Vanda Symon

Vanda Symon is the Author of the Number 1 best selling Detective Sam Shephard crime fiction series and the stand alone thriller Faceless.

She is a three time finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Fiction novel was shortlisted for the British CWA New Blood Dagger award and has twice been nominated for the  USA Barry Awards.

Vanda calls Dunedin, New Zealand home. She is the President of the New Zealand Society of Authors, and was the Chair of Copyright Licensing New Zealand.  Vanda had the way out of her comfort zone experience of starring in the reality television show The Traitors New Zealand, and produced and hosted the radio show Write On for 18 years.

When Vanda isn’t writing or busy at her day job working in an agritech start-up, she attempts to tame her garden, drinks a lot of tea, and can be found on the business end of a fencing foil.

Vanda is a New Zealander of Fijian descent.

Her 2024 novel, Prey, was a finalist in the 2025 Ngaio Marsh Awards for Best Novel.