Murder in Mataura! Clever, exciting and very local crime fiction

By Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb | Posted: Friday Feb 20, 2026

Overkill by Vanda Symon (Orenda Books, London, 2018)

This clever crime novel is the first in Symon's series (five books so far, plus Faceless, a standalone thriller set in Auckland) featuring police officer Sam Shephard. This first one is set in the tiny settlement of Mataura, which is south of the little city of Dunedin. The other books are set in and around Dunedin, they are great reads to learn a little about this pretty, wildlife-rich City of Literature. Try reading the books and looking up the places mentioned, as you might do with Ian Rankin's Rebus novels set in Edinburgh (kia ora sister City of Literature!) or Donna Leon's Commissioner Brunetti novels set in Venice, to add texture and a sense of place to the story:

"The day it was ordained that Gabriella Knowes would die there were no harbingers, omens or owl's calls. No tolling of bells. With the unquestioning faith of the well brought up, she invited death in."

Overkill has one of the most frightening and chilling prologues to a crime novel I've ever read, it grabs you, bewilders you and pulls you into the story - why has a young woman who's just become a mother been dispatched with professional efficiency - and what has happened to the baby? Constable Sam Shephard, exploring what Gaby, a journalist, was investigating before her death, soon enough finds herself sidelined and a suspect - the whole town knows the history between Sam and Gaby's husband. Sam continues to pull on the strings Gaby had knitted together as a confounding and deadly conspiracy surfaces.

The crime, the mystery, may be all you’d look for in a crime novel but Symon's writing about small town life, it's desperately-kept secrets, silent watchers, enfolding cosiness and power structures is also excellent as is her evocation of rural life, it's concerns and priorities. Sam Shephard is a welcome addition to the pantheon of police procedurals, she is straightforward, fresh and curious, and you'll want to read about what she does next.

Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb worked in independent bookshops in Aotearoa and the UK for over 34 years, as a bookseller and book buyer. She lives and reads in Dunedin.