The Slow Roll by Simon Lendrum. The author is an Aucklander – used to work in advertising and is now CEO of something called The Commercial Communications Council. The lead character is a guy called O’Malley who’s a poker player (hence the title) and is known for doing favours for people, so no surprise when he’s bailed up by a desperate father saying he needs O’Malley’s help to find his daughter - which he very quickly does, but it appears not all is as it seemed and there’s a lot more at stake than one missing girl. In the gruff, hardboiled world of gambling and big men playing big games, O’Malley’s girlfriend Claire is a brilliant antidote, and Auckland shines. 

The Partisan by Patrick Worrall. Set mainly during the Cold War era of the 1960s, the partisan of the title is a Lithuanian woman named Greta who has spent the years since WW2 hunting down the Nazis who killed her friends and she’s become an extremely accomplished and successful assassin with one big target still in her sights. Meanwhile, a couple of young chess prodigies meet at a tournament and become unwitting pawns in a game of international espionage involving the Russian government, a Europe under threat and Greta’s pursuit of justice. It’s really good. 

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