Death on D'Urville

Pilot Claire Hardcastle is fiery, clever, daring -and she's trying to prove herself in a man's world. When her routine flight to pick a passenger up from a remote island in the Marlborough Sounds turns into a murder investigation she is excited to discover she may

hold a clue to the crime.

Why would anyone want to murder an inoffensive, reclusive novelist?

Her interest in solving the murder is heightened by her growing attraction to Detective Sergeant Jack Body.

As Claire and Jack's professional and personal partnership deepens they have to accept that, for others, obsession can turn sour, and become a malignant strain that leads to murder.

The key to solving Jorge's death depends on unravelling a tangle of motives as diverse as rifled grave goods, artefact smuggling, disputed Maori history, breached tapu, and child abuse.

It seems many people had a reason to murder the man who used to be Claire's passenger, and Jorge was not the man she thought she knew. When his criminal history is exposed, Claire unwillingly finds her sympathies realigning with the murderer.

The first novel in a new mystery series featuring Claire Hardcastle, commercial pilot and flying instructor, who operates out of Paraparaumu airport in New Zealand. Sure to delight the fans of Penelope Haines' earlier novels The Lost One and Helen Had A Sister, this exciting new series, set in the world of small aircraft aviation, features a strong protagonist, solid mystery and off-beat humour