Penny makes the momentous decision to return to New Zealand, working part-time for the defence force and freelance for the Whangarei Chronicle. She arrives in Ahipara to find that a postgraduate trainee at the Kaitaia library has gone missing, and assembles her team to find out why

When Hansel Becker turns up dead in a Sweetwater wetlands, Esther tells her that he was researching an old land dispute in the historical section of the library in his spare time.

A tale of three murders over more than a century leads to an illegal gold rush in swamp kauri, and then it gets worse. Penny's team uncovers a case of identity theft, and an international smuggling ring that will stop at nothing.

GOODREADS rating 4.38 from 8 reviews (Oct, 2025).

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• Crime, Thriller & MysteryMysteryCozy

• Publication Date: October 9, 2025
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 161 Pages
• File Size: 717 KB