New crime book edited by Kiwi journalist shines a light on NZ’s ‘dark deeds’

Kiwi journalist Craig Sisterson, with late crime writer Renee, one of the authors featured in new anthology Dark Deeds Down Under 2.

Former Auckland lawyer Craig Sisterson talks with Stephen Jewell about his latest project to connect our crime writers with more readers at home and abroad.

Two years ago, London-based legal journalist Craig Sisterson turned up the torchlight he’d shone on local crime writers since late 2008. A collection of short stories of murder, mystery, and mayhem from a diverse lineup of award-winning and bestselling novelists, Dark Deeds Down Under further boosted the global reputation of New Zealand and Australian crime fiction.

The ground-breaking anthology drew praise from crime-writing giants such as Val McDermid and Michael Robotham and has now led to a second volume, once again compiled by Sisterson. A regular contributor to the Weekend Herald and New Zealand Listener, the 45-year-old previously established the Ngaio Marsh Awards in 2010, co-founded Rotorua Noir in 2019 and charted the modern era of the genre in Australasia in his 2020 book Southern Cross Crime.

Kiwi journalist Craig Sisterson, now based in London, has edited the second volume of the crime and thriller anthology, Dark Deeds Down Under.

“It’s an honour to do this, and occasionally a bit surreal,” says Sisterson, who was asked to helm Dark Deeds Down Under by long-time Sisters in Crime Australia national co-convenor Lindy Cameron, from Clan Destine Press.

“Who am I, this sports-loving book nerd of a kid from the Top of the South, to edit stories from legends like Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award winners Garry Disher and Kerry Greenwood, or Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement honourees and storytelling rangatira like Renée or Lee Murray?” Sisterson says.

With more than 40 contributors across the first two volumes, Sisterson says the enthusiastic response from Kiwi and Aussie writers, established and new, helped power the project.

“I love how crime writing can be entertainment, but also explore people, place, and big real-life issues,” he says. “In Dark Deeds, our authors have done that in distilled form, taking readers into a darker underbelly of our beautiful landscapes and delving into issues from domestic violence and police corruption to internet-fuelled extremism and the generational impact of violent acts.”

The first book included new stories from New Zealand authors including Ngaio Marsh Award winners and finalists Fiona Sussman, Vanda Symon, RWR McDonald, Nikki Crutchley, Helen Vivienne Fletcher, and Renée. Sisterson has assembled an almost entirely new list of literary suspects for Dark Deeds Down Under 2.

Choosing the lineup is a bit like selecting a rep sports team, he says. He’s looking for talent, overall team fit, availability, and needs contributors in different positions. “I don’t want 20 Sydney or Auckland cop tales, just like the Black Ferns don’t want a team full of wingers to play a world cup final, no matter how fantastic Portia Woodman and Ruby Tui are! It’s also nice to include a bolter or two, alongside established and legendary figures.”

Dark Deeds Down Under 2 begins with a revenge tale in a Napier cathedral from 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards winner Charity Norman. “I’m stoked Chad Taylor, a Kiwi master of neo-noir, has returned with a fascinating story about a SOCO going beyond her duties,” says Sisterson, who is a judge of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award in the UK, and writes for legal, lifestyle, and books publications in various countries, as well as appearing onstage at crime writing festivals, and matchmaking some Kiwi authors with overseas publishers.

“Northland writer Michael Botur takes us on a revealing Uber ride to a Warkworth pro-wrestling event while award-winning Hutt Valley writer Andi C Buchanan offers a near future sci-fi/crime crossover. Auckland author Stephen Johnson has a new (mis)adventure for the Spotlight TV crew, Shelley Burne-Field explores radicalisation in a barbershop, and past Ngaios winner Jennifer Lane details a dangerous family drama playing out at a workplace barbecue.”

Sisterson’s plan to have no repeat contributors changed after Renée, “a legendary figure in Aotearoa storytelling, creativity and beyond,” passed away, aged 94, in December.

“It was so gratifying to witness how excited Renée was to be in our first volume, having loved crime fiction her whole life,” says Sisterson, of the late author and playwright, who published her first crime novel, The Wild Card, when she was 89 years old.

“Even though I only got to interact with her in recent years, Renée made a big impact on me. I felt the best way to honour her was to break my own rule; after all, Renée was always a bit of a rule-breaker herself, in the best possible way. So as a coda, we’ve included a flash fiction set on her beloved Otaki beach that she originally wrote for a multimedia project during the 2020 New Zealand Festival of the Arts.”

Dark Deeds Down Under 2, a crime and thriller anthology, is edited by London-based Kiwi journalist Craig Sisterson.

Along with the strong Kiwi contingent, Dark Deeds Down Under 2 includes stories from leading Australian crime writers such as Emma Viskic, Jack Heath, Malla Nunn, Helen Fitzgerald, Anna Downes, and “Godfather of Australian Crime” Peter Corris.

Sisterson is already working on volume three, to be published this time next year. After we chat, though, he’s off to his allotment garden to tend to his boysenberries and plant Braeburn and Jelly King trees. A horticultural taste of home for a man always holding Aotearoa close in his heart.

“Over here, I miss family and old friends, our beaches and mountains, paua patties and steak and cheese pies – but they don’t grow on trees,” he says with a laugh.

Dark Deeds Down Under 2 edited by Craig Sisterson (Clan Destine Press, $39.99) is out now.