If you’ve ever been to New Zealand or smashed out a few drinks at the bar with a visiting Kiwi, you’ll know the colloquialism “yeah, nah.” It comes up in most conversations and contexts, not to mention the occasional neon wall sign, movie dialogue, song lyric and even legal rebuff. Generally, it means; yes, I hear you but no, I disagree. But in everyday use it can cover many things, good and bad. Obvious and subtle.
And although “yeah, nah” is usually said with dry humor to bring people who disagree together, it can also carry a dangerous undertone, especially if it’s accompanied by a squinty eye or a slow deliberate shake of the head.
As a consequence, the fast-growing New Zealand crime writing scene is known affectionally as “Yeah Noir,” standing alongside Scandi Noir of Northern Europe, Tartan Noir of Scotland, Midwestern and Southern Noirs, just to name a couple in the U.S. and, of course, the other down-under noir: Outback Noir of Australia.
It’s this uncertain undertone, friendly, challenging, dangerous, funny, that helps give down under noir its point of difference among the darker sub-genre of crime writing. So let me highlight some of my favorite down-under noir authors, Aussie and Kiwi. I’ll start off my reading list with a gentle introduction (or is it gentle? Yeah, nah. You’ll be right.)
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Sally Hepworth, Mad Mabel
Sally Hepworth’s story of a cranky eighty-one-year-old woman and a boisterous nosy young neighbor girl will trigger the full suite of human emotions. Funny as heck in many places, you’ll be forced to laugh out loud; the scary parts will get you up off the sofa to double check your doors are locked; while the mystery will have you second guessing everyone and everything.
But it’s the heartbreaking end when you will finally realize that you’ve just been played by a master crime writer. Hepworth is known for her velvet glove approach to beating up on her readers. She starts out soft and focused and before you know it, you’re lying on your back, floored by what you’ve just read. Mad Mabel will floor you.
Tom Baragwanath, Lucky Thing
Small town New Zealand has a big dark dangerous heart. At the center of this book, is a low key, unglamorous middle aged woman (shock horror). No only that but she’s a humble office clerk who looks after filing at the local police station yet some how she’s a main character in this gritty clever crime novel by Paris-based New Zealand author.
Baragwanath is known for his excellent pacing, visceral settings and exquisite character portrayals but you’ll also be captivated by the depth and honesty of the themes he weaves seamlessly throughout his storylines, which tackle difficult and current issues such as racism, colonialism, gang culture and class divide. Jump on the Baragwanath bandwagon now with his first two novels Paper Chase and Lucky Thing.
Jane Harper, Last One Out
You can’t really know Outback Noir until you’ve read Jane Harper’s books. An Australian-U.K. hybrid, Harper was one of the first authors to portray the Australian landscape as a constant and demanding character (and threat). Her first book, The Dry, for example, opens with the dusty scene of flies buzzing around humans and livestock alike, as a drought savages a farming district. Her novel The Lost Man is centered on a rancher blistered to death by the vast desert sun, while The Survivors has her characters and readers battling the wild seas of Tasmania.
Harper’s latest novel, The Last One Out, is superbly plotted around Australia’s unique natural bounty, the precious metals and minerals within those rich Outback desert soils, as mining destroys the people and collapses the future of a small isolated town. Harper is a must-read!
Paul Cleave, His Favorite Graves
Cleave demonstrates his Yeah Noir credentials once again with his unique mix and timing of humor and terror to maximum effect. Surprisingly, this multi-award winning New Zealand author still has a relatively low profile internationally. He packs a gazillion twists into His Favourite Graves as he hurtles readers through a fascinating cast of small-town America.
As we get to know each of character, Cleave unfolds story inside story to steadily build an unexpected and intricate plot. His writing is hard to categorize, part domestic noir, part procedural, psychological thriller and a touch of terror. But it’s his flawed characters, young and old, that will resonate the most as he expertly see-saws us between empathy and dislike for them and keeps us on edge guessing who the baddies really are.
Steve Johnson, A Thousand Miles from Care
As a constant true crime reader I have to say this is one of the best written and investigated books I have read. Big statement! But hear me out and hopefully discover it for yourself. Californian technology worker Steve Johnson spent decades investigating the 1988 death of his young brother Scott, after he had moved to Sydney. Not only did Johnson single-handedly unravel thirty years of incompetence and deception by local police, but he eventually got a murder conviction.
This true crime memoir details how this gentle persistent man never gave up on finding the facts about his brilliant mathematician brother Scott Johnson and his supposed suicide. The book is profoundly moving and written with a first-hand personal and emotional point of view which will forever change how you experience the majestic beauty of Sydney’s famous ocean cliffs.
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