Philippa Barnes Mysteries Books 1: 3

Assigned to Murder
Philippa mystery 1
As Philippa Barnes, a young West Coast glacier guide, is getting over her parents’ death in a climbing accident, Kirsten, a journalist friend of hers, is murdered beside a nearby lake. Philippa teams up with Kirsten’s brother Jack to try and find out what Kirsten was investigating while a diarist tries to understand the emotion behind a betrayal that has poisoned at least one life. Philippa’s search will take her from the secretive people of the lake to the home of high court judge, Loraine Latimer, a powerful woman who has a strange relationship with her family. Philippa finds that the murder of Kirsten is linked to a decades-old mystery, but not in time to prevent another tragedy. Past and present finally come together in a late night confrontation at Lake Kaniere when two very different people face the consequences of choices they made decades before. It all comes down to the things people mistake for love and the destructive nature of some friendships. Its characters reflect the contradictions of their environment, a place where life can thrive where there is ice, and where things that inspire can kill.

Glacier Murder
Philippa mystery 2.
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 Barnes 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

Cold Hard Murder
Philippa mystery 3
The darkness felt tangible. Like it was pressing against my blind eyes … We were going to die here. Slowly, slowly.
Two people struggle on a ledge high above the surge pool at Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks. One falls to their death, beginning a sequence of violence as Department of Conservation ranger Matt Grey announces plans for a commercial tourism venture bitterly opposed by the local community. More people die, and it seems their murders are motivated by something more personal than a threat to the integrity of the national park. But the trail is as cold and twisted as some of the park’s most labyrinthine caves. Philippa Barnes is asked to do some unofficial sleuthing, which is not welcomed by the police. She delves into the lives of some strong-willed individuals, many of whom have secrets, uncovering a dark story that resonates with events in her own life. But caught in a desperate struggle deep underground, has she run out of time to stop a determined killer?