Cross Fingers

By PADDY RICHARDSON

Published by Hachette New Zealand, $34.99 RRP

If you love gripping, psychological crime with a feisty female character then you need to meet Rebecca Thorne…

'I had a great job. I had Rolly. I had my friends, my family, my gorgeous house. I was so lucky. Touch wood. Cross fingers.' But life takes a sudden turn for the worse for TV journalist Rebecca Thorne. Her romantic holiday ends with a proposal… then a break up. Now her ex, Rolly, seems to be stalking her.

Her boss has taken her off the investigation of a shady property developer, just when things were heating up, and he's charged her with producing a doco on the 1981 Springbok tour. How is she supposed to find a fresh angle on a story that has been hashed to death?

Then there are the creepy bumps in the night, the mysterious photos that keep arriving on her phone and the shadowy presence of Rolly. But as she learns more about the '81 tour Rebecca becomes fascinated by two anonymous protesters called The Lambs and the disappearance of one of them. The sinister events in Rebecca's life increase as she gets closer and closer to finding out what happened to the Black Lamb.

'Her prose is pacey and she builds tension masterfully. Paddy Richardson seems born to be a crime writer.' – Nicky Pellegrino, books editor Herald on Sunday.

About the Author

Paddy Richardson is an acclaimed writer of psychological crime fiction. She has lectured and tutored English Literature at University level and has taught on many creative writing courses. She has won numerous awards, including the University of Otago Burns Fellowship in 1997, the Beatson Fellowship in 2007 and the James Wallace Arts Trust Residency Award in 2011. In 2012 she was invited to attend the Leipzig and Frankfurt Book Fairs. Paddy Richardson lives in Broad Bay on the Otago Peninsula.