Fremantle Press crime writer picked from record number of entries for Ngaio Marsh longlist

Alan Carter’s Marlborough Man is one of ten longlisted contenders for New Zealand’s Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel. Carter, who has been sharing his time between New Zealand and Fremantle for the last seven years, has been embraced by our literary cousins across the ditch, garnering critical acclaim and now this nod from the award’s judges.

‘I’m delighted and honoured to find myself on this longlist and in such good company. New Zealand crime writing is in great shape,’ said Carter.

Carter joins a longlist that, according to award founder Craig Sisterson, includes a mix of new and experienced voices. ‘We shattered our record for entries in the Ngaio Marsh Awards this year, with 69 different books entered across our two fiction categories,’ said Sisterson. ‘Along with a surge in first-time Kiwi authors choosing to write tales of crime, mystery and suspense – more than 50 new voices in the past three years – it’s been great to see more experienced local authors veering to the darker side as well as past crime writers returning to the fold.’

The Ngaio Marsh Awards have celebrated the best New Zealand crime, mystery, thriller and suspense writing since 2010, and this year’s longlist runs the gamut, from detective fiction to gothic suspense and from psychological thrillers to historical mysteries and magic realism.

The longlist is currently being considered by a judging panel from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Marlborough Man is up against Baby by Annaleese Jochems (Victoria University Press), See You in September by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin), The Lost Taonga by Edmund Bohan (Lucano), The Easter Make Believers by Finn Bell, The Only Secret Left to Keep by Katherine Hayton, Tess by Kirsten McDougall (Victoria University Press), The Sound of Her Voice by Nathan Blackwell (Mary Egan Publishing), A Killer Harvest by Paul Cleave (Upstart Press) and The Hidden Room by Stella Duffy (Virago).

The finalists will be announced in July, along with the finalists for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel. The finalists will be celebrated and the winners announced as part of a special event at the WORD Christchurch festival, held from 29 August to 2 September 2018.

Marlborough Man is available in all good bookstores and online.