Back to where it all began, in several ways

I've organised 125+ library events in New Zealand; recently I got
to attend my second-ever, in person, at 'Miscreants in Motueka'

Craig on some Tuesdays

Kia ora and gidday everyone,

I hope that you’ve all enjoyed a lovely Easter holidays - for those that got them - and are having a good start to Spring, for those in the northern hemisphere, or Autumn, for those in the Southern Hemisphere. For me, I'm kinda getting to experience both, as I've spent the past two and a half weeks 'back home' in Aotearoa New Zealand, visiting with family and friends and packing in as much as possible on several fronts, during a long-overdue visit. 

Flying back to London tonight, all too soon. But very grateful for the time here. 

I don't know about you, but I've often found there's something pleasantly grounding or resetting about visiting my hometown and surrounding region, even though I haven't lived there full-time for decades. Life can seem so hectic and in flux, going from project to project (many of them fun and challenging in good ways, don't get me wrong) alongside various life events good and tough - not to mention all the added global uncertainties and upheavals - that its really wonderful to reconnect with something that has deeper roots in my own life story, and people who've known me for decades (or places I've known/experienced decades ago), often across and through various things, rather than solely because of a single shared activity, passion, or workplace, etc. 

I realise not everyone had a good or great childhood, so revisiting old haunts and long-term friends won't be the same largely positive (while at times jarring) thing for some others as it is for me, but for me it's always been a bit of a 'battery recharger' on several fronts, especially when I've been based abroad. 

It's all too rare that I'm in New Zealand to nab print copies of the papers
and magazines I contribute to, so it was lovely to yesterday get a copy
of the latest NZ Listener, completed with my April thrillers roundup

We've been visiting national parks, wildlife preserves, and scenic areas, gone wading and swimming at local beaches even though it's autumn (some nice sunny days and mild weather, the recent tropical cyclone aside), had lots of catch-ups with family and some old friends, eaten lots of steak and cheese pies and boysenberry ice cream, visited local artisans (from Höglund Art Glass to the makers of the Lord of the Rings ring), and had all sorts of of fun. 

Plus a few bookish things thrown in for good measure. 

To kickstart April, I even got to participate in an author panel at the Motueka Library, as part of the nationwide Mystery in the Library series of free/koha library events. I helped kickstart that series in 2015, and have been organising it from afar in London the past decade plus. We've now held 125+ events at 50 libraries across Aotearoa New Zealand, featuring 200+ different Kiwi storytellers, over the past decade or so. Crazy how wee ideas can grow into rather big things when people care and give their time. Thanks to amazing librarians, authors, chairs, and thousands of local readers, Mystery in the Library has become a fixture in the New Zealand literary calendar. 

With science teacher and film/TV actor
Doug Brooks, a high school pal - we used to
do Shakespeare competitions as teenagers

It has been a bit of a strange thing, if I'm honest, organising so many events that I never get to attend myself, but I have enjoyed the ongoing connection to my home country and the local books community there, and my parents raised me to serve and give back, so I've felt good about that too. At a distance. But there was something a wee bit special getting to attend 'Miscreants in Motueka' on 1 April - with my mother, daughter, and old schoolteacher and a couple of other mates in the audience, along with plenty of people I didn't know or hadn't met yet. It was the first time too that I've had a New Zealand event where some of my own books (the Dark Deeds Down Under anthologies) were onsale. I got to sign some copies for readers who bought them, plus some old friends. Which was cool. 

It was a nice, rather tangible reminder of what we've built with the Ngaio Marsh Awards and Mystery in the Library, but also where it all started, with my parents and schoolteachers cultivating and encouraging my love of reading, and how local libraries were a cool part of my Nelson-Tasman childhood, alongside local sports fields, outdoors areas, and friends houses. 

While there have been plenty of bumps, and some tough twists and turns, overall I think I've been a fairly lucky guy, in terms of some pretty cool chapters I've had in my life, and the great people I've got to meet and spend time with - a little or a lot - along the way. 

Given this was a very family-focused trip, I didn't get to catch up with as many Kiwi authors as I often do when I'm back home, but on top of the Miscreants in Motueka event and going for a dawn walk around the Auckland harbour with Maori filmmaker and award-winning crime writer Michael Bennett (Better the Blood, etc) this morning - a very nice way to kickstart my final day in Aotearoa for this trip - I've popped into a few bookshops and libraries while here, and been very pleased to see some good stocking and spotlighting of an array of cool Kiwi crime novels and true crime books. in most places We've come a long way since we started the Ngaio Marsh Awards in 2010. 

Ngaio Marsh Award winning authors Michael Bennett and Claire Baylis
on a spotlight shelf at the Papatoetoe Library in South Auckland

Over the weekend I even popped into the Papatoetoe Library, just up the road from where we've been staying in Auckland for the final days of our visit. As some people know, that's a key location in terms of modern New Zealand crime writing and the Ngaio Marsh Awards, even though we've never held a Mystery in the Library event there. 

In October 2008 - nearly 18 years ago! - I stopped by the Papatoetoe Library in South Auckland, having just returned to New Zealand from a yearlong OE backpacking through Latin America, North America, and Europe.

I'd loved mystery books my whole life - though had slowed down reading them while at law school and as a young lawyer at a large corporate law firm - but while travelling on that OE trip I'd read lots of crime/thrillers during 24 hr bus roads across Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, and even spontaneously attended a Crime Writers of Canada event at Vancouver Public Library in April 2008, chatting to Canadian crime writers like legendary lawyer and award-winning author William Deverell, along with Mark Zuehlke and the late, great Lou Allin (a Vice-President of Crime Writers Canada who'd later become one of our inaugural Ngaio Marsh Awards judges in 2010). 

While sorting old boxes at my Mum's house
on this trip, I came across lots of old articles
I wrote 15+ years ago, including this
feature on Neil Cross in early 2009

On a post event stroll to the bus stop, Bill Deverell had asked me about New Zealand crime writing, but outside of Ngaio Marsh, Paul Thomas, and a few one-off books from the 2000s from the likes of Simon Snow, Michael Laws, and Nigel Latta, I sadly couldn't really tell him that much in terms of recommendations. 

Later that year, browsing the Papatoetoe Library shelves in October 2008, I stumbled across CEMETERY LAKE by Paul Cleave and THE RINGMASTER by Vanda Symon not just Kiwi crime novels, but the third and second books from each author!

By chance - a lawyer not getting a book review in on time for the legal magazine I started working at, so my editor needed me to quickly fill the pages before we went to the printers - I ended up reviewing Paul and Vanda's books for NZLawyer magazine. Further reviews then author interviews followed of other Kiwi mystery writers, and international ones... fast forward to late 2010, and the first-ever Ngaio Marsh Award was won - delayed after the earthquakes cancelled the Christchurch Writers Festival that year by 'Alix Bosco' for CUT & RUN. 

And that was just the beginning. 17 years of the Ngaio Marsh Awards. More than a decade of Mystery in the Library. Rotorua Noir in 2019, the first-ever New Zealand crime and thriller festival. Kiwi crime and thriller authors appearing semi-regularly nowadays at international festivals. Would it have happened without spontaneous visits to libraries in Vancouver and Papatoetoe in 2008? Months apart, more than 7,000 miles apart... both planting seeds.

Life eh? What can you do but be grateful? 

Until next time. Ka kite anō.

Whakataukī of the fortnight: 

Inspired by Zoe and her 'word of the week', I'll be ending my fortnightly posts by sharing a whakataukī (Māori proverb), a pithy and poetic thought to mull on as we go through life.

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi

(With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive, ie everybody has something to offer, and by working together we can all flourish.)

Dozens of crime writers from New Zealand, Australia, and internationally coming
together at a local marae to celebrate storytelling at Rotorua Noir in 2019. 

"Take a good look around, this is your hometown"

The conjoining of the Wairoa and Wai-iti Rivers near Brightwater, as they become the Waimea River in the Tasman District at the Top of the South Island of New Zealand 

"I was eight years old

And running with a dime in my hand

To the bus stop to pick

Up a paper for my old man 

I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick 

And steer as we drove through town 

He'd tousle my hair 

And say, 'son, take a good look around,

This is your hometown' ..."

from "My Hometown" by Bruce Springsteen 

Craig every second Tuesday

Kia ora and gidday everyone. 

I hope you've all been well lately, even as our world continues to bump along through plenty of tumult and crises. Today, for the first time in over a month, I woke up in London. While the capital city of the United Kingdom has been my home for several years now, the UK isn't my homeland. That is and always will be Aotearoa New Zealand, an island nation at the far end of the world (the antipodes) from here. 

For the first forty years of my life, I spent all or some of each calendar year in New Zealand. For most of my life I lived there, and at other times when I was travelling extensively or even based overseas, I returned each year for several weeks to see friends and family. 

That all stopped with the onset of the COVID pandemic: travel restrictions meant that 2020 and 2021 were the first years I never spent any time in New Zealand. In fact, by March this year it was more than three years since I'd last been 'home'. Given it was a once-a-century pandemic and many people have suffered greatly, far more than me, I just accepted this - although it was pretty difficult at times. 

Dawn over the Waimea Inlet on our last full day in the Top of the South

Given all the above, and all that's happened, I wasn't sure how I would feel to be back in New Zealand, when we decided on short notice in mid March to head back for the month of April. Like the narrator character in Springsteen's song, my hometown has noticeably changed over the years - each year I'm back some things are quite different, eg an orchard from my childhood has become a new housing subdivision, shops and restaurants have changed, while some things stay the same, or at least close to what they were. 

Would it be more jarring this time, having been a lot longer? 

While I don't have a son to now put on my knee in a car and say 'take a good look around', I do have a daughter. London is her birthplace and her hometown, but Aotearoa New Zealand and my home region of Tasman in the Top of the South Island of New Zealand is her whakapapa (genealogy). An important part of who she is. She'd visited six times in the first five years of her life, but not the past two and a bit; which means that despite the many visits in her first years, she doesn't have a lot of real memories of it.

Guess who's back? On 31 March it was so lovely to see the tomokanga (carved entranceway) welcoming international arrivals to Auckland airport

After three and a bit years, walking through the impressive tomokanga (an entranceway decorated with impressive toi whakairo, Māori wood carvings) at Auckland airport in the early hours of 31 March - the last to disembark from the plane as Miss Seven belatedly needed the bathroom - was a surreal feeling. 

Not as jarring as I expected. 

It felt completely natural, and the COVID years and forced distance just melted away as we saw and spent lots of time with family and old friends that first day and every day of the following month. Some things had changed of course, but overall it just felt like we'd just been back last year, as usual, rather than three years ago. Frankly, we revelled in this trip, filling our days with nature walks, catch ups with important people in our lives, and showing Miss Seven a fair bit of the country where almost all her relatives come from. Now she has lots of great memories that I'm sure will linger for a long time. 

Paddling a 12-person waka in the Abel Tasman National Park

Before COVID, I regularly wrote international travel articles for several magazines, for many years. Just a side gig among my other writings - I loved regularly travelling to new places, experiencing new things and then maybe writing about it later (rather than going on scheduled travel writer trips etc). 

There's so much to do in Aotearoa New Zealand that even with a month there and plenty of inside knowledge of cool things 'off the beaten track', we barely scratched the surface. But it was a month filled with moments large and small, on a daily basis, that replenished my soul and filled my heart. 

Cheesy? Yeah, but true. 

A bit of photography magic as the sun lowers at Tahunanui beach

Now we're back in London, and I'm re-energised for the year ahead. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing lots more old friends, and meeting new people, at a variety of crime fiction festivals over the spring, summer, and autumn, from Harrogate to Bute Noir and Bloody Scotland, and maybe a few more. I realise now that those festivals, pre-COVID, like our regular trips back to New Zealand, helped me 'fill my cup' each year. Being surrounded by creative people who love storytelling and get things done in an industry that can be oh-so-fickle, not always fair, but oh-so-fantastic at the same time.

I even did a few video interviews with crime writers (some upcoming articles in NZ and US magazines) and read a few books while in New Zealand. A bit of 'work', enjoyably so, during our vacation. 

The life of a freelancer. 

And of course, while our NZ trip was largely about family and old friends and experiencing some of the Kiwi outdoors with Miss Seven, I couldn't help but catch up with a few fabulous Kiwi crime writers and other bookish folks while travelling around the country. In fact a six-day road-trip from Auckland to Otago became unexpectedly crime fiction focused as I visited with not only a few authors and festival directors in their hometowns, but at quite short notice caught up with some fellow Kiwis-abroad who were also back visiting (the beauty of social media - "are you back in NZ? I am too", more than once).

So, while I could fill up this post 100x over with scenic New Zealand shots, from our many dawn or sunset walks to national park visits and lots of time spent in postcard scenery that has no particular designation, instead since this is a 'Murder is Everywhere' blog, here's a final few snaps showing crime fiction all over my home country. Check out some of their books; lots of treasures to discover. 

Auckland: catching up on my first weekend 'back home' with award-winning Māori screenwriter and director Michael Bennett (Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Whakaue), whose excellent first crime novel BETTER THE BLOOD comes out in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand in August. and the USA in early 2023 (with several translations to follow). A couple of days before Michael had just received the news that he'd been invited to appear onstage at this year's Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, with his debut having been handpicked by Val McDermid for the New Blood panel. 

Waikato: just down the road from the city of Hamilton, the smaller town of Cambridge is known as 'the town of trees and champions' thanks to its leafy streets, heritage buildings and thoroughbred horse racing stud farms. In more recent years when I think of Cambridge I also think of talented author Nikki Crutchley, a multiple Ngaio Marsh Awards finalist whose latest thriller, TO THE SEA came out in Australia and New Zealand just before Christmas and has been getting great reviews. 

Rotorua: driving across the 'volcanic plateau' of New Zealand's central North Island, I had an unexpected catch-up with the brilliant JP Pomare, a Māori novelist who now lives in Melbourne but launched his debut, CALL ME EVIE, at Rotorua Noir (he grew up locally) in January 2019. His debut and subsequent psychological thrillers have gone on to win or be shortlisted for several awards. 

Hawke's Bay: heading southeast across the North Island, I had an author double feature after driving through heavy rain in the Tararua Ranges, emerging to brilliant sunshine in the lovely Hawke's Bay and stopping for an afternoon (non-alcoholic) drink with Tina Clough, before staying overnight at the rural property of Charity Norman. Born in Uganda, raised in British vicarages, barrister turned novelist Charity has lived in New Zealand for two decades now, and been shortlisted for numerous awards. Her new book, REMEMBER ME, is a real cracker, set near her home in the wild countryside.

At Cuba Press with Ngaios winner Jennifer Lane, debut author Anne Harre, Wellington librarian Neil Johnstone, and publisher Mary McCallum

Wellington: continuing south to New Zealand's capital, which is home to several terrific crime writers, I caught up with the team at Cuba Press, who published Renee's Ngaios longlisted crime debut THE WILD CARD, before COVID upturned all our lives. (Renee is a legendary New Zealand playwright, authors, and rights activist in New Zealand who in 2018 received the prestigious Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement, and decided to write her first crime novel as she entered her tenth decade. At the Cuba Press drinks I caught up with past Ngaios winner Jennifer Lane (ALL OUR SECRETS) and met Anne Harre, whose debut THE LEANING MAN is in 2022 Ngaios mix.

Christchurch: while I didn't have time to visit the legendary Dame Ngaio Marsh's house while passing through Christchurch on the way to Otago, I did get the opportunity to visit with contemporary Kiwi crime royalty: three-time Ngaios winner and international bestseller Paul Cleave. It was in fact a review of one of Paul's books, CEMETERY LAKE (alongside a review of Vanda Symon's CONTAINMENT) that kickstarted my unexpected journey in the crime writing world, from reviewer to features writer, event chair to awards judge to part-time agent, and now awards-listed (non-fiction) author myself. Paul's 12th crime novel, THE QUIET PEOPLE, is out now in the northern hemisphere and is terrific. 

With founding members of the Dunedin Detective Club, Vanda Symon and Liam McIlvanneyk

Dunedin: while I've never lived in Dunedin, it's always been an important wee city to me: my mother and sister were born there, my grandma and several aunts, uncles, and cousins live/d there, and lots of my school friends went to university there. And while Christchurch can claim strong Kiwi crime roots with Dame Ngaio, Dunedin's arguably stretch back even further, to the bestselling detective novel of the nineteenth century: A MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB was set in Melbourne, but it was written by an aspiring playwright, Fergus Hume, who'd grown up and done all his schooling and law degree in Dunedin. The city is now also home to a cadre of cool crime writers, including the fabulous Vanda Symon (Sam Shephard series, FACELESS) and Professor Liam McIlvanney (THE QUAKER, etc). 

Central Otago: a really terrific crime series that's launched in recent years stars 'the Nancys', an amateur detective crew made up of adolescent Tippy Chan, a Chinese New Zealander grieving the death of her father, and her uncle Pike, a gay hairdresser usually living in Sydney, and his fashionista boyfriend Devon. The first two books, THE NANCYS and NANCY BUSINESS are raucous and charming and just great reads. I was lucky while passing through Queenstown to cap my road trip to get a chance to meet the author, RWR McDonald, who is himself usually based in Melbourne. 

Nelson: while I didn't manage to catch up with any crime writers while visiting my home region for a couple of weeks, I did have one of my coolest bookish moments, maybe ever (see above). Miss Seven was delighted to see 'Daddy's book' in a real-life bookshop in New Zealand. I was surprised and thrilled to discover my local Paper Plus had several copies, face fronted in the NZ Non-Fiction section. 

A very cool moment for me, especially as my book came out during the height of COVID when all events and festivals were cancelled and many bookshops were shut, it had to be sea freighted to Australia and New Zealand, it's been difficult for Kiwi bookshops to restock after the initial supply, and that my book frankly is for 'book nerds' who really love the genre and attend festivals and events etc, so isn't going to be heavily stocked in every bricks and mortar bookshop anyway (unlike some of the authors I discuss or interview in SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME). 

I also managed to visit with an old and influential school teacher, who helped inspire my love of reading, writing, and research. She's mentioned in the credits of SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, so it was very cool to catch up with her. She even asked me to sign her copy of my book, which she'd bought (I had one to give her anyway, but she'd already bought one herself, which was pretty cool.)

So there you go, just a few wee snippets of what I've been up to the past few weeks. It was 'bloody marvellous', as we say Downunder, to get to go home for a while and share time with people I love and places that fill the soul that I haven't seen for far too long. 

I'm full of gratitude and raring to go for the rest of the year. Hope to see some of you at some of the crime writing festivals happening during the northern Spring, Summer, and Autumn/Fall. 

Until next time, ka kita ano. 

Whakataukī of the fortnight: 

Inspired by Zoe and her 'word of the week', I've been ending my fortnightly posts by sharing a whakataukī (Māori proverb), a pithy and poetic thought to mull on as we go through life.

E hoa ma, ina te ora o te tangata

(My friends, this is the essence of life)