Local and international crime featured in the New Zealand Listener's 100 Best Books of 2011

Last year, you might recall, I was very pleased to see several crime novels make the annual 100 Best Books list put out by the New Zealand Listener magazine (especially as the list the year before had had a distinct lack of crime, mystery or thriller fiction titles, New Zealand or international). The New Zealand Listener has long been considered one of our premier magazines. It is a weekly current affairs and entertainment magazine, renowned for having one of the best books sections around.

Near the end of each year the Listener has a “100 Best Books of the Year” issue, where its reviewers, with help from nominations from booksellers and others, compile their list of best novels, short stories, poetry, biography, memoir, and other non-fiction (eg history, science, journalism and essays, art, and food and drink) books of the year.

The 100 Best Books issue (see cover image above right) for 2011 has now hit newstands etc, and I am very pleased to share that it too includes several crime, mystery or thriller titles on the latest list:

• BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP by SJ Watson
• BOUND by Vanda Symon
• DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY by PD James
• FEAST DAY OF FOOLS by James Lee Burke
• LUTHER: THE CALLING by Neil Cross
• AN UNCERTAIN PLACE by Fred Vargas
• THE WRECKAGE by Michael Robotham

So a nice mix of UK, US, New Zealand, Australian, and continental European authors, and a variety of different 'types' of crime or thriller fiction there, which is cool to see. Some cracking books there, and hopefully more Kiwi readers might give some of them a go, after reading about them in this week's issue of the Listener. Congratulations to the Kiwi crime writers who made the list.

Have you read any of the crime novels mentioned? If so, what did you think? If not, which ones catch your eye? Thoughts and comments welcome.

James Lee Burke discusses religion, politics, neocolonialism, philosophy and more with Radio NZ's Kim Hill

"James Lee Burke has been hailed as one of America's greatest contemporary novelists" ... Renowned New Zealand broadcaster and interviewer Kim Hill began a lengthy interview with Burke, broadcast on Radio New Zealand last weekend, with a pithy statement that I think truly sums up Burke's status. He is one of America's finest novelists, regardless of genre. His books are swirling gumbos packed with philosophy, allegory, imagery, literary references (subtle and obvious) and more, all entwined with violent plots and vivid, multi-layered characters evoked with great depth.

Burke is apparently talking to Hill about his thirtieth and latest book, FEAST DAY OF FOOLS (which he thinks is his best yet, touching on many issues surrounding neo-colonialism and the use of religion by fanatics and evil men to justify their actions, etc), but like my interview with Burke last year for the New Zealand Herald (read 9mm interview here, read Herald feature here), Hill ends up talking to Burke predominantly about much broader, universal issues than just his writing. I've listened to about half of the 40-mins plus interview so far, and it's an excellent discussion about a number of topics, ranging from religion to politics (and the corruption of both by extremists), history, and much more.

When you have time, it's well worth a listen. Hill is a good interviewer, and Burkes gives a great interview. You can listen to it online by clicking HERE.

Comments welcome.

75 years of an American legend

I've been very fortunate in my life - over the years I've met many amazing people, made some fantastic friends, got to see many great things, have travelled to numerous amazing places, and had many unforgettable 'trip of a lifetime' type experiences. I've been truly blessed.

Since I've become a writer, I've also got to interview many interesting and highly successful people from all walks of life, from sports stars to politicians to businesspeople to filmmakers to talented authors. It's been a pleasue, an honour and a privilege to get to spend time with such people, who are truly passionate about what they do, and learn a little bit more about them, and through them, about the wider world.

Amongst my most memorable interviews was the hour I spent on the phone last year with the incomparable James Lee Burke, a true legend of the mystery writing scene. To give you a sense of Burke, here's a paragraph from my Weekend Herald feature, describing his demeanour during our interview:

"Throughout, the 73-year-old laughs easily and often, almost explosively at times. He is unfailing polite, yet not at all stuffy or formal. He answers the phone with a jovial "Is this New Zealand calling?" then tells me to call him "Jim". Down-to-earth and humble, his soft-spoken manner and measured cadence belie some strident opinions when it comes to several things he cares deeply about, including the environment, "people of humble origin", and the purpose and importance of art."

In some ways, Burke is a modern-day renaissance man - his life story includes working as a landman for the Sinclair Oil Company, as a pipeliner, land surveyor, newspaper reporter, college English professor, clerk for the Louisiana Employment Service, social worker in Los Angeles skid row, and instructor in the US Job Corps. As I noted in my Herald article, you could say there are three main threads running through Burke’s various careers: working on the land (as an oil man and surveyor); working with words (as a journalist, English professor, and novelist); and working with those less fortunate (his social work and employment-related roles). Fans of his crime novels will notice clear similarities with issues and themes consistently highlighted through his writing, especially when it comes to man’s relationship with land and resources, and the stark reality of life for those at the lower end of the economic and social spectrum.

For an hour we discussed writing, art, society, politics, life, and more.

You can read the article based on our interview here.

Now in his 75th year, Burke's latest novel, FEAST DAY OF FOOLS is about to be released. In the YouTube video above he talks a little about this novel, particularly the villain, and his work and life in general.

For me, Burke is one of the true masters of the crime, mystery and thriller genre. He is a writer that many of the other writers I interview look up to, and one who strikes his own path and style - which admittedly, is not for every reader. His books are full of elegance, word-smithery, poetry and imagery, allegory and philosophy - along with plenty of crime and violence simmering through a multi-layered gumbo of a story.

As he says in another recent YouTube video, in a way all his stories have been about the use and abuse of power. About how power is used to scare and control people - in order that people can keep power.

I hope you enjoy the short video.

What's in a name? Do killer book titles matter?

Thanks to my fellow Ngaio Marsh Award judge Graham Beattie of the always-informative Beattie's Book Blog, yesterday I came across an interesting blog post (from Katie Ganshert - an aspiring author from the US Midwest) about the importance of finding a great, not just good, title for your novel. In her blog post, Gansher talks about her struggle to find a great title for her first novel, and how all the options she considered had to be measured against three key criteria:

• It has to represent the story: "I want a title that is unique and meaningful to not just a line in the book, but to the entire story," says Ganshert, who is looking for a title "chock-full of meaning".


• It has to be intriguing: "I don't want it to sound like a million other titles already published on Amazon. I look for something different. Original. Not cliche. Something that elicits a sense of intrigue," says Ganshert, who used an example of  SUMMER SNOW (juxtaposition of snow in summer catches attention).


• It has to sound good: "Titles shouldn't make tongues twist or noses wrinkle. They should be pleasing to read and say," says Ganshert, who is a fan of alliterative titles.

The blog post, from an author who isn't a crime writer, got me wondering about the importance of a good title for crime and thriller novels. It also got me reflecting on the titles of the most recent books I've read. In all honesty, I don't think I picked any of them from the shelf because of their title, but rather because of their author, or a recommendation, etc. But can titles be important? Like book covers can be important?

Here are some of the most recent books I've read:

• SIX SECONDS by Rick Mofina (currently reading) - a geopolitical thriller. Clearly, six seconds refers to a race-against-the-clock aspect of the novel, although I haven't yet discovered if there is any secondary or layered meaning to the title also.


• THE AFFAIR by Lee Child - a prequel to the Jack Reacher series, where Reacher is still an Army MP, involved in a murder case outside an army base in America's rural South. The title is simple, not that unique, but can denote a couple of different things about the book.


• THE ACCIDENT by Linwood Barclay - another terrific 'suburban suspense' novel, that is kickstarted by, you guessed it, an accident (a DUI traffic accident) - but is it an accident?


• RETRIBUTION by Val McDermid - the latest Tony Hill and Carol Jordan book, which sees the return of serial killer Jacko Vance who escapes from prison, and is after, that's right, retribution.


• THE RIDGE by Michael Koryta - a supernatural thriller with plenty of interesting characters and mysterious happenings, all tied to a mountain ridge.


• THE COLOR OF LAW by Mark Gimenez - a modern-day ode to To Kill a Mockingbird, where a high-flying wheeler-dealer Texas corporate lawyer is forced to defend a black hooker who's accused of killing an important senator's son. While issues of racism arise, as becomes clear through Gimenez's interesting legal thriller, in modern times, it's the colour of money, even more so than skin, that really segregates people now.

So it seems that most of the crime fiction titles aren't too poetic or multi-layered - they are quite direct and on point, having meaning to the story without necessarily being that unique or memorable. Does this matter? I'm not sure. I must say, I am a fan of some of James Lee Burke's novel titles - PURPLE CANE ROAD, INTO THE ELECTRIC MIST WITH CONFEDERATE DEAD, CIMARRON ROSE, CADILLAC JUKEBOX, etc - I really do love the poetry and 'sound' of those titles, which always end up having some meaning tied into the story, although not always what you expect. But I don't think it necessarily harms most other crime fiction titles from not having that same level of uniqueness or poetic 'sound'. What do you think?

I did have a period of reading last year where it seemed almost every book I read had 'Blood' somewhere in the title - but I guess with crime fiction certain words, or images, will of course crop up again and again.

Then of course there are some authors who have themed titles throughout a series - for example, James Patterson's earlier Alex Cross novels all had the nursery rhyme/children's poem or song element - ROSES ARE RED, KISS THE GIRLS, ALONG CAME A SPIDER, POP GOES THE WEASEL etc. And sopme of Val McDermid's novels have titles taken in part from poems by TS Eliot - WIRE IN THE BLOOD, THE MERMAID'S SINGING, etc.

Does a good title matter? Or only if you are a lesser-known author? As a reader, are you drawn to a title, like you might be to a cover (meaning you might pick a book up, or investigate it more online, potentially giving the author more chance to convince you to buy it)? Does it matter more for some types of novels than others? What are your favourite crime titles? I'd love to get your opinions and examples on this matter.

Forever young or aging (un)gracefully: what to do with series detectives?

Thanks to fellow reviewer and prolific crime reader Maxine Clarke (of Petrona and EuroCrime fame), I read an interesting Wall Street Journal over the weekend about the ways in which various crime fiction authors had dealt with (or not) the issue of an aging detective when their popular series' ended up running for decades. You can read Alexandra Alter's article, "The (Really) Long Goodbye", in full here.

It's a topic that has intrigued me for a while, and was brought home to me again recently when I read THE TROUBLED MAN by Henning Mankell, a book that is all about his popular detective Kurt Wallander getting older and looking back on his life and what he has done (interestingly, Alter overlooks this book in her article). When I interviewed Mankell for an article in the New Zealand Listener earlier this year, he told me:

"In all of the Wallander stories there has been questions - why is this? How come this happened? And every one of these questions has been connected to a story, a case you might say, that Wallander must solve - with one exception. That is the last novel, THE TROUBLED MAN - where he himself is the question and the case. That is why I wrote it actually, because I felt there was a book missing, and that’s where he was his own case. Where he in a way tried to find out about himself, his own life."

And also:

"And that had really to do with something, his age... I think when you come up to the 60s there are for most people a need to turn around a little and look at what you did with your life, what happened in your life, and for many people that can be quite scary. Because many people have [frittered] away a lot of their lives, they haven’t done anything really with their dreams that they should have done... So this is also a story about getting old... I really wanted to write about the scary thing of getting a bit older, because that is what Wallander and I have in common, we have the same age."

Personally, as much as I love certain detectives and crime fiction characters, and would love to see them go on and on and on, I think it adds something to series if the character ages and evolves. It's part of life, and different things are important to us at different ages, and stages, of our lives. So I think it's great for literature (and I very much include crime fiction in that phrase, although some critics may disagree) to address that.

For me, the best crime fiction is about much more than it's plot, and even the best characters will get less interesting if they don't evolve over time. The best crime fiction addresses issues about people, and perhaps even about society, and aging is a part of that, and allows the author to address (hopefully in a subtle or subtextual way, raising issues rather than hammering us over the head with them) different things that concern not only their characters, but us as readers. I'm still (only) 32, but I can certainly appreciate this, and I'm sure many older readers might do so, even more.

One of my favourite books of 2010 was THE GLASS RAINBOW, by the incomparable James Lee Burke (Alter did mention this book in her article). In it, Dave Robicheaux (played by aging actor Tommy Lee Jones in In The Electric Mist, pictured above), like Burke himself, is in his early 70s, and along with the murky gumbo of violence and other issues he finds himself entangled with during the book, Robicheaux and his elderly hulk of a sidekick Clete Purcel, also deal with things like aging and mortality. And I personally felt this added to the book. I like what Burke says in Alter's article:

"Mr. Burke, whose books have sold 20 million copies, says he ages his characters as a matter of artistic principle. "Not to do so would be aesthetically dishonest," says Mr. Burke, 74, who sells Robicheaux-themed hats and T-shirts on his website. "You'd be rigging the game."

And of course, Agatha Christie kills off Poirot in his last case (sorry for the spoiler, for those who haven't read it). However not all authors want to age their characters, and I can understand the struggle; not only are there the commercial factors to take into account (it's a brave move to age then 'retire' a bestselling character like Rebus, for example), but I imagine some authors see their characters in a certain way, as do their readers, and aging - with everything that brings to the table, if you treat it realistically - simply wouldn't work for the character and stories they want to write (or read). And if you age them, then at some point you'd have to end them, and not every author can be like Michael Connelly and create a second high quality series (eg his Mickey Haller novels) that likewise satisfies critics and fans as their main character (Harry Bosch) ages. It's a risk, aging your series character, and I can understand that not everyone would be willing to take it.

Some writers start aging their characters, and then change their mind. As Alter says in her WSJ article:

"Patricia Cornwell, who has been writing about forensic expert Dr. Kay Scarpetta for more than 20 years, said she decided to stop Scarpetta from aging further when both she and her character turned 50 five years ago. "People don't want to read about her when she's 80," she said.

Thriller writer Lee Child dutifully aged his laconic, violent drifter Jack Reacher for the first several books, then realized his character would soon be too old to plausibly dispense head-butts and elbow strikes to a room full of villains. So Mr. Child stopped the clock. "I'm going to play his age down a little bit and make the reader assume he's stuck in his mid-40s," says Mr. Child, who recently finished book 16."

Others like Robert B. Parker have decades-long series where the character is near frozen in time, and while the world changes around them, their hero stays forever young. I believe Parker may have even changed Spenser's background in the later books, updating the wars in which he fought to explain his static age.

What do you think about aging detectives, or not? Do your favourite authors age their characters? Are your favourite detectives getting older, or not? Do you care, either way? Would you rather see an evolution of issues (perhaps with a decline of physical skills), or a detective hero who stays forever young?

I'm not sure myself. I loved THE GLASS RAINBOW, and enjoyed the way Mankell aged Wallander in THE TROUBLED MAN, but then, if I'm honest, I might want a MacGyver or Magnum PI remake to focus on the young, action-packed, characters I remember from the '80s, rather than older version.

Something to ponder anyway. I'd love to read your thoughts about this issue.

Reflecting on 2010: my Weekend Herald feature articles

As I said last month when I took a look back at the rapid growth and pleasingly diverse, high quality line-up of 44 (thusfar) terrific author in the 9mm series I launched in 2010, I have been a little late on the traditional 'end of year' reflections. However, as well as looking ahead to all the opportunities, challenges, and excitement to come in 2011 and beyond, I have over the past little while also been reflecting on what has been going on, crime fiction-wise, down this way in the past year. Both for myself, and the wider New Zealand crime fiction community. I think it's a good thing to do, as we look ahead and try to build on what's gone before.

So for the second in a series of 'Reflecting on 2010' posts, I thought I would take a look back on the author and books feature articles I wrote for the Weekend Herald (the weekend edition of the largest-circulation newspaper in New Zealand). After writing three such features in late 2009, I took a bit of a hiatus, before contributing seven articles over a period of less than three months in the second half of last year. It was great to be involved with such a fantastic publication, that is so widely read, and to play a part in ensuring there was some great crime and thriller content in its books pages. Thanks to the Weekend Herald, I also had the opportunity to speak to (and meet, in some cases), some truly terrific authors, including some all-time greats of the genre. On a personal front, those interviews were some of my favourite moments of 2010.

I will be writing some more articles for the Weekend Herald in 2011, and I'm looking forward to some new great moments chatting to great authors. In the meantime, here are my seven Weekend Herald books features/reviews of 2010 (click on the images to read the full article).

"Philosopher of Crime"

Saturday 31 July 2010

James Lee Burke talks to Craig Sisterson about artistry in crime writing, speaking for those with no voice and the central issue of modern times.

Any true artist, whatever their creative medium, needs both humility and vanity, says legendary American novelist James Lee Burke. "Humility is not a virtue in a writer, it is an absolute necessity," he adds, his mild Southern accent reverberating down the phone line from his "property that tries to be a ranch" just outside Missoula, Montana. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.

It was a true pleasure, a complete joy, to interview Burke, who is such a gentleman, but at the same time so passionate and full of interesting opinions, burnished by experience and real-world education, about not only writing, but also many of the issues facing us today, in terms of people and our planet. Just a fantastic interviewee, as well as a fantastic writer.

Book Review: THE FALLEN

Saturday 31 July 2010

A man dazedly regains consciousness, only to find himself handcuffed, feeling like "he's been bathed in something corrosive", and with his head adhered to the carpet by his own clotted blood.

So starts this debut crime thriller from North Shore engineering student and nascent author, Ben Sanders, an adroit barely-20-something being touted as "a major new talent" with a "sophisticated and edgy" writing style. READ FULL REVIEW HERE.

I made my return to the Weekend Herald books pages with a double-billing; both a feature on James Lee Burke and a review of Kiwi debutant crime writer Ben Sanders' THE FALLEN in the 31 July 2010 issue. This was also my first review for the Weekend Herald books pages, and it was nice to have a little more room to play with, word count wise, than I do for some other very good magazines or newspapers for whom I've reviewed crime and thriller fiction.

THE FALLEN is a very good debut novel, and one of several very good crime novels published by New Zealanders in 2010. I was very pleased to be able to share it with a wider New Zealand audience, and also very pleased the Weekend Herald was keen to include some quality New Zealand crime fiction in its books pages. Later in the year THE FALLEN was also included in the prestigious Listener 100 Best Books list, which was great to see.

"Murder in the blood"

Saturday 21 August 2010

Diamond Dagger winner Val McDermid talks to Craig Sisterson about the contaminating effect of violence and the evolution of crime fiction since the so-called Golden Age.

Modern crime fiction has come a long way since the country-house murders, dislikeable victims and detached detectives of the Golden Age, says acclaimed Scottish novelist Val McDermid.

"We've almost completely abandoned the notion of the crossword-puzzle novel, the whodunnit, and we're writing books that are of necessity written in the world we live in." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Like with Burke, it was a great pleasure to interview the indomnitable Val McDermid. As an added bonus, I also got to meet her (twice) when she visited New Zealand soon after our telephone interview. McDermid is just so much fun, mixing strong will and strong opinions with a real zest for life, and a passion for writing and stories. Just a very cool person, as well as being one of the best writers of contemporary crime fiction. You can read more about some of the highlights of McDermid's event at the Women's Bookstore here.

"A tale of two Peters"

Saturday 28 August 2010

Two big names in British thriller writing visit New Zealand next week. Craig Sisterson talks to Peter James and Peter Robinson.

When publisher Macmillan approached Peter James in 2001 and asked the already bestselling British author whether he had considered writing a crime novel, the answer was simple. "It was what I'd always wanted to do," says James, on the phone from Nevada, where he's doing research for his next book before heading here to promote his latest, Dead Like You. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Not only did I really enjoy interviewing both Peter James and Peter Robinson - who are each polite, passionate, fascinating guys as well as being top notch crime writers - but I also enjoyed the challenge of writing an article about two different writers, mixing fun anecdotes and quotes from each while at the same time uncovering some interesting (to me, at least) contrasts and comparisons.

"A capital crime novel"

Saturday 25 September 2010

When a cop arrives at the door of missing persons specialist Diane Rowe to tell her a body found that morning was someone she knew, she is stunned - like anyone would be. But this death, not to mention the cop, make this notification a little different. Not only is the latter her ex-husband, but the news itself leaves her anything but sad. The body found in Cuba St belongs to "Snow", a recidivist low-life Diane suspects brutally murdered her troubled younger sister Niki a year before. READ FULL REVIEW HERE.

Rather than an author feature, this Weekend Herald piece was a longer review of acclaimed TV screenwriter and NZSA Pindar Publishing Prize-winning author Donna Malane's debut adult crime thriller, SURRENDER.

SURRENDER ended up (deservedly) receiving some other great reviews, and was included in the Listener 100 Best Books list for 2010. In a year that saw some very, very good New Zealand crime fiction being published, SURRENDER was a welcome addition to the pleasantly-growing local canon. I look forward to seeing what Donna Malane comes up with next - hopefully another Diane Rowe story.

"Ghostwriter haunted by his characters"

Saturday 2 October 2010

Australian thriller writer Michael Robotham talks to Craig Sisterson about the importance of making characters seem real.

There is a moment of truth in writing, when you hear the voice of the main character in your head, they become real, and then everything you do is in that voice, says Michael Robotham. The Sydney-based author, who has twice won the Ned Kelly Award for best Australian crime novel (his latest, Bleed For Me, was also a finalist for this year's award), hears that voice as he writes his psychological thrillers. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Like Burke, McDermid, James, and Robinson, Robotham was a fascinating interviewee (don't I have a great hobby/job, getting to interview all these terrific authors who despite their success are so down-to-earth and fun?). I also appreciated the fact that he was very enthusiastic and complimentary about our local efforts in setting up a crime fiction award, and generously gave some great advice about crime fiction awards and organisations, rather than just wanting to talk about his own books and writing.

After talking to Robotham for more than an hour about crime fiction and all manner of things, I was very much looking forward to meeting him in person last year; however this was curtailed when the Canterbury earthquake led to the cancellation of the Christchurch Writers' Festival, where he was to appear. In some very good news, I understand that he may 'cross the Ditch' to do some New Zealand events in 2011, which would be fantastic.

"King of crime offers clues to success"

Saturday 9 October 2010

American author Michael Connelly talks to Craig Sisterson about chronicling contemporary LA

TWO UNPUBLISHED manuscripts that are gathering dust “in a box somewhere” in Michael Connelly’s Tampa home deserve a slice of credit for the creation of one of the most compelling characters in contemporary crime fiction, even if the acclaimed author says his earliest efforts “got the fate they deserved”. For it was in the process of those first attempts at writing full-length fiction that Connelly, then a newspaper reporter, had a revelation. “I learned that, at least for me, the books I write were going to live and die with character,” he says, his measured voice resonating down the line from Florida. “The protagonist was what they were going to be about, not a tricky plot.” READ FULL ARTICLE HERE.

As if the lineup of authors I'd interviewed for the Weekend Herald wasn't already prestigious enough, I finished my little flurry of feature and review activity last year by getting to chat to Michael Connelly, the creator of the magnificent Harry Bosch series, as well as some stunning standalones and the Mickey Haller books. Wow. Due to a time-difference miscommunication, I actually ended up talking to Connelly for an hour and half, spread over two separate phone calls on two separate days. He, like the others above, was very generous with his time and answers, and gave me so much fantastic material, quotes, and anecdotes.

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In the end, the only downside of getting to talk to great authors like those above, is that I often have these terrific conversations with them, but then only get to use about 10-20 per cent of what we talk about in the eventual features. So I kind of feel bad that I've had this terrific experience discussing and debating things, and can't always share all of that with more people.

Also, I don't know whether it's a crime writer thing, but they have all been a real pleasure to chat to; humble, passionate, and interesting. Some successful people in other arenas aren't always the same way. But for some reason, all the crime writers I've spoken to have been really genuine, and down-to-earth, regardless of the massive success some of them have achieved.

It's kind of bizarre when you have someone like James Lee Burke thanking you for calling and talking to him, or someone like Michael Connelly asking you to call him back the next day so you can chat more (after already talking for 45 mins). All these authors (and other crime writers I've been fortunate enough to meet or interview) just have a real passion for not only writing and storytelling, but life. Just good people.

I have a great job/hobby, and I'm grateful.

Which of the features did you enjoy? Which authors have you read? What do you think of the Weekend Herald including more crime fiction content in its book pages? Who would you like to see featured in 2011? Comments and suggestions appreciated.

Crime Fiction in the news and on the 'Net: Weekly Round-up

There's been several interesting crime fiction stories on the Web the past four weeks I've been away - from newspapers, magazines, and fellow bloggers. Hopefully you will all like finding an interesting article or two linked here, from recent stories, that you enjoy reading.

Crime Watch Weekly Round-Up: In the News and on the 'Net

• As English-speaking readers become more aware of great crime fiction translated from other languages, Tom Kington of The Guardian looks at how Italian crime might be looking to knock the Scandinavians from the top of the bestseller lists, thanks to a new TV adaptation of the Aurelio Zen novels.
• In an interesting feature interview with Joanne Sasvari of the Vancouver Sun, bestselling author Louise Penny - the only person ever to win three consecutive Agatha Awards - talks about readers being "literary tourists", the place of hope and compassion in her novels of murder and mystery, the fictional Canadian town of Three Pines, and much more.
• Publishers Weekly has broadcast some fascinating findings of a recent research study on the mystery/crime fiction book-buying market sponsored by Sister In Crime and conducted by Bowker’s PubTrack service. Amongst the statistics (US-based I believe): Women bought the most mysteries, accounting for 68% of purchases, 66% of mystery buyers were over 45 years old, and "Knowing or liking an author" was the top reason cited by readers for buying a particular mystery - underlining the importance of author branding and the 'tribal' nature of crime fiction readers.
• In a review of Bradford Morrow's 'The Diviner's Tale' and Jed Rubenfeld's 'The Death Instinct' for the Los Angeles Times, the always-excellent Sarah Weinman also talks about the perils of sales trends-focused publishing for 'mid-list' and up-and-coming authors, and some of the creative tactics being used to break through (in a sales way).
• In an interesting article that may have some parallels for local crime fiction in countries like New Zealand, Chris Thurman of MediaClubSouthAfrica has some interesting thoughts on the growth and slowly increasing recognition of South African crime fiction, and questions about why South African readers have been slow to embrace locally-written stories while buying international crime fiction by the bucket load.
• Jenny Shank of New West - Books and Writers conducts an interview with Denver's Cortwright McKeel, the founder of Murdaland crime fiction literary magazine, about his own "funny, talented debut novel" SHORT.
• Jay Strafford of the Richmonds Times-Dispatch has an interesting 'top 5' mystery novels of 2010, ranging from books by James Lee Burke and Louise Penny, to a "deft combination of Agatha Christie manor-house whodunit, Erle Stanley Gardner courtroom drama and Dan Brown thriller" written by JRR Tolkien's grandson.
• The New York Times has a nice obituary for Joe Gores, "a crime writer whose spare, chiseled sentences and deadpan dialogue put him squarely in the Dashiell Hammett tradition and persuaded Hammett’s daughter to let him write a follow-up to THE MALTESE FALCON", who died earlier this week in California. Read some of the other great tributes to Gores from the San Francisco Chronicle here, the Los Angeles Times here, and The Rap Sheet here.
• The Wall Street Journal takes a look at some new crime fiction, including the latest Lord Peter Wimsey book from Jill Paton Walsh, who was deputised by Dorothy Sayer's estate to continue the series from unpublished manuscripts and letters left behind by Sayers, and has now written a Wimsey tale from scratch, THE ATTENBURY EMERALDS.

Why do you think most crime fiction readers are female, and older? Do you largely follow particular crime writers with your reading? Have you read any/many of the books or authors discussed in this week's articles? What do you think of crime writers continuing series created by other authors (eg Gores with Hammett, Paton Walsh with Sayers)? Comments appreciated.

365 books in a year?

In terms of New Years resolutions, aiming to read one novel-sized book a day for an entire year would be quite a big one, I guess. And in all honesty, it's not one of mine for 2011.

However, due to circumstances here in Hanoi (poor weather, having done plenty of sightseeing already, a need for some relaxation after lots of running around SE Asia for three weeks), I've actually managed to read two whole books during the first two days of the year (both courtesy of the Bookworm store, which I mentioned last year, ie a couple of days ago): LAST CAR TO ELYSIAN FIELDS by James Lee Burke and IN PLAIN SIGHT by CJ Box.

Quality-wise, that's a pretty good way to start the year too, with a couple of top-notch Edgar winning crime writers. I had the privilege of interviewing James Lee Burke last year (one of my crime fiction highlights of a terrific 2010), and am hoping to perhaps interview CJ Box in 2011.

LAST CAR TO ELYSIAN FIELDS is part of Burke's sublime and terrific Dave Robicheaux series of Louisiana-set crime novels. In this one, former NOPD detective Robicheaux is working for the Iberia Sheriff, his old partner Helen Soileau. His longtime buddy and hulking sidekick Clete Purcel is working as a PI, and Robicheaux is still on the wagon, just, after the all-too-recent death of his wife Bootsie. Here's the blurb:

"It is a rainy late-summer's night in New Orleans. Detective Dave Robicheaux is about to confront the man who may have savagely assaulted his friend, Father Jimmie Dolan, a Catholic priest who's always at the centre of controversy. But things are never as they seem and soon Robicheaux is back in New Iberia, probing a car crash that killed three teenage girls. A grief-crazed father and a maniacal, complex assassin are just a few of the characters Robicheaux meets as he is drawn deeper into a web of sordid secrets and escalating violence. A masterful exploration of the troubled side of human nature and the dark corners of the heart, peopled by familiar characters such as P.I. Clete Purcel and Robicheaux's old flame Theodosia LeJeune, LAST CAR TO ELYSIAN FIELDS is vintage Burke - moody, hard-hitting, with his trademark blend of human drama and relentless noir suspense."

I will write a full review later (either here on Crime Watch, or elsewhere and linked here), but for now I'll just say that this is another outstanding book in one of the best crime fiction series of recent decades. Poetic, layered, philosophical, elegant, lyrical, and yet brutal at the same time. Vintage Burke.

My second book (started on the night of 1 January, finished on 2nd January) was IN PLAIN SIGHT by CJ Box. CJ Box was one of those authors I'd heard of, but never read, until recently. In late 2010 I read BLUE HEAVEN, the first of Box's books to be widely available in bookstores downunder. It was excellent, a top read mixing crime fiction with an almost Western atmosphere, tone, and pace. While BLUE HEAVEN (which won the 2009 Edgar Award) was a standalone novel, IN PLAIN SIGHT is one of Box's 'Joe Pickett' novels - part of his acclaimed series featuring a Wyoming Fish and Game Warden.

Here's the blurb for IN PLAIN SIGHT, the sixth book in the Joe Pickett series: "J. W. Keeley is a man with a score to settle. He blames one man for the death of his brother: Joe Pickett. And now J. W. is going to make him suffer. Spring has finally come to Saddlestring, Wyoming, and game warden Joe Pickett is relieved the long, harsh winter is finally over. However, a cloud of trouble threatens to spoil the milder weather-local ranch owner and matriarch Opal Scarlett has vanished under suspicious circumstances. Two of her sons, Hank and Arlen, are battling for control of their mother's multi-million-dollar empire, and their bitter fight threatens to tear the whole town apart.

Everyone is so caught up in the brothers' battle that they seem to have forgotten that Opal is still missing. Joe is convinced, though, that one of the brothers killed their mother. Determined to uncover the truth, he is attacked and nearly beaten to death by Hank Scarlett's new right-hand man on the ranch-a recently arrived stranger who looks eerily familiar. A series of threatening messages and attempts to sabotage Joe's career follow. At first, he thinks the attacks are connected with his investigation of Opal's disappearance, but he soon learns that someone else is after him-someone with a very personal grudge who wants to make Joe pay . . . and pay dearly. Compelling and suspenseful, In Plain Sight is a crackling novel from one of today's best mystery writers."

Although if I'm putting my reviewers hat on, I didn't think IN PLAIN SIGHT quite reached the heights of BLUE HEAVEN (it seemed just a touch more cliched/melodramatic at times; a little bit on the nose, tell not show), it was a very good crime novel, I enjoyed the read, and I will definitely read more of the Joe Pickett series. I especially enjoyed Box's descriptions of the outdoors setting, and the character of Joe.

So, two days down, two very good to great crime novels down. Not a bad start to 2011.

What is/has been your first crime fiction read of 2011?

Currently reading: THE NEON RAIN by James Lee Burke

Greetings from Vietnam. Along with all my reviewing etc for various newspapers, magazines, and websites, and the odd Reading Challenge or two, I've decided that over the next few months I'm going to do a bit of an 'Origins' series, looking at the debut books of popular and longstanding detectives or crime fiction characters. To go back and read the first books in long series. To look at how these characters were first introduced, described, etc - often before the authors had any idea they would end up being a series character (or at least such a long-running or popular one).

So while I'm travelling here in Vietnam, and having finished PHNOM PENH EXPRESS by Johan Smits (good) and BANGKOK HAUNTS by John Burdett (great), I'm now reading THE NEON RAIN by James Lee Burke, which introduces Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux. Unsurprisingly, it's terrific.

I will post more about this on my return to New Zealand in the New Year. In the meantime, have you read any of the Dave Robicheaux novels? What do you think of him as a character, a detective? Who are some of your favourite longstanding detectives? What other 'origins' books should I have in my series. Comments appreciated.

9mm: An interview with James Lee Burke

Welcome to the latest instalment in Crime Watch's ongoing series of author interviews; 9mm - 9 Murder Mystery questions put to a variety of New Zealand and international crime, thriller, and mystery authors.

I'm fortunate enough to get to interview a lot of fantastic crime fiction authors, well-known and lesser-known - sometimes directly for Crime Watch, and sometimes for some of the various great newspapers and magazines I write for (eg the Weekend Herald, Good Reading, etc).

Since I started the 9mm series with Lee Child almost seven months ago, I've made sure that every interview I do with every author, whether in-person or over the phone or Internet, includes the nine 9mm questions, in amongst whatever else I'm interviewing them about (eg their latest book, their particular characters, their visits to New Zealand etc). I've got to say, all the authors have been incredibly generous with their time, and welcoming of the 9mm questions, so I hope that you all enjoy seeing how different authors answer the questions each time.

Today, for the 38th instalment of 9mm (how quickly the series has grown), I thought I would share with you the 9mm part of the interview I did with MWA Grandmaster and mystery writing maestro James Lee Burke for a feature in the Weekend Herald, in the lead-up to the release of his latest excellent Robicheaux tale, THE GLASS RAINBOW.

Getting to interview Burke was a real privilege, and a highlight of what has been a tremendous year for me, on the crime fiction reading and interviewing front. You can read my Crime Fiction Alphabet post on James Lee Burke here. And my Weekend Herald feature here.

To give you a sense of Burke, as you read his answers, here's a paragraph from my Herald feature, describing his demeanour during our interview:

• "Throughout, the 73-year-old laughs easily and often, almost explosively at times. He is unfailing polite, yet not at all stuffy or formal. He answers the phone with a jovial "Is this New Zealand calling?" then tells me to call him "Jim". Down-to-earth and humble, his soft-spoken manner and measured cadence belie some strident opinions when it comes to several things he cares deeply about, including the environment, "people of humble origin", and the purpose and importance of art."

But now, James Lee Burke stares down the barrel of 9mm.

The Crime Watch 9mm Author Interview: James Lee Burke

Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?
I don’t make much distinction between genres. I think literary art is literary art, or it’s not. I think among American crime writers over the years the best was James M. Cain. There’s no question about it in my mind, he was a very good writer.

What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why? The Hardy Boys - it was great to read those books. The adventure, the mystery - being able to identify with young boys who were solving great mysteries.

Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything); unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?
Well, I’ve been a published novelist since, oh, many years ago. I finished my first published novel, I finished writing it, in 1960, HALF OF PARADISE. So I’ve been doing it for over 50 years. I’d published short stories [before that].

Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?
Fly fishing in Montana. We live on some property that tries to be a ranch, and that keeps me very busy. Montana is a grand place, and Louisiana is too.

What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider? Something the locals would recommend?
Well, there are two places we identify as home. In New Iberia I think people would find it a very hospitable place, wonderful place, and the ambience is just lovely. Of course it’s on the Gulf, which is having terrible problems right now. Montana where we live in the Northern Rockies is just as good as the earth gets. It’s just absolutely as good as the earth gets. Much of it is like the earth was on the first day of creation, it’s just beautiful.

If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?
Oh, I’d like to play a cotton bowl, or a crawfish. I’ve never thought about it (laughing). I wouldn’t visit a fate like that on my worst enemy [playing Jim Burke]

--- Maybe Tommy Lee Jones?

I don’t think anybody is going to be lining up to play me in a film (laughing).

Of your books, which is your favourite, and why?
Well, I’ve always felt that about every book I wrote, but the one that obviously, at least in my mind, that’s most important, would be RAIN GODS. RAIN GODS is the best book I’ve written.

And the book that allowed me to write full-time, BLACK CHERRY BLUES - it won the Edgar in 1989, and it marked the first large commercial success that I had, and it allowed me to work fulltime as a novelist. I wrote for many years and held other jobs at the same time. It’s not easy to do sometimes.

What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form on a bookseller’s shelf?
Oh, elation, because it took me four years for it [HALF OF PARADISE] to find a publisher. I always wrote more easily than I published, but when I published that book, it was a glorious moment. And my first review was a six-column banner review in the New York Times Review of Books, and so it’s been downhill ever since (laughing). But it was a great review, and the man who reviewed me was Wirt Williams, he wrote the book ADA DALLAS [one of three of his books nominated for a Pulitzer Prize], he’s from Louisiana, and he was a very nice gentleman. I didn’t know him them, but I came to know him later. He compared my work to, get this, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Camus, and Sartra. I thought, hey, that’s pretty nice (laughing).

I thought all my reviews would be like that, and then right after that review, the New York Herald-Tribune gave me maybe the second worst review I ever received, the guy just tore it apart. I tried to remember a lesson that Ernest Hemingway imparted to young writers, when he said ‘If you believe the critics when they say you’re good, you have to believe them when they say you’re bad’.

What is the strangest or most unusual or memorable experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?
Well, it’s always been a great experience. The great benefit of being a professional writer - and I’m sure you have this experience yourself as a professional writer, I was a newspaper man myself - is that you are always around intelligent people. And it’s always an enormous pleasure to go, say, to a book convention or a book festival. And to have people came to, in effect, praise your work, and to want to hear you read aloud to them, and talk about how you wrote the book, it’s just an enormous compliment.

After many years of working hard at it, it is of course a great sense of accomplishment to feel that maybe you’ve brought some degree of pleasure to others. Not many people have the chance to experience that reciprocity in their work. I mean, most people fight with their job, but to me writing is just the perfect life, always has been. I can’t think of a better life - I never wanted to be anything else other than a writer.

Thank you James (Jim) Lee Burke. We really appreciate you taking the time to answer the 9mm questions.

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So what do you think of this 9mm interview? Have you read any of James Lee Burke's books - the Robicheaux series or others? Which do you think is his best? Have you seen the films that have been made from his Robicheuax series (Alec Baldwin as Robicheaux in Heaven's Prisoners, Tommy Lee Jones in Into the Electric Mist)? I'd love to read your comments. Please share your thoughts.

Philosopher of Crime: my feature on James Lee Burke

As I mentioned earlier, the Weekend Herald (New Zealand's biggest newspaper) have now kindly allowed me to republish any articles I have or will write for them, online. So today I am sharing my 1500-word feature on mystery writing maestro James Lee Burke, which was in the features section of the Canvas magazine (the glossy lifestyle supplement) in last weekend's edition.

PHILOSOPHER OF CRIME
James Lee Burke talks to CRAIG SISTERSON about artistry in crime writing, speaking for those with no voice, and the central issue of modern times

ANY TRUE artist, whatever their creative medium, needs both humility and vanity, says legendary American novelist James Lee Burke. “Humility is not a virtue in a writer, it is an absolute necessity,” he adds, his mild Southern accent reverberating down the phone line from his “property that tries to be a ranch” just outside Missoula, Montana. Burke and his wife of fifty years, Pearl, now split their time between Missoula and New Iberia in Louisiana, the lush setting of Burke’s evocative and award-winning crime novels starring aging detective Dave Robicheaux.

Burke’s eighteenth and latest Robicheaux novel, The Glass Rainbow (released in New Zealand next week), is ostensibly the reason for our interview, but just like his rich and layered tales themselves, my conversation with Burke ends up being a bit deeper and more philosophical, and laced with history, politics, social commentary, and literary references. Throughout, the 73-year-old laughs easily and often, almost explosively at times. He is unfailing polite, yet not at all stuffy or formal. He answers the phone with a jovial “Is this New Zealand calling?” then tells me to call him “Jim”. Down-to-earth and humble, his soft-spoken manner and measured cadence belie some strident opinions when it comes to several things he cares deeply about, including the environment, “people of humble origin”, and the purpose and importance of art.

The humility a writer must have is just recognition that their artistic talent is a gift, says Burke. “All good art has its origins I believe in some source outside oneself. And every good artist knows that the gift comes from somewhere else, and it’s there for a reason, and that’s to make the world a better place.” The greatest enemy of art is self-absorption and ego, continues Burke. Arrogance and pride are “a cancer”, and if an artist “begins to think of himself as someone who in effect went out and acquired the talent” rather than appreciating it for the gift it is, then they are heading for a fall. However, an artist must have faith in their talent, and feel compelled to share something important with the wider world. “It’s a kind of vanity,” says Burke. “George Orwell once said writers write because they want to set history straight. And that’s the emotion the writer feels, as though he is seeing reality in a perfectly accurate way, and he feels an obsession to communicate his vision.”

Some may question a crime writer, even one as acclaimed as Burke, talking about art and making the world a better place. But anyone who’s read his novels knows that they have a fair bit more to say, beneath the page-turning action, than your typical easy-reading ‘airport thriller’. “I don’t make much distinction between genres,” he says. “I think literary art is literary art, or it’s not. Writing is either good or bad.”

Burke wanted to be a writer from an early age. Born in Houston and growing up on the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast, the first books he remembers reading and really loving were crime novels; The Hardy Boys series. It was the “adventure, the mystery, and being able to identify with young boys who were solving great crimes” that held such great appeal, he recalls with a fond chuckle. Burke shared a youthful passion for words and storytelling with his first cousin Andre DuBus, and I hear a note of pride in his voice as he notes they both ended up being writers all of their lives. While Burke has published 30 more books since his 1965 debut Half of Paradise (which took several years to find a publisher), won two Edgar Awards (the ‘Oscars’ of crime writing), had his fourth novel The Lost Get Back Boogie rejected a record 111 times over nine years then get nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and last year the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, his late cousin was pretty talented too. Dubus is considered one of the best American short story writers of the 20th century.

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'The story, the great drama, is around us all the time, it's always there. It's a matter of seeing it.'

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Burke has also lived a full and fascinating life away from the page; a life he says has truly enriched his writing. “Everything I was doing all the time in some way I thought of as translating into my art,” he says. “When I was a social worker in Los Angeles, I knew that all these people I was seeing - convicts, street people, migrant farm workers, skid row derelicts - were all going to become players later in my work. I learned an enormous amount about the other America, one that we don’t recognise. It was the same in other jobs.” For Burke those other jobs included working as a landman for the Sinclair Oil Company, as a pipeliner, land surveyor, newspaper reporter, college English professor, clerk for the Louisiana Employment Service, and instructor in the US Job Corps. “The story, the great drama, is around us all the time, it’s always there. It’s a matter of seeing it.”

You could say there are three main threads running through Burke’s various careers: working on the land (as an oil man and surveyor); working with words (as a journalist, English professor, and novelist); and working with those less fortunate (his social work and employment-related roles). Fans of his crime novels will notice clear similarities with issues and themes consistently highlighted through his writing, especially when it comes to man’s relationship with land and resources, and the stark reality of life for those at the lower end of the economic and social spectrum. When I ask Burke whether he consciously incorporated such issues into his storytelling, or whether they just naturally emerged given his background, he doesn’t hesitate. “It was always a conscious attempt to give voice to those who have none,” he says. “I believe that’s what the artist does. He tries to give voice to those who have none.”

Burke’s love for the land is also clear from both his writing and life away from the page. “Where we live in the Northern Rockies is just as good as the earth gets,” he says. “Much of it is like the earth was on the first day of creation, it’s just beautiful.” He is a keen outdoorsman, particularly enjoying fly-fishing. With his novels, Burke is renowned for a masterful touch for his Louisiana, Texas, and Montana settings. While other crime writers try to immediately grab readers’ attention with action-based hooks, in The Glass Rainbow Burke takes the entire first page to describe a room in a Mississippi river town, complete with ventilated storm shutters “slatted with a pink glow, as soft and filtered and cool in color as the spring sunrise can be”.

From there, Burke’s latest book evolves into an intricate tale involving a series of depraved murders, a convict-turned celebrity writer, some old-money Louisiana families with plenty of skeletons in their closets, and hired mercenaries. Septuagenarian investigator Dave Robicheaux (picture a slightly warmer and more connected but no less tough version of Clint Eastwood’s aging hero in Gran Torino) has his hands full trying to dig for the truth, keep his hulking sidekick Clete Purcel out of jail, protect his enamoured daughter Alafair from two older men with murky motives, and deal with nagging visions of his own mortality.

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'And every good artist knows that the gift comes from somewhere else, and it's there for a reason, and that's to make the world a better place.'

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Reviews of Burke’s writing often contain words like lyrical, evocative, lush, and sensuous. The page-turning plots and compelling characters, such as Robicheaux, Clete, and strong-willed Alafair (named after Burke’s own daughter, who has herself become an acclaimed mystery novelist) are also impressive, but almost secondary. When I ask what in particular is so special about the regions where he sets his books, Burke notes “the past is always visible” in such places, which are “emblematic of the larger story”. Moreover, “Louisiana is at the centre, in a peculiar way, as is Montana, with the central issue of the 20th and the early 21st century, and that is energy and minerals”. For art to survive, it has to represent a larger story than a regional one, says Burke, and the era we’re in is all about the use and pursuit of natural resources. “It’s been the issue since 1914, and that’s a larger story. I think we’re in some denial about that. You guys went into Gallipoli in 1915 and that was the issue. The Kiwis that the British used for cannon fodder in the Dardanelles, the issue was natural resources. It was oil.” More recently, this central issue has led to the creation of “an antagonism between Christendom and the Islamic World that is going to be with us for decades”.

For decades James Lee Burke has been touching on such larger issues through the prism of crime fiction. As an artist, he’s had something important to say, and found a way to say it that has entranced readers around the globe. And like a true artist, he is grateful for his gift. “Most people fight with their job, but to me writing is just the perfect life, always has been. I can’t think of a better life.”

The Glass Rainbow (Orion, $38.99)

This feature article was first published in the Canvas magazine of the Weekend Herald on Saturday 31 July 2010, and is reprinted here with permission.

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So what do you think of my feature article on James Lee Burke? Of the Weekend Herald allowing me to share my past and future features for them, with you all her on Crime Watch? Have you read any of Burke's Robicheux novels? Or his other acclaimed works? Can crime writing be artistic? Thoughts and comments welcome.

My TWO articles in the Canvas magazine of today's Weekend Herald (New Zealand's biggest newspaper)

It was certainly a nice way to start what is a lovely blue-skied winter weekend here in Auckland, by popping out to the dairy (our term for a convenience store, for those with a puzzled expression on their faces) to pick up the weekend newspaper.

After a bit of a hiatus, I've started writing author features for the Weekend Herald (the weekend edition of the largest-circulation newspaper in New Zealand) again. In fact, I've got several features coming out over the next few weeks. It's great to see crime fiction getting decent coverage in such an important Kiwi newspaper - UK-based Stephen Jewell also regularly writes some great crime fiction author interviews for the Canvas magazine (the glossy lifestyle etc supplement to the Weekend Herald that includes the books section).

I've also started with a bit of a bang. In this weekend's Canvas, I have TWO articles; a large feature on mystery maestro James Lee Burke (pictured above), and a book review of THE FALLEN, the debut thriller from nascent Kiwi crime writer Ben Sanders, a 20-year-old Auckland engineering student, that is released this coming week.

If you're in the northern part of New Zealand, I hope you grab a copy of the Weekend Herald and have a read. Let me know what you think. It was an absolute privilege to interview James Lee Burke, and I only help my feature, "Philosopher of Crime" does the old master justice.

As for those of you outside of the Herald's distribution area, as I noted recently thanks to the generosity of Linda Herrick, the Books Editor for the Herald, I am now able to republish my Canvas magazine articles on Crime Watch (as its a glossy supplement, the articles usually aren't put online by the Herald). As such, I will republish the full James Lee Burke feature "Philosopher of Crime" here later this week. In the meantime, to give you taste, here's a short snippet from my story:

"Burke’s eighteenth and latest Robicheaux novel, The Glass Rainbow (released in New Zealand next week), is ostensibly the reason for our interview, but just like his rich and layered tales themselves, my conversation with Burke ends up being a bit deeper and more philosophical, and laced with history, politics, social commentary, and literary references.

Throughout, the 73-year-old laughs easily and often, almost explosively at times. He is unfailing polite, yet not at all stuffy or formal. He answers the phone with a jovial “Is this New Zealand calling?” then tells me to call him “Jim”. Down-to-earth and humble, his soft-spoken manner and measured cadence belie some strident opinions when it comes to several things he cares deeply about, including the environment, “people of humble origin”, and the purpose and importance of art."

As for my review of Ben Sanders' debut, THE FALLEN, I really enjoyed his first Sean Devereaux tale. Regardless of his age, it's very slick and well-written crime, with some very nice touches throughout. Hopefully readers here will give it a go; I think they'll be pleased if they do.

You can read a synopsis/blurb for THE FALLEN here.

As with the James Lee Burke feature, I will republish my Weekend Herald review of THE FALLEN online here on Crime Watch later this coming week.

In the meantime, here's my concluding comment from the 500+ word review: "The young man from the North Shore has added to the mounting evidence that New Zealand can produce native, compelling crime fiction to match the international offerings readers buy and enjoy in droves".

Come on - did any of you really expect me to write a review of a well-written Kiwi crime novel for the biggest newspaper in the country (who rarely do such longer reviews of crime titles - usually just doing snippet round-ups) without getting in a comment about the state of the genre here in general? I couldn't resist, especially since it's 100 % true.

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So, what do you think of my double-feature, so to speak, in Canvas/The Weekend Herald today? Are you a James Lee Burke fan? Do you like crime writers who layer in more than just fast-moving plot and action? Do you like the sound of THE FALLEN? Is Kiwi crime really on the rise, or am I just deluded? I'd love to read what you think. Please share your thoughts.