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The Bookshop Detectives #1
Dead Girl Gone
Listening Length 8 hours and 59 minutes
""When we opened Sherlock Tomes people warned us that we'd made a terrible mistake. People warned us that e-readers were taking over. People warned us that we'd never compete with Amazon. The one thing they didn't warn us about was the murders.""
Introducing...the Bookshop Detectives!
When a mystery parcel arrives at Sherlock Tomes bookshop in small-town Havelock North, New Zealand, husband-and-wife owners Garth and Eloise (and their petrified pooch, Stevie) are drawn into the baffling case of a decades-old missing schoolgirl.
Intrigued by the puzzling, bookish clues the two ex-cops are soon tangled in a web of crime, drugs, and floral decapitations, while endeavouring to pull off the international celebrity book launch of the century.
With their beloved shop on the chopping block and the sinister suspect who forced them to run away from Blighty reemerging from the shadows, have Garth and Eloise Sherlock finally met their Moriarty?
For once, the cover copy is no Diary of a Bookseller really does meet Thursday Murder Club meets Bookseller at the End of the World in this witty debut novel, full of literary clues, comedic insights and the kinds of Kiwis you only ever meet in bookshops.
""When we opened Sherlock Tomes people warned us that we'd made a terrible mistake. People warned us that e-readers were taking over. People warned us that we'd never compete with Amazon. The one thing they didn't warn us about was the murders.""
Introducing...the Bookshop Detectives!
When a mystery parcel arrives at Sherlock Tomes bookshop in small-town Havelock North, New Zealand, husband-and-wife owners Garth and Eloise (and their petrified pooch, Stevie) are drawn into the baffling case of a decades-old missing schoolgirl.
Intrigued by the puzzling, bookish clues the two ex-cops are soon tangled in a web of crime, drugs, and floral decapitations, while endeavouring to pull off the international celebrity book launch of the century.
With their beloved shop on the chopping block and the sinister suspect who forced them to run away from Blighty reemerging from the shadows, have Garth and Eloise Sherlock finally met their Moriarty?
For once, the cover copy is no Diary of a Bookseller really does meet Thursday Murder Club meets Bookseller at the End of the World in this witty debut novel, full of literary clues, comedic insights and the kinds of Kiwis you only ever meet in bookshops.
9 pages, Audible Audio
First published July 23, 2024
146 people are currently reading
2319 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 328 reviews
February 28, 2025
this was a nice and easy read. i wasn’t quite into it until a little over half way into the book. it wasn’t bad, but i wouldn’t say it was amazing either.
August 3, 2024
I absolutely loved this! It oozed fun and I found myself laughing out loud a lot.
A page turner with bits and bobs of Aotearoa that related so well being a kiwi myself.
A page turner with bits and bobs of Aotearoa that related so well being a kiwi myself.
August 10, 2024
I am, in a lot of ways, the perfect audience for this book
Wardinis (the bookstore the Wards own) is a second home to me, and I love the staff that run it. So I was very excited to get my hands on this and had such a great time reading it. I loved all the nods to people and places in the Bay as that's not something I have really come across before. The characters, especially those from the bookstore were so accurate I frequently cracked up
Aside from my love of Wardinis this was also a fun, cozy mystery. Murder and death are interspliced with the day to day running of a bookstore and all the characters one meets. The mystery kept me guessing and whenever I thought I had guessed how this was going to end I would be surprised and scratching my head again. This was fun escapism with a mystery a bookstore and characters who I know and adore, what's not to love! The only thing I don't like is that its over now and I have to wait to get another book in this series (please let there be another book in this series!!)
Wardinis (the bookstore the Wards own) is a second home to me, and I love the staff that run it. So I was very excited to get my hands on this and had such a great time reading it. I loved all the nods to people and places in the Bay as that's not something I have really come across before. The characters, especially those from the bookstore were so accurate I frequently cracked up
Aside from my love of Wardinis this was also a fun, cozy mystery. Murder and death are interspliced with the day to day running of a bookstore and all the characters one meets. The mystery kept me guessing and whenever I thought I had guessed how this was going to end I would be surprised and scratching my head again. This was fun escapism with a mystery a bookstore and characters who I know and adore, what's not to love! The only thing I don't like is that its over now and I have to wait to get another book in this series (please let there be another book in this series!!)
February 7, 2025
Did not enjoy as a reading or listening experience (did both). Particular grimaces at the dreadful pronunciation and accent work by the audiobook narrators - so bad. They even got basic English words wrong, let alone kupu Māori. Shudder.
January 20, 2025
Really not worth the hype. It must be an NZ thing, that anything published here gets the big drum. The story features two ex-cop booksellers who are invited to solve a crime in the run-up to an important book launch. The setting is that of the authors life, however the characters are smug and painful, surely if you base characters of yourself you would try to make them likeable? The plot itself is good enough, although I never guess the plot twist early I did see this one coming miles off. The book features at least two painful plugs of the authors other books “oh, I wish I’d written them” exclaimed by the alter ego Garth. The unnecessary digs at J K Rowling, Jordan B Peterson and David Walliams could also be cut, spare me a bookshop with such a political agenda. If you’re looking for cosy murders, go for Thursday Murder Club, and if you want bookshop setting then turn to Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. This was not worth the time.
April 13, 2025
Super cute and cosy, loved all the bookseller injokes and the sense of real community that gathers around a bookshop.
Read
August 24, 2024DNF’D at 23%
I thought the premise of this book was super interesting but unfortunately I just don’t think it was for me. I loved how the authors based this book off themselves as it was a unique way to go about writing characters. However, I just didn’t vibe with the story and that is on me. I couldn’t find myself getting interested enough to want to continue and if I did I feel this book would have been at most a 3 star read. Maybe one day I’ll pick it back up and give it another go…
Also this is not to say that others won’t enjoy it because I’ve seen plenty of wonderful reviews I just didn’t find myself wanting to finish it.
I thought the premise of this book was super interesting but unfortunately I just don’t think it was for me. I loved how the authors based this book off themselves as it was a unique way to go about writing characters. However, I just didn’t vibe with the story and that is on me. I couldn’t find myself getting interested enough to want to continue and if I did I feel this book would have been at most a 3 star read. Maybe one day I’ll pick it back up and give it another go…
Also this is not to say that others won’t enjoy it because I’ve seen plenty of wonderful reviews I just didn’t find myself wanting to finish it.
October 31, 2024
Absolutely loved this book, the style of writing, humour, being set in NZ, Havelock North and the quirky , lovable characters visiting and working in the Sherlock Tomes bookshop. And then there are the mysteries to be solved!
“ I’ve been asleep for most of the drive back,partly because being unconscious is the best way to experience Eloise's driving and partly because when I die I want to die in my sleep. I am , however, rudely awakened as Eloise negotiates the roundabout at the Napier Road and Romanes Drive intersection in some sort of sling-shot manoeuvre. I sit straighter, adjust my seatbelt and grip the edge of the seat"
“ I’ve been asleep for most of the drive back,partly because being unconscious is the best way to experience Eloise's driving and partly because when I die I want to die in my sleep. I am , however, rudely awakened as Eloise negotiates the roundabout at the Napier Road and Romanes Drive intersection in some sort of sling-shot manoeuvre. I sit straighter, adjust my seatbelt and grip the edge of the seat"
January 28, 2026
Read it in a day which says enough about how enjoyable it was!
June 22, 2025
I love me some cozy crime! I enjoyed the little scenes from the bookshop, but at the same time they made it a little hard to stay invested in the mystery.
September 12, 2024
4 1/2⭐️ rounded down
This is the cosy crime of my dreams, full of interesting and potentially shady characters and set in one of my absolute favourite places in New Zealand.
I absolutely loved the banter between the two main characters as they prepare for an international book launch while also investigating a cold case.
The story left me guessing to the end and was such a fun time!
This is the cosy crime of my dreams, full of interesting and potentially shady characters and set in one of my absolute favourite places in New Zealand.
I absolutely loved the banter between the two main characters as they prepare for an international book launch while also investigating a cold case.
The story left me guessing to the end and was such a fun time!
March 5, 2025
This recent publication has been chosen for an upcoming book club discussion. While it was well paced- short chapters alternating between two key protagonists- namely Garth and Eloise- it was not as compelling or as intriguing as 17 Years Later or the Mick Herron series Slow Horses.
The structure was interesting as was the countdown to the actual mystery book launch but parts were a little disconnected for me- especially the Pinter component of the narrative that seemed to get lost among the investigation into the suspected murder of Tracey Jarvis.
Some of the characters were interestingly created as was the setting of two ex British police detectives having migrated to New Zealand to open a bookshop in Havelock North and live a changed pace of life.
A pleasant read but not one that will make me seek out any more from this series any time soon.
The structure was interesting as was the countdown to the actual mystery book launch but parts were a little disconnected for me- especially the Pinter component of the narrative that seemed to get lost among the investigation into the suspected murder of Tracey Jarvis.
Some of the characters were interestingly created as was the setting of two ex British police detectives having migrated to New Zealand to open a bookshop in Havelock North and live a changed pace of life.
A pleasant read but not one that will make me seek out any more from this series any time soon.
September 16, 2024
i loved loved loved this book. as someone who is hastings/havers born and bred i can say that the essence of the area is truly captured. the characters are amazing, the plot is great & truly keeps you guessing until the last second (though i did have some partially true theories). truly hope this is going to help a series!
August 31, 2025
This is absolutely in the same category as the Thursday murder club books in the best way - humorous, quirky characters, a setting (hawke’s bay NZ) that sounds cozy and close knit. And zero surprise to find out in the acknowledgements that they are real life booksellers — so many loving references to books and readers.
September 7, 2025
Cozy book that references novels in current circulation. Lots of wink, wink, nudge, nudge feels.
The plot twist took me by surprise!
The plot twist took me by surprise!
October 26, 2024
Cute little read 🥰 loved the local setting details from an area I know well
December 25, 2025
3.5. A good entertaining read.
January 2, 2025
This was really enjoyable. Thanks Lukey (husband). I'm looking forward to reading other adventures of these "weirdo" bookshop owners.
July 18, 2025
Really enjoyable book and loveable characters.
May 10, 2025
This book was so much fun on so many levels. First, it begins in a bookshop and it regularly references lots of types of writing and NZ writing. Secondly, Eloise and Garth and their staff are delightful distinctive figures. (I’ll stop numbering now and just talk about the good aspects.) It is set in Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay where my grandchildren live. The book couple are retired police people (from the UK). A mysterious package sets them investigating the disappearance many years ago of a (fictional) Te Mata HS schoolgirl, believed murdered. As you would expect there are many false directions and complications but it all comes together spectacularly in the end with the circus at the Village Green. The writers certainly keep your attention and my familiarity with the setting left me delighted.
August 13, 2024
A wonderful read by the owners of our lovely local bookshop. The story revolves around their shop and is about a package being delivered to their shop plus a request for the promotion of an upcoming book but what does it have to do with the disappearance of a teenage schoolgirl 20 years ago. Enjoyable as many of the characters were very familiar.
October 5, 2024
How can a murder mystery also be delightful and make me laugh?
March 1, 2025
Live in Hawkes Bay? Come for sights you’ll know. Live New Zealand? Come for familiar character types you’ll recognise. Live somewhere else? Come for the cosy mystery.
Regardless of why or how you came by this book, stay a while and relax into a beautifully crafted narrative filled with quirky characters, finely drawn description and amusingly written dialogue.
If I could give it 10 stars I would. Can’t wait to see what the Sherlock Tomes proprietors and customers get up to next time.
Regardless of why or how you came by this book, stay a while and relax into a beautifully crafted narrative filled with quirky characters, finely drawn description and amusingly written dialogue.
If I could give it 10 stars I would. Can’t wait to see what the Sherlock Tomes proprietors and customers get up to next time.
March 10, 2025
Something about the protagonists being slightly fictionalised versions of the authors annoyed me from the get go. This story is fine. It could use some solid editing as it’s longer than it needs to be, with little ‘slice of life’ chapters that belong to a different genre. I found the story a bit absurd and the climax of the reveal ridiculous. The self promotion in the middle also rankled me.
The mystery was enough to keep me reading as I wanted a resolution, but the primary source of satisfaction is now the book is finished.
The mystery was enough to keep me reading as I wanted a resolution, but the primary source of satisfaction is now the book is finished.
March 8, 2025
A generous 3! Didn't like the audio book at all! Should have stopped listening and read a hard copy. The narration made the story seem even more clichéd. Accents awful. And it's never a good thing when I work out the plot twist early on in the book. Only kept reading because I'm a kiwi and I know Havelock North and Hawkes Bay well.
August 7, 2024
Absolutely loved this! The ins and outs of bookselling and little jokes were hilarious and the mystery was tense. The perfect combination of all of the things I love in a great book. I want a job at Sherlock Tomes with these characters!
January 22, 2025
3.5
Might even have given a higher rating, but I listened to it as an audio book and the pronunciation of some of the NZ place names was incorrect and some of the local voices sounded more Australian than kiwi.
Apart from that i definitely enjoyed this
Might even have given a higher rating, but I listened to it as an audio book and the pronunciation of some of the NZ place names was incorrect and some of the local voices sounded more Australian than kiwi.
Apart from that i definitely enjoyed this
August 24, 2025
An enjoyable and lighthearted story, featuring witty banter, a cosy setting and a wonderful glimpse into the life of booksellers, while solving a murder mystery.
This is a fantastic debut!
This is a fantastic debut!
May 8, 2025
Setting is a crucial element in Cosy Crime novels: Agatha Christie's Orient Express and countless country houses, Horowitz's gated close in Close to Death, Hallett's The Appeal's am-dram group shenanigans set in a small English country town and, of course, the Thursday Murder Club's retirement village. Now New Zealand has finally caught up: authors Gareth Ward and Louise Ward have set this hugely popular crime novel in and around a bookshop in New Zealand's Havelock North.
But, wait! It gets more interesting. Authors (Gareth... AND Louise, actually Goodreads) own bookshops (Wardini Books) in Havelock North and Napier and, like the book's protagonists (Garth and Eloise), they are ex-UK coppers. Investigative skills honed during (the novel's) Garth and Eloise's former life are revived when a mysterious parcel arrives at the shop, addressed to Eloise and, scarily, including her police constable identifying collar number. Could this be a blast from a traumatic past? Has Eloise's bete noire Pinter - surely still incarcerated in an English prison - come back to haunt her? Memories of him still have the power to utterly unnerve Eloise. If so, why would he want her to look into the twenty year old disappearance of Tracey Jervis, 17, of this parish?
Garth and Eloise Sherlock (the bookshop's called Sherlock Tomes, of course it is) have a lot on their plate: sales rep Rose has just informed them Isabella Garrante, writer of international best-sellers, has chosen their bookshop to launch her new title in 55 days' time and, last but by no means least, staffer Kitty is mourning the loss of her 'babies': person or persons unknown have been cutting the heads off her flowers in the shop's planter box.
The narrative, which chapter-alternates between the pair, offers insight into their characters, their strong (close, but not sloppy close) relationship, their tender affection for their rescue dog, Stevie and his foibles (a book lover, the new Ben Aaronovitch sits safely on a high shelf out of Stevie's paws after he'd massacred a Nicky Pellegrino) and allows, plot-wise, each to go their separate investigative ways before coming together to ponder the gathered information. Garth and Eloise emerge as funny, smart, idiosyncratic, self-deprecating, warm characters with a close connection to, and immersion in, their local community (the Business Association, host the Writers' Festival, writers' group, book clubbers, hosts of the annual Battle of the Book Clubs charity fundraiser, Dungeons and Dragons nights.....).
In fact, this sense of community is one of the novel's charms. Ward-version Havelock North boasts businesses sporting punning names (Sell your Sole, Time to Quill, Hard Core Apples), police are accessible, local body politics are contentious and everyone has opinions about Franklin White, a shady, suave property developer and..... the vanishing of young Tracey Jervis. Garth and Eloise know their customers, recommend books to suit their tastes, treat them with cheery respect, including greetings in Maori and occasional much called-for tolerance.
In fact, the bookshop's more eccentric characters' feature prominently providing much of the novel's humour and even play a part in solving the 'case': The Admiral, complete with silver-topped cane, who speaks largely in telegrammese naval lingo but there are hints of a past not far removed from espionage. Then there's Meryl, 'a painfully thin figure with greying dreadlocks.......taxing when it comes to the question of calendars.' A Scotch Terrier calendar is her preference but 'A Nice Jewish Guys' calendar would be acceptable. An artist (as she frequently observes), she's prone to forgetting her keys and where she's parked her car. Then there's Daffyd of the ripe aroma and stream-of-conscious babble and Dead Girl Deidre, a goth emerging 'like Bela Lugosi from a coffin' with black hat, long black dress and a black lace parasol who always pays in $100 notes 'prised from a velvet purse.' It's a motley crew but not overly exaggerated, as this bookseller can attest.
As the plot canters along, bookworm and bookseller readers relish the behind-the-counter stuff: embargo folderol, DdA's, advanced reading copies - galleys in US, we learn, organising returns and marshalling the magazines, writing newsletters, staff meetings (spag bol from Garth, Phyllis's cheesecake 'out of the Ottolenghi book') where everyone excitedly guesses a new title from
their favourite author (Patrick Rothfuss, Colm Toibin or the new gay zombie romance) as the focus of the upcoming book launch.
'Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone' is a great debut from Gareth and Louise Ward (though Gareth Ward is an ward-winning young adult writer and Louise is a regular book reviewer on RNZ's Nine to Noon programme). In this debut novel this talented duo ensure dark deeds come to light, a bad actor pays the price and order is satisfactorily restored; but what also remains is also an ambient feel of community, good humour (the shop's Philips vacuum cleaner is called a Pullman), good fun and contentment. But a word to the sensitive, it's a bit sweary.
And the good news is Louise and Gareth Ward are popping up at at events around the country talking about their newly released sequel 'Bookshop Detectives: Tea and Cake and Death'. next Friday in Hamilton. Hurray! 5 stars.
But, wait! It gets more interesting. Authors (Gareth... AND Louise, actually Goodreads) own bookshops (Wardini Books) in Havelock North and Napier and, like the book's protagonists (Garth and Eloise), they are ex-UK coppers. Investigative skills honed during (the novel's) Garth and Eloise's former life are revived when a mysterious parcel arrives at the shop, addressed to Eloise and, scarily, including her police constable identifying collar number. Could this be a blast from a traumatic past? Has Eloise's bete noire Pinter - surely still incarcerated in an English prison - come back to haunt her? Memories of him still have the power to utterly unnerve Eloise. If so, why would he want her to look into the twenty year old disappearance of Tracey Jervis, 17, of this parish?
Garth and Eloise Sherlock (the bookshop's called Sherlock Tomes, of course it is) have a lot on their plate: sales rep Rose has just informed them Isabella Garrante, writer of international best-sellers, has chosen their bookshop to launch her new title in 55 days' time and, last but by no means least, staffer Kitty is mourning the loss of her 'babies': person or persons unknown have been cutting the heads off her flowers in the shop's planter box.
The narrative, which chapter-alternates between the pair, offers insight into their characters, their strong (close, but not sloppy close) relationship, their tender affection for their rescue dog, Stevie and his foibles (a book lover, the new Ben Aaronovitch sits safely on a high shelf out of Stevie's paws after he'd massacred a Nicky Pellegrino) and allows, plot-wise, each to go their separate investigative ways before coming together to ponder the gathered information. Garth and Eloise emerge as funny, smart, idiosyncratic, self-deprecating, warm characters with a close connection to, and immersion in, their local community (the Business Association, host the Writers' Festival, writers' group, book clubbers, hosts of the annual Battle of the Book Clubs charity fundraiser, Dungeons and Dragons nights.....).
In fact, this sense of community is one of the novel's charms. Ward-version Havelock North boasts businesses sporting punning names (Sell your Sole, Time to Quill, Hard Core Apples), police are accessible, local body politics are contentious and everyone has opinions about Franklin White, a shady, suave property developer and..... the vanishing of young Tracey Jervis. Garth and Eloise know their customers, recommend books to suit their tastes, treat them with cheery respect, including greetings in Maori and occasional much called-for tolerance.
In fact, the bookshop's more eccentric characters' feature prominently providing much of the novel's humour and even play a part in solving the 'case': The Admiral, complete with silver-topped cane, who speaks largely in telegrammese naval lingo but there are hints of a past not far removed from espionage. Then there's Meryl, 'a painfully thin figure with greying dreadlocks.......taxing when it comes to the question of calendars.' A Scotch Terrier calendar is her preference but 'A Nice Jewish Guys' calendar would be acceptable. An artist (as she frequently observes), she's prone to forgetting her keys and where she's parked her car. Then there's Daffyd of the ripe aroma and stream-of-conscious babble and Dead Girl Deidre, a goth emerging 'like Bela Lugosi from a coffin' with black hat, long black dress and a black lace parasol who always pays in $100 notes 'prised from a velvet purse.' It's a motley crew but not overly exaggerated, as this bookseller can attest.
As the plot canters along, bookworm and bookseller readers relish the behind-the-counter stuff: embargo folderol, DdA's, advanced reading copies - galleys in US, we learn, organising returns and marshalling the magazines, writing newsletters, staff meetings (spag bol from Garth, Phyllis's cheesecake 'out of the Ottolenghi book') where everyone excitedly guesses a new title from
their favourite author (Patrick Rothfuss, Colm Toibin or the new gay zombie romance) as the focus of the upcoming book launch.
'Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone' is a great debut from Gareth and Louise Ward (though Gareth Ward is an ward-winning young adult writer and Louise is a regular book reviewer on RNZ's Nine to Noon programme). In this debut novel this talented duo ensure dark deeds come to light, a bad actor pays the price and order is satisfactorily restored; but what also remains is also an ambient feel of community, good humour (the shop's Philips vacuum cleaner is called a Pullman), good fun and contentment. But a word to the sensitive, it's a bit sweary.
And the good news is Louise and Gareth Ward are popping up at at events around the country talking about their newly released sequel 'Bookshop Detectives: Tea and Cake and Death'. next Friday in Hamilton. Hurray! 5 stars.
June 10, 2025
"Dead Girl Gone" by Louise and Gareth Ward feels like what you get when ambition and ego are doing all the heavy lifting, while style and talent are off on vacation. At first, I kind of chuckled at the constant references to other books and authors—it felt a bit quirky, like they were winking at the reader. But after a while, it got seriously overdone. It went from “oh, clever” to “okay, how long did they sit around trying to force that one in?” And if we’re taking their bios at face value, this debut is basically one giant Mary Sue moment. Bold choice.
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