Showing results by author "Katherine Hayton" in All Categories

Fifty-something widow Willow Foxglove's dream is to operate a herbal tea shop. If only she could stop tripping over dead bodies long enough to organize the business! When murder comes to peaceful Aniseed Valley, Willow Foxglove is on the case. Believing the local sheriff to be unequal to the challenge, she pursues leads in between building a new tea shop and looking after her Maine Coon kitten, Mavis.

Paul Worthington just confessed to a murder that never happened. Magdalene Lynton died 40 years ago: a vivacious teenager who fell victim to a grotesque, accidental drowning. The coroner's office issued a verdict of death by misadventure and filed her case. The farming commune she'd lived within, splintered apart. Her body was left behind in a small, private cemetery encircled by acres of fallow ground. Until Paul Worthington confessed to her murder.  

When the murder victim is revealed as her 'kind-of' boyfriend, the finger of blame points squarely at Willow. To avoid a murder charge, she needs to track down the real killer. Believing that the local Aniseed Valley sheriff is unequal to the challenge, Willow sets about clearing her name. She must also decide the fate of a gifted Maine Coon kitten, who's set her allergies ablaze. As the net tightens, Willow draws on the book-smarts of best friend Harmony and conspiracy-laden facts from second-best friend Reg to help solve the crime.

Ngaire Blakes is trying to put her life back together. The ex-cop resigned from the police after a vicious assault left her battling PTSD. Dragged into a murder investigation, she's shocked to discover that all the evidence points to her. When the body count climbs, Ngaire flees to the cold comfort of her estranged father's hometown. In danger and not knowing whom to trust, she severs contact with her closest allies and must learn to rely on herself if she's going to catch the killer before it's too late.

Detective Ngaire Blakes is back on the case when a skeletonized murder victim is discovered - a crime that took place during the Springbok Tours of 1981. A period that pitted father against son, town against city, and police against protesters. When the victim is identified as Sam Andie, a young African American man transplanted from the States to NZ by his family, Ngaire must investigate whether racial motives were behind the death.

Marjorie Hardaway is going stir-crazy. With the country under Level 4 lockdown, her entire world has shrunk to the size of a computer screen. Braden is stuck at the other end of the country and zoom meetings are very nice but they're no substitute for a chest-crushing hug. Her few ventures into the community to exercise or deliver meals on wheels are the only opportunity for company - at a strict two-metre distance.

Marjorie Hardaway runs a cafe in the small New Zealand town of Hanmer Springs, overflowing with kittens looking for new "forever" homes. A busy job made more troublesome when life throws her into the path of unsolved crimes! With her own quirky style and with the help of friends from the tight-knit community, Marjorie sets to work to solve the puzzles.

Marjorie Hardaway is worried that her Cozy Kitten Cafe might soon go out of business. A property developer is building a rival store on the section in front, blocking out the wonderful view. However, her concern is soon replaced with a more serious problem when a new calico kitten turns out to be a witness to a murder!

When Reg doesn't turn up for his tour group, Willow is frightened something terrible has happened to him. After an increasingly panicked hunt, she and Harmony find him hiding away from the extraterrestrial life-forms he usually seeks. After Sheriff Wender uncovers a body in the same pasture Reg insists he encountered an alien being, they must consider whether a universal incident has taken place.

After taking a few days sick off work, Willow Foxglove's waitress, Tiffany Woodstock, is declared a missing person. When Clay, her husband, then turns up dead, the search escalates into a manhunt. Willow can't rest easy until she knows Tiffany is safe and sound. Unfortunately, though, her best friend Harmony seems to know something more, she's keeping mum.

Willow Foxglove is excited when her favorite television show comes to town to shoot an episode in the local park. But delight turns to dismay, when a sound man is electrocuted on set. An incidence with Mavis, her Maine Coon kitten, puts Willow near the scene, making her terrified she contributed to the accident. But when the sheriff's office determines the incident is a case of cold-blooded murder, they instead put her favorite actress squarely in the frame.

When a hotel manager's dead body closes the main road to Willow's new tea shop, none of her customers can get through to celebrate her opening day. On a mission to investigate the closure, she instead becomes embroiled in the case. But Willow isn't the only person to raise the local sheriff's suspicions. There's the janitor last seen fighting with the manager as he handed in his resignation. Not to mention a pair of teenage boys, who might have taken a prank too far.

With her home conservatory being noisily transformed into a tea room, Willow has quite enough on her plate. The last thing she needs is for her head builder to turn up dead in the nearby river. To make matters even worse, the local sheriff is certain that Willow's conspiracy-laden friend Reg is the murderer. Between her fears that the dream of owning her own business will now collapse and fighting to keep her friend out of jail, Willow is just about at her wit's end. Throw a gregarious British builder into the mix, and this might be a case that even Miss Walsham Investigates would have trouble cracking.

With Christmas fast approaching, Marjorie is baking for the community center. They're hosting the annual foster family Christmas party, an event stuffed to the gills with presents, food, and good company. But when the Christmas gifts generously donated for the foster children are stolen, Marjorie can't stand idly by and let the kids go without. With the entire community already on edge, it'll take a Christmas miracle for them to band together and find the culprits, all while ensuring the annual celebrations go ahead.

Marjorie Hardaway has a troublesome new Chartreux kitten on her hands. The aptly named Houdini is a master escape artist, regularly hiding in cupboards or running outside as though he can walk straight through walls. When a café regular, Fletcher Byrne, leaves behind a half-completed adoption form for Houdini, Marjorie is therefore eager for him to come back and finish the process. The problem is, nobody has seen or heard from Fletcher since that afternoon. The distance-learning student has disappeared into thin air!