DP Contributor/Reviewer Craig Sisterson (from New Zealand but now living in England) has announced this year’s finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Awards, which celebrate New Zealand’s best in crime fiction and non-fiction writing. Craig is the founder of these awards and should be justifiably proud of his work in showing a spotlight on the fine crime writing coming out of New Zealand. I’ve only read BETTER THE BLOOD by Michael Bennett and it is on my Best of the Year So Far list as an outstanding debut novel.

Winners should be announced some time in November.

Best Non-fiction (a biennial prize):
• 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)
• The Fix, by Scott Bainbridge (Bateman)
• Missing Persons, by Steve Braunias (HarperCollins)

Best First Novel:
• One Heart One Spade, by Alistair Luke (Your Books)
• Too Far from Antibes, by Bede Scott (Penguin SEA)
• Better the Blood, by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)
• Surveillance, by Riley Chance (CopyPress)
• The Slow Roll, by Simon Lendrum (Upstart Press)
• Paper Cage, by Tom Baragwanath (Text)

Best Novel:
• Exit .45, by Ben Sanders (Allen & Unwin)
• Blue Hotel, by Chad Taylor (Brio)
• Remember Me, by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)
• The Doctor’s Wife, by Fiona Sussman (Bateman)
• Better the Blood, by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)
• Blood Matters, by Renée (The Cuba Press)
• The Slow Roll, by Simon Lendrum (Upstart Press)

A tip of the hat to The Rap Sheet for this information.