Australian and New Zealand crime and thriller writing is booming globally, with antipodean authors regularly featuring on awards and bestseller lists across Europe and North America, and overseas readers and publishers looking more and more to tales from lands Down Under.

Hailing from two sparsely populated nations on the far edge of the former Empire — neighbours that are siblings in spirit, vastly different in landscape — Australian and New Zealand crime writers offer readers a blend of exotic and familiar, seasoned by distinctive senses of place, outlook, and humour, and roots that trace to the earliest days of our genre.

Southern Cross Crime is the first comprehensive guide to modern Australian and New Zealand crime writing. From coastal cities to the Outback, leading critic Craig Sisterson showcases key titles from more than 200 storytellers, plus screen dramas ranging from Mystery Road to Top of the Lake. Fascinating insights are added through in-depth interviews with some of the prime suspects who paved the way or instigated the global boom, including Jane Harper, Michael Robotham, Paul Cleave, Emma Viskic, Paul Thomas, and Candice Fox.

'This groundbreaking and eye-opening guide to crime fiction in Australia and New Zealand reveals there is a lot more talent in both countries beyond that of Peter Temple, Jane Harper and Ngaio Marsh. Jon Cleary, Garry Disher, Emma Viskic, Paul Thomas and Vanda Symon are some of the names that deserve to be better known on this side of the world. As Michael Robotham (born in New South Wales) says in his introduction: 'You want bodies? Start digging.'' — The Times