2025 NGAIO MARSH AWARD WINNERS

2025 Ngaio Marsh Awards Winners

The winners of the 2025 Ngaio Marsh Awards were announced in three categories: Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Non-Fiction. 

The Awards celebrate excellence in mystery, thriller, crime, and suspense writing by New Zealand authors. 

The winners were announced as part of a special event in conjunction with WORD Christchurch and the Court Theatre on Thursday, 25 September. Congratulations to all. 

Thanks, Craig Sisterson, for all you do for New Zealand crime writers, as well as  the entire mystery community. 

BEST NOVEL

• Return To Blood by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

• The Defiance Of Frances Dickinson by Wendy Parkins (Affirm Press)

BEST NONFICTION

• The Crewe Murders by Kirsty Johnstone & James Hollings (Massey Uni Press)

NGAIO MARSH AWARDS FINALISTS

2025 Ngaio Marsh Awards Finalists

The finalists for the 2025 Ngaio Marsh Awards were announced in three categories: Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Non-Fiction. 

The Awards celebrate excellence in mystery, thriller, crime, and suspense writing by New Zealand authors. 

The winners will be announced as part of a special event in conjunction with WORD Christchurch and the Court Theatre on Thursday, 25 September. 

Thanks, Craig Sisterson, for all you do for New Zealand crime writers, as well as for the entire mystery community. 

BEST NOVEL

• Return To Blood by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)
• A Divine Fury by DV Bishop (Macmillan)
• Woman, Missing by Sherryl Clark (HarperCollins)
• Home Truths by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)
• 17 Years Later by JP Pomare (Hachette)
• The Call by Gavin Strawhan (Allen & Unwin)
• Prey by Vanda Symon (Orenda Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

• Dark Sky by Marie Connolly (Quentin Wilson Publishing)
• Lie Down With Dogs by Syd Knight (Rusty Hills)
• A Fly Under The Radar by William McCartney 
• The Defiance Of Frances Dickinson by Wendy Parkins (Affirm Press)
• The Call by Gavin Strawhan (Allen & Unwin)
• Kiss Of Death by Stephen Tester (Heritage Press)

BEST NONFICTION

• The Trials Of Nurse Kerr by Scott Bainbridge (Bateman Books)
• The Survivors by Steve Braunias (HarperCollins)
• The Crewe Murders by Kirsty Johnstone & James Hollings (Massey Uni Press)
• The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin)
• Gangster’s Paradise by Jared Savage (HarperCollins)
• Far North by David White & Angus Gillies (Upstart Press)

NGAIO MARSH AWARD BEST NOVEL LONGLIST

2025 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel Longlist: New Zealand

The longlist for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel 

· RETURN TO BLOOD by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)

· THE HITCHHIKER by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)

· A DIVINE FURY by DV Bishop (Macmillan)

· LEAVE THE GIRLS BEHIND by Jacqueline Bublitz (Allen & Unwin)

· WOMAN, MISSING by Sherryl Clark (HQ Fiction)

· HELL’S BELLS by Jill Johnson (Black & White)

· THE MIRES by Tina Makereti (Ultimo Press)

· A FLY UNDER THE RADAR by William McCartney

· HOME TRUTHS by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)

· 17 YEARS LATER by JP Pomare (Hachette)

· OKIWI BROWN by Cristina Sanders (The Cuba Press)

· A HOUSE BUILT ON SAND by Tina Shaw (Text Publishing)

· THE CALL by Gavin Strawhan (Allen & Unwin)

· PREY by Vanda Symon (Orenda Books)

· THE BOOKSHOP DETECTIVES: DEAD GIRL GONE by Gareth & Louise Ward (Penguin)

The finalists for Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Non-Fiction will be announced in mid-August, with the finalists celebrated and the 2025 Ngaio Marsh Award winners announced as part of a special event in conjunction with WORD Christchurch and the Court Theatre on Thursday, 25 September.

For more information this year’s Best Novel longlist, or the Ngaio Marsh Awards in general, please contact ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com 

A REMARKABLE PLACE TO DIE: New Zealand mystery series on AcornTV

A Remarkable Place to Die is a new series on AcornTV that really showcases the remarkable scenery. It's also a good solid mystery with an excellent storyline, as well as solid acting.

Detective Anais Mallory returns to her hometown (ok, this is a trope) in Queenstown, New Zealand, and faces startling homicides. And in true mystery trope manner, it concerns her past and past crimes. 

She lands at the airport in her hometown of Queenstown, a resort town set against The Remarkables, a mountain range in New Zealand. At the same time, that SUV goes over the edge, tumbling and crashing as it heads to the bottom. The body in the driver’s seat looks like he’s already unconscious or dead.

Anais has been a homicide detective in Sydney. Although she's taken a job as a detective sergeant at the local police department, she's also there to help her mother, two years after the death of her younger sister Lynne, and four years after her father died. Lynne died much the same way as the man in the SUV did, going over the edge into Skipper’s Canyon. 

Each of the 4 episodes is 90 minutes and is a complete story, something I always appreciate, especially if the streaming service is dropping one a week. Rebecca Gibney is in this series as the still-grieving mother. I love her in everything, including Under the Vines, also on Acorn right now. Under the Vines is also set in New Zealand. 

NGAIO MARSH AWARDS 2024

A trio of superb New Zealand writers were honored at WORD Christchurch Festival 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.”

***

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

2024 NGAIO MARSH AWARD FINALISTS

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.

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

• 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)

Finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel

• 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)

Finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel

• 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)

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, contact ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com, or founder Craig Sisterson, craigsisterson @ hotmail.com

2024 NGAIO MARSH AWARD LONGLIST: New Zealand

A neurodivergent expert on toxic botanicals, a harrowing exploration of jury deliberations, a high-tech thriller from an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, a desperate mother searching for her son as lockdown kicks in, a gay sleuth in Renaissance Florence, and the return of a beloved fictional detective are among the diverse books named today on the longlist for the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel.

“Fifteen years ago we launched the Ngaio Marsh Awards, in association with our friends at what’s now WORD Christchurch, to celebrate Kiwi excellence in one of the world’s most popular storytelling forms,” says Ngaio Marsh Awards founder Craig Sisterson. “Over the years we’ve celebrated some world-class storytelling, and seen our local take on crime writing, aka #yeahnoir, really flourish. There were many books our judges really loved this year, beyond those that have made the longlist, and the strength and variety of this year’s longlist is going to make it another tough decision for our international panel.”

The Ngaios are named for Dame Ngaio Marsh, a contemporary of Agatha Christie and one of the Queens of Crime of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, who penned bestselling mysteries that entertained millions of global readers from her home in the Cashmere Hills. The 2024 longlist includes a mix of past winners and finalists, some first-time entrants and new voices, and several authors who’ve won a variety of other major awards including CWA Daggers, the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, NZ Booklovers Award for Adult Fiction, Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award, and the Booker Prize.

The longlist for this year’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel prize:

•     DICE by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin)

•     THE CARETAKER by Gabriel Bergmoser (HarperCollins)

•     RITUAL OF FIRE by DV Bishop (Macmillan)

•     BIRNAM WOOD by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

•     PET by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

•     EL FLAMINGO by Nick Davies (YBK Publishers)

•     DOUBLE JEOPARDY by Stef Harris (Quentin Wilson Publishing)

•     THE QUARRY by Kim Hunt (Spiral Collectives)

•     DEVIL’S BREATH by Jill Johnson (Black & White/Bonnier)

•     GOING ZERO by Anthony McCarten (Macmillan)

•     HOME BEFORE NIGHT by JP Pomare (Hachette)

•     EXPECTANT by Vanda Symon (Orenda Books)

The longlist is currently being considered by an international panel of crime and thriller writing experts from the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. Finalists for Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Kids/YA will be announced in early August, with the finalists celebrated and winners announced as part of a special event held in association with WORD Christchurch in late August.

For more information on this year’s Best Novel longlist, or the Ngaio Marsh Awards in general, please contact ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com, or founder and judging convenor Craig Sisterson, craigsisterson@hotmail.com     

2023 NGAIO MARSH AWARDS

It's official! After months of judging and some tough decisions to parse some amazing books, the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards winners were announced last night following a special Ngaios-WORD Christchurch (New Zealand) event and pub quiz MCed by Kiwi crime queen Vanda Symon, the winners are:

NGAIO MARSH AWARDS

Best Non-Fiction: MISSING PERSONS by Steve Braunias

Best First Novel: BETTER THE BLOOD by Michael Bennett

Best Novel: REMEMBER ME by Charity Norman

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From Craig Sisterson, organizer of this amazing Award: 

Whakamihi to our winners, and all the terrific 2023 Ngaios finalists, longlistees, and entrants. 

Kia ora rawa atu to our international judging panels, readers, WORD Christchurch, and all the libraries involved in our Mystery in the Library series. Another fabulous year.

 

2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards Finalists: New Zealand Crime Writers

“When we first launched New Zealand’s own annual prizes for crime, mystery, and thriller writing in 2010, we modelled our Ngaio Marsh Awards on the Hammett Prize in North America, which celebrates literary excellence in crime writing,” says Ngaio Marsh Awards founder Craig Sisterson. “The Ngaios have never been solely about detective fiction; instead highlighting and celebrating outstanding Kiwi storytellers whose tales, fictional and factual, explore the investigation of crime or the impact or effects of crime on people and society.” 

Finalists for the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Non-Fiction

        •     A NEW DAWN by Emeli Sione (Mila’s Books)

• •     THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Dr Gwen Adshead & Eileen Horne (Faber)
  •     DOWNFALL: THE DESTRUCTION OF CHARLES MACKAY by Paul Diamond (Massey University Press)
  •     THE FIX by Scott Bainbridge (Bateman Books)
  •     MISSING PERSONS by Steve Braunias (HarperCollins)

Finalists for the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel

•     ONE HEART ONE SPADE by Alistair Luke

•     TOO FAR FROM ANTIBES by Bede Scott (Penguin SEA)

•     BETTER THE BLOOD by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)

•     SURVEILLANCE by Riley Chance (CopyPress Books)

•     THE SLOW ROLL by Simon Lendrum (Upstart Press)

•     PAPER CAGE by Tom Baragwanath (Text Publishing)

Finalists for the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel

•     EXIT .45 by Ben Sanders (Allen & Unwin)

•     BLUE HOTEL by Chad Taylor (Brio Books)

•     REMEMBER ME by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)

•     THE DOCTOR’S WIFE by Fiona Sussman (Bateman Books)

•     BETTER THE BLOOD by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)

•     BLOOD MATTERS by Renée (The Cuba Press)

•     THE SLOW ROLL by Simon Lendrum (Upstart Press)

The winners of the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards will be announced at a special event held in association with WORD Christchurch in Spring (Fall in the Northern hemisphere), details and date to be confirmed soon.

For more information on any or all of our 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards finalists, or the Ngaios in general, please contact ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com, or founder Craig Sisterson, craigsisterson@hotmail.com     

NGAIO MARSH BEST NOVEL AWARD LONGLIST

Now in their fourteenth season, the Ngaio Marsh Awards celebrate excellence in New Zealand crime, mystery, and thriller writing. They are named for Dame Ngaio Marsh, one of the Queens of Crime of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, who penned bestselling mysteries that entertained millions of global readers from her home in the Cashmere Hills. “I’d like to think Dame Ngaio would be proud of how our modern Kiwi storytellers are continuing her literary legacy, bringing fresh perspectives and a cool mix of fascinating tales to one of the world’s most popular storytelling forms,” says awards founder Craig Sisterson. “In recent years we seem to be going through our own golden age, with our local writers offering a treasure trove of terrific stories for readers at home and all over the world.” 

The longlist for the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel includes a mix of past winners and finalists, several first-time entrants and new voices, and the long-awaited return of one of the leading lights of the early 2000s New Zealand literary scene. “In crime and thriller writing it’s natural for authors to make it really tough on their characters,” says Sisterson, “but our entrants made it tough on our judges too. This year’s longlist is a wonderful showcase of Kiwi creativity, with a great range of stories that explore some deep and very important issues in among the page-turning intrigue and thrills.”

 

The Ngaio Marsh Awards have celebrated the best New Zealand crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense writing since 2010. 

Longlist for Best Novel: 

• TOO FAR FROM ANTIBES by Bede Scott (Penguin SEA)
• EXIT .45 by Ben Sanders (Allen & Unwin)
• REMEMBER ME by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)
• BLUE HOTEL by Chad Taylor (Brio Books)
• POOR PEOPLE WITH MONEY by Dominic Hoey (Penguin)
• THE DARKEST SIN by DV Bishop (Macmillan)
• THE DOCTOR’S WIFE by Fiona Sussman (Bateman Books)
• MIRACLE by Jennifer Lane
• BETTER THE BLOOD by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)
• IN HER BLOOD by Nikki Crutchley (HarperCollins)
• THE PAIN TOURIST by Paul Cleave (Upstart Press)
• BLOOD MATTERS by Renée (The Cuba Press)
• THE SLOW ROLL by Simon Lendrum (Upstart Press)
• PAPER CAGE by Tom Baragwanath (Text Publishing)

The longlist is currently being considered by an international judging panel of crime and thriller writing experts from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Finalists for Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Non-Fiction will be announced in August, with the finalists celebrated and the winners announced as part of a special event held in association with WORD Christchurch later in the year.

A Rabbit Hole with a Mystery: Guest Post by Nilima Rao

Ah productive procrastination, my old friend, the research rabbit hole. Any writer can tell you that suddenly needing to research some small detail can derail the actual act of writing, but it is especially prevalent when writing historical novels. From the easily answered “When was finger printing invented?” to the more obscure “Would they have had ice in Fiji in 1914”?

I’m currently working on the sequel to A Disappearance in Fiji, and I’ve fallen down a research rabbit hole with a mystery at the end of it. In my general reading about Fiji, I came across a book which covers the history of the Fijian police force, and in it there is a small section, a few paragraphs on an incident that occurred during World War One. 

Felix von Luckner was the captain of the German merchant raider, the Seeadler, the Sea Eagle, which raided and scuttled Allied ships for the German military during World War One. He is an incredibly romantic figure, a swashbuckling pirate of noble origins, with stories of derring-do sufficient that the Germans have since made a television series about him. 

One of these stories occurred in Fiji. The Seeadler had been wrecked on a reef in the Society Islands. Somehow, in his efforts to find another ship, Luckner and a few of his crew had ended up in Fiji, on Wakaya Island. The Fijian police force learned about his presence there, and using a bluff that wouldn’t seem believable in fiction, they captured him and his crew. Luckner ended up in a prisoner of war camp in New Zealand. 

When I read about this story, I was thrilled to my core. This had to feature in my next novel. I crafted a whole story that included the idea of Felix von Luckner and his adventures in Fiji, based on what I had read in the Fijian police force book and various sources on the internet. My story doesn’t at all reflect the incident as it occurred, but Luckner and his crew are in the story and their role is pivotal. 

After the first draft was written, I went to Fiji for a family event and spent some time reading the Fiji Times on the ancient microfilm machine at the National Archives in Suva. I requested the reel for September 1917, when this event was supposed to have happened. I looked at 21^st September. No mention of Felix von Luckner. No, fair enough, of course it would be in the newspaper the next day. I scroll through a few more dates. Nothing. I make it through October. Nothing. Some mention of whether Germans living in the colony should be interned. But nothing about this German nobleman pirate having a standoff with the Fijian police force! How could this be? In a newspaper that gave details of exactly what a judge said and how he said it in a court case about a marital dispute, how could they miss this huge story?  

Which made me wonder - did it really happen? There are plenty of sources that say yes - Wikipedia, the book about the Fijian police force, a photo in the Fiji Museum, some information on websites about New Zealand history. But nothing in the Fiji Times of the time. Could this be a myth about a figure who is already larger than life? Or could it have been suppressed by the Fijian authorities of the time for some obscure reason of national security? Did I somehow miss it? In any case, even if it is myth, it is too good a story to pass up. Felix von Luckner and the crew of the Seeadler will be making an appearance in A Shipwreck in Fiji!

***

Nilima Rao is a Fijian Indian Australian who has always referred to herself as "culturally confused." She has since learned that we are all confused in some way and has been published on the topic by Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service as part of the SBS Emerging Writers Competition and now feels better about the whole thing. When she isn't writing, Nilima can be found wrangling data (the dreaded day job) or wandering around Melbourne laneways in search of the next new wine bar. A Disappearance in Fiji is her first novel, and she is currently working on the second in the series.