Hello fight fans, it‘s time for our monthly update on the rumbling Grimshaw-Kidman feud - this time courtesy of Herald journalist Tim Watkin.

In considerable depth and with no doubt very carefully chosen words, Watkin examines the fallout from Grimshaw’s "fairly negative" review of Kidman’s Songs from the Violet Cafe.

(Regular readers may remember our original piece on Grimshaw’s straight-talking review here, and the news of the brewing storm here.)

Watkin traces this vendetta back to a disagreement between Kidman and Grimshaw’s father, the author C. K. Stead. That particular argument was over the 1990 Labour Government’s decision to buy a residence for New Zealand writers in London.

In Kidman’s view, Grimshaw’s minor part in that dispute created a conflict of interest that should have prevented her from reviewing Songs from the Violet Cafe. Lest of all for the Listener, for it seems that this is not the first time that Kidman has had a run-in with New Zealand’s top current affairs weekly. According to Watkin:

Kidman said this week her complaint must be seen in the light of legal action she took against the Listener following an analysis of her career in the magazine in October 2002, titled 'All men are appalling etc'.

"It was an extraordinary personal attack on me by somebody I didn't know and I sought legal advice for several defamatory statements made about me and my family," said Kidman.

Kidman has a web site, and on its "News and Views" page, she publishes favourable comments on her latest novel from Next magazine, North & South and the Waikato Times. Then she says:

On the other hand, Charlotte Grimshaw, writing for the Listener said, amongst a litany of complaints: "The story is conjured with eagerness, with energy. But wouldn't we be able to believe in it if its tone were more rigorous and authentic."

Ah, but that's the Listener for you, and its generally discredited book pages must surely be destined for a shake up with the advent of a new editor.

Watch this space.

We will indeed. ("Generally discredited"? The Listener? Hmm.) See you next month.