On Sunday 31 May at 2pm in Tautoru/TSB Space on Hapori, Level 1, we are excited to host our first ever Mystery in the Library panel: Treachery at Tūranga.
Book your free spot now!
Chaired by Wendy Parkins, winner of the Ngaio Marsh Best First Novel 2025, the panel is made up of past and current nominees for the Ngaio Marsh Awards for crime and mystery novels written by authors from Aotearoa. This year the awards include the biennial Ngaio Marsh Award for Younger Readers.
Set in 1840s England and Scotland, Wendy's first crime novel, The Defiance of Frances Dickinson, reads like a Jane Austen novel but for the shock factor. Frances' husband is a complete rake and so abusive to her that she seeks separation and divorce — at a time when this was virtually unheard of — and when men had the right to take custody of children if a marriage broke down. The story, based on a historical, scandalous court case, examines the impact of sustained spousal abuse, and Frances' fight to secure evidence, justice, and to keep her children. The story's unpalatable subject matter is balanced with beautifully written imagery, particularly the description of the brooding setting in Scotland.
The Defiance of Frances Dickinson
Nominated for Best Novel this year, Jeffrey Buchanan is the author of The Birds Began to Sing; a fever dream of a story about a missing gay barman in New Plymouth. Buchanan fills the story, set in the 1960s, with delightful, alternately flamboyant and manly characters that young protagonist Godfrey, aged fourteen, meets on his search for Reggie. Godfrey lives in a fantasy world populated by books, magazines, opera and dreams of handsome poster pin-ups. While playing amateur detective, Godfrey maps his own journey — a minefield navigated toward discovering his own identity as a young gay man, at a time when homosexuality was still dangerously illegal. New Plymouth itself is recognisable to readers familiar with the city.
Dr Marie Connolly is an advocate for the writing community. She's the organiser of RAWA: Readers and Writers Akaroa, a festival that occurs every two years. Marie's debut novel, Dark Sky, was shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel in 2025. In the marvellous setting of Tekapo, Dark Sky introduced Nellie Prayle, a clinical psychologist investigating the murder of the newly appointed director of Mt John Observatory, home to the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. Dark Sky is an enjoyable story with well-realised characters, scandal, creative accounting and academic fraud.
Look out for the new book in the Nellie Prayle series; Icefall, out very soon.
The first two books in Rachael King's new series, Violet and the Velvets, are nominated this year for the Ngaio Marsh Best Novel for Younger Readers: a biennial award still quite new to Ngaio Marsh. These terrific, entertaining stories for the younger generation feature Violet, a guitar-playing girl finding equal opportunities for young women in her town's local Rockquest. Subterfuge, theft and betrayal is wrapped with the 'girls can do anything' message of this series.Will the Velvets make it to the finals? Will they solve the case of the ghostly ballerina at BandChamps? They'll have to find their bass, drumsticks and a singer first! Rachael recorded a song to go with the stories, called 'Too Shy' here in Tūranga's AV Studio. She's also just released two new books: Song of the Saltings, about a monster with power over island-dwellers, and another Violet and the Velvets instalment, The Case of the Viral Video.
Judy Mohr's debut novel, an action-packed, dystopian techno-thriller, is nominated for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel. It's also a contender for Best Novel in the Sir Julius Vogel Awards for NZ Fantasy and Science Fiction. Judy's a bit of a mover and shaker in Canterbury: she's a writing coach and an expert in web page creation. Dancing in the Purple Rain is set in the city of Crystal Hills. Climate change, releasing pathogens for disease into the atmosphere, along with toxic, burning, actual purple rain, has given rise to authoritarian control in the form of Rhodon Corp. The corporation controls everything, from shelter and provisions to employment and medication. The story centres on Mike (Michaela): a combat-trained courier delivering death to dissenters. Mike is a sympathetic character; a strong personality with purple hair whose favourite grounding song is Prince's Purple Rain. Surveillance, manipulation and deceit are the name of the game: can Mike trust the people she works with? Can she even trust her memories?
A precursor to the Ngaio Marsh Awards' announcement of its shortlist, Mystery in the Library is a series of mystery author panels happening all over the motu during the month of May. Look out for an announcement of finalists later this year, and an award ceremony in Christchurch!
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