and ninth to feature "likeable but quite complex" Tom Thorne, as "gripping stuff" that "moves along at a real clip" Beattie says he was "so captured was I that I read it in three long sittings over the last couple of days".

You can listen to the full audio file of Beattie's review of FROM THE DEAD here. You can also read a print version of Beattie's thoughts about FROM THE DEAD (including further comments) here. And for those who need further tempting to try this very good crime thriller (I read it myself several weeks ago), you can read the first chapter online at Billingham's website here.

Billingham has been one of my favourite British crime writers for a long time, and I heartily recommend any crime fiction fan giving his Tom Thorne series a go - especially readers who don't mind playing down the grittier end of the crime fiction spectrum.

Have you read any of Mark Billingham's books? Are you a fan of his Tom Thorne tales? What do you think of the Bookman's review? Does FROM THE DEAD sound like a crime thriller you'd like to read? Thoughts and comments welcome.