I'm trying to get some freelancing work done from home (I usually work from home, so that's not an issue) while homeschooling our five-year-old as the schools are all shut as part of the lockdown in the UK (I'm a Kiwi living in London).
I also have a huge pile of several dozen New Zealand crime novels - some brilliant, some good/very good, some alright, others not so much - that are entries in this year's Ngaio Marsh Awards. I'm helping with the longlisting process before the international judging panel consider the longlist and choose finalists and winners. I'm breaking up that 'have to' reading (some of which is very enjoyable, nonetheless) with a few other books.
Recently read the beguiling, unusual THE AOSAWA MURDERS by Riku Onda (translation of the winner of 2006 Mystery Writers of Japan prize for Best Novel).
Really enjoyed FIFTY-FIFTY by Steve Cavanagh, the fifth novel in his excellent and CWA Gold Dagger-winning Eddie Flynn series (out later this year).
ASH MOUNTAIN by Helen Fitzgerald, a new Australian-set novel from a Glasgow-based Australian author was terrific.
