Far North author’s whodunnit set in Kaitāia

Far North author Mark Chamberlain has a new ‘whodunnit’ novel, ‘The Death of Father Ryan', which is set in Kaitāia.

I suspect that anyone who has ever taken a creative writing course has been told to write about things that are familiar to them.

I don’t know if Mark Chamberlain ever attended such a class, but if he did he would not have found that advice in the least restrictive.

Mark knows more than most about life; his CV includes stints as a truck driver, a fisherman, a dishwasher, a probation office, a drain digger, a poker machine attendant, a drug and alcohol abuse counsellor, a teacher, and, apparently, one night as a bouncer.

He’s sailed the high seas, he’s tasted good and evil (as Kris Kristofferson would say), and he’s written. Historical fiction, novels (for adults and boys), short stories, text books and more have brought him popular and critical acclaim. And now he’s added to his repertoire with a whodunnit.

The Death of Father Ryan is set in Kaitāia, and I suspect, despite Mark’s protestations to the contrary, readers who know that community will recognise some of the characters, perhaps including the overweight reporter for the Northland Age (whose resemblance to any person living or dead is purely physical). That will add an extra layer of interest for local readers, but the story is good enough, and well enough told, not to need any sort of local knowledge.

Mark Chamberlain’s new ‘whodunnit’ novel ‘The Death of Father Ryan' is set in Kaitāia

It’s billed as a whodunnit, and it is, with enough clues to lead the reader and amateur sleuth well astray, until the denouement, when all is revealed. All the ingredients of a good read are there, including cantankerous old gits, gossips, long-buried secrets, a cop who just wants to get home at a decent hour and a retired one who is meticulous in looking under every stone.

If there is to be a criticism it could be that the characters tend towards the stereotypical, but authors whose books sell in the millions know that that suits the genre, and it certainly does here. And it’s well and truly well enough written to keep the reader thinking “one more chapter” as the final page nears and we’re still none the wiser.

I make no mention of the use of that awful word-that-isn’t-one: normalcy.

Mark Chamberlain has made a very solid, unequalled in fact, contribution to the Far North’s literary history. He is in a class of his own, and Father Ryan adds to that well-earned reputation. And I suspect that the central characters are strong enough to lay the foundation for more stories of this ilk. If Midsomer is the murder capital of Britain, why not a small Antipodean town where the requisite characters abide in abundance?

The Death of Father Ryan is available ($25) at McCarthny Mitre 10, in Kaitāia