When does crime pay? Where do facts end and fiction begin? How can you stop the truth getting in the way of a good story? Auckland novelist Jonothan Cullinane will give his take on these and other questions at Hearsay and Red Herring, a free public event at Grey Lynn Library from 6pm on Thursday 23 March.
Cullinane’s debut novel Red Herring, published in the lead-up to
last Christmas, is a New Zealand bestseller. The Auckland Libraries waiting
list has only recently dipped below 100 requests for nearly 50 copies.
Set during Auckland's infamous waterfront dispute of 1951, Red Herring stars Johnny Molloy, a
private detective whose fraud investigation takes him on a car chase through
Grey Lynn streets and earns him a pummelling out the back of the Returned Services
Club.
Other characters include major players of the time, such as
Federation of Labour ‘hard man’ Patrick Fintan Walsh, union leader Jock Barnes
and PM Sid Holland. The author worked to make their voices in the novel as true
to life as possible, even if some of the events are fictional.
The book is getting good reviews. “What a cracker!” writes Crime
Watch blog contributor Alyson Baker of this “noir novel set in tea-drenched 1950s New
Zealand”. Spinoff calls Red Herring “a damned good read”, rating
it one of the best fiction books of 2016.
Those attending Hearsay and Red Herring at Grey Lynn Library, 474
Great North Rd, can hear some rollicking good stories, enjoy a glass of wine,
ask searching questions, and pick up a signed copy of the book at a cash stall
staffed by indie bookseller Dear Reader.
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