Have you heard of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, which celebrate the best of New Zealand crime fiction? Well, it’s an award system set up by crime-loving journalist Craig Sisterson and is now in its eight year. Sisterson is doing a great job promoting and heralding Kiwi crime fiction much in the same way that Iceland Noir has helped many new Icelandic crime authors spew out onto the international scene – just like volcanic dust.

The shortlist of nominees has been released for the three categories in the awards, and you can check them out below. If you’ve read any of these novels do drop us a line and let us know what you thought. We really rated Finn Bell’s Dead Lemons during New Talent November last year.

The awards will be handed out in Christchurch – home town of Golden Age author Dame Ngaio Marsh – on 28 October.

Best crime novel
Pancake Money by Finn Bell
Spare Me The Truth by CJ Carver
Red Herring by Jonothan Cullinane
Marshall’s Law by Ben Sanders
The Last Time We Spoke by Fiona Sussman

Best first novel
Dead Lemons by Finn Bell
Red Herring by Jonothan Cullinane
The Ice Shroud by Gordon Ell
The Student Body by Simon Wyatt
Days are Like Grass by Sue Younger

Best non-fiction
In Dark Places by Michael Bennett
The Scene of the Crime by Steve Braunias
Double-edged Sword by Simonne Butler with Andra Jenkin
The Many Deaths of Mary Dobie by David Hastings
Blockbuster! by Lucy Sussex

For more New Zealand crime, check out the excellent crime drama Top of the Lake by Kiwi Jane Campion.