Paul Cleave wins Ngaio Marsh Award

Random House author Paul Cleave wins 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel Random House is proud to announce that Christchurch writer Paul Cleave has won the Ngaio Marsh award for his book Blood Men. Announced at the country’s biggest crime writing event yesterday (Sunday 21 August), the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel was presented alongside a session featuring two of the world’s best crime authors on, Tess Gerritsen and John Hart. Fiction publisher Harriet Allan said, ‘I am thrilled that Paul has received this recognition, not just in New Zealand but his home town. His books are bought and read avidly in at least ten other countries around the world, so it's about time we celebrated this unique talent that we are lucky enough to call our own.’ Seven judges from New Zealand and across the world chose Cleave’s novel above the three other finalists Neil Cross, Paddy Richardson and Alix Bosco (aka Greg McGee).
Here are some of the judges' comments about Blood Men: —‘Cleave is an original, a writer with his own distinctive voice’ — ‘Incredibly well written . . . Excellent pace and black humour. It has stayed with me for ages’ — ‘Cleave tells a gruesomely gripping story in clean, sharp prose, with authentically laconic dialogue and flashes of very dark humour. The twists and turns of the fast-moving plot are often surprising but never illogical. This is world-class writing.’ — ‘Cleave's prose crackles with energy. He gets you deep inside the head of a troubled man, and takes you on a great ride, story-wise, with plenty of twists in plot and character to keep you on your toes.’ — ‘This thriller moves at a furious pace. Paints a detailed, dystopian picture of Christchurch which I hope is not accurate.’ The Ngaio Marsh Awards originated in 2010. The award is made annually for the best crime, mystery, or thriller novel written by a New Zealand citizen or resident and published in New Zealand during the previous year. Decided by a panel of local and international judges, its namesake, Dame Ngaio Marsh, is renowned worldwide as one of the four iconic ‘Queens of Crime’ of the Golden Age of detective fiction.