Rejoicing in Christchurch

Although slightly delayed this year, news of the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award winners is still welcome. As Mystery Fanfare reports, the recipients were announced in New Zealand last evening “following a special Ngaios-WORD Christchurch ... event and pub quiz emceed by Kiwi crime queen Vanda Symon.”

Best Non-fiction (a biennial prize):
Missing Persons, by Steve Braunias (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: A New Dawn, by Emeli Sione (Mila’s Books); The Devil You Know, by Dr. Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne (Faber); Downfall: The Destruction of Charles Mackay, by Paul Diamond (Massey University Press); and The Fix, by Scott Bainbridge (Bateman)

Best First Novel:
Better the Blood, by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)

Also nominated: One Heart One Spade, by Alistair Luke (Your Books); Too Far from Antibes, by Bede Scott (Penguin SEA); Surveillance, by Riley Chance (CopyPress); The Slow Roll, by Simon Lendrum (Upstart Press); and Paper Cage, by Tom Baragwanath (Text)

Best Novel:
Remember Me, by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)

Also nominated: Exit .45, by Ben Sanders (Allen & Unwin); Blue Hotel, by Chad Taylor (Brio); The Doctor’s Wife, by Fiona Sussman (Bateman); Better the Blood, by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster); Blood Matters, by Renée (The Cuba Press); and The Slow Roll, by Simon Lendrum (Upstart Press)

The Ngaio Marsh Awards, named in honor of New Zealand mystery writer and theater director Ngaio Marsh (1895-1982), were established in 2020 by journalist Craig Sisterson to recognize and celebrate the best of New Zealand crime, mystery, and thriller fiction.

Tena koe to all of this year’s winners and nominees!