I spent my New Zealand Book Month voucher on...

As I said last month, as part of the very welcome return of New Zealand Book Month, our annual celebration of all things books and reading down here in Aotearoa, under the headline "Books Change Lives", New Zealand Book Month was going to deliver the biggest ever national book promotion by putting $20,000,000 worth of “book money” into the hands of New Zealanders.

4,000,000 $5 book vouchers are being distributed during March - one for every New Zealander. I picked up one for myself from a local BNZ yesterday, and went for a browse. Unfortunately one independendent bookstore I popped into wasn't supporting the promotion, which is a shame, so I went down the road to Whitcoulls - who've been having a tough time in the media lately, but still have some pretty great books available too.

I'd decided that I'd only use my $5 voucher to buy a New Zealand book (given the month, it seemed only right), but as I've already read or own almost all of the New Zealand crime, mystery and thriller novels that have been released in the past few years, it was a little tricky. Fortunately I came across one Kiwi crime-centred novel that had for one random reason or another until now eluded by bookshelf at home; THE CRIME OF HUEY DUNSTAN by James McNeish. So I used my voucher on that - supporting New Zealand Book Month, New Zealand authors, local crime/thriller/suspense/mystery writing, and a bookstore in need all in one go. Not a bad way to spend a late lunchtime.

In THE CRIME OF HUEY DUNSTAN, a young man stands in the dock accused of a brutal, apparently motiveless, murder. When Professor Chesney, a blind psychologist specialising in trauma, is called as an expert witness, he is at first baffled. This young man, Huey Dunstan, was a bubbly, smiling child not so long ago. What brought him to bludgeon an old man to death? Why does he seem determined at all cost to incriminate himself? As Ches delves into Huey's past, with the sensitive insight that perhaps only a blind man could have, a psychological mystery unravels. And the jury is asked to consider an unthinkable defence.

The publisher's blurb says, "The Crime of Huey Dunstan takes us beyond questions of guilt and innocence to thought provoking ideas on justice and humanity. An emotionally engaging, beautifully written novel from one of New Zealand's most revered writers."

My fellow Good Reading reviewer Linda George reviewed the book in the July 2010 issue of the magazine (in the crime section), giving it four stars and calling it "a beautifully written novel which asks some fundamental questions about the the nature of guilt, justice, and responsibility in our society".

I look forward to reading it.

What will you spend/have you spent your NZBM book voucher on?

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

There's been some more great crime fiction stories on the Web this past week - from newspapers, magazines, and fellow bloggers. Hopefully you will all like finding an interesting article or two linked here, that you enjoy reading.

Just before I dive into the latest stories however, I thought I'd note that despite my previous comments about the Weekend Herald rarely putting its books features or reviews online (one of the reasons they have allowed me to republish my stories for them here on Crime Watch), that my feature on Val McDermid from last weekend's edition was also uploaded to the main NZ Herald website early this past week.

You can read that article in full here. I'm not sure if this recent inclusion of such crime fiction reviews and features on the main Herald website will continue (I have a feature on Peter James and Peter Robinson in today's Canvas magazine in the Weekend Herald, so I will keep an eye out for if or when they place that online), but I will let you know. You can also read my recent James Lee Burke feature, "Philosopher of Crime", and my feature/review of Ben Sanders and his (now #1 bestselling) debut THE FALLEN, online on the Herald website.

If you've read and liked my stories, whether here on Crime Watch, in the print version, or online on the Herald website, it would be cool if you went to the Herald website (click on the links above) and hit the 'like' button and/or leave a comment - it might encourage them to put more crime fiction stories online in future. I have upcoming features on Michael Robotham and Michael Connelly as well, in the coming weeks.

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

• In an interesting article by John McEntee in today's Daily Mail, Baroness PD James shares her recollections from her days at Cambridge High School for Girls, saying that was the inspiration for Ronald Searle's St Trinian's books. There's a lovely photo of a very young PD James with her family in the article too.
• In a short but interesting article, Bangalore-based crime fiction writer Zac O’Yeah takes a look at the relative rarity of the supernatural in the world of crime writing for LiveMint.com (which is associated with the Wall Street Journal).
• Melinda Harvey of The Australian reviews the latest novel from Kiwi author James McNeish, THE CRIME OF HUEY DUNSTAN, a literary crime novel which she says addresses a very contemporary legal issue (the defence of provocation) and upturns some conventions of the genre by revealing much in its early pages.
• Liz Porter of the Sydney Morning Herald interviews crime writer Adrian Hyland, who has written two crime novels set in Outback Australia, has been criticised for making his protagonist an Aboriginal woman, and will be appearing at the Melbourne Writers Festival.
• In an interesting article for the Los Angeles Times, New York writer Michael Giltz revisits a cult TV classic from twenty years ago, taking a "long look back at a truly strange sensation, "Twin Peaks," the eccentric and eerie murder mystery that took network television down a strange path in 1990." I watched the first series of this recently, and quite enjoyed it.
• Jacki Wood of the Nowaday News Leader takes a quick look at the debut crime novel from one of the newspaper's own contributors.
• In the latest in the BBC Meet The Author interviews, crime novelist Mark Billingham talks about FROM THE DEAD, the most recent addition to his best-selling Tom Thorne series.
• In a very interesting article for Wales Online, Matt Thomas talks to newbie crime writer Belinda Bauer about being nominated for the CWA Gold Dagger, the importance of entering the Debut Dagger competition, writing BLACKLANDS, which links a 12-year old boy and an imprisoned serial killer, how the publishing world has rapidly changed in recent years, and much more.

What do you think of the round-up? Which articles do you find interesting? Is there a place for magic and the supernatural in crime fiction? What do you think of crime that leans heavily to the literary, like Temple's TRUTH or McNeish's THE CRIME OF HUEY DUNSTAN? Have you tried Adrian Hyland's Outback crime tales? Did you ever watch Twin Peaks? Have you read BLACKLANDS by Belinda Bauer? Please share your thoughts. I'd love to read what you think.