Morbid curiosity sparks venture into crime

One would expect to feel somewhat depressed reading about "bad people". However, Graham Hutchins has managed to make it informative and entertaining in his latest book Bad: New Zealand Crooks, Cranks, Creeps and Killers.
Don't get me wrong, there are some nasty characters in this book and some parts are sombre and haunting.
The New Zealand author freely admits he wrote it out of morbid curiosity, although he also had a desire to try to understand why some lives go off the rails.
"New Zealand is in the midst of a crime wave," Graham said.
"Every other TV programme on at the moment is about crime. It seemed to me that people wanted to know more about the bad people in our society."
So Graham set about doing just that. His extensive research and historical accounts, along with some conjecture of his own, has resulted in a must-read for crime fans.
He has included notorious names such as George Wilder, con artists such as Amy Bock (it's amazing what this woman got away with) and infamous murderers such as Stanley Graham.
"I tried to mix it up a bit with people that were both colourful and, of course, downright evil," Graham said.
"For instance the Burgess Gang smacked of the Wild West, while Sydney Ross managed to con Government officials into believing that a small Bay of Plenty town was a base for Nazi agents during World War II.
"While the early tales of crime were easy to write because they were so far removed from my everyday life, when I got to the present day, it wasn't so nice.
"David Gray was very hard to write about. So many innocent people died. It all came back to me - the television footage and the newspaper stories.
"It's chilling to think he was out there all that time with no help. As far as I'm concerned he shouldn't have been at large at the time of the murders."
Graham, who lives in Hamilton, wrote his first book in 1983. He used to write a newsletter for the Rugby News and became well known for his funny little stories. He then become a columnist for the Rugby Press and, from there, decided to try his hand at writing a book.
The rest, as they say, is history with 31 books on subjects ranging from cricket to rock music under his belt.
And his favourite - Tall Halfbacks, Graham said.
"It's an account of growing up in small-town New Zealand and was adapted for radio."
This is his first venture into crime - hopefully it won't be his last.
REVIEW
Bad (New Zealand Crooks, Cranks, Creeps and Killers)
by Graham Hutchins, Little, Brown Division, Hachette, $29.99
Graham Hutchins has compiled 21 short stories about crooks, cons and killers. Some are light-hearted, some are chilling but all have played a part in New Zealand's history.
The accounts of misdemeanours and murders make compelling reading.
Hutchins looks at the childhoods of these criminals which he believes played a vital role in some of the offenders.
He has chosen "a selection of the best of the worst" along with photographs of most of the "baddies".
From early European days featuring light-fingered taxman to the notorious crime lord Terry Clark and lastly to the harrowing account of David Gray, readers will find this book hard to put down.