Review: MARLBOROUGH MAN, Alan Carter

• format: audio (mainly) Audible
• Narrated by: Jerome Pride
• Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Release date: 12-01-18
• Language: English
• Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Synopsis (Audible)

Nick Chester is working as a sergeant for the Havelock police in the Marlborough Sound, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. If the river isn’t flooded and the land hasn’t slipped, it’s paradise. Unless you are also hiding from a ruthless man with a grudge, in which case remote beauty has its own kind of danger. In the last couple of weeks, two locals have vanished. Their bodies are found, but the Pied Piper is still at large.

Marlborough Man is a gripping story about the hunter and the hunted and about what happens when evil takes hold in a small town.

Ngaio Marsh Award 2018
Alan Carter’s Marlborough Man (Fremantle Press) has won the 2018 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.
The novel, about an ex-undercover agent from England trying to distance himself from his dangerous past and settle into a quieter life as a local cop in the Marlborough Sound, was chosen from a shortlist of six, with judges calling it a ‘terrific, full-throated crime thriller that puts the freshest of spins on the cop-with-a-past trope’.

My Take

This novel has a chequered history for me. I began reading it on my kindle, then found an audio version which I decided to listen to with my fellow traveller on our weekend journeys. At the end of today I had just an hour left to listen to and so decided to read the final chapters on my kindle.

For some reason I didn't at first really take to Jerome Pride's Geordie narration, but as it proceeded the story took over. By the end I really just wanted to know how the story came together.

Nick Chester is a cop from Sunderland (UK) who was part of an undercover operation to bring down one of the local underworld bosses. He has been sent to New Zealand as part of a protection programme, and for the first half of the novel is waiting for the thugs to catchup with him.  When they finally arrive though, and that element of the plot is solved, the local elements of child abductions takes over.

The New Zealand setting and excellent writing gives him the 2018 Ngaio Marsh award.
Also shortlisted for the 2018 Ned Kelly Award.

Good reading.
It reminded me that I really need to read more Alan Carter.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read
4.7, PRIME CUT
4.7, GETTING WARMER

Review: INSIDE THE BLACK HORSE, Ray Berard

• Format Kindle (Amazon)
  
• File Size: 890 KB
• Print Length: 252 pages
• Publisher: Mary Egan Publishing (November 15, 2015)
• Publication Date: November 15, 2015
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0181TQLYU

Synopsis (Amazon)

Winner of the 2016 Ngaio Marsh Debut Novel award and long-listed for the 2017 Dublin Literary Award as well as making the finals of the 2016 Ngaio Marsh Crime thriller of the year.

Inside the Black Horse is a fast-moving thriller, a story of fate, and unlikely love story for our time. Pio Morgan is waiting outside a pub on a cold winter night. There is a debt he must pay and no options left. What he does next drags a group of strangers into a web of confusion that over the course of a few days changes all their lives. The young Maori widow just trying to raise her children, the corporate executive hiding his mistake, the gang of criminals that will do what ever it takes to recover what they've lost - and the outsider sent to town to try and figure out who did what. Time is running out for all of them as events take an increasingly dark turn. 

Inside the Black Horse explores equally the emotions felt by the victim and perpetrator and the effect of crime on the lives of ordinary people, gang members and drug dealers. This book could be based in any city in New Zealand. So real that you can visualize the characters in the book, feel their desperation, sense their hope for the future, and find compassion for them as you join them on their journey. With a few good twists along the way, it’s a great read.

The International Judging panel for the Ngaio Marsh awards called it “A lucid and potent portrait of good people and gangsters that is unmistakably Kiwi and a fine crime story with considerable depth"

My Take:

This book creates an interesting picture of contemporary New Zealand, particularly of a multi- layered drug culture, with a pyramid of users and pushers, with upper layers feeding off the misery of those below. The main characters in this pyramid are Maori born and their elders don't understand what has happened to the old values.

The possibility that the owner of the Black Horse Bar and Casino was somehow involved in the events that took place, gives Peter Butterworth a possible way of covering up the mistake he's made in not having the Black Horse's taking collected in the previous week. He brings in ex-US policeman, private investigator Brian Duncan in the hope that he can find some incriminating evidence.

A really enjoyable and carefully written book with strong and well depicted characters. I liked the way the final results were not entirely predictable.

My Rating: 4.5

About the author
Ray Berard is a Canadian born Kiwi writer based in Christchurch, New Zealand.

A McGill University graduate and five-year member of the NZ Authors Society, writing has always been his passion, and in recent years a full-time one.

Inside the Black Horse is his debut novel, based off a diary he kept during his years supervising betting outlets for the New Zealand Racing Board. "It's about New Zealand right now, and what happens when a group of strangers get drawn into each other's lives after a young man's desperate act."

Ray is currently working on his second Novel, The Diary of a Dead Man.

Win a set of the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award longlisted novels!

Thanks to Craig Sisterson at Crime Watch, crime fiction readers around the world now have the chance to go into the draw to win a full set of all EIGHT crime, mystery, and thriller novels longlisted for the upcoming 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award.

You can enter the prize draw simply by emailing a photo of yourself reading any New Zealand crime, mystery, or thriller title – contemporary or from days gone by – to ngaiomarshaward at gmail dot 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).  You have until 18 August to get your entry in.

For more information click HERE. This is quite a unique opportunity to learn more about Kiwi crime fiction which is not always available outside New Zealand.
The finalists for the 2011 Award will be announced today (NZT)!

The 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award will be presented on 21 August in Christchurch, at the conclusion of the “Setting the Stage for Murder” event, which will feature the finalists, along with visiting international crime writers Tess Gerritsen and John Hart.
The eight novels on the longlist (and in the picture above) are:

• BLOOD MEN by Paul Cleave
• CAPTURED by Neil Cross
• THE CRIME OF HUEY DUNSTAN by James McNeish
• DEATH IN THE KINGDOM by Andrew Grant
• THE FALLEN by Ben Sanders
• HUNTING BLIND by Paddy Richardson
• SLAUGHTER FALLS by Alix Bosco
• SURRENDER by Donna Malane

Here is a photo of me reading one of last year's Ngaio Marsh Award short list, CUT & RUN by Alix Bosco.

Win a set of the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award longlisted novels!

Win a set of the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award longlisted novels!

Check this competition out on Crime Watch (click the link above)
This post is duplicated from Craig Sisterson's Crime Watch post.

Crime fiction readers around the world now have the chance to go into the draw to win a full set of all EIGHT crime, mystery, and thriller novels longlisted for the upcoming 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award.

This prize is open worldwide, and is a terrific line-up of crime and thriller fiction, with the eight longlisted titles offering a diverse range of writing styles, settings, protagonists, and storytelling. Early comments from the international judging panel, which has been "impressed" by the calibre of New Zealand crime fiction in the running this year, include "such good books, but all so different", and "NZ is such a rich environment for writing... there should be a way to spread the news about these fine authors".

Now you have a chance to try for yourself the entire line-up that has been impressing the Ngaio Marsh Award judging panel. You can enter the prize draw simply by emailing a photo of yourself reading any New Zealand crime, mystery, or thriller title - contemporary or from days gone by - 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).

So whether it's a well-loved copy of a Ngaio Marsh, Laurie Mantell, or Paul Thomas novel that's been sitting on your bookshelf for years, or a brand new New Zealand crime novel you've recently picked up from a bookstore or library, grab your camera, take a smiling photo of yourself with the book, and send it to ngaiomarshaward@gmail.com.

If you need some inspiration when it comes to finding an eligbile, mystery, or thriller novel to read and photograph, check out this list of more than 80 authors and more than 250 titles here.

Photos will be displayed on the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page, which you can visit and 'like' here.

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.

Setting the Stage for Murder in New Zealand - Ngaio Marsh Award - My Verdict

Well, my opinion is that the verdict in the Ngaio Marsh Award is going to be a very near thing with two authors really neck and neck.

• BURIAL, Neil Cross  my rating 4.8
• CONTAINMENT, Vanda Symon my rating 4.7
• CUT & RUN, Alix Bosco, my rating 4.2

The winner will be announced on Friday 10 September at the Christchurch Writers Festival.

I'm sure Crime Watch will tell us the results next Saturday sometime.

Crimewatch blogger Craig Sisterson has blogged about the possible impact on the Christchurch Writers' Festival scheduled to happen this weekend.

Postscript:  CrimeWatch has relayed that the Christchurch Writers' Festival has been cancelled - the city is suffering from aftershocks and more are expected; power, water and sewerage still to be restored. The airport was closed for a while, and a state of emergency announced.

A announcement will be made later about when the inaugural Ngaio Marsh award will be announced.

See my damage post

Setting the Stage for Murder in New Zealand #3X - Finalists

This records my progress in and ranking of the books shortlisted for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel

• BURIAL, Neil Cross  my rating 4.8
• Cut and Run by Alix Bosco
• ACCESS ROAD, Maurice Gee my rating 4.6
• Bold Blood by Lindy Kelly
• CONTAINMENT, Vanda Symon my rating 4.7

I'm not sure whether I will get them read in time, but I've been promised BOLD BLOOD, and I have CUT AND RUN on order.

The winner will be announced on Friday 10 September at the Christchurch Writers Festival. 

Stop Press:

I have since learnt that the 3 finalists are

• BURIAL, Neil Cross  my rating 4.8
• Cut and Run by Alix Bosco
• CONTAINMENT, Vanda Symon my rating 4.7

So one to go to make my final judgement!

Setting the Stage for Murder in New Zealand

For those on the other side of the ditch, closer to Christchurch, NZ, I hope you have the Christchurch Writers' Festival, or more precisely Friday 10 September in your calendar.

On that night the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel will be presented.
On a panel that night to discuss the state of the modern crime novel with well-known book blogger and crime aficionado, Graham Beattie.:

• Neil Cross
• Michael Robotham
• Simon Kernick
• Vanda Symon

In a recent post, Peter Rozovsky from Detectives Beyond Borders  has revealed not only that he is a judge, but that a short list for the award has been decided.

• Burial by Neil Cross
• Cut and Run by Alix Bosco
• Access Road by Maurice Gee
• Bold Blood by Lindy Kelly
• Containment by Vanda Symon

Peter also revealed that the award is the "brainchild of the enterprising Craig Sisterson of the Crime Watch blog,"

So if you are looking for some New Zealand crime fiction to read, these are obviously starters for your list.
I have only read one of them, so I have a way to go to catch up.
I can get Burial and Access Road from my library.
My Review: CONTAINMENT, Vanda Symon

Attending the Festival:

• International writers including Simon Winchester, Barbara Trapido, Clive Hamilton and Emily Maguire
• A bevy of Kiwi writers, poets and performers including Dave Dobbyn, Roger Hall, Rachael King, Chris Laidlaw and Helen Lowe.