When I attended the Brisbane Writer’s Festival a few weeks ago one of the sessions that I was lucky enough to be in the audience for was a panel of crime writers featuring three Aussie blokes, Michael Robotham, Garry Disher, newcomer JJ Cooper and one fabulous dame, the inimitable Scottish legend of crime writing, Val McDermid.
There was time for a few questions and being the sticky beak that I am, I asked the panel what books they were reading at the moment?
Sadly I didn’t have a pen on me at the time so I will have to leave you wondering as to what the boys had on their night stands, but Ms McDermid said she was reading the first book by New Zealand crime writer, Alix Bosco and she was really enjoying it. Naturally as soon as I was back in the office I checked and of course it was in our catalogue!
I have now finished Cut and Run and the follow up book, Slaughter Falls and they were terrific! So I wanted to know more about the author… but no one knows who he/she is. Alix Bosco is a pseudonym for a New Zealand based writer who apparently has a background as a journalist but wants to keep their identity a secret for myriad reasons – not the least of which is that according to internet gossip, some of her characters are based on real-life figures in public life, such as politicians, police and celebrities.
The books feature legal researcher Anna Markunas who has a very complicated personal life and a not much 
less complicated working life. The second book, Slaughter Falls is set between the Gold Coast and Auckland with the name of the book a reference to the JC Slaughter Falls in Mount Coot-tha Reserve. It was surreal reading about local landmarks and life on the Gold Coast through the eyes of a New Zealand investigator, but Alix Bosco has got it very right.
The language is taut and sparse and the action is relentless. Whoever Alix Bosco is, they know how to spin a great yarn and I will be keeping that name on my crime writer radar. Thanks for the heads up Val!
Tagged: Alix Bosco, crime writer, Cut & Run, eNewsletter reviews, new zealand author, new zealand crime writer, Slaughter Falls
