"A body caught in a boat wreck. A young constable acting unlike himself. A young woman determined that her Patrick has been replaced. An international conspiracy tied to Ireland. And a new task for Mr. Hardy: to find who killed the man on the sandbar, and how it connects to Constable Foster and his family.
When Mr. Hardy assists Constable Foster's mate 'Ned' Kelly to pull a ship's boat off a sandbar, he is shocked to find a strangled body inside. But he is even more shocked when he learns that the last person seen with the dead man was Constable Foster.
Meanwhile, Aroha, the ferocious young Māori woman who has moved in with Foster has decided that the Patrick Foster who has returned from Napier is not the man she agreed to marry. Mr. Hardy and Aroha search for the real Patrick Foster, hoping to exonerate him, but a killer is on the loose, an Irish 'Invincible.' And Constable Foster may be more involved than they realize."
"The resurgence of the Irish brotherhood. An unidentified woman's body spilling out of a steamer trunk with freezer burn on her arms. The beginning of a new export industry for New Zealand that brought the country out of recession. An untimely earthquake. And a case with too many threads for Mr. Hardy.
Sent to the Wellington docks to watch for members of the Irish Brotherhood, Constable Foster narrowly avoids death -- twice in one day. But when a body spills from a broken steamer trunk bound for Napier, and Foster's mate dies from a poisoned pie intended for Foster, Mr. Hardy is sent down to Wellington to investigate. The mustering on sheep from the north east, the slaughterhouse near the docks, and the new technology for freezing meat to transport it by sea, all have his attention.
Mr. Hardy now has several mysteries to investigate. Who is trying to kill Constable Foster, and who killed the young woman in the sea chest? Who was the young woman in the chest? Meanwhile, Beatrice and Aroha bond over a mysterious kidnapping, but will never agree on the issue of clothing."
"New Zealand, November 1868: Sergeant Frank Hardy has been sent into hostile territory to bring back a witness to the murder of a prominent man, but the killer is still out there and the rebels are closing in.
After escorting a prisoner down from the front, Sergeant Frank Hardy of the 57th Regiment ('The Diehards') is ordered to return north to Woodall's Redoubt to bring a murder witness back to headquarters. A retired major and his wife, relatives of the new governor, have been shot to death on their farm near the redoubt.
Five hundred Māori rebels have been spotted within a day's march of town. A line of fortified hilltops, or redoubts, stands between the town and the rebels, but Woodhall's Redoubt has been all but abandoned, the cavalry having ridden to Poverty Bay to attend to the aftermath of a horrendous massacre of woman and children. A small contingent of raw recruits and volunteers remains in place to slow the advance of the rebel force and to shelter the locals.
The captain in charge has sent a volunteer into town to bring back an armed escort for the witness. In response, headquarters sends a single man: Sergeant Frank Hardy. By the time Hardy arrives the situation is so perilous the captain has decided to send two of the older settlers with Hardy.
Hardy reluctantly agrees to escort the small group, but less than an hour into the trip another murder occurs. Now he has a witness and civilians to protect from a murderer. And all the while, the drumbeats of war are growing louder.
This story takes place four months before the events in Chapter One of Not the Faintest Trace, book #1 of The Sergeant Frank Hardy Mysteries."
"He's all that's standing between his family and a hired assassin. And he's unarmed.
After Sergeant Frank Hardy watches the invasion of a peaceful Māori village by the Armed Constabulary, with crops destroyed and innocent men imprisoned, he lays down his rifle and swears never to shoot in anger again. Then he learns that a contract killer has come from America to avenge the death of a crooked detective from San Francisco. The killer is targeting the Hardy family. Can Frank save his wife and children without relying on his weapons?
This eighth book in The Sergeant Frank Hardy Mysteries hits all the high points of the previous seven: A showdown in the dangerous Manawatu Gorge; a kidnapping or two; murders; some new and some returning characters, including a giant Māori warrior and a mysterious major; and a battle on home ground."
"A body plunging off a cliff, a new craze for pedestrianism or race-walking with gambling, a constable willing to make a gruelling ninety miles through the tree-covered ranges without a break, and a testing undercover assignment for Mr. Hardy.
Napier to The Hot Lakes, New Zealand, 1882: When a race walking champion is forced off a cliff to his death, and his fellow race-walkers are all suspects, Mr. Hardy and Constable Foster go undercover in a race set up by the constabulary to find the killer. An accident-filled race walk to The Hot Lakes leads to a showdown in the bubbling mud and geysers in the centre of New Zealand's North Island.
A fast-paced, action-filled addition to the Mr. Hardy Investigates series."
"THREE MORE GRIPPING MYSTERIES SET IN LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY NEW ZEALAND
THE SECOND BOX SET IN THE SERGEANT FRANK HARDY MYSTERIES (BOOKS 4-6)
Join Sergeant Frank Hardy and Mette Hardy in these three exciting, action-packed mysteries.
DEAD SHOT
Frank and Mette take on the protection of a thoroughbred stud horse targeted by a brutal gang from the north. But when members of the gang are found closer to home than they realized, and Mette is kidnapped, the two must do all they can to defeat the gang.
LYING UNDER WATER
Floodwaters have covered most of Frank and Mette's farm, leaving them trapped on a high paddock. When Frank discovers the body of a neighbour with a carving knife in his throat, the pair must protect their adopted children while they work out who the killer is and how they can send for help. Meanwhile, a young woman has disappeared and wild animals are roaming through the floods.
COME TO GRIEF
When Frank takes on the job of following a suspected gold bullion thief, the pair set sail on a doomed steamship. Based on two true stories, the novel weaves a kindnapping, an arrest, and the aftermath of a maritime disaster into a fictional story about a New Zealand's greatest maritime disaster."
"A spirit photograph. A camera nicknamed a detective in a box. A Scandinavian boy who speaks only Maori. A body floating in the marshes north of Napier. And a new opportunity for James Hardy to exercise his mind.
New Zealand 1882: When Constable Foster catches a young, blond boy who runs with a gang of Maori boys, he discovers he speaks only Maori, even though he is clearly Scandinavian. Inspector Scully, busy with a body that has recently been discovered in the marshes of the lagoon north of Napier, asks James Hardy to investigate. The trail leads back to the Seventy Mile Bush, where a broken family shows no interest a missing child. But will it also lead back to the body in the swamp?
The Mr. Hardy Investigates series is a spinoff of The Sergeant Frank Hardy Mysteries."
"A historic Bowie knife. A mysterious major who wants the knife. The body of a young woman in a red coat found deep in the bush. And a chance for retired coachman James Hardy to reinvent himself in a new country.
New Zealand 1881: After a reclusive Maori on the run from the police leaps onto the back of his spring buggy, retired coachman JAMES HARDY discovers he has stumbled into a murder scene. While tracking a gang of lumber thieves, police have found the body of a young housemaid beside a log. The local hermit is hunched over the corpse clutching a knife with ties to the past, but did he do it? And why does he claim he took the knife for the major?
When the inspector in charge of the case asks Hardy for assistance, in the mistaken belief that he is a retired Scotland Yard detective, he agrees. He's a great listener, he's kept up with crime in the English broadsheets, he's an expert cryptic crossword solver, and he can drive a coach better than anyone he's met; he's confident he can catch the person who used the famous knife to kill Rosie. But he'll need help from his intrepid American wife, Beatrice, and a young constable recently arrived from Ireland.
For readers who enjoy historical mysteries with unusual settings and a cast of likeable characters, tossed with snippets of history. History and mystery: an unbeatable blend."
"When Sergeant Frank Hardy's father, James Hardy, arrives from England, he's accompanied by a woman he met on the voyage. In forced quarantine on Somes Island in Wellington Harbour, Frank is visited by a man claiming to be a detective from the Chinatown Squad in San Francisco, who warns Frank that his father is in deep trouble. The woman has enemies, and they are on the way to New Zealand to find her and kill her. If James Hardy gets in their way, he's a dead man.
Frank pursues the couple across the North Island by hansom cab, train, buggy and horse car; can he get to Napier and rescue his father before it's too late? Who is the mysterious man who keeps showing up? Is the detective whom he claims he is? Does James Hardy have a secret of his own? Find out in this gripping seventh book in The Frank Hardy Mysteries series."
"NEW ZEALAND, 1881
Sergeant Frank Hardy and his wife Mette travel to the southernmost point of New Zealand to chase gold thieves and to retrieve a manuscript for Mette to translate. But they have chosen to travel on an ill-fated voyage. Twenty miles from Bluff, on the south coast of the South Island of New Zealand, the SS Tararua hits a reef and sinks, with massive loss of life.
This real event was the second-worst maritime disaster in New Zealand's history, in a country heavily reliant on shipping at that time. But the couple has more than a shipwreck to deal with, including a kidnapping, a murder, two lively baby girls and several cases of mistaken identity.
Come to Grief is the sixth book in The Sergeant Frank Hardy Mysteries."
"THE WATERS ARE RISING, AND SO IS THE BODY COUNT
Trapped by floods on their horse farm, Frank and Mette Hardy offer shelter to two other families. But when one of their guests is found with a carving knife from their own kitchen in his neck , they must keep themselves alive until help comes. Who among the small group of people trapped on the farm by floods is the killer? It seems that everyone has a reason to kill the man who died, and when Frank is sickened by poison, he makes a decision that almost kills his pregnant wife.
A classic Agatha Christie/Knives out mystery, set in New Zealand in 1880 in the midst of a depression with war pending and the temperance movement still in full swing."
"'I enjoy historical fiction. Learning more about an earlier culture. But this is a darn good fiction adventure as well. Likeable characters. Deplorable villains. Makes for a great read.' Amazon Reviewer.
New Zealand, 1880: A body in a ditch, a missing wife, money in short supply, and a thoroughbred horse wanted by the leader of a brutal Australian gang - Sergeant Frank Hardy has a lot to handle. The third book in this gripping historical mystery series set in New Zealand in the 1880s continues the story of ex-Diehard Sergeant Frank Hardy and Danish settler Mette Jensen, now his wife.
The temperance movement has taken hold in New Zealand, and the country is locked in the depths of a depression as a new land war threatens. When Sergeant Hardy and his new wife find themselves in financial straits, Hardy takes on Dead Shot, a thoroughbred stallion from a town near the front. But the horse has been targeted by a brutal Australian gang trying to take over the racing world. Murder soon follows. When Hardy's wife disappears, apparently kidnapped by the gang, Hardy must track down the mysterious leader of the gang and take him out of commission.
This well-researched novel is for lovers of historical thrillers set in unusual locations who enjoy learning a bit of history with a gripping story."
