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Hunting Blind by Paddy Richardson

On a perfect summer’s day, at a school picnic, beside a lake, a little girl goes missing, leaving a family devastated and a community asking questions. Seventeen years later, her sister Stephanie is practicing as a psychiatrist. A new and difficult patient’s revelations force her to re-examine her sister’s disappearance.

The patient, Elisabeth is about the same age as Gemma would have been, and she also had a mother who was cheating on her father and having an affair with another man at the time when tragedy struck their family and her little sister went mysteriously missing. Gracie couldn’t swim, just like Stephanie’s sister Gemma, and was also presumed to have drowned. Why are their stories so similar?

Stephanie is now determined to solve the mystery of what happened to her sister and bring closure to this mystery that has haunted her family and the community of Wanaka.

Paddy Richardson has written two collections of short stories, many of which have also been broadcast on Radio New Zealand. Richardson’s work has also been highly commended in the Katherine Mansfield and Sunday Star-Times awards. Her first novel, ‘The Company of a Daughter’ was written during her year ass the Burns Fellow at Otago University in 1997. Paddy currently lives in Dunedin where she writes and teaches part-time courses in creative writing.

Hunting Blind is a moving story demonstrating how one tragedy can transform a person’s life or consume them. It also shows how sometimes it is important for people to tell someone what is troubling them, even if it seems like the most difficult thing to do at the time. Through Beth opening up to Stephanie, readers get caught in two intriguing mysteries along with the lives of the main characters. Could one man be responsible for destroying so many lives?

RRP $28.00
Published and distributed by Penguin Group

Traces Of Red by Paddy Richardson

Rebecca Thorne is a successful television journalist but lately she has lost her edge. She needs a hard hitting story to capture the nation's imagination and boost her ratings. Connor Bligh might just have such a story.

It was the start of a normal weekend in Palmerston North. The Dickson family had sat down for their typical Friday night fish and chips when something terrible happened. An intruder crept into their home, taking them by surprise and killing three of the four members of the family. The only one who was spared was their daughter Katy, who for once was staying with friends. But that didn't stop the murderer looking for her.

She came home to find the fish and chips still on the table in the lounge and her parents dead. Her ten-year old brother was murdered in his room. Straight away there was no doubt that this was an appalling crime and also that the killer must know the family very well as Fridays were the only night they didn't eat in the dining room. Bloody footprints in every room indicated the killer knew Katy should be at home and searched the house for her.

Connor Bligh is the man charged with the murders of Angela Dickson, Rowan Dickson and Samuel Dickson. He was in and out of their house, he knew the family and their routines, his feet were the same size as the footprints in the house and most importantly he did not have a sound alibi. He also is left handed like the killer and traces of blood were found in his car which had a ninety percent chance of being Angela's. He is also Katy's uncle.

Even though he has been convicted and is doing time for the murders he has always protested his innocence. He is very intelligent, eccentric and a loner, but does that make him the murderer?

Things are not as clear cut as they seem however. There are some gaping holes in the prosecution's case and Rebecca believes Bligh is innocent. As she gets deeper into the story she starts breaking rules, becoming too involved. Even her lover, Joe is involved in the case. He is Connor's barrister, but is he really truthful? He says that he thinks Connor is innocent but he also says he loves Rebecca and yet is prepared to cast her off.

Even when her television programme is axed, Rebecca can't leave Connor's case alone. Has she invested too much in the case to keep her objectivity, and most importantly can Connor be trusted? Bligh is clearly not a saint, but is he a murderer? Rebecca refuses to let the matter lie.

This is not just a crime drama though as Rebecca must confront her own life, the lies she has told herself and the unreeling of her own life. It is a story of not taking people at face value.

Readers will immediately notice the influence that the high profile cases of David Bain and Arthur Thomas have had on the storyline. Traces of Red explores public and media perceptions of suspected murderers in cases like these and also whether social stereotypes can shade these perceptions, ultimately leading to a wrongful conviction. It is an excellent psychological crime drama, engaging from the first page and hard to put down. It will also make you check your doors are locked before sitting down to dinner.

RRP $30.00
Published and distributed by Penguin Group
 

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