The Ngaio Marsh Awards, in association with Waipā District Libraries, invites booklovers to an event featuring four talented Kiwi storytellers. As crime writing has evolved from the puzzle-like mysteries of Agatha Christie and Dame Ngaio to modern novels delving deeply into people and places, and the impact of violence along with investigation, it has continued to intrigue readers around the world. But what makes the genre so captivating?
Cambridge author and 2x Ngaios finalist Nikki Crutchley chairs a panel featuring Rotorua writer Zoë Rankin, and police detectives turned authors Angus McLean and Chook Henwood in a fascinating convo about crime and storytelling, fiction and fact.
WHEN: Wednesday, 14th May 2025
WHERE: Cambridge Public Library, 23 Wilson Street, Cambridge
WHEN: 6pm for light refreshments, 6.30pm panel discussion
Entry: by koha/gold coin donation
RSVP via the library event page:
https://www.waipalibraries.org.nz/events/culprits-in-cambridge-mystery-in-the-library-2025/65
[Note: Jen Shieff, who was originally publicised as part of the panel in February, can no longer attend due to a family matter]
Angus McLean is a retired South Auckland detective, private investigator, and author of more than 30 books ranging across action thrillers, mystery, spy, private eye and wartime novels, dystopian tales, and most recently, the Bow Street Runners series of middle grade mysteries. Bestselling British crime writer Peter James praised McLean's early crime novels as "Very well written with complex, believable police characters, strong tension, fast pace, and the true ring of authenticity.”
David "Chook" Henwood is a retired detective who lives in Cambridge. He is one of Aotearoa's most decorated and respected police officers: served for 37 years in South Auckland; earned three silver merit awards; held the rank of Detective Sergeant. He was an early and, for a time, relatively lone voice proclaiming the innocence of Teina Pora. Past Ngaios finalist Jared Savage praised Henwood's memoir UNMASKING MONSTERS as "Honest, raw and authentic insight from a legendary detective".
Zoë Rankin is a Rotorua writer, adventurer, and former teacher who grew up in a small village in Scotland and immigrated to Aotearoa more than a decade ago, after spending six months biking in the Himalayas. She studied international relations and Arabic at the University of St Andrews, and later won the Rotorua Noir Short Story competition in 2019. Her novel THE VANISHING PLACE will be published by Moa Press in August 2025.
Nikki Crutchley is a Cambridge novelist, flash fiction writer and former librarian who was a finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Awards for her debut mystery NOTHING BAD HAPPENS HERE, set in a small Coromandel town. Nikki has written five novels, twice been regional winner of National Flash Fiction Day, and had her short stories published in various journals, magazines, and ANZ crime and thriller anthology DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER. Her latest novel is rural Gothic mystery IN HER BLOOD.
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