Jen Shieff
Two time Ngaio Marsh Award finalist, Jen Shieff is an Auckland University English literature and Education graduate. She was a school and university teacher in Auckland until 1994 when she moved to Wellington as an analyst for government departments. In 2001, she moved north with her partner to establish and run a fly fishing lodge on the Tongariro River in Turangi. With that dream realised, Jen resumed her work for the government, travelling from Turangi to Wellington every week for six years until 2014. Since then, still based in Turangi, she’s been realising another dream: to write crime fiction. Each of her three novels is a stand-alone sequel set in Auckland, each taking place ten years after its predecessor. “The Gentlemen’s Club” (2015) was a finalist in the Ngaio Marsh Best First Novel category in 2016. "The Vanishing Act' (2018) was a finalist in the Ngaio Marsh Best Novel category in 2019. 'The Final Call' (2021) is scheduled for release in February/March 2022. Jen's historic crime fiction shows changing attitudes to various social issues, including homosexuality, in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Genre:
- Adult Fiction
- Crime
Skills:
- Novelist
Branch:
Central Districts
Location:
Turangi
Publications:
The Gentlemen's Club
A psychological thriller that will shock you to the core. Headstrong and independent, Rita Saunders is a successful hairdresser by day and a busy brothel madam by night. The only thing missing from her life is the love of a good woman. Istvan Ziegler is a Hungarian immigrant who has come to New Zealand to work on the brand new harbour bridge project. He is full of hope and dreams of a better life. Sixteen-year-old Judith Curran has come to Auckland for an abortion. With no money or family support, she finds herself at the mercy of strangers and simply has to hope they have her best interests at heart. Becoming bound into a desperate situation involving a group of orphan girls , Rita, Judith and Istvan find fortitude they never knew they possessed. But do they have enough of it to expose the menacing orphanage director and the slice of the heartless and seedy 1950s underworld he inhabits? The Gentlemen’s Club is an honest and gritty debut novel that will linger with you long after you have finished reading it.
The Vanishing Act
Respectable appearances hide the blackest of secrets in this meticulously crafted and highly-readable murder mystery set amongst Auckland’s academic set and navigating the brothels and avenues of the city.
The Final Call
Who is out to destroy Carmel O'Sullivan and her sister Tess, top call-girls in Rita Saunders' gentlemen's club? Who will be next? When Tess is murdered and younger sister Maxine is on the ill-fated Air New Zealand flight to Mt Erebus, Carmel feels God has turned away from her family. Secrets emerge as the police investigate. The spotlight shifts incessantly. Hungarian immigrant Istvan Ziegler loves Carmel, offering her the safety and respectability she craves, but he has to compete with Rita for Carmel's affection and commitment. 'The Final Call' is a gripping family saga, deftly showing how society's attitudes to prostitution, gays, lesbians and independent women received a good shake-up in 1970s Auckland.