Why are people so engaged with crime novels and tv shows? Canterbury crime buffs were treated to some of the reasons why at a tremendous afternoon of Treachery at Tūranga - one of many Mystery in the Library panels all over Aotearoa. These panels showcase New Zealand's crime and mystery writers ahead of the Ngaio Marsh Awards.
Chair Wendy Parkins, author of The Defiance of Frances Dickinson, winner of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel 2025, had travelled from Dunedin.
The Defiance of Frances Dickinson
She was joined by Jeffrey Buchanan, winner of the 2025 Michael Gifkins Prize for a book yet to be published: a fabulous thrilling amateur detective story, The Birds Began to Sing.
Marie Connolly is the brains behind Dark Sky, the first book in the Nellie Prayle series, set in stunning settings in the deep south - a finalist for Best Novel and Best First Crime Novel 2025. Nellie's next thrilling case, Icefall, was published in April.
Rachael King is the creator of the Violet and The Velvets series, featuring a middle-school girl into punk, fighting for musical equality for young women and solving mysteries. Violet and The Velvets 1 and 2 are nominated for Best Children's Novel this year, a biennial award. The Case of the Viral Video is just out on shelves too.
The Case of the Viral Video: Violet and the Velvets 3
Judy L. Mohr is the name behind Dancing in the Purple Rain; a gripping, fast-paced techno-thriller featuring a kick-ass grrrl protagonist against an authoritarian corporate state. Dancing in the Purple Rain has been nominated for Best Novel, Best First Novel, AND a Vogels Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, Best Artwork and Best New Talent.
Here's how the panellists answered the questions:
What was the inspiration for your latest book?
Jeffrey wanted to write a book that included the gay community. It had to be a mystery (in this case a missing person), because, and here he quotes his character Kenny Benny:
"There are lots of novels about us. They all end in suicide or murder."
Marie was 'on a trajectory' with character Nellie Prayle, a clinical psychologist who helps investigate murders. Icefall, book two of the series, has a complex plot and case, with some action happening in Christchurch. She's getting the hang of this 'crime writing thing'.
Rachael's Violet and the Velvets series was inspired by going to the Battle of the Bands and seeing just one girl competing. She wanted a voice for this inequality, liked the idea of 'smashing' bands and Nancy Drew together and Violet was born: a punk rock girl who solves mysteries. She wrote a song for it, too: Too Shy.
Judy's book is a thriller, set in the Michael Crichton school of the near future. Two hundred years in fact. Courier Mike (Michaela) has her memories taken each time she delivers a deadly package to dissenters on behalf of her employer, a pharma-corporate running an authoritarian city in the wake of climate change. Judy says writing an old school whodunnit is a challenge.
What attracts you to the crime genre?
Jeffrey was influenced by the psychology of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment: why the murder? What was it about Russia in the 1860s? 'Where do we go with this?' Crime, says Jeffrey, is a good form of writing with a lot of scope. He spoke of crimes against the gay community: why so much hate against this community? Set in 1960s New Plymouth, The Birds Began to Sing is a pure whodunnit.
Retirement, and what to do with it, drove Marie Connolly to (fictional) murder. She thought she'd try her hand at writing fiction - such a different style than the academic writing she's familiar with. Crime suited her writing style: she likes the plot and puzzle of it.
Rachael loves the mystery element, and has woven it into a book for younger, reluctant readers. 'Who doesn't love a mystery?' Violet's investigations keep the pages turning - finding missing band gear, hunting a ghost (that one had to have clues - Rachael had to figure that out), and holding the band together at finals with a rival band going viral. Rachael knows more than a thing or two about mysteries - she's on this season of The Traitors NZ.
Judy says the 'what if?' question is all powerful. And, 'how bad can I make it?'
Who are your influences? Who would you most like to be on a panel with?
Jeffrey: Dostoyevsky! Books are both escapism and an entry point: Jeffrey's character Godfrey consumes books and talks a lot about them, immersed in a fever-dream of imagination. Pearl Buck - because her peasants demonstrate poverty and hardship: he wanted to give readers the feeling of what it was like to be an immigrant in 1960s Aotearoa (Godfrey's mother is Lebanese). Virginia Woolf! Katherine Mansfield, and crime writer extraordinaire Paul Cleave. And Enid Blyton! (Noddy and Big Ears being literature's first gay couple).
Marie Connolly organises the RAWA Festival (Readers and Writers Akaroa) - so she reads broadly, finding Kiwi authors so rich to read. She reads non-fiction for ideas to explore - such as vanishing ice, retreating glaciers, the meaning of trees... She hails the likes of Liam McIlvanney, Michael Bennett, Charity Norman - 'extraordinary'.
Rachael cites Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda and gothic novels such as Wuthering Heights, The Turn of the Screw, authors Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, David Mitchell, Emily St John Mandel and David Mitchell. Donna Tartt's The Secret History is a favourite - she's finally writing crime novels thirty years after reading this. Some writers won't read others' work while writing, but Rachael feels, 'why wouldn't you be influenced by other writers?'
For Judy, its 'Michael Crichton all the way'. She still has all his books. She also loves female crime thriller writer Lisa Gardner who writes 'kick ass female characters!'
Wendy notes it's interesting that they all went back to early reads.
How do you approach the craft of writing? What do they wish you knew then that they know now?
Jeffrey wrote his first novel in 1984 and wanted to write like Graham Greene. He's rewriting it now. He thinks the same as he did then, but, ten novels in, he writes differently, bringing all the strands of his life together.
Marie Connolly says she's new to writing; published at the age of seventy, but wrote a younger character, thinking, 'what would her experience be like?' She cites Dame Ngaio Marsh's books as a 'how-to' write mystery plots. Then she just ploughed into it. 'It's not the same as writing when you're young', she has more time now as she's less busy.
Rachael King's advice to aspiring writers is, 'Go go go, but don't be in a hurry. We've all written an unpublished first novel: this is not failure - we all learn to write by doing this. Learning the craft is a joy. Take the time and don't freak out about failure. Your first book is a lump of clay - you can't make a sculpture without it.'
Judy Mohr agrees: 'Play the long game, don't be afraid of writing crap - a 'he said' 'she said' fest. If your dialogue is stilted and there's not much action, it's the first draft: it's about editing - take the time.'
Wendy says the first draft is like 'pulling teeth.'
Plot, or characters?
Jeffrey has no time to flounder. He plans, reads, researches, or he'll get lost and frustrated. His is a 'what if' plot, it's fluid. The character comes in the middle of the night and Jeffrey has to note it down with no contact lenses - I can relate as I tried to read my introduction with contacts and it was blurry. Jeffrey writes quickly from journals he's kept for years.
Rachael's writing starts with a yearning. Judy's, a situation, then setting. Wendy notes that all writers are different, citing Catherine Chidgey's 'superhuman' efforts.
I'm giving Marie Connolly the last word here. 'It's place!' Her first book was about a murder at Mt John Observatory in Tekapo. Icefall is set in between Aoraki/Mt Cook and Christchurch. P.S. it's hot!
"I like to find beautiful places and imagine bad things happening in them."
Further Reading
- New Zealand Crime Fiction
- Ngaio Marsh Awards
- Stuck for something to read? Try our Fiction Reading Guides or ask us for a Reading Recommendation
Add a comment to: Ngaio Marsh Mystery in the Library Panel, Treachery at Turanga: “Your first book is a lump of clay – you can’t make a sculpture without it.”