2023 was a big year for crime writing in Aotearoa New Zealand. Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) won Best First Novel at the Ngaio Marsh Awards with Better the Blood; internationally best-selling author Paul Cleave released his newest spine-tingling crime thriller His Favourite Graves; and Gavin Strawhan won the 2023 Allen & Unwin Fiction Prize for The Call.

But you don’t need to be a detective to find the strong links to the screen with these three writers. Bennett is working on bringing Better the Blood to the screen alongside penning the sequel Return to Blood, and he wrote the crime series The Gone which won Best TV Drama at the 2023 NZ TV Awards; Cleave wrote the series screenplay for his debut novel The Cleaner that will premiere this year; and Strawhan had an extensive and lauded career as a screenwriter before publishing The Call.

With Eileen Marriman they discuss crafting compelling crime narratives for both page and screen, and what’s involved in moving a piece of work between the two.