My Margaret Mahy Award Lecture (delivered Sunday April 6th, read here and will be a video coming) was a collage on writing poetry with and for children (and adults too really). It was both personal and political, and was inspired by the patchwork quilt I create each morning to get through my daily challenges. Little patches that give me strength and joy. Like writing. Like blogging. Like reading. Like reviewing books. Like gardening and cooking and listening to music and audio books. Like watching UK detective programmes in the afternoons! Or cricket. Or football.

On Poetry Box, I am posting a series of happy review bundles to celebrate some of the terrific children’s books published in 2024, both in Aotearoa and overseas. Children’s books can be such a source of delight. Along with adult books of all genres.

I am also keen to post some comfort spots on Poetry Shelf.

The key aim of Poetry Shelf is to celebrate local poetry – books, events, initiatives, connections. But now and then, I want to share a book that offers comfort diversions. Like a zillion other readers, I am a big fan of Richard Osman’s detective fiction, both The Thursday Murder Club series and the new one, We Solve Murders. Richard writes intriguing who-dunnits that are sweetly crafted, with nuanced characters, humane underthreads, rich detail. I am currently listening and loving Graham Norton read Holding – he aces the range of Irish accents, his characters and the sotry!

I have finally got around to reading The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward (Penguin, 2024). And now I can’t wait to read the second one that has just come out: Tea and Cake and Death (Penguin).

Louise and Gareth own the Wardini bookstores, with branches in Havelock North and Napier. I didn’t know they were both coppers in the UK before moving to Aotraroa. Louise has an English Literature degree and taught Shakespeare to inner city children, while Gareth is the author of a number of books. Perfect background experience to write a detective novel together.

A mysterious parcel arrives at Sherlock Tomes, Garth and Eloise’s bookshop in Havelock North. And yes, there are little similarity dazzles that add to the delight of reading. The ex-copper booksellers are intrigued by a trail of old-case clues and get set to solve the case of a missing school girl.

The novel ticks all my detective novel boxes: nuanced characters, twists and surprises, enriching detail, fluent writing, hooks and ideas, engaging voices, and heart. What lifts the novel to a zone of ultra reading comfort is the way literature is like a semi-protagonist. Loads of delicious literary references! It is almost like I’m in Wardini Books and having books recommended to me . . . and yes the new Catherine Chidgey is on my must-read list.

So it is a big warm toast to Louise and Gareth, to Wardini Books, and to excellent local detective fiction! Bravo! Here’s to comfort reading!

Gareth and Louise Ward are the real-life owners of independent bookshop Wardini Books, with stores in Havelock North and Napier, New Zealand. Louise is known among the staff as Fearless Leader and Gareth as a bit of a dick; he is, however, the author of the Tarquin the Honest and The Rise of the Remarkables book series, as well as being the bestselling and award-winning author of The Traitor and the Thief and The Clockill and the Thief. Gareth and Louise met at police training college in the UK and are both ex-coppers. Louise has one murder arrest to her name, is an English Literature Graduate and as an ex-teacher inflicted Shakespeare on inner-city twelve-year-olds. She regularly reviews books on RNZ. Both are obsessed with their rescue dog Stevie, avoid housework and gardening, and live in the cultural centre of the universe that is Hawke’s Bay, Aotearoa New Zealand. The Bookshop Detectives is Gareth and Louise’s first book together.

Penguin page: Dead Girl Gone

Penguin page: Tea and Cake and Death