Diane balances books and bestsellers2 min read

Reading Time: 2 minutes

By day, Diane Robinson works as an accountant, but by night she switches her focus to writing crime and mystery novels.

This hard work has paid off too, as Diane has self-published two novels, one of which earned a nomination for the 2024 Ngaio Marsh Awards for crime, mystery and thriller fiction.

Her novel, Nikolai’s Quest, published in late 2022, was nominated in the Young Adult category. The story follows the journey of young Russian orphan, Nikolai and his sister Anna, to uncover the truth about their parents, whom they suspect might still be alive. Their journey takes them on an adventure through secret tunnels too. They need to find out the truth before they move to New Zealand to live with their new adoptive family.

The nomination took Diane to Christchurch for the ceremony, where she visited the home of Dame Ngaio Marsh, the award’s namesake. To honour the iconic author, Diane wore the Dame’s trademark hat, a beret, to the event.

Although she didn’t win, Diane was honoured to be nominated, and to read an excerpt from her book for the audience.

Diane grew up as a voracious reader, a fan of mysteries and adventure, including The Famous Five, and dreamed of becoming the next Enid Blyton. One of her favourite things to do is read her books and talk about writing at libraries, schools, book groups, and retirement villages. Her next talk is at 12.30pm on Sunday, 17th November at St Heliers Library.

“To now be a writer standing in front of an audience, and talk about writing and signing copies is just astounding,” says Diane.

Her debut novel, Hive of Lies: An M.C. Connor Mystery, follows an accountant who ventures into the criminal underworld to investigate a friend’s suspicious death, and Diane is currently working on a sequel.

You can find Diane’s books on her online shop at roseandfernpublishing.nz or Amazon, or borrow them from the Auckland Libraries.