NGAIO MARSH AWARDS: SHORTLIST

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

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 the winners announced at WORD Christchurch (August 29-September 2). 

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

And Then There Were Nine: Ngaio Marsh Award Longlist

Craig Sisterson announced on Crime Watch the Longlist for the 2016 Ngaio Marsh Award. What fabulous books. I'm a judge for this Kiwi Award, so I've been reading these great books! Such fun!

From Craig:
A record number of entrants and a kaleidoscopic range of crime tales illustrates the growth of New Zealand crime writing but provided a real challenge for the judges of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, who have revealed the longlist for their 2016 award today. 

“In past years our judging panels have had some very close calls when it came to picking the winner, or tough choices for who’d be finalists, but this is the first time we’ve had such a log-jam of good books battling for the longlist,” says Judging Convenor Craig Sisterson. “Even with nearly a dozen debutant authors entering our new Best First Novel category instead, and the majority of our past winners and finalists not being in the running this year, the pool has never been broader or deeper.”

“That’s terrific for our local crime writing scene, of course, but does make life hard for the judges, and means some good novels that judges’ enjoyed have missed out. So I’d like to thank all the entrants this year, along with everyone who has come out and supported our Murder in the Library series of events up and down the country, celebrating local crime writers, the past few weeks.”

The longlist for the 2016 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime novel is:

• INSIDE THE BLACK HORSE by Ray Berard (Mary Egan Publishing);
• MADE TO KILL by Adam Christopher (Titan Books);
• TRUST NO ONE by Paul Cleave (Upstart Press);
• STARLIGHT PENINSULA by Charlotte Grimshaw (Vintage);
• COLD HARD MURDER by Trish McCormack (Glacier Press);
• THE LEGEND OF WINSTONE BLACKHAT by Tanya Moir (Vintage);
• THE MISTAKE by Grant Nicol (Number Thirteen Press);
• AMERICAN BLOOD by Ben Sanders (Allen & Unwin);
• SOMETHING IS ROTTEN by Adam Sarafis (Echo Publishing).

The judging panel of seven crime writing experts from New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Nordic countries, will announce the finalists in late July. The winner will be announced at the 2016 WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival on 27 August.

The Ngaio Marsh Awards were established in 2010 and are made annually for the best crime, mystery, or thriller novels written by New Zealand citizens and residents. For more information, visit the Awards' Facebook page here or email ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com

Ngaio Marsh Award Book Giveaway

I'm one of the judges for the New Zealand 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. The 8 fabulous books on the Longlist span the world of mystery. It's going to be a tough choice to rate these books from 1-8. I've set up my own personal criteria that includes character, style, pacing, setting, storyline, originality, and whether or not the book stays with me after I've finished.  I have a few other criteria, but those are the main ones. Still, some hard choices need to be made. They're all such great reads.

I've really loved reading this books, and now, you can, too! Craig Sisterson, blogger at CrimeWatch, has organized a competition whereby readers anywhere in the world can win a full set of all eight longlisted titles.

According to Craig “You can enter the prize drawing simply by e-mailing a photo of yourself reading any New Zealand crime, mystery, or thriller title--contemporary or from days gone by. Send the photo to: ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com. The book in your picture doesn’t have to be set in New Zealand, as long as the author is associated with New Zealand (lives in New Zealand, was born or grew up in New Zealand, etc)...The winner of the competition will be randomly drawn from the entered photos, and announced just prior to the presentation of the Ngaio Marsh Award on 21 August 2011.”

To read more, go HERE.