Take your pick: Baldacci, Billingham, Child, James, or Robinson?

On Friday 7th October The ITV/Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards will take place in London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. The event, now into its fourth year, will be broadcast on ITV3 on Tuesday 11th October.

While the winners of several of the Crime Writers Association Daggers, including the International Dagger, were announced at the recent Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, the biggest awards - the Gold Dagger, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and the New Blood Dagger - will be presented at the Crime Thriller Awards on 7 October. The night also sees the presentation of several television/film crime and thriller awards, for the best actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, best TV, best international TV and best film.

Before then however, we can all have our say on one of the awards to be presented, the ITV People's Bestseller Dagger. This 'people's choice' award began in 2009, with Harlan Coben being the inaugural recipient. I'm struggling to find who won last year (maybe the award wasn't presented?), but it's back again in 2011, with another line-up of five terrific crime writers for the public to vote on:

• David Baldacci;
• Mark Billingham;
• Lee Child;
• Peter James;
• Peter Robinson.

That will be a tough choice - all are very popular. I've been fortunate enough to meet Child and James, and have interviewed Robinson and Billingham by phone or email, and have enjoyed books from all four of them. I have some of Baldacci's on my bookshelf, but haven't read him yet.

You can read my 9mm interviews with Billingham here, Child here, and James here.

You can vote for your favourite amongst the five here.

Who is your favourite?

26 crime writers, one story: genius or madness?

A few days ago I came across an interesting story about a new crime novel hitting shelves; NO REST FOR THE DEAD. What makes this crime novel unique is the author, or should I say, authors. There are 26 of them.

I've read crime novels written by two authors before (co-written ala James Patterson and his offsiders or a writing team who pen thrillers under a pseudonym, eg Michael Stanley, Jefferson Bass, Casey Hill, etc), but never one story written by 26 distinct authors. It's like a short story collection full of bestsellers and lesser-known talents, except they've all contributed to one continuous story rather than thematically-linked but unique short tales of their completely own devising.

As has been reported over the past few week or so, Strand Magazine's Andrew Gulli came up with the idea for a plot and initially invited 12 writers to contribute chapters of their own. "I had an idea about a woman who was executed for a crime she didn't commit," said Gulli. "So I wrote a prologue and handed it to the first author and he and the others started to write."


What Gulli got back was not enough to make a coherent novel, so he invited more writers and ended up with a total of 26. The list includes novelist Jeffery Deaver, best known for his Lincoln Rhyme series and now the latest authorized James Bond sequel, Alexander McCall Smith, Kathy Reichs, and many other bestselling authors. Like many of those short story collections, it's an interesting mix of some 'household name' crime writers, along with several other talented writers that are fairly well-known to hardcore crime fiction fans, but not so much to the average 'man or woman on the street'.

"If you add up the group of writers who have taken part in this book, you'll find they have sales of hundreds of millions of books," Gulli told Reuters. "In the history of publishing nothing like this has ever occurred."

NO REST FOR THE DEAD centers around Jon Nunn, a detective who helped convict a woman for murdering her husband, the curator at a San Francisco museum. But 10 years later he is convinced he got the wrong woman, although it is too late to save Rosemary - she was executed.

Nunn plans to gather everyone who was there the night Christopher Thomas died, and uncover what really happened, suspect by suspect. "But this is not another Agatha Christie, or her creation Hercule Poirot, where the group is gathered and the detective details the case and points the finger at the story's end," Gulli said of the novel. "There are flashbacks, and a policeman's life has been ruined. It is a tale of redemption after he made a huge mistake, and there is a real twist."

The project took Gulli four years, and his greatest challenges were finding authors willing to contribute for a nominal fee as well as keeping the style and story constant enough for it to be readable. "I think it's a very entertaining read," he said. "When we re-read it, we thought it had the best of all possible worlds in that you can still see the different styles." Here's the full line-up of contributing crime writers:

• David Baldacci (Introduction)
• Jeff Abbott
• Lori Armstrong
• Sandra Brown
• Thomas Cook
• Jeffery Deaver
• Diana Gabaldon
• Tess Gerritsen
• Andrew F. Gulli
• Peter James
• J.A. Jance
• Faye Kellerman
• Raymond Khoury
• John Lescroart
• Jeff Lindsay
• Gayle Lynds
• Philip Margolin
• Alexander McCall Smith
• Michael Palmer
• T. Jefferson Parker
• Matthew Pearl
• Kathy Reichs
• Marcus Sakey
• Jonathan Santlofer
• Lisa Scottoline
• R.L. Stine
• Marcia Talley

I've read seven of those authors, and have another half-dozen or so on my bookshelves at home, waiting to be read. Quite a diverse bunch. It certainly sounds like an intriguing project, and in another 'plus', all proceeds will reportedly go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. after Gulli and his sister, who helped edit NO REST FOR THE DEAD, lost their mother to the disease in 1997.


The Guardian reported that Peter James, chair of the Crime Writers' Association, contributed a crucial chapter to the novel, in which a decade-old diary is discovered, providing vital clues. "The hard thing was not knowing what any of the characters were like – none of us saw what the others had written," James told The Guardian. "I'm a very detailed plotter. A big part of my writing technique is seeding things into each chapter, and it was hard to not have that flexibility – I was writing it in a complete void. In a way it was harder than I thought, but in a way it was liberating."


Given that many of the publicity reports about NO REST FOR THE DEAD promote a big twist ending, I'm intrigued as to how well this will have been set up throughout the novel, given that reportedly each writer didn't know what the others had written (although they were provided with an outline for their chapter - perhaps Gulli made it clear what red herrings, foreshadowing, clues and other things needed to be woven it?)

The Telegraph noted that "There are precedents for this kind of chain-thriller. HarperCollins has recently reissued The Floating Admiral (1931), a collaboration between Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, GK Chesterton and such less well-remembered names as Canon Victor L Whitchurch, creator of the "vegetarian railway detective" Thorpe Hazell. (Which of today's literary Ozymandiases will have been forgotten, I wonder, when No Rest for the Dead is reissued in 80 years' time?)".

Perhaps I'll have to keep an eye out for THE FLOATING ADMIRAL as well.

What do you think of the concept behind NO REST FOR THE DEAD? Does the 26-name author list make you more or less likely to give the crime novel a go? What have been some of your favourite author collaborations in the past? Comments welcome.

Longlist for CWA Dagger in the Library announced

The Crime Writers’ Association is delighted to announce the longlist for the CWA Dagger in the Library 2011. The CWA Dagger Awards celebrate the very best in crime and thriller writing, and are the longest established literary awards in the UK. These premier awards in crime fiction are recognised internationally as a mark of excellence. The CWA Dagger in the Library is sponsored by The Random House Group.

Authors are nominated by UK libraries and Readers’ Groups and judged by a panel of librarians. The Dagger is awarded to an author for a body of work, rather than a single title. The prize money is £1500 to the author, plus £300 to a participating library's readers' group.

The shortlist will be announced at the CWA reception at CrimeFest, Bristol on May 20. The winner will be announced, along with other Daggers, during the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate, on the evening of July 22

Dagger longlist 2011

• Bolton, SJ


• Brodrick, William


• Ellory, RJ


• Goodwin, Jason


• Griffths, Elly


• Hannah, Sophie


• Harvey, John


• Hayder, Mo


• Hill, Susan


• Hurley, Graham


• James, Peter


• Kerr, Philip


• Rickman, Phil


• Sansom, CJ


• Taylor, Andrew


• Tyler, LC

Nice to see a couple of authors I met and interviewed last year, RJ Ellory and Peter James, on the list, along with some other terrific crime writers.

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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Writers’ Association names Peter James as new Chair

The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has announced that best-selling crime novelist Peter James (right: photo by Gareth Ransome) will be its new Chair, following in the footsteps of authors who include Ian Rankin, Dick Francis and Lady Antonia Fraser. Peter will take over from current Chair Tom Harper in April at the Association’s annual general meeting in Darlington, County Durham.

Peter James is one of the UK’s most popular crime and thriller novelists. His Roy Grace detective novels have sold more than one and a half million in the UK alone and six million worldwide in total. The series is now translated into 34 languages and his latest novel, ‘Dead Like You’, went straight into the Sunday Times bestseller lists at no 1 in both hardback and paperback. His novella, ‘The Perfect Murder,’ went to No 1 on iBooks and has spent 40 consecutive weeks in the iBooks Top 10. Peter has developed a close working relationship with the Sussex Police over many years, spending an average of one day a week with them, and his writing reveals a unique insight into the reality of modern day police work. He has carried out extensive research with police in Moscow, Munich, Paris, Melbourne, Sweden, New York and Romania, and regularly attends international police conferences to ensure he is at the cutting-edge of investigative police work.

Born and brought up in Brighton, Peter divides his time between his homes in Notting Hill, London and on the South Downs near Lewes in Sussex. An established film producer and script writer, he has produced numerous films, including The Merchant Of Venice, starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes. A TV adaptation of the Roy Grace series is currently in development, with Peter overseeing all aspects, including the scriptwriting. In 2009 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Brighton in recognition of his services to literature and the community.

Peter James said: “I view it as a tremendous honour to be appointed Chair of such an important organisation. The CWA is both the society and the voice of authors writing in the widest read, most influential and in my view most important sector of literature. Good crime and thriller writing, both modern and historic, reflects the way the world that we live in has been shaped and continues to be shaped. The writings of the CWA members help us both to escape life's dark sides and to confront and understand them.

“With the advent of exciting new digital reading platforms, and undoubtedly further technological advances to come in the way we access literature, I will do all I can in my time in office to promote the whole image of crime and thriller writing as the genre that should be taken seriously and read by all - not just those who love a good mystery, but by everyone who enjoys the pleasures and riches of finding a book that captivates them."

Tom Harper said: “We are thrilled that Peter has agreed to be our Chair for the next year. The CWA represents the best writing in the UK’s favourite branch of fiction. Having someone with Peter’s talent, standing and passion for the genre will be a real boost to the Association and its members.”

Find out more about Peter James at http://www.panmacmillan.com/ and Peter’s website http://www.peterjames.com/ and follow him on Twitter. http://twitter.com/peterjamesuk.

For press enquiries or more information on the CWA, please visit the website, http://www.thecwa.co.uk/, or contact media.enquiries@thecwa.co.uk

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

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

Just a quick reminder that those in and around the Canterbury region in New Zealand's South Island should strongly consider heading along to the "Whodunnit and Whowunnit" event in a couple of weeks time (Tuesday 30 November). I will be MC-ing a crime fiction panel discussion with finalists Neil Cross and Vanda Symon, and Christchurch-based international bestseller Paul Cleave, followed by the presentation of the first-ever Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. It should be a great night. You can read more about the evening here. Contact Ruth Todd on 03 384 4721 or ruth.todd@xtra.co.nz for tickets ($10, includes a glass of wine and nibbles).

Onto the round-up.

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

• Bruce Ward of The Ottawa Citizen asks whether Canadian writers need to set their books south of the border to get well-deserved attention as he takes a look at the latest mystery novel from the Citizen's own poltical columnist Randall Denley, ONE DEAD SISTER, "a beguiling tale of a powerful political family and an unsolved murder that happened 30 years ago in a town in the Adirondacks".
• Bestselling British crime writer Peter James shares insights from his personal battle with Type 2 diabetes - causes and effective management - in an article for the Mail Online.
• The Southwest Riverside News Network profiles author Jeri Westerson, who lives in a small Southern California town but sets her Shamus Award-winning mystery series in medieval England, with a former knight as the whodunnit hero. Westerson talks about the power of persistence and following your heart rather than publishing trends.
• Norman at Crime Scraps revisits one of the most influential and all-time great crime fiction series, the Martin Beck books by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, to see if the novels are still as good as he remembers.
• Jonathan Segura profiles legendary US crime writer and "the coolest man in America", 85-year-old Elmore Leonard, in an interesting feature for Publishers Weekly.
• While reviewing John Banville's latest novel under his well-known Benjamin Black semi-pseudonym, Rosemary Goring of Herald Scotland asks what pushes an author to write under a pen name? An interesting question, as one of the finalists for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel is the unknown writer who goes by Alix Bosco.
• Diane Makovsky of Fredericksburg.com takes a look at COLLUSION, the sophmore effort from Irish thriller writer Stuart Neville, whose debut THE TWELVE (aka THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST in the United States) received widespread raves all around the world.
• Joe Nimmo of the Portsmouth News reports on the mysteries of crime fiction and the realities of crime-fighting were revealed during Portsmouth BookFest's recent Crime and the City event, where internationally-acclaimed crime writers were joined by police and forensic experts to uncover the facts behind the fiction.

Have you read Elmore Leonard? Is he the coolest guy in America? Do Canadian writers need to consider US settings to get more attention? What are your thoughts on pseudonyms? Have you read Stuart Neville? Do you enjoy historical mysteries? Thoughts and comments welcome.

Crime Watch in the news: my interview with the Book Council

Okay, so this is a little bit embarassing, for a couple of reasons. As I've noted here on Crime Watch, in recent times I've started to occasionally find myself on the other side of the interviewer-interviewee pairing, as I've been interviewed about crime fiction, particularly New Zealand crime fiction and the upcoming Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, for articles in some major newspapers and other publications.

In the case of the excellent recent large features by Mark Broatch in the Sunday Star Times (read here), and by Philip Matthews in the Your Weekend magazine of The Press and the Dominion Post (read here), I was one of several 'voices' in the articles, which at least mitigated things (even if I felt a little like the proverbial donkey running the Grand National, given the company). But yesterday another recent interview was published in the monthly e-newsletter the New Zealand Book Council send to all its members, and puts on its website. And this one was focused just on me and my thoughts/opinions. Gulp.

Here's the start of the Book Council interview:


From Cover to Cover
Craig Sisterson: Kiwi Crime Writing Aficionado
Interview by Rachel O'Neill
Not too far behind the scenes of New Zealand crime writing, you are likely to find Craig Sisterson, working (or should I say blogging) his magic. But who is the man behind the features, the interviews, the reviews, and blog Crime Watch? I trail him, just a little, to find out what makes this Kiwi Crime aficionado tick.

I start by lurking in the background – what New Zealand Crime books lodged most memorably in your head?

Read my interview in the e-newsletter here, and the full, longer version of the interview in the 'Readers Section' of the Book Council website here.

Now, here's the really embarassing bit - those of you who clicked through to the e-newsletter (please give it a read) will have seen that this month the Book Council also had a short interview with #1 bestselling crime writer Peter James in the same issue, and yet they lead with my interview and had Peter James second! The world has turned on its head, I tell you.

Don't get me wrong - it is great to get more information about crime fiction, particularly our overlooked but excellent Kiwi stuff, out there more and more, and I'm really grateful that the media is starting to pick up on what may be something pretty cool building here in New Zealand, but I'm still finding it a touch disconcerting to be the interviewee, and mixing in such company. After all, I don't really want any of this to be too much about me - more just the crime writers and their books etc. Although if I'm completely honest, it is a touch flattering, if also embarassing, to be considered a crime fiction 'aficionado'.

What do you think of my interview in the Book Council e-newletter and on their website? What New Zealand crime novels were the first to lodge memorably in your head (they actually asked me what were the first Kiwi crime novels I remembered reading, then tweaked the question slightly in the published version)? Which 3-5 novels or authors would you recommend if you were giving friends a 'start here' list? Do you like meeting authors, or does that dissipate the magic of books for you? What are your thoughts on the growth, if any, in New Zealand crime fiction lately? I'd love you to share your thoughts. Please leave a comment.

Terrific interviews: Val McDermid, Peter James, and more...

It's been a fantastic few days for crime fiction fans listening to Radio New Zealand, who in general are often an excellent media outlet here in New Zealand when it comes to giving some 'space' to crime fiction reviews and interviews, with terrific long interviews with 2010 Cartier Diamond Dagger recipient Val McDermid (44mins) and #1 bestselling British crime writer Peter James (30 mins), amongst other crime fiction content.

Fortunately for all of us who weren't able to listen to the interviews live at the time, Radio New Zealand archives these kinds of things online. For those of you who have some time, I heartily recommend having a listen.

On Saturday 28 August, well-known New Zealand radio personality Kim Hill interviewed Val McDermid. It's a truly terrific interview, beginning with McDermid talking about why some people like reading crime fiction - things like "the promise of resolution" and providing "a safe place to be scared", like a rollercoaster - before covering everything from Val McDermid's friendship with Gordon Brown and her thoughts on Tony Blair, to interviewing Moors Murderer Ian Brady's mother as a journalist, to her days at Oxford, thoughts on psychological profiling, and much, much more. You can listen to the full interview here.

On Monday, Jim Mora interviewed Peter James on his Afternoons programme. This too is a great interview, with lots of interesting discussion and insights. The pair cover everything from James' love of cars (and the tragic history of the WWII B-25 Mitchell bomber he used to own), his aim to provide insights into all three aspects in his crime novels - the criminal, the victim, and the police, the horror of rape as a crime, getting the reality of police work into his novels, his in-depth research, the bravery of real-life police, and the original inspiration and impetus for the creation of Roy Grace. You can read the full interview here.

It's another excellent interview, during which, after commenting on how James uses the names of friends (and enemies, he jokes) in his books, Mora asks near the end of the interview whether James would use the name of the first listener to text in, in one of his future books. After saying he'd be delighted to, and that he'll use it in the book he is currently writing (DEAD MAN'S GRIP), the interview continues. When Mora chooses the name of Sarah Papesh, he notes that already (within about 2-3 minutes) they'd had 479 people text in! When I met James that evening in Takapuna (see picture above left), he was simply astonished by the response.

In other good news for Kiwi fans, James mentioned that as he has family in Hamilton, he is considering involving New Zealand in some way in a future Roy Grace case. So keep your eyes peeled for that!

On Tuesday, Kiwi crime writer and Ngaio Marsh Award finalist Vanda Symon, the creator of the excellent Sam Shephard series set in the southern part of the South Island, reviewed the latest novels from two big name British crime writers who have been visiting our shores recently - McDermid's TRICK OF THE DARK and BAD BOY by Peter Robinson - for Mora's Afternoons programme. You can listen to Symon's reviews here.

Along with all the great crime fiction content on Radio New Zealand in the past few days, a couple of weeks ago they also had a reading from THE FALLEN, the local #1 bestseller from young Ben Sanders, and an interesting short interview with Sanders, where he talks about reading Michael Connelly and James Ellroy, and the creation of Sean Devereaux. You can listen to that interview here.

So what do you think of the interviews and reviews? Do you like listening to authors and reviews, as well as reading such features and reviews in the print and online media? Have you read any Val McDermid, Peter James, Peter Robinson, or Vanda symon books? What do you think? Why do you read crime fiction? I'd love to read what you think. Comments welcome.

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.

A tale of two Peters: my feature on Peter James and Peter Robinson in the Weekend Herald

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 1000-word feature on two fantastic British crime writers - Peter James and Peter Robinson. The feature was in the books section of the Canvas magazine (the glossy lifestyle supplement) over the weekend, as both writers are in New Zealand this week.

A tale of two Peters
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 whether the bestselling British author had ever considered writing a crime novel, the answer was simple. “It was what I’d always wanted to do,” says James, his voice reverberating down the phone line from Nevada, where he’s doing research for his next Roy Grace book before heading downunder to promote his latest, Dead Like You.

James already had twenty years as a published author, and 16 novels - a mixture of spy thrillers and supernatural suspense and horror - under his belt at the time, so switching genres may have seemed an unusual move. But James had “several years of developing relationships with the police”, thanks to research for minor characters in his earlier novels.

“And when I went out to create a new detective, I thought, right, the first thing I have to do is immerse myself utterly in police culture,” adds James, noting that those who work in law enforcement have a different outlook on the everyday world than most people. “I call it a healthy culture of suspicion. But it permeates all their lives.”

In contrast, Peter Robinson dove straight into police procedurals with his debut novel in 1987, introducing the now-beloved Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks to the world in Gallows View. But like James, Robinson too had concentrated on other types of writing before turning to crime; he had penned poetry and short stories.

In fact Robinson studied poetry, completing an MA at the University of Windsor in Canada under Joyce Carol Oates and a PhD at York University. “I found myself getting more interested in form and structure, tightening it up, and going into rhyme, meter, and writing poems that made sense, and even told stories.” At the time “nobody wanted that” from poets, preferring unstructured free verse, and so Robinson turned to prose because he “was telling stories anyway”.

“I’d enjoyed reading crime fiction, so that’s what took me to crime writing,” he says. “I’d read Chandler, Simenon, Macdonald, just about everybody. And it was so great, I thought ‘I want to do this’. Sjöwall and Wahlöö, the Martin Beck books, they were a tremendous influence.” Almost 25 years later Robinson is still writing about Inspector Banks, and this month Bad Boy, the 19th novel in the award-winning Yorkshire-set series, was published in New Zealand.

Both Robinson and James say they first fell in love with mystery stories thanks to Enid Blyton’s Famous Five novels, and each says that Sherlock Holmes is their favourite recurring detective of all time. “He is still the most enduring to me of all the fictional characters ever created,” says James. “He was sort of the pioneer of forensics, and I just think he is such a wonderful character, despite the fact he was completely eccentric.”

Neither James’s Roy Grace nor Robinson’s Alan Banks have anywhere near Holmes’s level of eccentricity, but each has become a popular character in crime fiction, beloved by fans and with a few touches that reflect their creator’s own interests; Banks is a big music fan, while Grace has an interest in the paranormal.

James and Robinson each also show a wonderful touch for setting in their crime novels, with their detectives solving crimes in the authors own childhood backyards - Brighton and Yorkshire respectively. “Setting is really important because if you want to make a crime novel believable, then it needs to be in a context where people who read it can visualise it, they can completely feel it from the way you describe it,” says James. “Then you set the crime against that backdrop and it’s much more real and brings the book alive.”

For James, his hometown of Brighton is perfect for crime novels. “It’s been called the crime capital of England since 1944,” he says with a chuckle. “It started off as a smuggling village in the Middle Ages, and it’s always had this kind of dark criminal undertow.” A combination of easy access and escape routes, with sea ports, Channel Tunnel, rail, and motorway hubs nearby, a conflagration of diverse communities, and the fact it’s “a really nice place to live and work” provides fertile ground for crime - real and fictional.

In Dead Like You a series of rapes in Brighton reactivate a cold case, and readers are given more insight into the character of Roy Grace, as the narrative switches between the present and the past - a time before Grace’s wife Sandy went missing.

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When I went out to create a new detective, I thought, right, first thing I have to do is immerse myself utterly in police culture.

Peter James

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For Robinson, who now lives in Toronto but still sets his crime novels ‘back home’, Yorkshire is likewise an ideal backdrop. The largest county in England combines pristine countryside with industrial areas (coal, steel, textiles), big cities like Leeds and Bradford with historic towns from Roman times, and a gorgeous coastline. “I think I wanted the best of both worlds,” says Robinson. “I wanted to do things that used the sense of isolation you can get in North Yorkshire, where you can roam the dales for a day without seeing another soul, but I also wanted to be able to bring kind of urban-based crime writing to it.”

Robinson has thrown a lot of tricky situations at Banks over the course of the series, but in Bad Boy he faces his biggest dilemma yet - his daughter Tracy is on the run with a very dangerous man. Although the Chief Inspector’s family life has featured in several of the novels, Robinson says he felt he “hadn’t really said much about his relationship with his daughter for quite a while”, and that inspired Bad Boy.

The first in what could become a series of Banks TV adaptations, Aftermath, is due to screen in Britain next month, with Stephen Tompkinson of Wild at Heart fame in the lead role. “I read the scripts and went to the read-through, and I was on-set about three times while they were filming it,” says Robinson, sounding a little like a proud father. James is also involved in the screen world, having been a film producer for many years. His credits include The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons, and the New Zealand-filmed vampire tale Perfect Creature.

Both authors have visited New Zealand before (James has family in Hamilton), and say they are really looking forward to returning to our shores this coming week. James will be making some public appearances, while Robinson is holidaying around the North Island with his wife.

Bad Boy (Hodder & Stoughton, $38.99)

Dead Like You (Macmillan, $38.99)

Peter James will be appearing at the Takapuna Library at 6:30pm (drinks at 6pm) on Tuesday 31 August. Entry: $5, $2 for Friends of the Library.

Contact Helen Woodhouse on (09) 486 8469 or helenw@shorelibraries.govt.nz

This feature article was first published in the Canvas magazine of the Weekend Herald on Saturday 28 August 2010, and is reprinted here with permission.

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So what do you think of my feature article ? Of the Weekend Herald allowing me to share my past and future features for them, with you all here on Crime Watch? Have you read any of the Roy Grace or Alan Banks novels? How important is setting in crime writing? Thoughts and comments welcome.

9mm: An interview with Peter James

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

For the 31st instalment in the 9mm series, Crime Watch is featuring award-winning British crime writer Peter James, who will be visiting our fair shores in a couple of weeks time (including an event at Takapuna Library today fortnight). James is the author of the Roy Grace series - the latest of which, DEAD LIKE YOU jumped straight to #1 on the UK Sunday Times bestseller list on its first week of publication earlier this year.

You can read more about Peter James here.

But for now, the film producer, car enthusiast, and bestselling crime writer stares down the barrel of 9mm.

The Crime Watch 9mm Author Interview: Peter James

Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?
Sherlock Holmes. It’s a very corny answer, but actually I think he is still the most enduring to me of all the fictional characters ever created. Because he was sort of the pioneer of forensics, and also he’s a character that wouldn’t’ work in today’s context.

They’ve tried to modernise Sherlock Holmes in a recent television series, and to mine I just don’t think it works, because he’s from a previous time when there weren’t really detectives in the police force. There were coppers, who weren’t trained detectives in the way they are today, and the whole infrastructure with the CID and the FBI, and so he was the unique character, and in the unique position to operate with the police and enhance what they did. And I just think he was such a wonderful character, despite the fact he was completely eccentric, and smoked his dope.

And I guess two things started me writing crime fiction. The first was when I was about 10 I read my first Sherlock Holmes story, and there was this wonderful line in it where Watson said ‘Gosh Holmes, how did you deduce that?’, and Holmes said ‘I knew we were looking for a man who’s bathroom window was on the left-hand side of his washbasin’. And Watson said ‘But how Holmes?’, and Holmes said, ‘Well Watson, did you never notice that he was always better shaved on the left-hand side of his face, because of the light’... and as a ten-year-old I was just blown away by that, and thought ‘one day I want to create a detective who’s got powers of observation like that’.

2) What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why? Um, I guess it was a Famous Five; Five on a Treasure Island, by Enid Blyton, and I was always a curious kid. And I wrote a letter to her, and I said ‘I’ve just read Five on a Treasure Island, and seven days on that island, and not one of them went to the toilet in all that time’, and I was really worried about that. And she wrote a very sweet letter back saying that they had gone to the toilet, but she didn’t think little boys and girls were interested in her putting those bits in (chuckling).

3) Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?
I always wanted to write crime, but I thought that to be an English crime writer you had to stick to very rigid rules and conventions, that you had to begin with a kind of body in a library in a country house. And that’s what you had to do - and I didn’t want to do that.

And I started, and I actually wrote three very bad spy thrillers, which got published but didn’t do at all well. And then in fact, I came to crime very obliquely. My fourth published book was a supernatural book called POSSESSION, which I wrote after the son of a very good friend was killed in a car smash, and they started going to a medium. And originally they wanted me to write a book about their experience of going to a medium, non-fiction. And I spent like two years kind of following them, and learning a lot about it, and I thought there wasn’t really a story in that for me, but it gave me an idea of combining crime and I was always interested in the paranormal, and it gave me an idea which was that a lot of people if they lose a loved one they go to a medium to try and get sort of comfort.

But I thought, what if a mother lost her son in a car accident, went to a medium to try and get comfort, and discovered through the medium that her son had murdered his girlfriend? And I wrote a novel called POSSESSION and that came out in 1987, about five years after my last spy novel... it kind of went straight to Number 1, and went into 23 languages, and my publishers wanted me to write more of that sort of thing.

At that time horror was very much in ascendance, with Stephen King, Peter Straub... and so I kind of wrote a whole series of fairly spooky novels with a supernatural theme, but then I kind of wanted to move away from that into more conventional thrillers. I wrote several thrillers which had police officers in, and then it was in about 2001 that MacMillan approached my agent, and said had I ever thought of writing a crime novel, and I said ‘well actually it’s what I’d always wanted to do’. And at that time I’d already had several years developing relationships with the police. I knew a lot of police officers.

4) Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?
I have a passion for motor racing, so much to my publisher and agent’s horror I drive in motor races several times a year. I think my agent would rather I took up something like knitting or bowls. So that’s my sort of big passion. And I’m very keen on sport - I play a lot of tennis and I run every day, and I like food and wine. They’re big passions.

5) 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?
Brighton has quite a famous tour of its sewers. But I actually think visitors to Brighton ... one of my favourite things to do in the city is a walk, where you actually walk under the cliffs, at low tide you can just walk out to the rock pools with this dramatic backdrop of the cliffs. And you’ve got the kind of rock pools, and you’ve also got the remains of this crazy railway that used to run - the track was underwater and the train was on stilts. So it was called a Daddy-Long-Legs, and it ran from about 1890 to about 1900 and then a storm brought it down. It’s just the weirdest place - you’ve got the cliffs, these rocks, and these rusty old rails there, and it’s just a magical part of Brighton.

6) If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?
What a great question. Shit, um... um... Harrison Ford? I’ve always felt he’s one of the most rounded and grounded actors. I think he always has an underlying decency about him that kind of comes through when he’s playing characters.

Someone did once describe me as like an older Ben Elton, and I wasn’t too impressed with that (chuckling).

7) Of your books, which is your favourite, and why?
I think my most favourite is DEAD SIMPLE, which is the first of the Roy Grace books. It was just the kind of book that wrote itself. And it is still the sort of book that I get several emails a week from people saying it’s the book that’s got them back into reading. And for me that’s an incredible feeling because reading is probably the thing I most fell in love with doing from the earliest childhood, and it’s still to me the greatest pleasure, and it’s what informed me about the world more than anything else, more than anything I learned at school, through the pages of books. I think it was an American writer who said that reading books gives you a second life.

8) 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?
I think the celebration was when I got my first book accepted, and I went out with my then-wife, and we went completely nuts and had an extremely alcoholic dinner and had lobster and got completely wrecked. And I think by contrast one of the most dismal days of my life was the day the book got published, because you rush into the bookshop, and it’s not there!

It’s now finally in the last few years, it’s different for me. But for a long time when I was an unknown author you’d run around all the bookshops and you’d get really angry, and think ‘fuck I’m doing all this promotion, and there’s no book on the shelf’.

9) What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?
Oh yeah, this is easy. The launch of DEAD SIMPLE in Germany, I had to do a signing lying in a coffin, in a coffin warehouse. It was my German publisher’s idea, so who says the Germans don’t have a sense of humour (chuckling).

I was in this coffin surrounded by candles, in a coffin warehouse... I had to sort of sit up and sign the book and then lie back down again... about 150 [books signed]... my stomach muscles were in great shape.


Thank you Peter James. We really appreciate you taking the time to talk with Crime Watch.

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So what do you think of this 9mm interview? Have you read any of Peter James’s Roy Grace novels? Or his earlier spy thriller and supernatural horror? What do you think? Will you be going to any of his New Zealand or Australian events? I'd love to read your comments. Please share your thoughts.

UK #1 bestseller Peter James in New Zealand this month!

When it rains, it pours, as they say. There are now six major international crime and thriller writers heading to New Zealand shores in the next few weeks - along with Simon Kernick and Michael Robotham, who will be appearing at The Press Christchurch Writers' Festival, 2010 Theakstons award winner RJ Ellory and 2010 CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger recipient Val McDermid are also touring in August and September, and now news is filtering through that another two big-name bestsellers from overseas will be here in August as well.

Peter James, the award-winning author of the Roy Grace series - the latest of which, DEAD LIKE YOU jumped straight to #1 on the UK Sunday Times bestseller list on its first week of publication earlier this year - will be in New Zealand on 30 and 31 August. Event details have not yet been confirmed, but I understand James will be appearing at a public event in Takapuna (Auckland's North Shore) on the evening of Tuesday 31 August. I will bring you more details as soon as they come to hand.

In an interesting aside, when DEAD LIKE YOU shot straight to the top of the UK charts, 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 . .

Are you a Peter James fan? Will you be keen to see him in New Zealand? 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)? Thoughts and comments welcome.