Stephen Johnson Author

Stephen Johnson is a versatile author who writes gripping thrillers and crime fiction with vivid settings and compelling characters. His work spans various genres, from the adrenaline-filled Melbourne Spotlight Mystery series to historical fiction like Peace Stick, set during the Cuban Missile Crisis. His stories often explore themes of activism, personal struggles, and high-stakes drama, drawing inspiration from his diverse experiences as a journalist, TV producer, and world traveller.

New Series

"Stephen Johnson has brought to life a unique protagonist in the sharp, elegant, supremely confident Rebecca Cashmore – lawyer, journalist and consensual practitioner of sexual kinks – in this lively, intriguing thriller that demonstrates how a choice to willingly surrender your power doesn't make you weak - or even necessarily powerless."

~ Narrelle M. Harris (author of The Opposite of Life, Kitty and Cadaver, & The She-Wolf of Baker Street). Book 2 in 2025: Don’t Kiss the Gecko

No Repeats is the first in a New Zealand series of crime thrillers with bold content. It features Rebecca Cashmore, a TV celebrity and lawyer with secret kinky habits. Rebecca’s life implodes when a spurned playmate refuses to obey the rule that protects her privacy.

Available on Kindle

About the author:

Stephen Johnson is a journalist, TV producer, kayaker and wanderer who now plots thrillers from his home on the Tamaki River in Auckland.

His debut novel, Tugga’s Mob, was inspired by three seasons in Europe as a tour guide on double-decker buses in the ‘80s. Tugga’s Mob was a finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards for Best First Novel. It was written in a motorhome nicknamed Kwozzimoto while driving 33,000 kilometres through a dozen countries and more than 100 campsites. An attempt to escape work created a new passion and career.

The second crime fiction novel, Boxed, was published in November 2021 and is set in the world of animal rights activism and the Melbourne media.

Stephen’s first historic novel, Peace Stick, goes behind the Iron Curtain during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s a story of innocence and hope as two East German schoolgirls deal with a world on the edge of a nuclear war. The novel was inspired by a woman who now lives in Auckland.

The third novel in the Melbourne Spotlight Mystery series, Kaikōura Rendezvous, was published in 2023. A cyclone, a down-on-his-luck fisherman and a TV reporter suffering PTSD from a bullet wound converge in Kaikōura with deadly consequences.

2024 saw the Spotlight TV crew feature in Dark Deeds Down Under 2, a crime and thriller anthology edited by Craig Sisterson. It also marked the launch of a new Auckland series with No Repeats. Rebecca Cashmore’s high-profile media and legal careers are threatened when her secret life implodes.

2025 will be another busy year with the release of For Amy, the fourth book in the Melbourne Spotlight Mystery series, and the Rebecca Cashmore sequel, Don’t Kiss the Gecko.

Check all books written by Stephen

Check out the books Stephen has written by clicking the button below!

2020 Ngaio Marsh Finalist - Best First Novel

  • "Stephen Johnson has brought to life a unique protagonist in the sharp, elegant, supremely confident Rebecca Cashmore (No Repeats) – lawyer, journalist and consensual practitioner of sexual kinks – in this lively, intriguing thriller that demonstrates how a choice to willingly surrender your power doesn't make you weak - or even necessarily powerless."

    ~ Narrelle M. Harris (author of The Opposite of Life, Kitty and Cadaver, & The She-Wolf of Baker Street). Book 2 in 2025: Don’t Kiss the Gecko

  • "Tugga’s Mob is an enjoyable thriller entwined with the classic antipodean OE. Well-written with its mix of prose, diary entries, and news commentary."

    ~ Ngaio Marsh Awards. Finalist – Best First Novel

  • Johnson's background in TV journalism and European tour guiding comes to the fore in this absorbing and authoritative crime thriller Tugga’s Mob. Set across two timelines, with a diary as the connection, Tugga's Mob is both an entertaining travelogue and an insightful depiction of the competitive and sometimes murky realm of TV news reporting. Set across Europe, New Zealand and Australia, this complex story will have you guessing right to the end. A masterful work for a debut novelist and Ngaio Marsh short-lister.

    ~ Fin J Ross: Author – Billings Better Bookstore; Brasserie

  • "Peace Stick is a thought-provoking story in several ways...outstanding work!"

    ~ MJ Burr, Flaxroots.com