Cleave Scores a Triple

Best-selling Christchurch author Paul Cleave has notched a record third win in the annual contest for New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, this time scoring with his 2015 psychological thriller, Trust No One. Meanwhile, Inside the Black Horse, by Cleave’s fellow Cantabrian Ray Berard, has picked up the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel. These announcements were made today during the WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival.

Ngaio Marsh judging convener Craig Sisterson is quoted in a news release as saying, “It was a tough year for our judges. We had a record number of entries, launched a new category, and ended up with eight superb finalists that illustrate how varied local crime writing can be. There was everything from a former All Black entwined in French match-fixing to a robotic private eye.”

Here’s the full lineup of 2016 prize finalists:

Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel:
• Inside the Black Horse, by Ray Berard (Mary Egan)
• Made to Kill, by Adam Christopher (Titan)
• Trust No One, by Paul Cleave (Upstart Press)
• The Legend of Winstone Blackhat, by Tanya Moir (RHNZ Vintage)
• American Blood, by Ben Sanders (Allen & Unwin)

Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel:
• Inside the Black Horse, by Ray Berard (Mary Egan)
• The Fixer, by John Daniell (Upstart Press)
• The Gentlemen’s Club, by Jen Shieff (Mary Egan)
• Twister, by Jane Woodham (Makaro Press)

Cleave first won the Ngaio Marsh Award in 2011 for Blood Men, and again in 2015 for Five Minutes Alone. This New Zealand crime-fiction competition was established by Sisterson in 2010.

READ MORE: “Moments of Madness: The Winners of the Ngaio Marsh Crime-Writing Awards,” by Craig Sisterson (Stuff).

Cleave Captures the Marsh -- Again

Five Minutes Alone (Penguin NZ), by Paul Cleave, has won New Zealand’s 2015 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. That announcement was made last night in Christchurch at the conclusion of the Murder in the Court event. This victory brings Cleave his second Ngaio Marsh Award; he previously won in 2011 for Blood Men.

The following is excerpted from a news release:

“In a year with a remarkable quintet of finalists, it’s fitting that Paul Cleave has become the first author to win the Ngaio Marsh Award twice,” said Judging Convenor Craig Sisterson. “For almost a decade he’s been leading our vanguard on the world stage in what’s becoming a new heyday of local crime writing.”

In Five Minutes Alone, “wonderfully complex protagonist” Theo Tate has been resurrected, as a cop and human being, after recovering from a coma. He finds himself chasing a killer he can empathize with: a vigilante who is disposing of society’s worst offenders, giving victims of crime their “five minutes alone” with the culprits. But settling old scores is never as simple as it seems, as Tate knows well himself.

Five Minutes Alone triumphed over an impressive longlist of eight other contenders and a field containing four rival finalists to capture this prize, which has been given out annually since 2010 “for the best crime, mystery, or thriller novel written by a New Zealand citizen or resident.” Also in contention for the 2015 Ngaio Marsh Award were: The Petticoat Men, by Barbara Ewing (Head of Zeus); Swimming in the Dark, by Paddy Richardson (Upstart Press); The Children’s Pond, by Tina Shaw (Pointer Press); and Fallout, by Paul Thomas (Upstart Press). I was among half a dozen people asked to choose between this year’s nominees--the third year in a row I’ve been so honored--and I must confess that Five Minutes Alone was not one of my own top-five picks (I had in mind giving the commendation to another previous recipient). But this is a democratic process, and I respect the prevailing opinions of my fellow judges. So, finally, let me offer my congratulations to Mr. Cleave!

To learn about previous Ngaio Marsh Award winners, click here.

Cleave Does in His Competitors

First a little bit of drum roll, then the announcement of which book has won New Zealand’s 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. It’s the thriller Blood Men (2010), by Christchurch writer Paul Cleave.

As NZ blogger-critic Craig Sisterson explains, “The award was presented at the end of the fantastic ‘Setting the Stage for Murder’ event in Christchurch on Sunday afternoon ... It was a truly terrific event, with a great crowd first enthralled by Tess Gerritsen and John Hart (a session chaired by Ngaio Marsh Award judge Graham Beattie), then the four Ngaio Marsh Award finalists: Cleave, Paddy Richardson, Neil Cross, and Alix Bosco (Greg McGee).”

It sounds like a fun time was had by all. Especially Mr. Cleave.