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Penrose & Pyke Mysteries #5
Murder So Rash
Penrose and Pyke are under siege. A mischievous gossip, a series of robberies, and now a callous murder and a looming epidemic. How much worse can it get?
When a shopkeeper is killed during a robbery, Detective Charlie Pyke is desperate to track down the killer for reasons close to his heart. If only it was that simple. A tell-all article in the local ladies’ journal threatens both his investigation and his private life. Charlie needs Grace Penrose to stand by him, but she has her hands full preventing a deadly outbreak of measles.
The rash of clues only starts to make sense when they combine forces. The problem is, neither knows quite what is at stake.
The ‘Penrose & Pyke Mysteries’ are a series of heart-warming, pulse-racing historical mysteries, set during a remarkable period of social upheaval in 1890s New Zealand.
When a shopkeeper is killed during a robbery, Detective Charlie Pyke is desperate to track down the killer for reasons close to his heart. If only it was that simple. A tell-all article in the local ladies’ journal threatens both his investigation and his private life. Charlie needs Grace Penrose to stand by him, but she has her hands full preventing a deadly outbreak of measles.
The rash of clues only starts to make sense when they combine forces. The problem is, neither knows quite what is at stake.
The ‘Penrose & Pyke Mysteries’ are a series of heart-warming, pulse-racing historical mysteries, set during a remarkable period of social upheaval in 1890s New Zealand.
- GenresMysteryHistorical
276 pages, Paperback
Published November 10, 2023
41 people want to read
About the author
Rose Pascoe
18 books37 followersRose Pascoe writes historical mysteries with a dash of romance, when she isn’t plotting real-life adventures. She lives in beautiful New Zealand, land of beaches and mountains, where long walks provide the perfect conditions for dreaming up plots and fickle weather provides the incentive to sit down and actually write the darn things. After a career in health, justice and social research, her passion is for stories set against a backdrop of social revolution. Her heroines are ordinary women, who meet the challenges thrown at them with determination, ingenuity, courage, and humour.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 1, 2025
Had I had the time, I would have happily called out of work to continue reading this. I read the end, ahead of time, since I did have to work and household chores and such. It's a sweet, story in the fact, that Charlie has found the perfect engagement ring for Grace, however, before he can purchase it, the place is robbed and the owner murdered, the engagement ring among the stolen items. I thought for certain, I had figured this one out....I didn't, but it made sense how it played out. A really cute series!
November 19, 2023
Easily 4 1/2 stars for Rose Pascoe's latest entry in the Penrose and Pyke mysteries. There are plenty of red herrings and blind alleys in this adventure which kept the story moving along as a brisk pace. As usual, Ms. Pascoe does not disappoint. And there are promises of more books to come. Yay!
November 20, 2023
A good entry in the Penrose & Pyke series, with the focus on Grace and Charlie, versus the ever-widening cast of characters and found family that both charm and overwhelm in the previous books.
There are two main mysteries here: Grace tracing measles through Dunedin (and beyond), while Charlie attempts to track down a murderer and robber, whose thefts include the engagement ring he was planning to buy Grace. The surviving witness describes a rash on one of the assailants’ arms, dovetailing the two investigations.
There was less focus on treating measles cases and more on detective work than one might expect, which kept the plot both well-moving and tidy. The introduction of Caroline Davenport, who seemed to be intended as a complicated or possibly ambiguous character, ultimately seemed more unevenly written at the end, although I’d like to see her developed further.
There are two main mysteries here: Grace tracing measles through Dunedin (and beyond), while Charlie attempts to track down a murderer and robber, whose thefts include the engagement ring he was planning to buy Grace. The surviving witness describes a rash on one of the assailants’ arms, dovetailing the two investigations.
There was less focus on treating measles cases and more on detective work than one might expect, which kept the plot both well-moving and tidy. The introduction of Caroline Davenport, who seemed to be intended as a complicated or possibly ambiguous character, ultimately seemed more unevenly written at the end, although I’d like to see her developed further.
October 31, 2025
Another grad book in the series. Grace is worried about the measles outbreak coming from a ship from Australia. Also a jewelry heist at ta jewelry store where the owner was killed during the robbery. The robbers were thought to also come from the same ship as the measles. So Charlie and Grace work together to solve the crimes and keep the epidemic out of New Zealand.
January 4, 2024
I absolutely love this series with its combination of a witty, intelligent set of detectives, Charlie and Grace, and a historically-based mystery set in New Zealand.
February 23, 2024
This is a packed story in the Penrose & Pyke series. I was guessing until the end of the story.
May 16, 2025
Wonderful series with well-written characters and plot just needs a proofreader.
August 7, 2025
4.25/5 stars
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews