A big night tonight for New Zealand crime and mystery writing – the annual Ngaio Marsh Awards will be presented at the Word Christchurch festival. Congratulations to all the authors short-listed. (https://wordchristchurch.co.nz/programme/the-ngaio-marsh-awards/)

New Zealand is brimming with terrific writers, many of whom don’t get the recognition they deserve. I suppose, like most things, it comes down to the huge hype and marketing dollars channelled into overseas blockbusters.

So why not make a resolution to read more local stories? If you need inspiration, there is no better place to turn than to “Crime Watch”, Craig Sisterson’s fabulous website, which reviews kiwi crime fiction (https://kiwicrime.blogspot.com/).

Personally, I have a fairly low tolerance for explicit violence and gore, which rules out a lot of crime writing, but there are still plenty of cleverly plotted novels with engaging characters to dive into. I’d recommend Vanda Symon’s “Overkill” for a true kiwi crime experience. The lead, Sam Shephard, is a young female police officer, who is not afraid to kick a few ute tyres and face down the trials and tribulations of her small rural town in Southland.

If you like historical mysteries, you might like to read the “Sergeant Frank Hardy” series by Wendy Wilson. The first book “Not The Faintest Trace” is a free ebook, set in the rugged backcountry of 1870s New Zealand, with characters as diverse and gnarly as the scenery.

Or try a dive into a classic ‘Golden Age’ mystery by our very own Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand’s grand dame of the genre. She wrote 32 crime novels between 1934 and 1982 and ranks alongside the greats of this era, like Agatha Christie.

Happy reading!