New Kiwi crime fiction: THE BRINGING DOWN OF THE HAWK by Roy Jenner

As part of my ongoing efforts to dig up and share some 'forgotten' Kiwi crime fiction that has fallen out of print, due to the vagaries of the publishing world, earlier this year I wrote about ON THE LIP OF A LION by Roy Jenner, which I had acquired online. That 2004 book (which got some good reviews on release) had been published by Hazard Press, a publisher that later went under, unfortunately taking the budding careers of several promising New Zealand popular fiction writers with it (at least temporarily).

Back in January, I noted that I hadn't been able to find out much more about the author, Roy Jenner, or whether he'd continued to write following Hazard's demise. I am very pleased to say that Jenner has written several more crime and thriller titles, and is now progressively making them available online in e-book form - which means Crime Watch readers, no matter where you are in the world, can give them a go.
 
Today, Jenner has released THE BRINGING DOWN OF THE HAWK. Here's the blurb: "World War 2 rips the hearts from the Starlings. A ten year old boy survives the London Blitz to mourn a father lost at Dunkirk. Eddie Starling emerges unscathed to battle Rommel in North Africa where Eddie is wounded. The war ends. Father and son reunite in New Zealand where their trust is exploited. The embittered son Ted Starling vows vengeance."

You can read a longer description of the book at the Smashwords website, where it is for sale in a variety of e-book forms for US$4.99, here. I understand several more of Jenner's novels (he has apparently written nine over the past few years) will become available to purchase in the coming weeks and months. You can read a little more about him and his crime and thriller writing at his blog here.Search through the July 2011 posts to see the variety of titles that he will soon be publishing.

Forgotten Fiction: ON THE LIP OF A LION

As regular readers of this blog will know, over the past year or more, I've been gradually building up a collection of out-of-print and hard-to-find New Zealand mystery, crime, thriller and suspense novels from days recent and gone by. While many people seem to think New Zealand historically has little in the way of crime fiction, other than Dame Ngaio Marsh of course, I've stumbled over many interesting books and authors, and even a number of overlooked recurring detectives (eg Steve Arrow of Laurie Mantell's books, Reverend Jabal Jarratt of Freda Bream's books, and Doug Fisher and Liz Gresham of Carol Dawber's books, etc).

While the pace has slowed, I am still quite regularly adding to my Kiwi crime collection, and recently I purchased another book online, ON THE LIP OF A LION by Roy Jenner. Here is the back-cover blurb: "Enjoying a respite between marriages, Kris Neven is reunited with his teenage daughter at the height of the Christmas season. After casually disregarding a threat to separate him from his daughter, and his money from his bank account, Neven is plunged into a month of audacity, intrigue and violence, which rampages from the heart of Auckland to the shores of Lake Taupo as he responds to the demand for a monster ransom. Love, humour, violence and deception spill from the pages of this novel, holding the reader’s attention into the small hours."

ON THE LIP OF A LION was published Gauntlet Paperbacks, an imprint of Hazard Press, in 2004. Unfortunately Hazard Press went under soon after, taking with it the budding careers of several New Zealand popular fiction authors. I haven't been able to find any other books that Roy Jenner may have written since, and his website is now inactive.

Here is some biographical information, from the Hazard website (which is still operational, although the company is not): Roy Jenner was born in London and spent his youth in Kent. After serving in the Army he worked in the retail meat trade before moving to Auckland, New Zealand with his wife and first two sons. A shift to the real estate profession proved to be a wise move for Roy; he enjoys considerable success and features regularly in the top five per cent of sales people in New Zealand.Roy also writes short stories, poems and song lyrics.

It may interest some of you to know that the book's title, ON THE LIP OF A LION, comes from a Shakespeare quote, from Henry V:

"That's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast
On the lip of a lion."

From what I can gather online, the book appeared to get some good reviews on release. I am looking forward to reading it, when I get the chance.

Do you like the sound of ON THE LIP OF A LION? Do you like discovering out-of-print or hard-to-find crime and thriller titles? What are some of the lesser-known New Zealand authors or books you have stumbled across? Thoughts and comments appreciated.