Mr. Hardy Investigates

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.

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 in a missing child. But will it also lead back to the body in the swamp? The Mr. Hardy Investigates series is a spin-off of the Sergeant Frank Hardy Mysteries.

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.