2024 Ngaio Marsh Award Winners

 The Verdict Is In: 2024 Ngaio Marsh Award winners explore societal prejudices and characters under fire

A trio of superb Kiwi writers were honoured at WORD Christchurch Festival last night as they scooped the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards for novels offering readers insights into people and place alongside cracking crime tales

In the fifteenth instalment of Aotearoa’s annual awards celebrating excellence in crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense writing, Rotorua author Claire Baylis won Best First Novel for her harrowing examination of jury beliefs and biases in Dice (Allen & Unwin), while Scotland-based DV Bishop scooped Best Novel for his Renaissance Florence-set mystery Ritual of Fire (Macmillan), and Wellington writer Jennifer Lane joined rare company by winning Best Kids/YA for smalltown mystery Miracle (Cloud Ink Press).

“I’m stoked we have a special award this year recognising writers of crime, mystery, and thriller tales for younger readers,” says Ngaios founder Craig Sisterson. “Many of us owe any lifelong passion for books, and all the good that come along with that, to the children’s authors we read when we were youngsters ourselves. Aotearoa has amazing kids authors, across many genres. In future we plan to award our Best Kids/YA Book prize biennially, alternating with our Best Non-Fiction prize that returns in 2025.”

Last night, ‘Bookshop Detectives’ Gareth and Louise Ward interrogated several of the prime suspects, aka 2024 Ngaios finalists, in person and by video before a large crowd of witnesses in Tūranga, before revealing whowunnit. “It’s the kind of denouement Dame Ngaio may have enjoyed,” says Sisterson.

First up, Lane was stunned to find herself onstage accepting the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Kids/YA, adding to the Best First Novel prize she won in 2018 for All Our Secrets. She joins Paul Cleave, Jacqueline Bublitz, and Michael Bennett as winners of multiple Ngaio Marsh Awards. The judges praised Miracle, which stars a teenager trying to deal with devastating events and clear her father’s name after he’s arrested for a brutal attack, as “poignant and funny, with a complex storyline and memorable, well-developed characters including a fascinating heroine with her authentic adolescent voice”.

Lane’s fellow IIML graduate Claire Baylis was equally thrilled to win Best First Novel for Dice, a unique courtroom drama inspired by her research for the trans-Tasman Jury Project. Her debut gives readers insights into some harsh realities in our criminal justice system through the eyes and beliefs and biases of 12 jurors serving on a tricky sexual assault case. “Both timely and sensitively handled, there is so much that’s clever and surprising about Dice,” said the Ngaios judges. “Inventive, devastating, infuriating.”

The international judging panel for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Awards comprised leading crime fiction critics, editors, and authors from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, and the United States.

The Best Novel judges praised Bishop for crafting great characters and “vividly evoking the glorious but menacing Medici-era Florence with convincing historical details seamlessly woven” into Ritual of Fire’s terrific story of Cesare Aldo, a gay court officer at a time when that was punishable potentially by death, trying to uncover the murderers of rich merchants burned to death in disturbing echoes of a religious sect.

“I’m delighted, and amazed frankly because the standard of the books on the longlist this year, let alone amongst the finalists, was incredible,” said Bishop over video from his home south of Edinburgh, when he was surprised with the news Ritual of Fire had won the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel.

For more information on any of our 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards winners or finalists, or the Ngaios in general, please contact ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com, or founder Craig Sisterson, craigsisterson@hotmail.com

Miracle by Jennifer Lane (Cloud Ink Press)

Born in the middle of Australia’s biggest-ever earthquake, Miracle is fourteen when her world crumbles. Thanks to her dad’s new job at Compassionate Cremations — which falls under suspicion for Boorunga’s spate of sudden deaths — the entire town turns against their family. Miracle is tormented by her classmates, even by Oli, the boy she can’t get out of her head. She fears for her agoraphobic mother, and for her angelic, quake-damaged brother, Julian. When Oli plays a cruel trick on Miracle, he sets off a chain of devastating events. Then her dad is arrested for a brutal attack. Miracle takes the full weight on her shoulders. How can she convince the town of her dad’s innocence?

Rituals of Fire by D V Bishop (Macmillan UK)

Florence. Summer, 1538. A night patrol finds a rich merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main piazza. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier on this date, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way in the same place. Does this new killing mean Savonarola’s vengeful spirit has risen again? Or are his fanatical disciples plotting to revive the monk’s regime of holy terror? Cesare Aldo has his suspicions but is hunting thieves and fugitives in the Tuscan countryside, leaving Constable Carlo Strocchi to investigate the ritual killing. When another important merchant is slain even more publicly than the first, those rich enough to escape the summer heat are fleeing to their country estates. But the Tuscan hills can also be dangerous places. Soon growing religious fervour combines with a scorching heatwave to drive the city ever closer to madness, while someone is stalking powerful men that forged lifelong alliances during the dark days of Savonarola and his brutal followers. Unless Aldo and Strocchi can work together to stop the killer, Florence could become a bonfire of the vanities once more . . .

Dice by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)

Four teenage boys invent a sex game based on rolling dice and doing what the numbers say. They are charged with multiple sexual offences against three teenage girls. Twelve random jurors are brought together in a trial to work out what actually happened. Only they can say whether crimes have been committed and who should be punished. How does the jury find?

Beyond whodunnit: 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards Finalists Announced.

Beyond whodunnit: 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists offer page-turning tales and social critiques across time and place.

From stem cell research to sexual assault juries, the dangers of a surveillance society to mental health and animal abuse, the finalists for the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards offer readers a diverse array of page-turning mysteries and thrills entwined with societal issues, set against a variety of locales and eras from Renaissance Florence and Nazi Germany to contemporary Aotearoa.  

“While crime and thriller fiction is often talked about in terms of its page-turning plotlines, or puzzling twists and surprising reveals, nowadays it’s also a fantastic vehicle for exploring character and society,” says Ngaio Marsh Awards founder Craig Sisterson. “Our 2024 Ngaios finalists beautifully showcase that, with a kaleidoscopic range of tales full of engaging and memorable characters, exploring a wide variety of social issues in many different places.”

Now in their fifteenth season, the Ngaio Marsh Awards celebrate excellence in mystery, thriller, crime, and suspense writing from Aotearoa New Zealand storytellers. The 2024 finalists were announced today in Best First Novel, Best Novel, and Best Kids/YA categories.

“I’m absolutely delighted that we’re celebrating some of our terrific kids’ mystery and thriller writers as a separate category this year,” says Sisterson. “Many of us develop our love of reading, and all the benefits that brings us throughout our lives, thanks to children’s authors. In Aotearoa we have amazing kids’ authors, across various forms and genres.”

The finalists for the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Kids/YA are:

Caged by Susan Brocker (Scholastic)

Katipo Joe: Wolf's Lair by Brian Falkner (Scholastic)

Miracle by Jennifer Lane (Cloud Ink Press)

 Nikolai's Quest by Diane Robinson (Rose & Fern Publishing)

 Nor'east Swell by Aaron Topp (One Tree House)

Falkner, an Auckland storyteller now living in Queensland, won the first-ever special award for Best Kids/YA in 2021. Wellington author Jennifer Lane has previously won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel, while Bay of Plenty writer Susan Brocker, Auckland author Diane Robinson, and Hawke’s Bay author Aaron Topp are all first-time Ngaios finalists.

“Moving forward, we hope to award a Best Kids/YA prize biennially,” says Sisterson, “alternating it with our Best Non-Fiction category that has been running since 2017.”

This year’s finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel, a prize that in recent years has gone to authors including Jacqueline Bublitz and Michael Bennett, are:

Dice by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)

El Flamingo by Nick Davies (YBK Publishers)

Devil’s Breath by Jill Johnson (Black & White/Bonnier)

A Better Class of Criminal by Cristian Kelly

Mama Suzuki: Private Eye by Simon Rowe (Penguin SEA)

“It’s really heartening each year to see the range of new voices infusing fresh perspectives into the crime and thriller backstreets of our local literary landscape,” says Sisterson. “Our 2024 finalists are Kiwi storytellers based on four continents, each offering something new and exciting, from madcap capers in Latin America to an unusual Japanese sleuth or a neurodivergent professor of toxic botanicals, to former police detective Cristian Kelly and legal researcher Claire Baylis harnessing real-life expertise in captivating fictional tales.”

Lastly, the finalists for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel are:

Dice by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)

The Caretaker by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)

Ritual of Fire by DV Bishop (Macmillan)

Pet by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

Devil’s Breath by Jill Johnson (Black & White/Bonnier)

Going Zero by Anthony McCarten (Macmillan)

Expectant by Vanda Symon (Orenda Books)

“It’s a strong group of finalists to emerge from a dazzlingly varied field,” says Sisterson. “This year’s Ngaio Marsh Awards entrants gave our international judging panels lots to chew over, and plenty of books judges enjoyed and admired didn’t become finalists. ‘Yeahnoir’, our local spin on some of the world’s most popular storytelling forms, is certainly in fine health.”  

Crime writing is a broad church nowadays, notes Sisterson, including but going beyond traditional murder mysteries and whodunnits in the style of Dames Ngaio and Agatha Christie, to deliver insights about society and humanity alongside rollicking reads.

“As the likes of Val McDermid have said, if you want to better understand a place, read its crime fiction,” says Sisterson. “Many of our finalists hold up a mirror to society, taking readers into varied lives through their stories, alongside page-turning entertainment.”

The 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists will be celebrated and this year’s winners announced at a special event held at the WORD Christchurch Festival on Wednesday, 28 August.

For more information on any or all of our 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists, or the Ngaios in general, please contact ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com, or founder Craig Sisterson craigsisterson@hotmail.com.

 

Rural Noir: small-town tales scoop Ngaio Marsh Awards

Backcountry mystery outshone big city crime at WORD Christchurch Festival on Saturday evening as Alan Carter and Jennifer Lane were named the winners of the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards.

Both authors' winning books involve deadly deeds set against small towns and rural landscapes. Carter scooped the Best Novel prize for Marlborough Man (Fremantle Press), a thrilling tale centred on an ex-undercover agent from England trying to resettle into a quieter life far distanced from his dangerous past; now a country cop patrolling the seemingly idyllic valleys and waterways of the Top of the South. 

“A terrific, full-throated crime thriller that puts the freshest of spins on the cop-with-a-past trope,” said the judges. “Carter is a first-class wordsmith with a particular talent for authentic dialogue. The novel’s setting wholly embraces the people and action, and the overall effect is powerful and persuasive.”

Lane is an experienced short story writer, published by magazines and journals on both sides of the Tasman, who won a New Zealand Book Month prize in 2007. Her debut novel All Our Secrets (Rosa Mira Books) grew out of one of her short stories, evolving over more than a decade of work. Gracie is a bullied adolescent from a troubled family in the fictional Australian town of Coongahoola. When the town’s famed ‘River Children’ start vanishing, Gracie knows what no-one else does: who is responsible. 

“A very assured debut sitting somewhere between something aimed at older teen readers and something very readable for adults, All Our Secrets is strongly voiced, has a great sense of place, wonderfully drawn characters, and an excellent plot,” said the judging panel. “It's an absolute gem.”

The Anzac spirit is alive and well with this year’s winners, noted Ngaios founder Craig Sisterson, as both Carter and Lane spent significant chunks of their lives in Australia before choosing to make New Zealand their home. Carter, originally from the north of England, won a Ned Kelly Award for his debut crime novel in 2011, before crossing the Tasman to live on a farm in a valley in Marlborough in recent years. 

“It has been another remarkable year for New Zealand crime and mystery writing,” said Sisterson. “We had a record number of entries, a big influx of exciting new voices, and the welcome return of some of our great crime storytellers from the 1990s and early 2000s, including Stella Duffy and Edmund Bohan.”

Carter won a Ngaios trophy, special edition of a Dame Ngaio book, and a $1,000 cash prize courtesy of WORD Christchurch. Lane won a trophy, book, and a cash prize from the Ngaio Marsh Awards. 

“Decades ago a remarkable woman from Christchurch was renowned globally as one of the biggest names in the books world,” said Sisterson. “So it’s only fitting that awards in Dame Ngaio’s name are now showcasing just how world-class many of our modern-day Kiwi writers are too.”

Vanda Symon on Fresh Blood from the Ends of the Earth

New Zealand crime writing is going from strength to strength, with the quality of #yeahnoir being increasingly recognised on the international stage. There are ever-increasing numbers of writers tapping out crime on their keyboards, scribbling murder into notebooks.

Part of this renaissance of New Zealand crime writing can be attributed to the establishment of our national awards. Excellence in Kiwi crime, thriller, mystery, and suspense writing has been recognised by the Ngaio Marsh Awards since 2010.  

Dame Ngaio Marsh was New Zealand’s most successful crime writer. She wrote 32 novels starring Detective Chief inspector Roderick Alleyn from 1935 to 1982, as well as short stories and works of non-fiction, and was heralded as one of the Queens of Crime of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction alongside Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy Sayers – esteemed company, indeed. Her works were published around the world, and such was her prestige that in 1949 Penguin Publishing and Collins produced the Marsh Million, where 100, 000 copies of ten of her novels were printed and released on a single day. This put her in the exclusive company of Agatha Christie, H.G. Wells, and George Bernard Shaw.

Ngaio Marsh received many accolades for her writing, including being awarded the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and the first honorary doctorate awarded by the University of Canterbury. She also was made an OBE, then later a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1966 for her services to literature and theatre.

We are truly honoured to have Ngaio Marsh’s name for our awards recognising the best of New Zealand crime, thriller, mystery, and suspense storytelling. The awards are now in their ninth year, and 2018 attracted a record number of entries. The evolution of the awards has brought in new categories, with this being the third year of separately recognising the growing number of debut crime novels.

Here are the finalists for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel.

The Floating Basin by Carolyn Hawes

Detective Ru Clement has his hands full with the discovery of a body at the floating basin, a marina in a tidal basin on the outskirts of Westport. The victim, Richard Irwin, had recently returned to the town after thirty years, and had settled at a new sub-division that was causing problems of its own. The small West Coast town hides many secrets and Clement struggles to figure out where past and present collide to find the killer. His own volatile family situation does not make unravelling the mystery any easier.

Hawes beautifully captures the isolation and wildness of the West Coast, and the particular variety of people who inhabit it. She collects an intriguing cast of characters, and skilfully weaves Clements personal family life dilemmas through a well told story.

Broken Silence by Helen Vivienne Fletcher (HVF Publishing)

Seventeen-year-old Kelsey has a tough life. Her mother is hospitalised with dementia, her

father is absent and doesn’t want to know. She has ended up living with her brother and his two mates and she isn’t exactly welcome. She is in an abusive relationship and when her boyfriend Mike attacks her in a jealous rage at a party, she asks for help from a stranger who in turn beats Mike so severely he is left in a coma. But this is not the end of the stranger’s involvement. Kelsey receives more and more texts and phone calls from him. He seems to see everything, and is clearly watching her every move. When those around her start to be hurt, Kelsey realises that her friends and family are in danger, and the race is on to discover who the stranger is before more people suffer.

Broken Silence is a young adult psychological thriller that is tense and dramatic. With Kelsey, Fletcher presents a confused and vulnerable young woman and captures how difficult it is to escape abusive relationships. Her brittleness and unpredictable reactions to events evoke a multitude of emotions in the reader. With themes of violence and abuse this is a compelling and often uncomfortable read.

All our Secrets by Jennifer Lane (Rosa Mira Books)

Eleven-year-old Gracie Barrett is a young girl in a chaotic family living in the Australian town of Coongahoola. This may be a small town, but it has had its pivotal events in the past, including the notorious River Picnic of 1974, the results of which were the River Children, a group of kids born that certain period later, whose parentage was questionable. Now, when River Children start being killed the town is wrapped in fear and everyone is under suspicion, especially The Believers, a cult lead by the charismatic St Bede. Gracie fears for her brother Elijah, a river child, but her apprehensions are overridden by her dysfunctional family; her estranged Dad, her mother who is in the thrall of St Bede, not to mention her exuberant twin toddler siblings and her devout Grandma Bett. Gracie tries to take matters into her own hands, but it all gets out of her control when she realises who is responsible.

Jennifer Lane has created an extraordinary and fresh voice in the form of Gracie Barrett. She is an engaging character, warm and observant, offering a unique perspective on the events that occur in Coongahoola. Lane captures the complex nature of families, as well as the machinations of a small town under immense stress. This is a cracker story.

The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell (Mary Egan Publishing)

Detective Matt Buchanan has seen a lot of pain and destruction in his time on the force – too much. He is haunted by the unsolved case of missing 14-year-old school girl Sam Coats, and sickened by the discovery of the time-weathered remains of another teenage girl in the mangroves of Auckland. He is bringing up his own teenage daughter, which makes the cases even closer to the bone, makes it feel personal. The investigation leads him on a trail of darkness that leaves Buchanan questioning everything he believes in and compels him to cross the line of right and wrong.

Nathan Blackwell is an ex-detective and his experiences enable him to give authenticity and insight into the criminal world and the police. He has created a character in Buchanan who is a tortured soul, someone who is empathic and in tune with the victims, seeking justice and fairness for them at any cost. The prologue throws the reader straight into the thick of a desperate situation, giving a taste of some of the confronting style to come. This is a riveting read.

Nothing Bad Happens Here by Nikki Crutchley (Oak House Press)

Miller Hatcher is a journalist on a mission to write that feature that will get her the promotion she deserves. She is sent to the idyllic Coromandel town of Castle Bay to investigate when the body of missing tourist Bethany Haliwell is discovered nearby after four months. Hatcher is one of an influx of media intent on getting a scoop on the story and when the only accommodation she can find is at a wellness retreat she finds herself in the company of an eclectic group of women struggling with their demons, and with a unique insight into the local community. Following an anonymous tip, she attempts to uncover the truth behind the crime, and when another young woman disappears, Hatcher begins to realise Castle Bay is not the safe haven it may appear to be.

Nothing Bad Happens Here is a pacey and gripping read. Nikki Crutchly has created an intriguing protagonist in Miller Hatcher, whose flaws and demons make her both appealing and annoying, and whose position as a journalist allows her to tackle the mystery without being encumbered by the rules and restrictions placed on the police investigators. Great characterisation combined with a fantastic sense of place make this crime thriller a terrific read.

The winners of the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards will be named at the WORD Christchurch Festival on 1 September. The finalists will be celebrated at events as part of the festival.

Vanda Symon is a judge of the Ngaio Marsh Awards. She is a crime writer, radio host, and former pharmacist from Dunedin. She has written five crime novels, is a three-time Ngaios finalist, and recently completed a PhD looking at the communication of science in crime writing. Her first novel, OVERKILL, is now available in the UK and US from Orenda Books.

2018 Ngaio Marsh Finalists

The Shortlists for the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards. The Ngaio Marsh Award represents the very best in Kiwi Crime have been announced.

Decades after Ngaio Marsh ruled as a ‘Queen of Crime’ on the global stage, her literary heirs are laying siege to the local throne with the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists named.

Now in their ninth year, the Ngaio Marsh Awards celebrate the best New Zealand crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense writing. “It’s been a year of record-breaking numbers of entries, and our judges were faced with tough decisions among a really diverse array of tales spread across varying styles, settings, and sub-genres,” says awards founder Craig Sisterson. “Some books our judges loved missed out, which underlines the growing strength and depth of our local writing. Kiwi readers devour tales of crime, thrills, and mystery. They’ve got lots of great choices here to encourage them to give our own storytellers more of a try.”

The finalists are as follows - 

Best Crime Novel
Marlborough Man by Alan Carter (Fremantle Press)
See You In September by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)
Tess by Kirsten McDougall (Victoria University Press)
The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackell (Mary Egan Publishing)
A Killer Harvest by Paul Cleave (Upstart Press)
The Hidden Room by Stella Duffy (Virago)

Best First Novel 
The Floating Basin by Carolyn Hawes
Broken Silence by Helen Vivienne Fletcher (HVF Publishing)
All Our Secrets by Jennifer Lane (Rosa Mira Books)
The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell (Mary Egan Publishing)
Nothing Bad Happens Here by Nikki Crutchley (Oak House Press) 

The finalists will be celebrated and winners announced at special events on 1 September as part of the 2018 WORD Christchurch Festival. The awards will be presented by top international crime writers.

The WORD programme launches on 17 July at 7pm. “We’re really looking forward to this year’s festival, and are grateful to Rachael King, Marianne Hargreaves and their team for their ongoing support,” says Sisterson. “It’s lovely to celebrate our best crime, mystery, and thriller writers in Dame Ngaio’s hometown.”

Recent Ngaios winners Fiona Sussman, Paul Cleave, and Liam McIlvanney will be appearing at the Bloody Scotland festival later in September, thanks in part to an exchange established with WORD Christchurch. 

An online video revealing the finalists can be seen below.

Craig Sisterson, organizer of the Ngaio Marsh Award, is a former Lawyer, and major Crime Fiction Fan and Writer who writes for magazines and newspapers in several countries. He also blogs at Crime Watch.