He was mistaken for a retired Scotland Yard Detective. What else could he do but run with it? After his long career as a coachman in England ends dishonorably, James Hardy arrives in New Zealand seeking a new start. He finds it assisting the police in the small port of Napier.

Somewhere in the New Zealand bush, 1881: After a reclusive M?ori on the run from the police leaps onto the back of his spring buggy, retired coachman JAMES HARDY discovers that he's stumbled into a murder scene. While tracking a gang of lumber thieves, police have found the body of a young housemaid lying beside a log, dressed in a coat that belongs to Beatrice Hardy. 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 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.

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• Mystery, Thriller & SuspenseMysteryHistorical

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• Print Length: 224 Pages
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