Meet Michael Robotham in Auckland on Thursday

As I revealed back in March, award-winning Australian crime writer Michael Robotham is visiting New Zealand this week. Last year Robotham was due to attend the Christchurch Writers Festival, and be part of a panel at the originally scheduled event for the inaugural presentation of the Ngaio Marsh Award, but those plans of course changed due to the September earthquake. Now Robotham will be appearing at Takapuna Library this Thursday evening.

I will be heading along, and giving the intro for Robotham. It should be another fun night at the Takapuna Library, who've made a habit over the past couple of years of scooping some great crime fiction author visits (eg Linwood Barclay, Gregg Hurwitz, Tom Rob Smith, Simon Kernick, Peter James etc).

I had the pleasure of interviewing Robotham for a feature in the Weekend Herald last year, and I'm looking forward to meeting him in person. You can read my Herald feature, "Ghostwriter haunted by his own characters", online here.

You can also read Robotham's 9mm interview with Crime Watch, here.

Robotham's latest thriller, THE WRECKAGE, was released recently. The new book sees the welcome return of ex-cop Vincent Ruiz, who "rescues a young woman from a violent boyfriend but wakes next morning to find that she's robbed him. It was a set up – an elaborate scam. Setting out to find Holly Knight, Ruiz discovers her boyfriend's tortured body and realises that powerful men are looking for the same girl. What did she steal that was so important?

Meanwhile, two thousand miles away, Pulitzer prize-winning Journalist Luca Terracini is living 'outside the wire' in Baghdad and investigating a disappearance of billions in reconstruction funds. The trail will lead him to London where he teams up with Ruiz and together they investigate the disappearance of an international banker and a mysterious 'black hole' in the bank's accounts.

THE WRECKAGE is an international conspiracy thriller involving clandestine agents and powerful nations who seek to bury secrets and manipulate the truth. It's about the money, politics and power. Who has it, who wants it and who's ultimately going to pay."

You can read the first chapter of THE WRECKAGE on Robotham's website here.

Have you read any of Michael Robotham's thrillers? If so, what do you think? Will you read THE WRECKAGE? Or come along to Thursday's event? Comments welcome.

SURRENDER: new Kiwi crime novel available from today

Today the crime novel that won the inaugural NZSA-Pindar Publishing Prize hits New Zealand bookshelves, which is great news - and for those in the New Zealand Herald 'catchment' area, there's even more good news. As the NZ Herald was a sponsor of the inaugural prize, the newspaper has teamed up with fellow sponsors Whitcoulls and Borders to offer its readers a 50% off coupon for SURRENDER over the next month.

As the book, which was published by the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) in association with Pindar Publishing and Astra Print, was already priced at the very, very reasonable RRP of $20 (most new fiction books in New Zealand that are launched are initially priced at NZ$35-40), this means that NZ Herald readers can get their hands on the book for just NZ$10!

So there are no excuses not to go out and buy it!

You can read more about SURRENDER and author Donna Malane, an award-winning screenwriter and first time adult novelist, here. You can read a good article about Malane, her novel, and the inaugural prize, by New Zealand Herald Books Editor Linda Herrick, here.

I read this book over the weekend (my review will appear in an upcoming issue of Canvas magazine in the Weekend Herald - and will then be republished here on Crime Watch). I won't pre-empt my review, other than to say that I did really enjoy the book, and that think that many Kiwi readers should give it a go. In fact, I'm actually going to use the Herald coupons to go and buy a few copies for friends and family over the coming days.

For those in the Herald distribution area, today's coupon is on page B3. So get out there and support Kiwi crime writing! Head out to your nearest Borders or Whitcoulls and buy a copy or two of SURRENDER (and pick up some other great Kiwi crime novels while you're at it).

Do you like the sound of SURRENDER? Does locally-set crime writing intrigue you? Who are your favourite Kiwi crime writers? Thoughts and comments welcome.

Prize-winning author joins the Kiwi crime ranks next week

As I noted back in June, crime rose to the top with the inaugural NZSA Pindar Publishing Prize, with Wellington screenwriter and producer Donna Malane (Until Proven Innocent, Duggan, Blood Lines, The Insider's Guide to Love, The Strip, etc) winning for her thriller about a woman delving into the seadier side of Wellington while she looks into the deaths of her sister, and the man she'd suspected of killing her.

Launched last December (entries had to be in by March), the award was in effect something of a 'talent search', offering budding authors (in any genre and style, including novels, short story collections, poetry and non-fiction) the chance to be professionally edited, produced, marketed and distributed throughout New Zealand.

Now Malane's prize-winning novel, SURRENDER, will be launched next week, on Thursday 16 September. I have been sent an advance review copy, and am really enjoying it thusfar (about quarter of the way through). I will be writing a review for the Weekend Herald, so I won't say any more about my specific thoughts right now.

You can read a good article about Malane, her novel, and the inaugural prize, by New Zealand Herald Books Editor Linda Herrick, here.

Here is the 'back cover blurb' for SURRENDER, which will be available from Whitcoulls and Borders stores nationwide next week.

"Missing persons expert, Diane Rowe, is used to making sense of other people’s lives. Pity she’s not having much luck with her own. The brutal murder of her little sister, and the break-up of her marriage, have tested her usual tough optimism.

When Niki’s killer turns up dead, Diane sets out to nail the truth. But uncovering Niki’s seedy past reveals truths and dangers she never expected – or wanted – to face.

And then there’s that little matter of the decapitated body that’s turned up in the Rimutaka State Forest. Now she’s determined to make sense of it all – whatever it takes."

New Zealand author and editor Graham Lay, one of the judging panel for the inaugural award, describes SURRENDER as "a gripping narrative with an intriguing mix of brutality, mystery and humour... vivid writing and a great central character."

It's great to see more quality Kiwi crime writers joining the published ranks, adding to the burgeoning evidence that New Zealanders really should give locally-written crime and thriller fiction more of a go. In further great news, I understand SURRENDER is intended to be the first book in a series.

Update: To get the award-winning novel for only NZD$10, half price – simply clip the voucher printed in The New Zealand Herald between 16 September and 16 October 2010 and take this to a Whitcoulls or Borders store nationwide. Offer available while stocks last.

Will you be giving SURRENDER a go? Do you like the sound of Malane's debut novel? What do you think of the cover and the blurb? Do you like the idea of Wellington-set crime fiction? Thoughts and comments welcome.