Our 2024 picks: Aotearoa New Zealand crime and thriller novels
The year has passed by in a flurry of reading, and somehow (we don't know how!) it's time to take stock of the fiction releases of 2024.
Here are our Aotearoa New Zealand crime and thriller picks for 2024. The list runs the gamut of the genre, from cosy crime to gritty realistic novels, and shows that the renaissance of crime and thriller writing in Aotearoa New Zealand continues apace, thanks in part to the tireless, pioneering work of the fabulous Ngaio Marsh Awards and its organising maestro Craig Sisterson who have created such a vibrant environment for this genre to thrive in our own fair land (thank you Craig and the Ngaio Marsh Awards!).
Not the genre you're interested in? Over the next few weeks, we'll be rounding up all our picks for 2024 (fiction, non-fiction, kids' and teens' books), so keep an eye out!
Browse our picks
No one will know : a novel / Carlyle, Rose
"A deliciously twisty and suspenseful novel from the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Girl in the Mirror, about a desperate young woman and the manipulative wealthy couple who will stop at nothing to ensure their worst nightmare becomes a dream come true." (Catalogue)
Leave the girls behind / Bublitz, Jacqueline
"Nineteen years ago, Ruth-Ann Baker's childhood friend was murdered by convicted killer Ethan Oswald. Haunted by what happened, Ruth has long been convinced Oswald had other victims. But no one has ever believed her. After dropping out of college and failing to prove her serial killer theory, Ruth is bartending when she hears that another young girl has gone missing from her home town..." (Catalogue)
The bookshop detectives : dead girl gone / Ward, Gareth
It's a cozy crime novel about bookshop owner detectives, written by Havelock North's Wardini Books owners, Gareth and Louise Ward! Introducing the Bookshop Detectives:
"When we opened Sherlock Tomes people warned us that we'd made a terrible mistake. People warned us that e-readers were taking over. People warned us that we'd never compete with Amazon. The one thing they didn't warn us about was the murders..." (Catalogue)
"How do you fight an invisible enemy? How do you fight back when conspiracy theories consume a family member? An unputdownable and timely new novel from the Ngaio Marsh-winning author of Remember Me." (Catalogue)
Return to blood / Bennett, Michael
"Hana Westerman has left Auckland and her career as a detective behind her. Settled in a quiet coastal town, all she wants is a fresh start. The discovery of a skeleton in the dunes near her house changes everything. The remains are those of a young Māori woman who went missing four years before, and Hana has a connection to the case..." (Catalogue)
"A child goes missing in a small town. Then another. And suddenly everyone's holding their own kids a little tighter. Lorraine doesn't have kids, but she has a dearly loved nephew. And she knows the police don't have any idea about this case, because she works for them. She's the records clerk - she sits out back among the piles of paper making connections, remembering things, working things out that the actual cops don't want to hear about. Until the new detective, Hayes, arrives from Wellington, and realises Lo's the only person there with answers to any of his questions..." (Catalogue)
17 years later : who really killed the Primrose family / Pomare, J. P
"The violent slaughter of the Primrose family while they slept shocked the nation. The family's young live-in chef, Bill Kareama, was swiftly charged with murder and brought to justice. But the brutal crime scarred the idyllic town of Cambridge forever. Seventeen years later, true-crime podcaster Sloane Abbott tracks down prison psychologist TK Phillips. Once a fierce campaigner for an appeal, TK now lives a quiet life with Bill's case firmly in his past, till Sloane persuades him reluctantly back into the fight..." (Catalogue)
"After surviving a brutal attack, Auckland cop DS Honey Chalmers has returned to her hometown to care for her mother. The remote coastal settlement of Waitutū holds complicated memories for Honey. [...] She let herself get too close to a gang informant. She got sloppy. The Reapers are a 501 gang of Aussie imports, ruthless and organised, and she's pretty sure the informant, mother-of-three Kloe Kovich, paid the price. But when a couple of gang enforcers turn up in Waitutū, Honey realises they are hoping she will lead them to Kloe. But if Kloe is still alive, can Honey save her this time around?" (Catalogue)
Safekeeping : a Rebecca Eaton novel / Zelas, Karen
"Fast-paced and compelling, this contemporary legal drama, set in Ōtautahi Christchurch, follows child advocacy lawyer Rebecca Eaton as she navigates her work representing a surrogate mother and advising on a child endangerment case, as well as trials in her own life. Professional and personal lines become blurred as she strives to protect the people she loves and those she represents. This page-turner leaves us asking, 'Who does the law really protect?'" (Catalogue)
The sixth outing in the Sam Shephard series:
"Fresh from maternity leave, Dunedin detective Sam Shephard investigates the unsolved murder of a highly esteemed church minister ... with potentially deadly consequences. Queen of New Zealand Crime, Vanda Symon, returns with a shocking, twisty new Sam Shephard thriller... " (Catalogue)
Better left dead / Lea, Catherine
This is the second in the Detective Inspector Nyree Bradshaw series:
"DI Nyree Bradshaw and her team have their work cut out for them once again. Local woman Lizzy Bean has been found dead, garrotted with a piece of wire. Lizzy's property, a 1970s beach house overlooking a pristine Northland bay, is overflowing with rubbish. Inside, the house is even worse. As Nyree and her team delve into the case, clues begin to reveal an intricate web of connections involving a local crime syndicate, a kidnapped woman, and a group of ex-foster children haunted by the past..." (Catalogue)
This is the second instalment in the Professor Eustacia Rose mysteries:
"After a nerve-racking investigation, Professor Eustacia Rose's life is returning to normal. She is finally back teaching at UCL and her relationship with Matilde is blossoming. But when a man is found dead with a needle in his neck, and a disturbing painting of Eustacia links her and the body, her fragile peace suddenly begins to crumble..." (Catalogue)
St Heliers Bay B&B / Snelling, Patricia
"When Detective Sergeant Tony Martin suspects his boss, Rob Dean, of tampering with evidence connected to a guard's murder at the Port of Auckland, he has no idea the homicide is linked to a trafficking ring smuggling migrants into New Zealand. Soon after the Port killing, a neighbour discovers Tony lying in a pool of blood in his backyard. Summer, Tony's wife, refuses to accept the police report that her husband's assailant was a passing opportunist and carries out her own investigations..." (Catalogue)
A better class of criminal / Kelly, Cristian
"A seemingly foolproof plan to make some quick money turns into a race for their lives... It's the mid-nineties and methamphetamine casts its shadow over the Californian city of Santa Lucía. Nathan, happy running a small marijuana grow operation with his two best friends, takes advantage of meth's rise in popularity and makes a lucrative one-time deal.[...] But a devastating betrayal leaves him entangled with the city's merciless crime boss. Risking everything, Nathan and his friends embark on a wild plan to steal millions of dollars' worth of diamonds to settle the debt..." (Catalgoue)
"Cli-fi writer and climate activist Bella Goodfellow wants to save the world, but how can she do that when she can't even save herself? Forced from her hideaway after a landslide swallows it whole, she finds temporary accommodation with her publisher's elderly aunt on the Kapiti Coast. But lilac-eyed Freyja is not what she seems, and soon Bella's flung into a crazy scheme to expose a murderer and rescue a child... An Aotearoa crime thriller by a master storyteller. " (Catalogue)
Kiss of death / Tester, Stephen (Libby eBook)
"It's 1918, in a Wellington that few people would recognise today, and two major events are about to collide: the signing of the Armistice to end World War I, and the soldier-borne plague we now call the Spanish flu. Into this comes Wellington's only female lawyer, leading her group of Sapphist friends as they attempt to strike a blow for women's freedom. They go head-to-head with the authorities while she finds herself acting as Crown prosecutor in the case of a wealthy socialite's "murder" of her husband by kissing him..." (Catalogue)
Where the river goes / Palgrave, Jennifer
"A champion of regenerative farming is found brutally murdered. An intensive dairying advocate has shot himself in the barn. What is going on in this peaceful rural community? Lauren Fraser, visiting South Canterbury, begins to unravel the tangle of criminal activity and puts herself in danger. [...] Through the heart of the story flows the braided river, the sacred awa that gives life and prosperity to the region. But the river is ailing. Can solving these crimes shock the community into restoring its majesty?" (Catalogue)
Weeping Angels / Chance, Riley
"Business is booming for Weeping Angels - an agency that helps victims of family violence obtain protection orders. Lauren, who ambitiously wants to fix the justice system, contacts journalist Grace ('Ace') Marks to increase pressure on the government. A woman who obsessively guards her privacy and her past, Lauren knows she will need to step out of the shadows where she has lived her entire life. When Lauren disappears after visiting a friend, and the police list her as 'just another' missing person, a mystified Grace investigates..." (Catalogue)
The night she fell / Merriman, Eileen (Libby eBook)
"A beautiful young law student dies on the concrete below her third-storey window in chilly Dunedin. It's clear enough how she died. What isn't is why — or who's involved... The Night She Fell is a gripping psychological thriller from one of New Zealand's most multi-talented contemporary novelists." (Catalogue)