Interview with an invisible thriller writer: Joan Druett interviews 2010 Ngaio Marsh Award winner Alix Bosco

For two years, from the publication of award-winning debut thriller CUT & RUN in August 2009 to the revelation a fortnight ago that the writer behind the 'Alix Bosco' pseudonym was acclaimed playwright and TV screenwriter Greg McGee, there were few interviews with the author of the New Zealand-set crime fiction series starring middle-aged legal researcher Anna Markunas (CUT & RUN, SLAUGHTER FALLS). Understandably, as the desire for anonymity that saw the use of the pseudonym in the first place, would largely inhibit interview opportunities etc. Although Crime Watch did manage to get a 9mm interview with Bosco (via emails with Bosco's agent), and others such as Sunday Star-Times Books Editor Mark Broatch also managed to get comments via email from Bosco for articles on the state of New Zealand crime fiction.

Now that McGee has 'come out' as Bosco, of course, the acclaimed writer will have many more opportunities to his thoughts about books, writing, and more with readers and the media - which I think is a great thing. I enjoyed having McGee as part of the New Zealand crime writers panel at last Sunday's "Setting the Stage for Murder" event in Christchurch - he certainly brought a different perspective about a number of things, and I think many in the audience enjoyed his contributions (judging from some comments on the Chch City Libraries blog, etc) to what was a great day for crime fiction in New Zealand.

Now, maritime expert and award-winning writer Joan Druett (pictured right, author of the Wiki Coffin mysteries set on 1830s US sailing ships) has interviewed McGee this week for her World of the Written Word blog. Druett was one of the people who publicly suggested that McGee was Bosco, several months ago, so I think she is enjoying finding out more about the man behind Alix Bosco.

In the interview, McGee talks to Druett about whether his early success as a playwright shaped his focus on social commentary, and led to the need for a thriller-fiction pseudonym, his character of Anna Markunas (and whether aspects of McGee's earlier theatre and other writing distilled into the thriller heroine), and whether he felt a little like a villain after not showing up to the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel ceremony last year.

You can read the interview in full on Druett's blog here.

McGee has also been interviewed in the past fortnight by Lynn Freeman of Radio New Zealand - the interview was broadcast last Sunday. You can listen to that interview here.

So, who's going to win then?

With the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel about to be presented this weekend, I thought it was time to ask you - my knowledgeable Crime Watch readers, which of the books you think might win the Award in its second year.

We have four truly terrific finalists this year, that represent quite a diverse range of styles, settings, and storytelling. Each is a very good read in its own way, although readers will each have their own favourites, based on their own preferences, of course. But who will win? Who will the judges - international and New Zealand crime fiction experts - prefer?

Here's my summarised take on what's good and great about each of the four finalists (listed alphabetically), as shared with the Herald on Sunday last weekend:

Blood Men by Paul Cleave (Random House)
Cleave's prose crackles with energy in this dark tale told from the skewed viewpoint of Edward, an accountant trying to track those responsible for shattering his family. Cleave gets you deep inside the head of a troubled man, and takes you on a great ride story-wise, with plenty of twists in plot and character to keep you on your toes.

Captured by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster)
Cross vividly takes readers into some uneasy places as dying Kenny seeks to set right past mistakes, discovering that an old friend is missing, her husband suspected but free. It's a page-turner with terse prose powering a pacy story that touches on wider themes like justice, the importance we sometimes place on fleeting events, memory and reality, and concerns about what legacy each of us may leave behind.

Hunting Blind by Paddy Richardson (Penguin)
Richardson's tale of a woman who is trying to uncover what really happened to her sister years ago expertly melds family drama and psychological suspense. Highlights of this novel include the evocation of the South Island scenery, a lingering sense of unease, and the way Richardson delves into the complexity of human relationships and the aftermath of high-profile tragedy; uncovering the very real and ongoing effects after the media circus leaves.

Slaughter Falls by Alix Bosco (Penguin)
Anna Markunas is an intriguing heroine - middle-aged and multi-layered - who finds herself investigating a puzzling death from a Queensland holiday. There's plenty of the tension (personal and plot) and vivid action-packed moments that readers (and judges) enjoyed in Cut & Run, but Bosco has amped up the personal, character-based parts of the story, and developed Markunas further as a series character.

The judging panel praised all of these crime novels highly - they really are a great representation of quality contemporary Kiwi crime writing. The judges praised BLOOD MEN as “a gruesomely gripping story” told “in clean, sharp prose, with authentically laconic dialogue and flashes of very dark humour”; said CAPTURED was “fascinating”, with “amazing twists and turns” and a “main character who was drawn so well”; rated HUNTING BLIND highly for its “sense of downright creepiness” and “some fascinatingly complex characters”; and were impressed by “the depth and complexity” and “well-executed plot unfolding at a good pace” in SLAUGHTER FALLS.

Each of the four novels would be a worthy and deserving winner. And each has been listed as a 'favourite' by various crime fiction readers I know. I really don't think the judges can go wrong, no matter which of these books ends up winning the Ngaio Marsh Award this year. But I'd really love to read what you think about the finalists, which ones you've read, and which one(s) you like best. Please share your thoughts.

Who do you think will or should win the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel?

Crime Pays: the Herald on Sunday takes a look at the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel

Yesterday (NZT) there was an article on the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel in the Herald on Sunday, one of New Zealand's major weekend newspapers. I was interviewed by HOS Books Editor and acclaimed author Nicky Pellegrino about New Zealand crime fiction, and the four finalists for this year's award.

I spoke to Nicky about the growth of the Award in its second year, the quality of this year's longlist, and then gave my own perspectives on what makes each of the four finalists a cracking crime fiction read.

You can read the article in full online here.

It's great to see local crime fiction getting this sort of coverage in our major media. Hopefully there will be plenty of stories about the winner too, after they're announced at the "Setting the Stage for Murder" event in Christchurch next weekend (buy tickets here).

Who do you think will win the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel? Who would you like to see win (if that's a different answer)? What New Zealand crime novels have you really enjoyed?

More on Alix Bosco: the official press release

Following the 'reveal' of award-winning crime writer Alix Bosco's true identity in today's Sunday Star-Times (a good article by Kim Knight - read here), Bosco's publisher Penguin has now issued an official press release explaining more about the author, his background, the reasons for secrecy, and more:

What do George Eliot, Stephen King, Lewis Carroll, Emily Bronte and Alix Bosco have in common?

I know the first four, I hear you say, but who is Alix Bosco?

Well Alix Bosco is a New Zealand crime/thriller writer who won the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel last year with her first novel, Cut & Run.

Then again this year her second novel, Slaughter Falls, has been shortlisted.

TV rights for Alix Bosco’s first book, Cut & Run have been sold for a major TV series, starring Robyn Malcolm as Anna Markunas.

All this success and again I hear you say – who the heck is this Alix Bosco?

Well like the first four authors, who have all written books under another name for various reasons, but mainly to ensure they were read without the prejudice of the real writer's previous works, gender or standing in the community, Alix Bosco is the pseudonym for a well known New Zealand writer, one not known for crime fiction, and not one you would expect to be writing as a stroppy female investigator.

Alix Bosco is Greg McGee
or
is Greg McGee Alix Bosco?

 Greg McGee’s haphazard journey as unlikely writer, rebellious rugby player, ambivalent protestor, lawyer and defendant, mutineer tourist, dilettante coach and incompetent kangaroo culler has taken him from Ponsonby to Paraburdoo, Tapanui to Harlem, Dunedin to Venice and various other T-shirt destinations. During this time he has crossed paths with a diverse cast of characters, from Peter Mahon to Keith Murdoch, Peggy Guggenheim to Duncan Laing, Ken Gray to Billy T. James, Raymond Hawthorne to Bert Potter, not to mention Grizz Wylie, Janet Frame’s brother, Pie Madsen’s mother, Aussie fortune tellers, Sicilian witches, Vincent van Gogh and any number of writers, actors, producers and other denizens of stage and screen.

For theatre, he has written both Foreskin’s Lament, which has been described as ‘the great New Zealand play’, and Whitemen, which McGee describes as ‘New Zealand’s biggest home-made bomb’.

He also wrote the controversial mini series Erebus, The Aftermath and much else for television, and has published the odd short story and sports column.

Below Greg explains in his own words why he wrote as Alix Bosco and why he has now decided to reveal his true identity.

Why the pseudonym?
When you spend a year writing a book from the point of view of one character, as I did with Anna, you become very attached to that character – and very protective. When it became clear that Cut & Run was going to be published, one part of me wanted to shout it from the rooftops, of course – my fi rst novel and I knew it was good - but I also knew that if I did that, if my name was on the front of the book, Anna had no chance. No chance of being received as a credible character.

Because I’m known as the bloke who back in the day played rugby and wrote a play about rugby. Greg McGee’s that bloke who writes about blokes. People like to think that they don’t have preconceptions, but the evidence says otherwise.

Before publication, Cut & Run was assessed by fi ve readers. I insisted that three of them not be told who the author was. The two (one male, one female) who knew that I’d written it, had major problems with Anna’s credibility. The three readers (two female, one male) who had no idea who the author was, thought Anna was a wonderfully written, sympathetic and engaging character.

That was the moment when I decided my name would not be on the book. I wanted the book and Anna to be treated on their merits, not be assessed on what people thought they knew about its author.

I had to fight hard to persuade my agent, the wonderful Michael Gifkins, and Penguin, to do it. They both pointed out that a book with no author to promote it is hugely prejudiced.

Why Alix Bosco?
Bosco means woods in Italian (bosco scuro, the dark woods from Dante’s L’Inferno.), so it seemed suitably mysterious and exotic. Bosco has also been the name of a number of writers, dating from a Don Bosco in the middle ages, and, more recently,

Henri Bosco, who is buried in the Luberon valley in Provence, close to Camus. (When I was there, I paid my respects to Henri for the use of his family’s name).

Alix was decided on because it was gender neutral, but that neutrality was quickly abandoned, when the choice had to be made between ‘him’ and ‘her’ for the brief author bio inside the cover. I decided it would be ‘her’, because it was always Anna’s story and I tended to think of Anna as Alix.

Besides, I thought that if I was going to be younger and better-looking as Alix Bosco, I might as well go the whole hog and change my gender while I’m at it.

Reason for Coming Out
My second book Slaughter Falls being chosen as finalist for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. When my first book, Cut & Run won last year’s inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, the award ceremony was a bit of an anti-climax because there was no author there to receive it.

I think the award is a wonderful initiative and I want to support it by being there this time with the other fi nalists, Paddy Richardson, Neil Cross and Paul Cleave, all fine writers who I’d be happy to lose to. The timing seems right. The pseudonym has largely served its purpose. The books – and Anna - have been really well received.

There might be a bit of angry reaction, people either pissed off they were fooled or convinced they knew all along. But quite a few writers, contemporary and historical, have used pseudonyms, for various reasons. Mary Ann Evans wrote under the name George Eliot, to ensure her books weren’t prejudiced by preconceptions about what female authors could and couldn’t do.

It may be a sign of the times that I felt I had to write under a female pseudonym for much the same reasons as Mary Anne Evans wrote under a male pseudonym.

Whatever, being a woman writer has been a wonderful experience: probably the best reviews I’ve ever had, the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel with my first book and now a finalist again with my second book.

I’d recommend it to any author who’s brave enough to trust his or her words to go out into the world alone.

ENDS

A mystery solved: 'Alix Bosco's' true identity revealed in today's Sunday Star-Times

A two-year mystery has finally been solved, with acclaimed playwright, TV screenwriter, and former Junior All Black Greg McGee 'coming out' as Alix Bosco in a large feature in today's Sunday Star-Times.

There has been plenty of speculation as to the identity of Alix Bosco over the past couple of years, with a wide and diverse range of names being put forward. Personally, I had no idea until I met 'Alix' a few days ago in Ponsonby (see photo to the right), in the lead-up to today's 'big reveal'. As McGee was one of the names that had been suggested (and in particular, was continuously put forward by an anonymous comment-maker on this blog), I wasn't entirely surprised when he walked into Soto in Ponsonby to meet me and his agent Michael Gifkinds for lunch. As for my own theories, it turns out I was right about some things (that the writer had been involved in TV writing - given the visual nature of the books and some other touches here and there), but wrong about key other things (ie, gender - I thought it was a female writer, so my guesses were along the lines of Outrageous Fortune, The Almighty Johnsons and Nothing Trivial scribe Rachel Lang).

For those in New Zealand, I suggest you grab a copy of today's Sunday Star-Times to read the very good large feature by Kim Knight about McGee coming out as Bosco (as an aside, it's great to see local crime fiction on the cover page of the Culture section, and mentioned on the front page of the entire newspaper too). McGee shares his reasons for the pseudonym, why he is coming out now, his thoughts about the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, and much more. For those overseas, you can read most of the Sunday Star-Times coverage online here.

It's a good Sunday all-around for Kiwi crime fiction, with an article by Nicky Pellegrino on the upcoming Ngaio Marsh Award and the four finalist books, in the Herald on Sunday (the Living supplement). Hopefully I will be able to share that article online in the next couple of days. For those in New Zealand, grab both Sunday papers, and enjoy a bit of local crime fiction-related reading this weekend.

Are you surprised that Alix Bosco is a male writer? Have you read CUT & RUN or SLAUGHTER FALLS? What do you think of Bosco's crime writing? Of the reasons for the pseudonym, and coming out now? Comments welcome.

Ngaio Marsh Award finalists announced

THE FINALISTS for the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, which will be presented as part of the upcoming Christchurch Arts Festival, have now been announced today.

The award, now in its second year, is made annually for the best crime, mystery, or thriller novel written by a New Zealand citizen or resident. Its namesake, Dame Ngaio Marsh, is renowned worldwide as one of the four iconic “Queens of Crime” of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The award was established last year with the blessing of Dame Ngaio’s closest living relatives.

Over the past two months an expert panel consisting of seven local and international judges has been considering the best examples of locally written crime and thriller fiction published in New Zealand during 2010. The judges are now pleased to announce that the finalists are:

• BLOOD MEN by Paul Cleave (Random House);
• CAPTURED by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster);
• HUNTING BLIND by Paddy Richardson (Penguin); and
• SLAUGHTER FALLS by Alix Bosco (Penguin).

The judges praised BLOOD MEN as “a gruesomely gripping story” told “in clean, sharp prose, with authentically laconic dialogue and flashes of very dark humour”; said CAPTURED was “fascinating”, with “amazing twists and turns” and a “main character who was drawn so well”; rated HUNTING BLIND highly for its “sense of downright creepiness” and “some fascinatingly complex characters”; and were impressed by “the depth and complexity” and “well-executed plot unfolding at a good pace” in SLAUGHTER FALLS.

This year’s winner of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel will be announced at a ceremony at the conclusion of the “Setting the Stage for Murder” event at the TelstraClear Club in North Hagley Park on the afternoon of Sunday 21 August 2011. New York Times bestselling international crime writers Tess Gerritsen and John Hart will also be appearing at the event. The winner will receive a distinctive handcrafted trophy designed and created by New Zealand sculptor and Unitec art lecturer Gina Ferguson, a set of Ngaio Marsh novels courtesy of HarperCollins, and a cheque for $1,000 provided by the Christchurch Writers Festival Trust.

“The four finalists are a great representation of both the quality and depth of contemporary Kiwi-written crime fiction,” said Judging Convenor Craig Sisterson. “It was a particularly tough decision for the panel this year, as judges were impressed by each of the books on the longlist, and there was a real diversity of storytelling, settings, and styles. There were some very good local crime novels published in 2010 that haven’t become finalists, but that’s a good sign of the growing strength of our own indigenous interpretation of a genre that’s popular around the world.”

Like Dame Ngaio in her heyday, local crime writers are now showing that they can stand shoulder-to-shoulder, quality-wise, with their more well-known international contemporaries, said Sisterson. “We should be proud of our best crime writers, and support and celebrate their success, just like we are justifiably proud of other New Zealanders who achieve great things in their chosen field.”

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For more information, please contact:
Craig Sisterson, Judging Convenor: craigsisterson@hotmail.com

2011 Ngaio Marsh Award - the longlist

A pretty terrific line-up for the longlist there; eight very good crime/thriller novels. I know the seven-member international judging panel is going to be having all sorts of fun trying to work out which books should be finalists and which book should win the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award, to be presented on 21 August in Christchurch. The finalists will be revealed in early August.

The decision was tough last year between three great finalists, but this year I think there is even more depth on the longlist, and the decision may be even tougher. The eight longlisted titles include a diverse range of protagonists, settings, and styles - from psychological examinations of minds askew, to pulse-pounding thrillers, to police procedurals, to international spy thrillers. Amateur sleuths, government agents, detectives, family members of victims - all starring in tales covering the length and breadth of New Zealand, as well as parts of Australia, Southeast Asia, and Britain.

So, who are your favourites?

Review: SLAUGHTER FALLS by Alix Bosco

Last year ‘Alix Bosco’, the pseudonym for a ‘successful writer in other media’, burst onto the New Zealand fiction-writing scene with the acclaimed CUT & RUN, a thriller that is a finalist for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. Bosco’s compelling debut, which introduced overworked social worker turned legal researcher turned unintentional sleuth Anna Markunas, has also been tabbed for TV adaptation, with Robyn Malcolm (Outrageous Fortune) in the lead.

Middle-aged and multi-layered Markunas is now back in SLAUGHTER FALLS, although this time instead of the mean streets of South Auckland she finds herself caught up in a puzzling death while holidaying in sunny Queensland. A weekend of revelry and rugby watching sours terribly when two members of Markunas’s tour party die sudden, violent deaths. As Markunas tries to track down the elusive family of one of the men, she finds herself entangled in the secret histories and ongoing corruption of the Sunshine State’s seedy underbelly. At the same time unexpected revelations about her own background come to light.

SLAUGHTER FALLS has plenty of the tension (both in terms of the plotline and Markunas’s personal life), visual storytelling, and vivid action-packed moments readers loved in CUT & RUN, but is a more personal, character-based novel. While it doesn’t quite scale the thrills and mystery heights of Bosco’s debut, this sophomore effort further develops Markunas as an intriguing character worth following as the series grows. An enjoyable read.

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This review was first published in the October 2010 issue of WildTomato, the magazine of Nelson and Marlborough. You can read more about this terrific magazine here.

Crime Fiction Reviews from the latest Latitude magazine

As I've noted before, the editor of the excellent Canterbury regional lifestyle magazine Latitude, Joanne Taylor, has been kind enough to let me republish any crime fiction reviews published in Latitude, here on Crime Watch. It's an excellent magazine - it comes out quarterly and is about 160-180 pages each issue - so keep an eye out for it if you're in the area. I've written some large features, travel articles, and book reviews for them over the past year.

The current (Spring) issue, which came out the week prior to the Canterbury earthquake, included several crime fiction reviews - including reviews of the latest books from each of the three Ngaio Marsh Award finalists; Vanda Symon, Alix Bosco, and Neil Cross.

As I've already published a longer review of Neil Cross's CAPTURED here on Crime Watch, I won't republish the Latitude review here. However, here are the other two Kiwi crime fiction reviews from the latest Latitude. Enjoy.

SLAUGHTER FALLS
By Alix Bosco
Reviewed by Joanne Taylor

I eagerly awaited the second novel from Auckland writer Alix Bosco. SLAUGHTER FALLS continues the ability of the prime character, Anna Markunas, to end up in bizarre crime scenes. Eager to put her research skills to use in Queensland while there on holiday, Markunas attempts to track down the family of a fellow tour party member who died suddenly. As she gets closer to the truth, the dark world of Australia's corrupt underbelly looms - who is helping and who is hindering the investigation continues to keep the reader turning the pages.

The character of Anna Markunas develops nicely in this sequel (to the first novel CUT & RUN) with the stories of her children interwoven throughout with the impending arrival of a grandchild and the worry that her sone will slip back into bad habits. A great book to curl up with.

CONTAINMENT

by Vanda Symon

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Dunedin crime writer Vanda Symon brings back her feisty local heroine Sam Shephard for a third instalment in what has become an excellent detective series. In CONTAINMENT, the junior detective investigates a bizarre death - what seems a routine diving accident before forensics reveal the man didn't die from drowning and his body was stuffed in the wetsuit afterwards - that might be linked to the grounding of a container ship on the Aramoana coast.

CONTAINMENT once again shows Symon's talent for well-rounded characters, unique set-pieces, and Dunedin touches that give readers a strong sense of the student-packed southern city, while fleshing out even more about Shephard's personal life. Enjoyable, and well worth reading.

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What do you think of the reviews (we are very constrained for space)? Are you planning on reading either book? If you already have, what to do you think of it/them? Thoughts and comments most welcome.

9mm: An interview with Alix Bosco

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. It's a bit of a special instalment, as I'm about to bring you an interview with an thriller writer who hasn't really done many, if any, interviews before. At all, ever (well, not in her thriller writing persona, anyway). So I hope you're intrigued.

Before we dive into it, thanks again to all of you Crime Watch readers who took the time to place some feedback about the series as a whole. Feel free to place more comments and give more suggestions - I'm always open to hearing who and what the readers of this website want to read about.

For the 27th instalment in the 9mm series, Crime Watch is featuring Alix Bosco, the Kiwi crime writer with the secret identity. Bosco came to attention last year with the release of her debut crime novel CUT & RUN, which deservedly received many good reviews, and is now available in paperback. A new face on the Kiwi crime fiction map in 2009, 'Alix Bosco' is the thriller writing pseudonym of a 'successful writer in other media' who wishes to keep her crime writing and other life separate. As such up until now she hasn't really done any media about her novels, so this 9mm interview is something special for all of you reading Crime Watch. I'm not sure, but it may in fact be the first interview 'Alix Bosco' has given, which is pretty cool.

From today Bosco's second thriller starring middle-aged former social worker and legal researcher Anna Markunas, SLAUGHTER FALLS, will be available in New Zealand and Australia. The publisher's blurb for Bosco's second novel says, "When Anna Markunas comes to Brisbane to watch a rugby test, two members of her tour party die sudden, violent deaths. Anna tries to track down the elusive family of one man, but each discovery about his past leads her further into the dark world of Queensland's corrupt underbelly. Soon Anna is running for her life – she has discovered the secrets of those who will stop at nothing to silence her."

I read an advance copy in the past couple of days, and enjoyed it. It's another good addition to the burgeoning Kiwi crime fiction canon, and I'm already looking forward to the third in the series, as well as seeing CUT & RUN hit the television screen with Robyn Malcolm in the lead role, hopefully sometime in the not-too-distant future.

But for now, Alix Bosco looks down the barrel of 9mm - which for the first time ever, won't have an author photo...

The Crime Watch 9mm Author Interview: Alix Bosco

Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?
Until Lisbeth Salander came along, Peter Temple’s Jack Irish was probably my favourite. Jack was warm and funny, cooked, cleaned, and helped the old cabinet maker next door. The Melbourne Jack Irish inhabited was palpable, almost another character, and being so close, was identifiable for me in a way that Janet Evanovich’s New Jersey or Sue Grafton’s Santa Barbara or PD James’ English bureaucracy or even Rankin’s Edinburgh, never was. Both Jack and Lisbeth are also ‘crime’ outsiders in the sense that they are not cops or private eyes or trial lawyers (Jack is a faded, failed lawyer), and the author has to work harder to place them at the centre of the story. When that succeeds, it seems to make their stake in the story more personal.

What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?
Wuthering Heights. A brutally passionate love story. Move over Jane Austen – go Charlotte Brontë!

Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?
I’ve been writing since I was old enough to read. I’m always writing something – the only real question is whether, at any given time, I’m being paid for doing it.

Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?
Having a pseudonym is one way of avoiding touring and promotional commitments! Which leaves more time to walk the dog and think of the next story for Anna Markunas.

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?
On a summer evening, take a window seat at Bonitas on Ponsonby Road, sip a glass of something interesting and watch the world go by.

If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?
It would have to be Robyn Malcolm, who is beautiful, sexy and real. Rather than playing me, I’m hoping she’ll get to play Anna Markunas on television next year.

Of your writings, which is your favourite, and why?
The most recent, probably, because it’s the most vulnerable as it staggers out into the world. Each has different attributes: Cut & Run may be as close to the perfect who-dunnit as I can manage, whereas Slaughter Falls is a different, perhaps more ambitious story, more of a political thriller. To be honest, I’m more interested in societal forensics than criminal forensics, and I’m enormously encouraged by the success of someone like Stieg Larsson who seems to have had a similar preoccupation. The good thing about the crime fiction/thriller genre is that there is so much room to move. Not every hero has to be a sardonic cop, ex-cop or military drop-out, with a cryptic turn of phrase, an alcohol problem and a redeeming hobby!

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?
When I first saw Cut & Run – at a Paper Plus, featured as one of Kerre Woodham’s Choices - I wanted to shout from the roof-tops that I’d written a book I was proud of…. At which point I realised that such behaviour would tend to defeat the purpose of having a pseudonym. So I picked it up as disinterestedly as I could and… well, quietly fondled it, actually.

What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?
I’ll let you know if I ever get to attend any of those events as an author. Cut & Run and Slaughter Falls are such departures from the kind of writing I’m known for, that I feel it’s better that they are free of any expectations created by my other writing. However, I saw recently that novelist Stephanie Merritt has revealed herself as crime writer SJ Parris, and I can understand the pressure to do that – it’s very difficult for the publisher to promote a book without an author to do the promotional and publicity rounds. So thank you so much for your and your readers’ support, Craig.

Thank you Alix Bosco. 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 Alix Bosco's CUT & RUN? If so, what did you think? Will Robyn Malcolm be a good Anna Markunas? Are you going to read SLAUGHTER FALLS? What do you think of pseudonyms for crime writers? Who do you think Alix Bosco might be? I'd love to read your comments. Please share your thoughts.

Currently Reading: SLAUGHTER FALLS by Alix Bosco

After reading quite a few international titles recently, I've turned my attention back home to locally-based writers in the past few days. Over the weekend I read DEATH IN THE KINGDOM by Andrew Grant. I really enjoyed it (review will follow soon), and was very tempted to immediately go onto the next in the Daniel Swann series, SINGAPORE SLING SHOT - which looks equally enthralling - when Alix Bosco's upcoming SLAUGHTER FALLS arrived on my desk.

I couldn't resist starting this upcoming book immediately, so right now I'm reading the second in Bosco's Anna Markunas series. As I've noted before here on Crime Watch, Alix Bosco is a pseudonym for a "successful writer in other media", reportedly based in Auckland.

In SLAUGHTER FALLS, "when Anna Markunas comes to Brisbane to watch a rugby test, two members of her tour party die sudden, violent deaths. Anna tries to track down the elusive family of one man, but each discovery about his past leads her further into the dark world of Queensland's corrupt underbelly. Soon Anna is running for her life – she has discovered the secrets of those who will stop at nothing to silence her."

I enjoyed Bosco's debut, CUT & RUN, last year. You can read my review here.

I've been in touch with Bosco's publicist, and hope to be able to bring you an interview with her soon. She hasn't really done any/many media interviews yet (wanting to keep her privacy behind the pseudonym), but I'm hoping she'll agree to an email interview, to be published on Crime Watch. So keep an eye out for that potential exclusive.

Did you read CUT & RUN? Are you looking forward to giving SLAUGHTER FALLS a go? What do you think of Bosco's Kiwi-set crime thrillers? Thoughts and comments welcome.