Success keeps coming for Vanda

VANDA Symon says, "You've got to watch these nice suburban housewives." 
The self-described optimist and mother of two small boys is cheerful, chatty and friendly.
So it might come as a surprise to find that this former pharmacist spends her days in a dark world of murder, subterfuge and forensics.
The curly-haired mum has forged a successful career as a crime writer, with her novels published by Penguin.
Her latest novel, Containment, is the third in her series about Dunedin police officer Sam Shepard and the fourth is already in the pipeline.
Her books have been translated into German.
It seems quite a career transition from dispensing drugs as a pharmacist, but Symon has been writing since she was a child growing up in Tauranga.
Her first published work was in a newspaper writing competition, which she entered as a pupil at Greerton Primary School.
Symon, who was then Vanda Campbell, also went to Tauranga Intermediate School before moving to Hawke's Bay. But she's still got roots in Tauranga, with four siblings living here.
Encouraged by her mother, she enjoyed writing stories as a child. But as a young adult she "went down the sciences path" at school and later university.
It wasn't until she was a stay-at-home mum that she had the time to indulge her creative side - with amazing results.
"When my youngest son was a wee baby I sent away and did a correspondence course in creative writing. I knew I wanted to write but I had no idea what, so this course was great because it helped me with what I wanted to write.

"I was appalling at poetry, and short stories is a real knack, which I lacked. It solidified that I wanted to do novel writing."
Symon said she was told to write the type of books she would love to read. For her, that meant historical fiction and crime fiction. "With a young baby, there was no way I would have the time to do historic fiction research, so it was a really pragmatic choice."

She created Sam Shepard, and began working on her first novel, Overkill.
It took four years from writing her first word to receiving a copy of the published book in the mail.
Penguin had been just the second publishing house she had approached - an amazing success for a first-time novelist.
Even more amazing was the fact that they wanted a series. "I was a bit cheeky in my covering letter.

"I said this is the first in a series of crime fiction novels I'm writing about Sam Shepard," Symon says.
"Lo and behold, Penguin had been looking for a crime fiction series for two years. As with many things in publishing, luck and timing had a lot to do with it.

"When I sent it in, I had done many, many drafts. I had really polished it and worked it so when I sent it in, it was the best I thought I could do.
"You've only get one shot at that first impression."
Despite her hard work, Symon was still "in utter disbelief" her novel had been picked up. "I didn't believe it until I put my ink and signature on the contract.
"I still pinch myself and say, 'wow', I'm pretty much living my dream. It's the perfect career for someone with kids as it's so flexible."

She's been writing ever since, and now produces and hosts a radio show about writers.
First came The Ringmaster, and now Containment, which has recently been released. She's already working on Bound.
All the books are about Sam Shephard, but each can be read as a stand-alone novel.
When it comes to inspiration for the character of Sam, a trainee detective based in Dunedin, Symon admits she looks close to home.
"There's little bits [of me]. I think she's picking up traits from friends, and my Mum reckons she can see definite bits of me in there.
"Her optimism is a reflection of me. I'm an optimistic, upbeat type of person. But I'm far better behaved and well mannered than she is."

Symon, who enjoys reading Scandinavian and Australian crime writers, sets her novels in Dunedin and the surrounding areas. Her readers "get a real buzz" about seeing their local haunts in print.
"It's fun. That's one of the reasons I decided to set the novels in a real New Zealand setting rather than a fictional town.
"I was just talking to someone today at the library, and one of the comments was that people really enjoyed reading about the cafes here and places they know."