Who’s up for a month of reading all things crime from Australia and New Zealand? This includes crime fiction, psychological thrillers, suspense novels and true crime.
I’m no expert in this field; I just thought it might be a fun way to celebrate the depth of talent we have Down Under as well as work my way through an ever-increasing pile of crime books I’ve amassed lately.
Most of you will be well aware of Jane Harper, whose novel The Dry earned accolades across the world, including the 2017 UK CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year, the 2017 Prix Cognac Award in France and the 2017 ABIA Awards Book of the Year. But crime writers from Australia have been ploughing their own furrow long before this. Fergus Hume’s Mystery of a Hansom Cab, which is set in Melbourne, was an overnight sensation, selling hundreds of thousands of copies around the world when it was first published in 1886!
Harper’s success has arguably shone the spotlight on a whole new bunch of writers in this genre, including Chris Hammer, Emma Viskic, Dervla McTiernan, Sarah Bailey and Christian White (amongst others), all of whom have had their novels published on the international stage in the past few years.
But, of course, there are other writers who have been around longer than this but might not have had the same level of fanfare. I’m thinking of the excellent Garry Disher, Peter Temple, Alan Carter, Nicole Trope and Helen Fitzgerald.
Anyway, basically, what I’m saying is that there’s no shortage of writers if you would like to take part. Other sources that might help:
- Southern Cross Crime by Craig Sisterton — an excellent guidebook published in paperback by Oldcastle Books in the UK last September
- A list of Australian crime novels on Wikipedia
- A list of New Zealand crime fiction writers on Wikipedia
- The Australian Crime Writers Association website, including a section dedicated to new releases
- A list of past winners of the Ned Kelly Awards, Australia’s most prestigious prizes honouring crime fiction and true crime writing
- The Facebook page for the Ngaio Marsh Awards
- All the crime books reviewed on the Australian Women Writers Challenge website
- The Sisters in Crime website, which celebrates women’s crime writing on the page and screen
- All the Southern Cross Crime novels I have reviewed on this blog under the #SouthernCrossCrime tag
- Five true crime books from Australia
There’s bound to be loads more so if you know of them, please do share in the comments below.
If you wish to take part please feel free to download the main image above or the smaller one below and to use the hashtag #SouthernCrossCrime2021
To register your interest, share a Southern Cross Crime resource or let me know what you plan on reading, please leave a comment below. Be great to have your feedback and support!
Reading Matters 
So many wonderful writers, so many wonderful books! I would like to mention the late great Peter Corris and his long-running Cliff Hardy detective series. He was thought of as similar to Peter Temple but wrote a greater volume of works.
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Ah yes, Mr Corris! Not read him myself but back in my book selling days in the late 80s / early 90s I sold a lot of his novels! Presumably he’s still in print… must look him up.
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Those early books may be collectors items now. Peter Corris kept a very low profile over the years and it’s only been recently I’ve re-read them on ebooks. Hope you like his style!
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I’m in!
I have plenty of Australian crime on my TBR list.
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Excellent. I’ve got more than a dozen novels here (plus goodness knows how many lurking on my kindle), so this is a good chance to read a few of them. Be good to have you along for the ride 😊
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I’ll think about it. It’s more a question of time than anything else.
I quite liked the Tony Cavanaugh I’ve read and I’m curious about Paul Thomas and his Maori cop.
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No pressure, Emma, if you can join you can join and if you can’t you can’t. I am sadly lacking in NZ crime knowledge so I must look up Paul Thomas.
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PS : you forgot that you can find Australian crime fiction books on the AWW challenge blog.
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Good suggestion. I will add a link tomorrow.
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I have the latest Jane Harper so may take part but might be too busy with Ireland month. Will read along with all the posts though. I feel my reading wish list will get longet because of this!
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Lol. I bloody forgot about Reading Ireland month, so apologies for the clash, but hey, maybe we can count Adrian McKinty and Dervla McTiernan for both our months 😉
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Oh not at all! You know me, the more reading projects the better 😊 I have a couple of McKinty’s so that sounds like a good crossover plan
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You’re not going to believe this, Kim, because I so rarely read crime novels, but I do have one on the TBR: It’s Present Darkness by Malla Nunn, one of her Emmanuel Cooper series.
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Oh, Malla Nunn is good! I’ve only read one of hers but I remember liking it a lot … I think it was her debut and was set during apartheid.
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i’m sure i have something on my shelves i could read i’ve a peter temple novel but may see what else i have
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Be great to have you on board, Stu.
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This sounds a great idea. I have several Australian and New Zealand crime novels, in my tbr .
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Wonderful! The more the merrier.
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March is ok, I might even be on holidays again. If I can’t get hold of the latest Phryne Fisher (Kerry Greenwood) then I might have a Dave Warner somewhere on my shelves (a Perth writer and fabulous rock’n’roll singer)
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Ah, forgot about Kerry Greenwood, though I’ve never read her, I just remember her from my Myer book selling days and an author signing she did once. And I have a Dave Warner in my TBR…
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Oh yes please! I have a little stack of novels that are calling for some attention … Emma Viskic, Peter Temple, Lenny Bartulin from Australia, Vanda Symon from NZ.
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Hooray 👏🏻👏🏻 I’ll have to look up Bartulin and Symon, as they’re two new names to me.
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Thanks for the prompt, I remember reading Lenny Bartulin’s ‘Infamy’ but have not thought about him since 🙂
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I have so many to choose from (Fiction/Non-Fiction) I would love to take part.
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Excellent! Be great to have you on board, Ian.
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I’ll join in Kim and will start off with Loraine Peck’s debut novel which I’ve already mentioned to you and then I’ll finally catch up with Vanda Symon’s Sam Shephard series. Still thinking about what comes after that.
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Thanks, Gordon. That’s another mention of Vanda Symon – I really need to look this author up, don’t I?
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This is so wonderful! Was looking forward to your post, Kim! Looking forward to participating in March! So exciting! Thanks so much for hosting 😊
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Thanks for your enthusiasm, Vishy, be great to have you on board. Can’t wait to see what you might choose to read.
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Ooh yes. I have The Hermit on my bedside bookshelves still to get to.
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I still have my copy here to read, too.
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I’ll do my darnedest! I don’t read crime as a rule but I do have a few in my piles I’d be happy to read, probably a Disher. But there are others I’d like to just read one of like Viksic and Hammer.
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All three are excellent authors but Disher is my favourite at the moment 🙂
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I’m sure I can find a few Aussie crime novels on my shelf. I’ve just finished The Spiral by Iain Ryan
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Be great to have you join in. Iain Ryan is a new name to me, so must look him up.
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Thanks for the heads up about this celebration of Australian and New Zealand novels! I look forward to reading others’ reviews.
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