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Philippa Barnes Mystery #2
Glacier Murder
Glacier guide sleuth Philippa Barnes investigates a murder in New Zealand's Westland National Park.
What do you do when you need to escape from your life? Vivien Revell didn’t intend to die. She was conflicted and scared but she was also creative and clever. She should have got away but years later Philippa discovers her mangled body in a crevasse on the Franz Josef Glacier. It looks like an accident but Vivien's friend Julia is convinced she was murdered and persuades Philippa to investigate. It soon becomes clear that someone is determined to keep Vivien's story hidden. A brutal murder brings a large police team to the village and as connections are made with the past more lives are threatened. In a case where empathy is dangerous Philippa discovers greater depths than she ever imagined in human relationships.
What do you do when you need to escape from your life? Vivien Revell didn’t intend to die. She was conflicted and scared but she was also creative and clever. She should have got away but years later Philippa discovers her mangled body in a crevasse on the Franz Josef Glacier. It looks like an accident but Vivien's friend Julia is convinced she was murdered and persuades Philippa to investigate. It soon becomes clear that someone is determined to keep Vivien's story hidden. A brutal murder brings a large police team to the village and as connections are made with the past more lives are threatened. In a case where empathy is dangerous Philippa discovers greater depths than she ever imagined in human relationships.
246 pages, Paperback
First published March 10, 2013
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11 people want to read
About the author
Trish McCormack
10 books9 followersI write crime fiction by night and work as an archivist by day. I grew up at Franz Josef Glacier and worked in various national parks before spending 10 years as a journalist on a small-town newspaper. I set my mysteries in some of New Zealand's most beautiful places. My glacier guide sleuth Philippa Barnes lives the dream, retreating to the icy spaces of the glacier when she needs time alone. She's self-deprecating, tenacious with a kind heart and black sense of humour. I now live in Wellington but Philippa roams free in the wilderness and loves finding mysteries to solve and stories to tell. I have written three mysteries in this series
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 3, 2014
I'm a sucker for a New Zealand setting, and Franz Joseph, at the foot of the glacier, makes a great village community to set a murder mystery in. This isn't quite a cozy mystery, maybe a cozy mystery with a sprinkling of soft-boiled garnish. The standout character in here is the glacier. There's a good sense of place, and the desolate beauty of the ice, talus, and scree.
It was unfortunate that the author used my least favorite motive for murder ever
but how was she to know (or care) that would be a hot button issue for me?
The MC is likeable, competent, and feels like a genuine representation of Kiwi women to me. All the women characters feel plausible. Her investigations are well-paced and give a good sense of exploring the emotional underbelly of a picture-postcard pretty tourist town.
The writing was okay. There's at least one more book in the series after this, so I'm sure McCormack is working on her style. According to the author's note, the dog in the story is a real-life dog, and the narrator says "giant schnauzer" a few too many times for me, just to make sure we don't forget. "Slipped under the mat was a crude picture of a giant schnauzer with his throat cut . . . .the sketch was crude but clever. It was recognizable as a giant schnauzer." There was too much shivering (from foreboding, not cold) and too much screaming of names. Also cliches like, "The next couple of days were a nightmare." That's just sloppy corner-cutting.
There were lots of small things that bugged me, like on page 136 the MC tells us she feels "drained" and "as if there was a wall between me and what I was feeling" but then not four paragraphs later, in the same scene, she feels "out of control." To me those are very different things. Or, on the first page of the book, "The silence was total" and then the very next sentence, "Reporters were setting up their equipment on the press bench."
Or,
These were only minor annoyances: the thing I really, seriously, disliked was the structure. The book opens as the MC and an unnamed woman friend wait for a jury to return their verdict. The story of the murder investigation is then told, essentially, in flashback, and the book concludes with the delivery of the jury verdict. This signals straight up a) that the killer is alive b) that they are brought to justice and c) that they are worth the MC feeling "nothing but sadness" for. I can find no reason to do this. Nor can I see why the MC gives us a bunch of exposition on page 1, before we get to the climbing action on page 2. I very much want to slice and dice and start the story on page 2/3 with the MC climbing the glacier and discovering the body. I nearly dnf'd before I even started.
Overall, this was a just-okay book for me, but I look forward to reading more from the author as she develops her craft.
It was unfortunate that the author used my least favorite motive for murder ever
but how was she to know (or care) that would be a hot button issue for me?
The MC is likeable, competent, and feels like a genuine representation of Kiwi women to me. All the women characters feel plausible. Her investigations are well-paced and give a good sense of exploring the emotional underbelly of a picture-postcard pretty tourist town.
The writing was okay. There's at least one more book in the series after this, so I'm sure McCormack is working on her style. According to the author's note, the dog in the story is a real-life dog, and the narrator says "giant schnauzer" a few too many times for me, just to make sure we don't forget. "Slipped under the mat was a crude picture of a giant schnauzer with his throat cut . . . .the sketch was crude but clever. It was recognizable as a giant schnauzer." There was too much shivering (from foreboding, not cold) and too much screaming of names. Also cliches like, "The next couple of days were a nightmare." That's just sloppy corner-cutting.
There were lots of small things that bugged me, like on page 136 the MC tells us she feels "drained" and "as if there was a wall between me and what I was feeling" but then not four paragraphs later, in the same scene, she feels "out of control." To me those are very different things. Or, on the first page of the book, "The silence was total" and then the very next sentence, "Reporters were setting up their equipment on the press bench."
Or,
These were only minor annoyances: the thing I really, seriously, disliked was the structure. The book opens as the MC and an unnamed woman friend wait for a jury to return their verdict. The story of the murder investigation is then told, essentially, in flashback, and the book concludes with the delivery of the jury verdict. This signals straight up a) that the killer is alive b) that they are brought to justice and c) that they are worth the MC feeling "nothing but sadness" for. I can find no reason to do this. Nor can I see why the MC gives us a bunch of exposition on page 1, before we get to the climbing action on page 2. I very much want to slice and dice and start the story on page 2/3 with the MC climbing the glacier and discovering the body. I nearly dnf'd before I even started.
Overall, this was a just-okay book for me, but I look forward to reading more from the author as she develops her craft.
January 6, 2020
I guess I really only finished this because I purchased it in New Zealand near to where the story occurred. Much too implausible. It was also irritating that so many characters said they had a secret, but would not reveal it.
April 25, 2017
This thriller is set on the West Coast of New Zealand's South island - an area Trish McCormack obviously knows inside and out. The landscape, native bush and glaciers compete with her sleuth Philippa to be the main character in her writing. Trish makes the landscape come alive in your mind; its changing moods, the beauty and the danger. I love the settings and the 'west coast ambience' - few can compete with her descriptions.
October 11, 2016
I read this book a year or so ago and have found myself thinking about it from time to time since. Thus I was pleased to find two more in the series over the past week or two, both of which I have now read. I found the plot was well drawn with the various threads of the story brought together to make a story that gained momentum until it reached a very satisfying conclusion. There was suspense that built from the start and carried through, and humour, and interactions between characters that made them interesting people that I could relate to. The characters were consistent from one book to the next, and their personality traits by and large enabled them to be easily recognised. There's nothing like a good murder mystery, and these books make the grade. I will definitely be looking out for the next ones.
June 20, 2020
Not quite a 'cosy' or even a Nancy Drew but with enough of violence and threat sprinkled around a circuitous plot to pass as a mystery. McCormack knows the territory and is a wonderful tour guide when it comes to describing the beauty and danger of the glaciers and the tensions between environmentalists and those interested in profiting from the 'glacier experience'. The glacier is the most original character in the book. The others, the possibly too old to be a girl 'girl detective with a handy set of pick-locks who always gets it wrong but someone stumbles on a solution, the handsome, craggy faced Conservation Department guy who has a secret - or does he, the bratty young sister who always seems to beracing off on her bike, the goofy Giant Schnauzer, the town gossips and even the victim - a young girl, too talented to stay in the small town, who supposedly just disappeared one day, but no one looked for her - are all stereotypical. Franz and Fox glaciers hold many stories and many secrets -but this one seemed implausibly contrived.
January 18, 2021
Hard to relate for me as my father took school camps into this area as a teacher at a local high school. Can't get fun and education out of my head when I think of Franz Joseph. Good on her for writing this plot. can't wait for another based in Lauder Central Otago or Orepuki in Southland 2 other wee towns I grew up in .as for the first book that also was based where we did school and scout camps. I'm ready for the next book based in the same place as my childhoods neighbour batch in Punakaiki.
November 4, 2018
Well Philippa Barnes is at it again. She refers to herself as the ‘girl detective’. The book is pleasant and full of glacier hikes, Philippa ‘s love life or lack of it and all the while she is sleuthing getting the wrong end of the stick and going to what she thinks is the suspect only to find that, again she got it wrong. It may sound a bit negative, but this is the second book and I’m just starting the third.
January 8, 2019
This was a fun read. I really liked the characters and the mystery. It also reminded me of my trip to New Zealand and getting to read about the places I visited and loved while there was wonderful.
January 19, 2015
This review by Di Hooper was originally published in The Climber 87 Autumn 2014
“Glacier Murder – A Phillippa Barnes Mystery.”
Having never wanted to push anyone in a crevasse ever, (could anyone even contemplate this most hideous of acts?) it is still a plausible situation and one which sets the scene for Trish McCormack’s second crime novel. The corpse is spat out of the ice many years on, and is discovered by the protagonist of the novel, Phillippa Barnes, who becomes compelled to find out the ”how” and the “why” of the cold-case appearance.
Readers of Trish’s first novel, “Assigned to Murder,” would already be familiar with assertive and sassy Philippa Barnes. She is a glacier guide on the Franz Josef Glacier and her life is abnormal in that she has the custody and charge of her very much younger sister, which is both constraining and irritating to her. As a “free spirit” Philippa likes her own company, and is a competent woman of the outdoors. She can alienate people by being rather outspoken but she is also an understated but inadvertent “genuine hero,” which ensures that many people look up to her with immense respect in her community. Philippa Barnes is one of the most “real” fictitious characters you will find if you are a kiwi reader looking for stories about the sort of women we enjoy being with and have as friends.
Following the deaths of both her parents in a climbing accident, Philippa Barnes works intermittently as a glacier guide to support them both, but is not averse to taking off whenever she can to solve another murder mystery. Trish’s first novel, “Assigned to Murder,” (published by Poutini Press), was set near Lake Kaniere where an elaborate circle of friends finally reveal the truth regarding a murder in the vicinity some years earlier. This novel is based around Phillippa solving a more recent, but linked murder of a known acquaintance of hers. The Phillippa of the second crime novel is still very much the same character as she was in the first – down to earth, intelligent, curious, unsuffering of any fools and dogged in her need to find out the truth when anyone else around her is trying their hardest to hide it.
“Glacier Murder” is not so convoluted as “Assigned to Murder” (which was perhaps a deeper thinker’s crime novel) and would be a very suitable summer novel addition to the packed holiday bag. It’s easy to read but has dollops of narrative tension and it is hard to put down. If you do have to leave it and head on out to a crag for a day or two, saving the next chapter for another time will not result in the reader losing any of the threads as the story is straightforward although never solvable until the end, and the characterisation is rich and consistently applied.
Di Hooper
The following review was sent to me by email by a reader who doesn't use Goodreads.
Hi Trish
I have just finished reading your first two books and really enjoyed them. I like Philippa and Kate very much and look forward to seeing what happens to them in the future. The settings are really appealing as well, great for those of us who like tramping and being in New Zealand’s wild places.
I am an avid reader of crime novels from all over the world and I can see that you have a great future with this series.
My husband, a climber in days gone by, really enjoyed the descriptions of the glacier as well as the stories.
Briar
“Glacier Murder – A Phillippa Barnes Mystery.”
Having never wanted to push anyone in a crevasse ever, (could anyone even contemplate this most hideous of acts?) it is still a plausible situation and one which sets the scene for Trish McCormack’s second crime novel. The corpse is spat out of the ice many years on, and is discovered by the protagonist of the novel, Phillippa Barnes, who becomes compelled to find out the ”how” and the “why” of the cold-case appearance.
Readers of Trish’s first novel, “Assigned to Murder,” would already be familiar with assertive and sassy Philippa Barnes. She is a glacier guide on the Franz Josef Glacier and her life is abnormal in that she has the custody and charge of her very much younger sister, which is both constraining and irritating to her. As a “free spirit” Philippa likes her own company, and is a competent woman of the outdoors. She can alienate people by being rather outspoken but she is also an understated but inadvertent “genuine hero,” which ensures that many people look up to her with immense respect in her community. Philippa Barnes is one of the most “real” fictitious characters you will find if you are a kiwi reader looking for stories about the sort of women we enjoy being with and have as friends.
Following the deaths of both her parents in a climbing accident, Philippa Barnes works intermittently as a glacier guide to support them both, but is not averse to taking off whenever she can to solve another murder mystery. Trish’s first novel, “Assigned to Murder,” (published by Poutini Press), was set near Lake Kaniere where an elaborate circle of friends finally reveal the truth regarding a murder in the vicinity some years earlier. This novel is based around Phillippa solving a more recent, but linked murder of a known acquaintance of hers. The Phillippa of the second crime novel is still very much the same character as she was in the first – down to earth, intelligent, curious, unsuffering of any fools and dogged in her need to find out the truth when anyone else around her is trying their hardest to hide it.
“Glacier Murder” is not so convoluted as “Assigned to Murder” (which was perhaps a deeper thinker’s crime novel) and would be a very suitable summer novel addition to the packed holiday bag. It’s easy to read but has dollops of narrative tension and it is hard to put down. If you do have to leave it and head on out to a crag for a day or two, saving the next chapter for another time will not result in the reader losing any of the threads as the story is straightforward although never solvable until the end, and the characterisation is rich and consistently applied.
Di Hooper
The following review was sent to me by email by a reader who doesn't use Goodreads.
Hi Trish
I have just finished reading your first two books and really enjoyed them. I like Philippa and Kate very much and look forward to seeing what happens to them in the future. The settings are really appealing as well, great for those of us who like tramping and being in New Zealand’s wild places.
I am an avid reader of crime novels from all over the world and I can see that you have a great future with this series.
My husband, a climber in days gone by, really enjoyed the descriptions of the glacier as well as the stories.
Briar
October 24, 2013
'Glacier Murder' is a great crime novel set on New Zealand's wild West Coast of the South Island. As well as describing in detail the settings for what is a complex and gripping yarn, McCormack draws on personal knowledge of glaciers and their twists and turns. A tale that keeps the pages turning, 'Glacier Murder' is a great read. Check it out, as well as McCormack's first book, 'Assigned to Murder'.
April 12, 2015
Great read. It was well written, I loved the setting, liked the main characters and could not guess the ending. I look forward to reading more in this series.
April 8, 2017
I loved the setting on the glaciers of West Coast New Zealand. The characters were interesting and believable in this cosy-murder-mystery style story.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews