The Brokenwood Mysteries

In need of funds for the Brokenwood Museum, curator Daphne Richards decides to sell its prized Egyptian mummy to a private collector, retired archaeologist Gordon Godley. The museum"s groundskeeper, Johnny Oades, offers to transport the mummy, along with his relatives Rhys and Frodo. But when they stop en route for a peek at their cargo, they are horribly shocked by what"s inside the sarcophagus.

The morning after Brokenwood"s first drum "n" bass festival, the van belonging to the band Starscraper suddenly explodes—seemingly from the volume of the music it was playing. When Vince "Apollo" Scully, one half of the Starscraper duo, is found dead inside, Gina theorizes that he may have been killed by sound. But was his death accidental, or did someone have a motive to silence the musician?

Lynley Foster moved to a community of beach cottages at Pāteke Point in search of peace and quiet, but that dream is dashed by her disagreeable neighbor, Wyatt, who is fond of loud music and his even louder leaf blower. Lynley forms a local society to fight back, leading a longtime resident to suggest a bonfire night to mend fences. The next morning, however, Lynley turns up bludgeoned to death.

One Sunday morning, the Brokenwood fountain is spraying reddish-brown water—due to a man impaled on its sculpture. The victim is an American tourist who has three gold coins secreted in various places on his person. These clues point to the curious sport of spoofing, and the detectives soon narrow their suspects down to the fellow competitors at the previous night"s spoofing championship.

Jane Fergusson is gold panning in the Brokenwood River when she is gunned down. The detectives soon learn that the Fergusson family has been feuding over gold since the 1860s with the Hollands, who have a homestead directly across the river from them. Could the killer be Bill Holland, a known antagonist of Jane"s? Or Maude, a recently fired farmhand? Or even Jane"s best friend?

The charred remains of a body are discovered in the burned-out remnants of a rural shed, but no one lived there, and no one was meant to be there at all. As Mike and Kristin are tasked with identifying the unidentifiable, it becomes apparent this is the third in a run of "accidental" deaths, all attended by the Brokenwood Fire Brigade. Could one of its members be Brokenwood"s first serial killer?