#truecrime

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

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)     

I remember very well when this triple murder occurred, so I'm hoping this book will cast some light into dark places.

From the Blurb:

'The slaughter was extravagant and bloody. And yet there were people in the small town of Wedderburn in Central Victoria who, while they did not exactly rejoice, quietly thought that Ian Jamieson had done them all a favour.'

Twenty-five years ago, serial killer Paul Denyer terrorised the Melbourne bayside suburb of Frankston.

It began on 11 June 1993 when Elizabeth Stevens was murdered on her way home from the library. Then, on 8 July, Debbie Fream left her new baby boy with a friend while she dashed out for milk. She was abducted and killed.

True crime writer Vikki Petraitis was researching her second book, after writing The Phillip Island Murder (Kerr Publishing, 1994), when she unexpectedly found herself in the middle of the hunt for a serial killer.