Nikki Crutchley
For the past seven years I’ve been working as a freelance proofreader (www.crucialcorrections.co.nz) and work for Nourish magazine along with proofreading manuscripts, theses and journal articles. After completing a diploma in creative writing at the New Zealand Institute of Business Studies I embarked on writing my first crime novel.I published Nothing Bad Happens Here in August 2017, and it went on to be a finalist in the Ngaio Marsh Award for best first novel. Around this time I also developed an interest in writing flash fiction. I have been published in Flash Frontier, Mayhem Literary Journal, Flash Fiction Magazine and have a story in Fresh Ink anthology (published by Cloud Ink Press) and Bonsai: Best Small Stories from Aotearoa New Zealand (published by Canterbury University Press). I was long-listed and regional winner for my story New Beginnings at National Flash Fiction Day in 2016, and at the 2017 National Flash Fiction Day I had two stories short-listed and was regional winner. I published my second novel, No One Can Hear You, in September 2018. It went on to be long listed for the Ngaio Marsh Award for best novel. I am currently working on my third book, The Murder Club, which is a sequel to Nothing Bad Happens Here, featuring journalist Miller Hatcher.
Genre:
Skills:
Branch:
Hamilton
Location:
Cambridge
Publications:
Nothing Bad Happens Here
The body of missing tourist Bethany Haliwell is found in the small Coromandel town of Castle Bay, where nothing bad ever happens. News crews and journalists from all over the country descend on the small seaside town as old secrets are dragged up and gossip is taken as gospel. Among them is Miller Hatcher, a journalist battling her own demons, who arrives intent on gaining a promotion by covering the grisly murder. Following an anonymous tip, Miller begins to unravel the mystery of the small town. And when another woman goes missing, Miller finds herself getting closer to the truth. But at what cost?
No One Can Hear You
Troubled teen Faith Marsden was one of several girls abducted from Crawton, a country town known for its picturesque lake and fertile farmland. Unlike the others, she escaped, though sixteen years on she still bears the emotional and physical scars. Zoe Haywood returns to Crawton to bury her estranged mother Lillian, who has taken her own life. As she and Faith rekindle their high-school friendship, they discover notes left by Lillian that point to two more young women who recently disappeared from Crawton. But Lillian’s confused ramblings leave them with more questions than answers. As Faith and Zoe delve deeper into the mystery, they become intent on saving the missing women, but in doing so are drawn into Auckland’s hidden world of drugs, abduction and murder. And then Faith decides to confront the mastermind – on her own.