Late, as expected, but November in the reading stacks was made up of

Currently Reading

I just had to start The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes as soon as it lobbed. 10+ years waiting for it, and it is worth dropping everything. 

The other book I've been dipping into is Sao Paulo Noir - a collection of short stories that has been lurking around here for years. 

Because everything's always all over the place, I thought maybe if I started a note of what I'm reading, and what's next up in the piles I might (MIGHT) have a small chance of keeping track. Ha.

Just Finished

#auscrime: The Drowning by Bryan Brown - first full novel from this actor turned writer. Review asap.

History and humanity: 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists plunge readers into page-turning tales about who we are

The winners were announced in November, all of which are books WELL worth reading.

BEST NON-FICTION

WINNER:  MISSING PERSONS by Steve Braunias (HarperCollins)     

History and humanity: 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists plunge readers into page-turning tales about who we are

From heart-wrenching tales of families torn apart by disappearance or deportation to examinations of historic crimes, swindles, and injustices to page-whirring novels about former cops and former convicts, the finalists for the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards offer a diverse array of storytelling excellence

Poker, poverty, and the power of storytelling: 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award longlist revealed

A poker-playing sleuth, a poet’s gritty take on life on Aotearoa’s poverty line, a rural mystery entwined with heart-wrenching exploration of dementia, and the long-awaited return of a master of neo-noir are among the diverse tales named today on the longlist for the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel.

We took a couple of weeks off over Christmas / New Year and spent the time driving around in the new car (working out how to drive it / charge it / where the cup holders are - all that sort of stuff), and managed a couple of days of long meanders with the dogs when it wasn't hot enough to melt concrete. Also did some reading - some of which was catchup / some f2f bookclub and some, just because. All of them are marked as review to come as it'll take me a little while to tick off the general admin / email backlog / what was I doing before the break work stuff.

It's not going to take a genius to figure out I've not been "blogging" much here in recent times. Ran out of puff, nothing worth saying, thousands of reasons - mostly came down to couldn't be bothered to be honest. But a quick note to say yep, have deleted both twitter accounts @kcfromaustcrime and @auscrimefiction

Moved to Mastodon. Couldn't have made a better decision. Social Media as it's supposed to be done.

Fresh voices came to the fore at WORD Christchurch Spring Festival on Saturday afternoon as Becky Manawatu and RWR McDonald were named the winners of the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards.

Both winners were first-time novelists, and while their winning books were different in many ways, each was told in large part from the perspective of young children dealing with loss and violence in small-town New Zealand, each included a rich cast of diverse characters, and each expertly blended lighter moments with dark events in tense tales that could make readers gasp and laugh.

Two men.
One woman.
A blood feud.
The birth of the Italian mafia in Australia.

Join now and start reading the exclusive "Isolation Edition"

Just $9.90 for all 14 chapters – a saving of over 80% on RRP of the printed book

The Calabrian will be published in August but you can be one of the first to read this pulsating novel by signing up for our "isolation edition" You get access to a new chapter of the book each day. Waiting for the next instalment will only heighten your expectation and anticipation as the story develops.