Murder Over Gold
In Book 7, Penrose and Pyke’s honeymoon takes a dangerous turn when they investigate the most notorious robbery in Central Otago history.
Grace and Charlie had been looking forward to a blissful break away from their hectic lives. Instead, watchful eyes follow their every move from the moment they step off the stagecoach in Clyde. Rumour has it that the Pyke family knows more about the robbery than they are telling. With a fortune in gold still missing, and destitute miners on the prowl, the tranquillity of their honeymoon is about to be shattered.
But greed is not the only sin in town. Behind the walls of stately homesteads, rose-covered cottages and kerosene-tin shacks, long-buried secrets lie hidden. One man has already been killed, and he may not be the only victim of the lust for gold.
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Inspiration
In Murder Over Gold, the seventh book in the Penrose & Pyke Mystery series, Charlie and Grace visit the Pyke’s hometown of Clyde in Central Otago, New Zealand, which is one of my favourite places.
Needless to say, their peaceful honeymoon does not go to plan, but they do get to add a new member to their family – a border collie called Blaze, who has a nose for trouble.
The area has a rugged beauty. Here, the fast-flowing Clutha River cuts through the dry, rocky landscape. The local schist rock forms dramatic natural formations and was used for building dry-stone walls and these old houses at the north end of Clyde township.
The high country features epic landscapes of golden tussock (the photo is of Lindis Pass, by Eugene Quek, Unsplash). At high altitudes, vegetation has to be tough and spiky to survive. At night, the stars are incredible (photo by Dorine Allali, Unsplash).
The area is dotted with relics of the gold mining era, which started with a gold rush in the 1860s. These historic photos show Clyde’s main street during the gold rush, gold miners with their crude stone dwellings and early mining techniques (source: Hocken Library). Later, gold dredges took over from manual mining.
Murder Over Gold’s plot is loosely based on a real gold theft in Clyde. The images show the reward offered (Dunstan Time, 5 August 1870, from Papers Past, National Library of NZ) and the last Gold Escort in 1901 (Hocken Library).
The final image is the Monte Christo farm in 1893 (Hocken Library), where Grace and Charlie stay in the fictional Rose Cottage.
Rose Pascoe 
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