Reminder: Meet Kiwi crime writer Ben Sanders in Takapuna tomorrow night

Just a quick reminder that local crime writer Ben Sanders (THE FALLEN, BY ANY MEANS) will be appearing at the Takapuna Library on Auckland's North Shore, tomorrow night. It's great to see support for New Zealand crime writers (as well as visiting international authors) having their own events too, and hopefully a good crowd will come along to support local crime writing.

Sanders (pictured right, with Michael Connelly) is a 21-year-old Aucklander, currently studying engineering at university (college, for American readers), while writing his crime novels at night. Although seemingly young, Sanders has had a passion for crime and thriller novels since he was an adolescent, and started writing his first crime novels while still at high school. He was signed up for publication as a 19-year-old (with his third manuscript, which became a #1 New Zealand Adult Fiction Bestseller, THE FALLEN), and is now working on his third crime novel. You can read more about Sanders and his writing here:

• "From reader to writer", Weekend Herald article, August 2011;
• "Young gun", Sunday Star-Times article, August 2010;
• "9mm: an interview with Ben Sanders", Crime Watch, June 2011;

Now readers have a chance to meet Sanders for themselves, as I will be interviewing him, on stage, at an event at the Takapuna Library tomorrow night. Here's the official spiel:

By Any Means - interview with Ben Sanders

Come along to an exciting interview with Ben Sanders.

Wednesday 7 September 2011 6.30pm
Takapuna Library
6pm: light refreshements served, 6.30pm event starts
Admission: $5 ($2 Friends of the Library)

Come along to an exciting interview as crime fiction expert, Craig Sisterson, grills 21-year-old Ben Sanders about his latest release, By Any Means, and his fascination with crime fiction.

Following the discussion will be a book signing courtesy of Paper Plus, Takapuna.

RSVP: Email Helen Woodhouse (Helen.Woodhouse@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz) or phone (09) 486 8469.

For my own part, I'd just say that if any Crime Watch readers are in the area, it would be great to see you there - the Takapuna Library always hosts great events, and it would be good to get a good crowd for a local crime writer, especially as this would of course encourage this and other venues to do more crime fiction events, including with Kiwi crime writers, in future.

Meet up-and-coming Kiwi crime writer Ben Sanders in Takapuna next week

Earlier this month, 21-year-old Auckland engineering student Ben Sanders (pictured right, between myself and Michael Connelly) released his second crime novel, BY ANY MEANS, which continued his gritty Auckland-set crime series starring Detective Sergeant Sean Devereaux and ex-cop turned private consultant John Hale - a 'brains and brawn' style team (although Devereaux has some brawn too, and Hale plenty of brains to go with his action-first persona).

You can read my recent review of BY ANY MEANS here, and my feature article on Sanders for the Weekend Herald (New Zealand's biggest-circulation newspaper), here.

Now readers have a chance to meet Sanders for themselves, as I will be interviewing him, on stage, at an event at the Takapuna Library next Wednesday, 7 September 2011. The Takapuna Library has built up a strong tradition of hosting great crime fiction events, with visiting international stars John Hart, Michael Robotham, Peter James, Simon Kernick, Tom Rob Smith, Gregg Hurwitz and Linwood Barclay all appearing over the past two years. It's great to see the library now hosting an event featuring one of our rising Kiwi crime fiction stars. Sanders' debut, THE FALLEN, spent several weeks atop the NZ Adult Fiction bestseller list on release last year, and was longlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.

Here's the official spiel about next week's event:

By Any Means - interview with Ben Sanders

Come along to an exciting interview with Ben Sanders.

Wednesday 7 September 2011 6.30pm
Takapuna Library
6pm: light refreshements served, 6.30pm event starts
Admission: $5 ($2 Friends of the Library)

Come along to an exciting interview as crime fiction expert, Craig Sisterson, grills 21-year-old Ben Sanders about his latest release, By Any Means, and his fascination with crime fiction.

Following the discussion will be a book signing courtesy of Paper Plus, Takapuna.

RSVP: Email Helen Woodhouse (Helen.Woodhouse@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz) or phone (09) 486 8469.

If you're in the area, it would be great to see you there - the Takapuna Library always hosts great events, and it would be good to get a good crowd for a local crime writer.

Meet John Hart at the Takapuna Library tonight!

After booklovers in Canterbury got to meet Edgar and Dagger Award-winning crime writer John Hart on Sunday at the terrific and well-attended "Setting the Stage for Murder" event, now Aucklanders have their chance to meet this rising star of the world crime writing scene. Hart will be making one public appearance in Auckland, tonight at the Takapuna Library.

The Takapuna Library is renowned for hosting some great events with visiting writers - in the past year crime writers Simon Kernick, Peter James, and Michael Robotham have all made crowd-pleasing appearances there, and since I returned from overseas a little over two and a half years ago the Takapuna Library line-up has also included Linwood Barclay, Tom Rob Smith, Gregg Hurwitz, and others. The evenings are always great fun, and pretty casual, giving attendees a good chance to hang out with the author, get books signed, ask some questions, and more.

Tonight's event is scheduled for 6.30pm, with drinks and nibbles beginning at 6pm. It's only $5, or $2 if you're a Friend of the Library. So great value, and a great chance to meet a superb international author.

You can read my recent New Zealand Listener feature article on Hart here, my review of IRON HOUSE, his fourth and latest novel, here, and my 9mm interview with Hart, here.

If you're in the Auckland area, it would be terrific to see you in Takapuna tonight!

An Anzac crime gathering...

Last night award-winning Australian crime writer Michael Robotham spoke at Takapuna Library (another terrific event run by Helen Woodhouse and the team there). I will write a bit more about the evening later, but for now thought I would share this photo with you, as it's something of an Anzac crime fiction gathering. Going left to right:

• Myself, your humble crime fiction blogger, reviewer, and interviewer;


• Michael Robotham;


• New Zealand crime writer Stephen Ross, who has written several short stories for publications like Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and who was recently a finalist for both the Edgar Award and the Derringer Award in the short story category; and


• Emerging New Zealand crime writer Bev Robitai (MURDER IN THE SECOND ROW).

It was a great evening, and good to catch up not just with Michael Robotham, but some other crime fiction writers too. Have you read any of Michael, Stephen or Bev's books/stories?

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.

Michael Robotham to visit New Zealand in May

In some great news, Australian crime writer Michael Robotham will be visiting New Zealand in May. 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 changed due to the September earthquake.

Now Robotham will be appearing at Takapuna Library on Thursday 26 May. That will be a great week for Auckland-based crime fiction fans, as Michael Connelly will also be in town earlier that week. A nice quinella of events to attend.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Robotham for a feature in the Weekend Herald last year, and I'm looking forward to meeting him in person. I will certainly be heading along to the Takapuna Library event on Thursday 26 May - Helen Woodhouse and her team there always put on terrific events.

You can read my Herald feature, "Ghostwriter haunted by his own characters", online here.

I understand Robotham may do some other events while in New Zealand. I will update you on any further details as they come to hand.

Crime real and fictional at Takapuna Library this month

As regular readers of this blog will know, one of the best and most popular spots for visiting crime fiction authors here in Auckland is the Takapuna Library, where a fantastic team led by Helen Woodhouse put on some terrific events. I've been to several over the past year or two, including Linwood Barclay, Tom Rob Smith, Gregg Hurwitz, Peter James, and Simon Kernick - with the latter I even ended up 'onstage' myself, interviewing Kernick in front of an audience.

The Takapuna Library is also great at supporting local authors, and this month there are a couple of terrific-sounding lunchtime events - one crime fiction, one true crime.

First up, Donna Malane (pictured above right) will be speaking about her NZSA-Pindar Publishing Prize-winning debut thriller SURRENDER next Friday, the 19th November.

Then the following Tuesday (23 November) Scott Bainbridge will talk about his true crime book SHOT IN THE DARK, which looks at unsolved murders from 1920s-1930s New Zealand. Each event starts at 12pm, light refreshments will be served. $2 public admission, or free for 'Friends of the Library'.

RSVP Helen Woodhouse, phone 486 8469 or email helenw@shorelibraries.govt.nz

Both events sound terrific, and I recommend any booklovers in the area to head along.

Award-winning British crime writer RJ Ellory kicks off New Zealand at Takapuna Library tonight

The Takapuna Library has once again become crime fiction central lately. Following the packed-out event with Peter James last week, tonight 2010 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award winner RJ Ellory is appearing over on 'the Shore'. It should be another fantastic event, run by Helen Woodhouse and her excellent team there.

Tonight's event in Takapuna is the first of five public events RJ Ellory is doing in four New Zealand cities over the next three days, in support of the recent release of his latest novel, SAINTS OF NEW YORK.

I am looking forward to meeting Ellory today - he sounds like a fascinating guy. He certainly has an interesting pre-publication history: Six years. Twenty two rejected novels. More than four hundred ‘thanks, but no thanks’ letters from over a hundred publishers. Finally, his persistence paid off when his first published novel, CANDLEMOTH, hit the shelves in 2004. This lead the way for another seven novels, including his bestseller, A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, which won a number of prestigious prizes.

His tenacity to succeed could be attributed to the turmoil of his childhood. Abandoned by his father at birth, Ellory was sent to boarding school at seven years of age, after the death of his mother left him and his brother orphaned and alone. By seventeen, Ellory was experiencing life on the wrong side of the law, after he was caught poaching chickens.


See him at the following public events...

Wednesday September 8 – AUCKLAND

Takapuna Paper Plus presents RJ Ellory at Takapuna Library
6pm for light refreshments, 6.30pm start
Takapuna Public Library, The Strand, Takapuna
$5.00 (Friends of the Library $2)
RSVP: email helenw@shorelibraries.govt.nz or phone Helen Woodhouse 486-8469

Thursday September 9 – NELSON & WELLINGTON

Page & Blackmore Booksellers present RJ Ellory at Nelson Library
12pm – 1pm
Activity Room, Elma Turner Library
Free
For more information: email info@pageandblackmore.co.nz or phone 03 548 9992

Meet the Author Event at Marsden Books
5.30pm
Marsden Books, 159 Karori Rd, Wellington
Free
RSVP: marsdenbooks@kauri.co.nz or 04 476 8066

Friday September 10 – DUNEDIN

RJ Ellory at Mosgiel Library
3.30pm – 4.30pm
Mosgiel Library, 7 Harstonge St
Free
Bookings: email library@dcc.govt.nz or phone 03 474 3690 (ticket collection Mosgiel Library)

RJ Ellory at Dunedin City Library
5.30pm
Level 4, Dunedin City Library, 230 Moray Place
Free
Bookings: email library@dcc.govt.nz or phone 03 474 3690 (ticket collection City Library)

For more information contact Orion Publicist Gemma Finlaygemmaf@hachette.co.nz / 09 478 1033

I will be meeting Ellory in Auckland. I'm very much looking forward to meeting Ellory in person, having heard great things about him and his books. I am about to start SAINTS OF NEW YORK, and also have a copy of THE ANNIVERSARY MAN. I'll make sure I grab him for a quick 9mm interview too, and share that with you all here on Crime Watch.

Have you read any of RJ Ellory's work? What do you think of him winning the Theakston? Are you looking forward to SAINTS OF NEW YORK? Are you going to head along to any of his events in New Zealand tour stops? Thoughts and comments welcome.

Canterbury Earthquake Fundraiser: Simon Kernick at Takapuna Library on Thursday evening

British thriller writing star Simon Kernick will now be appearing at Takapuna Library this Thursday evening at an event to raise funds for those affected by the Canterbury earthquake.

As I reported this morning, due to the property and infrastructure damage caused by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city, on Saturday, and the ongoing effects caused by the quake and a series of more than 100 aftershocks, the 2010 The Press Christchurch Writers' Festival has unfortunately been cancelled.

Kernick was one of the international stars due to appear at the Festival, including as part of the Setting the Stage for Murder event on Friday night where the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel was to be presented. Now he is helping raise funds for those affected by the disaster.


Kernick is a former computer programmer in his early 40s who has been described as "Britain's most exciting new thriller writer". He debuted with THE BUSINESS OF DYING in 2002, and his ninth thriller, THE LAST 10 SECONDS, was published here in New Zealand last month. In 2007, his book RELENTLESS, after being selected by Richard and Judy for their recommended summer reads promotion, went on to become the bestselling thriller in the UK for that year.

Kernick is touted as having talked, during the research for his novels, "both on and off the record to members of Special Branch, the Anti-Terrorist Branch and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, so he gets to hear first hand what actually happens in the dark and murky underbelly of UK crime." You can read my NZLawyer review of THE LAST 10 SECONDS here.

It should be a terrific evening on Thursday - Helen Woodhouse and the team at Takapuna Library always put on great events - and I urge anyone in the area to head along, both to meet a cool author, and to help raise some money for our friends down South.

Thanks to Random House and the Takapuna Library, all refreshments are being covered, so entry is just a gold coin donation to the Canterbury Earthquake Fund. RSVP to Helen Woodhouse on (09) 486 8469 or helenw@shorelibraries.govt.nz

Hope to see you there!

Reminder: #1 UK bestseller Peter James at Takapuna tonight

Just a quick reminder that Peter James, the award-winning author of the Brighton-set bestselling Roy Grace series, is appearing at an event at Takapuna Library on Auckland's North Shore tonight.

Peter James will be appearing at Takapuna Library at 6:30pm (drinks at 6pm).

Entry: $5, $2 for Friends of the Library.
Contact Helen Woodhouse on (09) 486 8469 or helenw@shorelibraries.govt.nz

You can read my feature article on Peter James (and Peter Robinson) that was in Saturday's Weekend Herald, here. In an interesting aside, when DEAD LIKE YOU (the latest Roy Grace novel) shot straight to the top of the UK Sunday Times bestseller list on its British release earlier this year, it was reportedly the first time in several years that that master of mystery writing marketing, James Patterson, was prevented from going straight to #1 with his latest book.

In DEAD LIKE YOU, the sixth in the award-winning Detective Superintendant Roy Grace series set in James's hometown of Brighton, a woman is brutally raped as she returns to her room at the Metropole Hotel after a New Years' Eve ball. A week later, another woman is attacked. Both victims’ shoes are taken by the offender . . .

Roy Grace soon realises that these new cases bear remarkable similarities to an unsolved series of crimes in the city back in 1997. The perpetrator had been dubbed ‘Shoe Man’ and was believed to have raped five women before murdering his sixth victim and vanishing. Could this be a copycat, or has Shoe Man resurfaced?

When more women are assaulted, Grace becomes increasingly certain that they are dealing with the same man. And that by delving back into the past - a time in which we see Grace and his missing wife Sandy still apparently happy together - he may find the key to unlocking the current mystery. Soon Grace and his team will find themselves in a desperate race against the clock to identify and save the life of the new sixth victim . .

You can watch a great little video interview with Peter James about writing DEAD LIKE YOU, below.



Are you a Peter James fan? Have you read any of his Roy Grace books, or his earlier spy thrillers and paranormal work (that saw him called the 'British Stephen King' at one point)? Will you be heading along to Takapuna tonight? Thoughts and comments welcome.