An Anzac crime gathering...

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

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


• Michael Robotham;


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


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

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

Kiwi writer Stephen Ross nominated for a Derringer Award

It's been a good few weeks for Hamilton-based short story writer Stephen Ross. First, the regular contributor to the Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines found himself amongst the Edgar Award finalists in the short fiction category (for his AHMM story "Monsieur Alice is Absent"); read a Waikato Times story about that achievement here.

Now Ross has been nominated for a 2011 Derringer Award, given out by the Short Mystery Fiction Society, for another story, "The Man with One Eye" (published in EQMM, December 2010). Ross has been nominated in the novelette category (8001 – 17,500 words).

The Derringer Awards were created in 1997 by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to honor excellence in the creative artform of short mystery and crime stories. The name “Derringer,” after the palm-sized handgun, was chosen as a metaphor for a mystery or crime short story — small, but dangerous.

I love reading full-length crime novels, but I do also really enjoy crime-centred short stories, whether in the form of author collections like Peter Robinson's enjoyable The Price of Love, collections with numerous contributors like the recent The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime by Today's Top Authors edited by Jonathan Santlofer and S.J. Rozan, or one-off stories in mystery magazines or on the Internet. It's nice to be able to just dip in and quickly finish a good story.

So, congratulations to Stephen Ross. New Zealand has a great tradition of short story writing, thanks to the likes of Katherine Mansfield, Frank Sargeson and CK Stead, as well as many contemporary practitioners, and high-profile competitions and awards like the Sunday Star-Times Short Story Awards and the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Short Story Awards - but it's terrific to see some Kiwi-penned mystery short stories also getting recognition, overseas at least.

Do you enjoy mystery short stories?

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 for those readers in the south of the South Island that this coming week Vanda Symon's excellent fourth Sam Shephard novel, BOUND, will be launched at the University Book Shop in Dunedin. All Crime Watch readers are invited to the event, which will be held at 6pm on Wednesday 2 February 2011 at the UBS store, which is located at 378 King Street, Dunedin. RSVP to bronwynw@unibooks.co.nz.

Onto the round-up.

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

• Speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival this past week, Swedish crime writing superstar Henning Mankell discussed the end of Kurt Wallander, that he is inspired by Greek Tragedy, and that Shakespeare's MacBeth is the "best crime story" that he's ever read.
• Deadline Hollywood reports that ABC has greenlit a pilot for "Poe", a new crime prodcedural that would see author Edgar Allan Poe as a detective using unconventional methods to investigate dark mysteries in 1840s Boston.
• On the Books South Africa website, acclaimed South African crime writer Margie Orford discusses the desire to write 'a proper book', the flexibility of crime writing, and the trope of feminity and death. In another post Orford discusses the "devilish details" so vital for good crime writing.
• The Waikato Times interviews local short story writer Stephen Ross, who has been shortlisted for a prestigious Edgar Award, a rare feat for a New Zealand writer.
• Jeff Pierce, editor of the excellent website The Rap Sheet, is on the lookout for "any authors or critics out there would like to contribute an essay to The Rap Sheet’s regular 'forgotten books' series" - see here for more details.
• The Parkridge Herald-Advocate takes a look at the upcoming "Love is Murder Mystery Conference," the premiere Midwest gathering of mystery authors, readers, publishers, and agents which returns this year on 4-6 February after a hiatus in 2010 (this is the thirteenth instalment in 14 years).
• Scott Eyman of the Palm Beach Post grabs a few moments with a very busy Robert Crais, currently touring in support of his latest novel THE SENTRY, for an interesting Q&A.
• Star News Online reports that wo mystery writers, Judy Nichols and Joyce Lavene, have helped revive the defunct and once-popular Cape Fear Crime Festival, which ran in Wilmington, North Carolina from 2001 to 2007. You can read the news story about the new festival, which will be on Saturday 5 February, here, and check out the festival website here.
• Ngaio Marsh Award judge and acclaimed book blogger Graham Beattie comments on the latest thrillers from British author Robert Goddard and Norwegian Ann Holt here.
• The Kansas City Star reviews MR HOOLIGAN, a crime novel by Florida journalist Ian Vasquez set in his native Belize (perhaps a good option for some of the readers undertaking Dorte Jakobsen's excellent 2011 Global Reading Challenge).

What are the roots of crime fiction - do you agree that Greek tragedies and Shakespearean plays are also crime fiction, at least in part? Does the modern focus on 'detective fiction' unnecessarily constrain many critics from realising crime fiction is much wider and longstanding than that? Do you like attending crime fiction festivals and meeting authors? Are you taking part in the 2011 Global Reading Challenge? Comments welcome.

Waikato Times highlights local author's Edgar nomination

Further to my blog post last week congratulating Wellington-based novelist and TV screenwriter Neil Cross and Hamilton-based short story writer Stephen Ross for their Edgar nominations, it seems that some of the mainstream New Zealand media have started to pick up on the story.

The Waikato Times (the newspaper for Hamilton and surrounds, and one of the bigger newspapers in New Zealand) has over the weekend included a news story on Ross and his achievements, which is great to see. The news story, which you can read online here, also gives a bit more information about Ross, and his nominated story, "Monsieur Alice is Absent" - a murder mystery story set in France in the 1970s.

Kiwi flag flies amongst Edgar nominations!

With two writing nominations for Wellington-based crime novelist and screenwriter Neil Cross's excellent TV series Luther, and one for Hamilton-based short story writer Stephen Ross for his story "Monsieur Alice is Absent" (published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine), the New Zealand flag is certainly flying proudly amongst the Edgar Award nominations announced overnight (New Zealand time). Great stuff, terrific to see.

As many of you will know, the Edgars are like the Oscars of crime writing (possibly sharing that status with the Daggers - I'll let the organisers of each battle it out for which one is the Oscars, which the Golden Globes). Regardless of eventual results, it's fantastic to see a couple of New Zealand-based writers getting recognised in this way by the Mystery Writers of America.

You can read a bit more about Stephen Ross here, and at his website here.

You can read more about Neil Cross here, and at his website here.

Hopefully the bigger New Zealand media (TV, radio, newspapers/magazines) will pick up on the story and share it with more New Zealanders, because both Neil Cross and Stephen Ross deserve congratulations and wider acclaim for their achievements.

I will have more to say on the rest of the Edgar nominations (see here for full list), especially the best novel lineup, soon, but for now, go the Kiwis!

Comments welcome.