New Zealand’s long standing Queen of Crime is, of course, Ngaio Marsh, but her trademark Inspector Alleyn novels were mostly set in England, apart from four where Alleyn is seconded to New Zealand. Vanda Symon, in contrast, sets her novels resolutely ‘at home’. I thoroughly enjoyed Prey (2024) which was set in Dunedin.

Here, Symon takes us the the capital city. We quickly learn that Max Grimes is a former Auckland police officer, now living rough, but with a day job as a cleaner. The circumstances surrounding his apparent downfall unfold as the story progresses. The titular Reaper has decided that his life mission is to rid the city streets of those he views as bottom feeders – the vagrants, the alcoholics, and vulnerable people who live in shop doorways and empty properties. People like Max, then? Well, perhaps not. Vanda Symon’s first task is to convince us that Max is tough and resilient enough – despite his reduced circumstances – to tackle a serial killer.

Homeless sleuths need some form of contact with and co-operation with the regular police, and for Max Grimes, this comes in the shape of DS Meredith Peters, an astute and resourceful officer, but one acutely aware of the residual misogyny not just in the police force, but in city politics.There is a parallel plot. Experienced readers know that these lines often converge, but for now, here it is: we learn that Max’s daughter was murdered by her drug-addled boyfriend, who subsequently took his own life. When Shane McFarlane, the boy’s father, approaches Max and asks him to trace the dealer whose product effectively killed both of their children, Max’s initial reaction is repulsion and a rude refusal. Later, he reconsiders, and agrees to help.

The Reaper is given sporadic third person narratives to himself, so we know exactly what he is up to, well before Max and the police do. He shoots dead a former chemistry teacher and successful crystal meth cook named Gary Cochrane, and it is Cochrane who pulls the two parallel plot lines together, much to the detriment of Max Grimes, who has had a bruising recent encounter with Cochrane in his search for the dealer who has caused him so much pain.

Vanda Symon cleverly emphasises Grimes’s physical vulnerability here, as she realises that a Reacher-like superhero is an unlikely fit for her man. I did wonder, however, about Max having a constantly charged and fully paid-up smartphone, despite his abject poverty, but hey ho, it’s crime fiction. When Max is framed for the shooting of Cochrane and arrested, at least he has a roof over his head but, mentally, he is in a very dark place.

The idea of a homeless solver of crimes is certainly not new. Trevor Wood introduced to his sleuth Jimmy Mullen in The Man on the Street, and followed up with One Way Street and Dead End Street. Is the concept plausible? Probably not, but then this particular reviewer must constantly remind himself that he is dealing with crime fiction. Readers want to be absorbed, intrigued and entertained; Vanda Symon emphatically ticks all three boxes. She has given us an ingenious plot which leads to a (literally) searing finale. Reaper is published by Orenda books and is available now.