Murder in the Devil’s Half Acre
Trouble’s brewing in the Devil’s Half Acre. A death in an alleyway, a tragic accident in a factory, rumours of a murderer loose on the streets. It’s enough to give a genteel lady a fit of the vapours.
Fortunately, Grace Penrose isn’t one to swoon at the sight of blood. All she wants is the chance to become the first woman doctor in the colony. Instead, she is plunged into the harsh reality of the city’s worst sweatshop, where tensions are running as hot as a steam engine.
When the police prove reluctant to investigate the deaths, she turns to a constable who is already up to his neck in trouble. As the clock ticks, Grace Penrose and Constable Charlie Pyke must figure out which deaths are accidents and which are murders, because the next victim might well be one of their own.
Murder Most Melancholy
Penrose & Pyke venture to the edge of madness, when they reunite to investigate two tragic deaths and a family mystery.
Are the last words of a frightened woman the ravings of a lunatic or the key to an old family mystery? Detective Constable Charlie Pyke is desperate to find out. But is he desperate enough to risk the life of his sleuthing partner, medical student Grace Penrose? More to the point, can he stop her?
The answers lie behind the locked doors of a sanitorium for wealthy women of delicate sensibilities, where high walls and dark corridors conceal more than one shocking secret.
Murder By Vote
Penrose & Pyke are flung into an explosive new mystery during the campaign for women’s suffrage.
Politicians are terrified that women voters will oust them, liquor barons are furious that women favour temperance over drunkenness, and the man in the street fears his wife will no longer be content with home and hearth.
Just how far will they go to stop women from getting the vote? Medical student Grace Penrose and Detective Constable Charlie Pyke are about to find out.
Murder in the Moonlight
Whispers of misconduct swirl around Grace Penrose, when a prominent surgeon has a fatal seizure on their moonlit stroll together.
Grace and the victim are on opposing sides of a feud over hospital services for women. How could she refuse his invitation to resolve their differences in private? When he dies despite her attempts to save him, and his unusual symptoms further implicate her, it’s not only her personal and professional reputation at risk.
As the case becomes ever more baffling, the only thing Grace needs more than Charlie’s sleuthing skills is his uncanny knack of appearing when she needs him most.
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.
Tinsel and Trickery: A Christmas Novella
Penrose & Pyke have until Christmas Eve to save the orphans’ home, by unravelling a tangle of tinsel and trickery.
Private detective Charlie Pyke was looking forward to spending a quiet Christmas with his fiancée, Grace Penrose. Instead, Charlie and Grace must stop a dubious deal, find a sneak thief and foil a mischievous brother, with the help of a pair of inquisitive orphans and the spirit of a dear departed grandmother.
If they can decipher the clues and make it through the dessert course, they just might survive their first family Christmas together.
Murder Ignited
Penrose & Pyke’s wedding dream turns to ashes when the local women’s refuge goes up in flames.
Grace Penrose is used to protesters at Lavender House, but she never expected them to set the refuge on fire, especially not on her wedding day. Watching Charlie Pyke disappear into the inferno was definitely not on her mother’s carefully orchestrated wedding plan.
The discovery of a woman’s body in the smouldering ruins rouses Grace and Charlie’s detective instincts. With marital bliss on their minds, an investigation is the last thing they need. But how can they ignore a murder, especially when a second victim has links to the notorious importer selling opium to the Chinese community?
Murder Over Gold
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.
Empty Cradle
Penrose and Pyke must put aside their own problems in a race against the clock to rescue a kidnapped infant.
When private detective Charlie Penrose Pyke is asked to investigate the kidnapping of a child, his instinct is to refuse. As their first wedding anniversary approaches, Charlie fears for the fragile state of his wife, Grace, for whom this heart-breaking case could be the final straw. But how can he let the desperate parents down, when they have struggled for years to conceive only to have their baby snatched away? Besides, Charlie is their only hope, because the ransom note threatens their precious son’s life if they contact the police.
A family torn apart, a case taking fresh twists and turns by the hour, and only four days to identify the kidnapper. Could it possibly get any worse? And then, the unthinkable happens.
Shocking Deceptions
Penrose and Pyke’s hopes of a quieter life are dashed by a spate of baffling burglaries and a persuasive charlatan promoting a miracle cure.
Dunedin society is up in arms as their valuables vanish without a trace from locked homes. Although the trail leads to an apparent dead end, private detective Charlie Penrose Pyke catches the scent of a shadowy figure lurking behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, Grace Penrose Pyke’s reckless curiosity leaves her in a precarious position with life-changing consequences, after she is drawn into an investigation of dubious medical devices. Their combined talents will be needed to unravel this pair of shocking deceptions.
Deadly Demands
A blackmailer’s threat to expose intimate secrets throws Penrose and Pyke’s lives into disarray at the worst possible time.
Private detective Charlie Penrose Pyke has vowed not to take on any new cases while his wife is in a delicate condition. But how can he refuse a desperate plea for help? Hopes for a quick resolution fade when they uncover further blackmail victims, all terrified their reputations will be destroyed.
And there’s worse to come. Nothing short of a general anaesthetic will prevent Grace from joining the hunt when the blackmailer strikes a target close to their hearts. As the harrowing truth of a dark past emerges, it’s only a matter of time before the situation takes a deadly turn.
Preorder now (release date 25 March 2026)
Rose Pascoe 