Name: Mysterious Manawatū - Palmerston North MITL
Start: 2025-05-02T18:00:00+12:00
End: 2025-05-02T19:45:00+12:00
Location: Palmerston North City Library

$Mysterious Manawat\u016b - Palmerston North MITL$

The Ngaio Marsh Awards, in association with the Palmerston North City Library, invites booklovers to a thrilling free event featuring five talented Kiwi storytellers.
Local Manawatū authors Riley Chance, a past Ngaios Best First Novel finalist, and GB Ralph, a Queer Indie Awards nominee, welcome past Ngaios Best Novel finalist Tina Shaw and police officers turned #1 New Zealand Fiction bestsellers ‘the Bookshop Detectives’ Gareth and Louise Ward for a criminally good conversation about the art of storytelling, crafting memorable characters, the impact of setting and real-life issues, and what drew each of them to mystery and thriller writing.
WHEN: Friday 2 May 2025
WHERE: Central Library, 4 The Square, Palmerston North
WHEN: 6pm for a 6.15pm panel
FREE entry, refreshments provided.
Gareth and Louise Ward are the real-life owners of independent bookshop Wardini Books, with stores in Havelock North and Napier. They met at police training college in the UK and are both ex-coppers. THE BOOKSHOP DETECTIVES: DEAD GIRL GONE is Gareth and Louise’s first book together, and became the biggest-selling New Zealand fiction title of 2024. A sequel, TEA AND CAKE AND DEATH, is coming out on 1 April 2025.
GB Ralph is an engineering consultant in Palmerston North and author of cosy mysteries and gay romcoms. The second novel in his Milverton Mysteries series, POISON AT PENSHAW HALL, was a #1 Audible category bestseller, and was nominated for Best Overall Mystery/Thriller in the 2023 Queer Indie Awards. His latest novel is DEATH IN DOUGLAS GLADE, with a fourth mystery starring Addison Harper coming out later in 2025.
Tina Shaw is a Taupō author of novels for adults and younger readers. She is a former recipient of the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship and the Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers’ Residency, and was previously Writer in Residence at the University of Waikato. Her novel THE CHILDREN'S POND was a finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel. Tina's latest novel is the haunting suspense A HOUSE BUILT ON SAND.
Riley Chance is an author and management consultant who's been a Senior Lecturer at Massey University. He writes a near-future series of thrillers featuring journalist Grace Marks. His debut, SURVEILLANCE, became a finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel. His latest thriller WEEPING ANGELS explores the tough topic of family violence.