The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone, by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward, is a Kiwi-infused mystery set in Havelock North, a town in New Zealand’s Hawk’s Bay region. This story about two ex-Brit coppers turned bookstore owners is written by … wait for it … two ex-Brit coppers turned bookstore owners. More than a bit self-referential, in other words, but forgivably so in service to a good story.
The plot starts rolling when an anonymous package arrives at the Sherlock Tomes bookshop prodding the owners, Garth and Eloise, to investigate the 20-year-old disappearance—and possible murder—of a teenage girl, while they are preparing for the launch of a new book by an internationally famous but secretive author. Some of it is fairly obvious, but at least one subplot went in a direction I was not expecting.
The tone starts off light, and there is plenty of humour scattered throughout, but while it is mostly easy escapism, there are darker threads woven in that gives it a little more bite. Anyone who loves bookstores and cozy mysteries could enjoy this. (And anyone who thinks a bookshop owner does nothing but sit around reading books all day should find this enlightening.)