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)

LABOR DAY AND LABOR UNION CRIME FICTION for the Labor Day Weekend!

Labor Day Weekend! I'm only aware of a few mysteries set during the Labor Day Holiday, and I've updated my list accordingly: 

Sandra Balzo's Running on Empty

Nancy Coco's Forever Fudge

Lee Harris's Labor Day Murder
Meg Macy's Bearly Departed
Sharyn McCrumb's Highland Laddie Gone

Tonya Kappas' Forests, Fishing, & Forgery
Mary Jane Maffini's The Devil's in the Details (Labour Day Weekend-Canada). 

There's also the short story "Labor Day" by R.T. Lawton in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. 

There are a few other "Summertime Mysteries" that take place Labor Day, but not as the main theme.

Labor Unions, on the other hand, are rife with settings and situations for crime fiction. This is an UPDATED Crime Fiction list involving Labor Unions with links to two great articles. Please let me know any books that should be added to this list.

LABOR UNION CRIME FICTION

The Knife Behind You by James Benet (Department Store Union Organizer)
For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen (Garment Workers Union)
White Hot by Sandra Brown (Labor Dispute)
Big Boned by Meg Cabot (Graduate Student Union)
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain (Insurance)
All Men Fear Me by Donis Casey (IWW)
Beneath It All by Lee Conrad

Cactus Blood by Lucha Corpi (Farm Workers' Union)
Airframe by Michael Crichton (Union Trouble)
Red Herring by Jonothan Cullinane (Waterfront Strike)- coming out this Fall
The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (Union Group called the Scowrers)
Third Strike by Philip Craig and William Tapply (Steamship Authority Strike)
October Heat by Gordon DeMarco (1934 San Francisco General Strike-Longshoremen)
Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (The Scowrers)
The Bramble Bush (aka Worse than Murder) by David Duncan (San Francisco General Strike)
American Tabloid by James Ellroy (Teamsters)
LA Quartet by James Ellroy (Movie Unions)
The Man Who Changed Colors by Bill Fletcher Jr. (investigative reporter -shipyards)

A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett (Coal Mines)
The Peripheral Son by Dorien Gray
Dead Reckoning by Patricia Hall (Union Strike)
Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett (IWW organizer & Copper Workers; Strike Breaking)

"Busting Red Heads" by Richard Helms in EQMM (short story)
A More Perfect Union by J.A. Jance (Iron Workers' Union)
As Dead As it Gets by Cady Kalian (Creative Artists' Union)
Forests Fishing ad Forgery by Tonya Kappes

The Longer the Thread by Emma Lathen (Garment Workers)
Death at the Old Hotel by Con Lehane (Hotel Workers' Union)
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane (Police Union)
Through a Glass Darkly by Donna Leon (Unsafe environmental pollution in Venetian glass factories effecting workers) 

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (Long Shoremen's Union)
Deadly Dues by Lulu Malone (Actors' Union)
Stiff by Shane Maloney (Meat Packing)
Lorraine Connection by Dominique Manotti  (Union rep in Cathode-ray Tube industry)
Champawat by Lia Matera A Novella in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (Labor Unions & the Clash between Anarchists & Democrats)
Organize or Die by Laura McClure (Union organizing)
Conferences are Murder by Val McDermid (Journalists' Union); Darker Domain (UK Miners Strike)
Death at Pullman by Frances McNamara (American Railway Union)
The Viewless Winds by Murray Morgan (Murder of a Labor Leader's wife)
A Red Death by Walter Mosley (Aircraft Manufacturer and Labor Union organizer)

Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely (Domestic Workers)
Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky
Mr Campion's Fault by Mike Ripley (Mineworkers)
Death and Blintzes by Dorothy and Sidney Rosen (Garment Workers Union)
A Bitter Feast by S. J. Rozan (Restaurant Workers' Union)

Waterfront by Budd Schulberg
Some Cuts Never Heal, All Bleeding Stops Eventually, One Foot in the Grave, This Won't Hurt a Bit and others (The Shop Steward Series) by Timothy Sheard (Shop Steward)
Judas Incorporated by "Kurt Steel" (Rudolf Kagey) (Pro-Union)
The Big Both Ways by John Straley (Lumber)
The Labor Union Murder aka Fourth of July Picnic by Rex Stout (novella)
Absolute Rage by Robert K. Tanenbaum (Coal Miners' Union)
Fallout by Paul Thomas
The Porkchoppers, Yellow Dog Contract by Ross Thomas (Politics & Unions)
Killy by Donald Westlake (Manufacturing Union)

Short Story: Richard Helms's Busting Red Heads (EQMM)

For further reading:

The Strange Connection Between Detective Fiction and Union Busting by Erica Eisen

Radical Noir: 26 Activist Crime Novels by Molly Odintz

Have a great Labor Day Holiday!

PROFESSOR T, Season 4 News

So many new seasons of great British TV that I forgot to post that Professor T, Season 4, episode 1 aired last Sunday, August 24, on PBS. You can watch the entire season PBS Passport or other PBS related places -- or watch when it's aired (although you may have missed the first episode). I like this series a lot, and I'm looking forward to bingeing Season 4 over the holiday weekend! 

And somehow I missed that Season 4 dropped even earlier on PBS Passport: August 10!! I'll try to be more diligent in the future--for you and for me. 

Set against the academic backdrop of Cambridge, Professor T stars Ben Miller as the brilliant but eccentric criminologist Jasper Tempest, whose insights into human behavior help solve the UK’s trickiest cases—even as he struggles with his own. If you’re already a fan, you know to expect sharp wit, psychological twists. If you haven't seen this how, you might want to catch up on the first three seasons.

After Season 3’s shocking finale, Dan and Jasper are consumed by grief. Dan throws himself into work whilst the professor hides in his lectures, avoiding the police at all costs. But Helena, Jasper’s therapist, helps him face his police work and the team tackle some complex and dangerous cases. Even through the danger and mystery, love is very much in the air.

 

Return to Paradise: Season 1 coming to Britbox

At last the U.S. is getting Return to Paradise, another Death in Paradise spin-off. We've all been asking for it,  and it will finally air here on September 2 on Britbox with 6 episodes in the season. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm really looking forward to this British/Australian production. I'll post my opinion after watching a few episodes. Oh...there will be 6 episodes. Season 2 is already filming.

Return to Paradise is set in a seaside town in Australia. In the series, Detective Inspector Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) reluctantly returns to her Australian home town (trope) after leaving London under a cloud of suspicion (trope #2). And trope #3: Anna is socially awkward. O.k. no big surprise on these fronts, but I watch a lot of mystery series, so I'm not surprised -- or put-off. I love Death in Paradise, so I think I'll enjoy this!

So many great mystery shows coming in September! Exciting times!

Happy National Dog Day!

 This could be my house!

HOSTAGE: New thriller on Netflix

I highly recommend Hostage on Netflix, a new British series that premiered on Thursday. Good acting, strong plot, if not a bit familiar, but also well done suspense and action. It's definitely bingeable, and I binged it. Hostage stars Suranne Jones, Julie Delpy, and Lucian Msamati. This thriller has it all. 

Storyline: The PM's husband is kidnapped and the visiting French President is blackmailed, as they face high stakes personal and political choices. 

It had me riveted. A good diversion to today's politics. 

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