Katherine Hayton Books in Order

Victim-support counselor Christine Emmett helps a mother whose daughter vanished while she was in a coma. A self-proclaimed psychic's involvement complicates the investigation, drawing Christine into old crimes and grief she has never fully resolved.

Elisabet wakes with amnesia into the care of a husband who becomes increasingly violent. Elsewhere, captive Lillian struggles to survive, while teenager Kristen questions her injured stepmother's condition. Buried memories may connect their desperate circumstances.

Ten years after her death, fourteen-year-old Daina Harrow narrates the events that led to her remains being discovered beneath a Christchurch house. Poverty, bullying, neglect, and disturbing perceptions complicate the mystery of what happened to her.

After the Boxing Day tsunami separates Christine and Gary Emmett from their daughter, they search Phuket for answers. A report that Tamsin is alive sends them on another journey, balancing desperate hope against the possibility of confirming their loss.

Former detective Ngaire Blakes is rebuilding her life after an assault when a murder investigation points directly at her. With more deaths following, she retreats to her estranged father's hometown and struggles to identify whom she can trust.

A man's confession reopens the decades-old death of teenager Magdalene Lynton, previously ruled an accidental drowning. Recovering detective Ngaire Blakes and her partner investigate a story whose details contradict both the confession and the original findings.

Holly Waterston returns home intending to sell her family's struggling bakery, where her sister Crystal works. When a supposedly allergy-free cupcake nearly kills their mortgage holder, Holly must investigate both the suspected poisoning and the business's missing money.

Detective Ngaire Blakes investigates a skeleton linked to New Zealand's divisive 1981 Springbok rugby tour. Missing files, uncertain memories, possible racial motives, and a misleading confession complicate her search for the truth behind the long-buried killing.

Newly divorced Diana Halcomb starts work as a hotel inspector in 1970 and discovers a fatally injured man after a Vietnam War protest. Facing suspicion herself, she teams up with a journalist to investigate the killing.

Diana Halcomb's first vacation from her new job goes wrong when her purse is stolen. A policeman's assistance leads her toward a hippie commune and a missing teenage girl, prompting her to seek help from a reporter friend.

Willow Foxglove's plans to convert her conservatory into a tea room falter when the head builder is found dead in a river. With suspicion directed toward her friend Reg, she faces another mystery amid the construction disruption.

A hotel manager's death blocks access to Willow Foxglove's tea shop on opening day. As she investigates the closure, suspicious employees and teenage pranksters complicate a case that could derail her fledgling business before it begins.

Willow's friend Reg claims to have encountered aliens, then disappears before a tour. A body discovered in the same pasture raises more earthly concerns, threatening local tourism and pushing Willow and Harmony to investigate the unsettling events.

Willow Foxglove's waitress Tiffany disappears, and the discovery of Tiffany's dead husband makes her a murder suspect. Willow searches for her employee, but friend Harmony's apparent knowledge and unwillingness to talk make uncovering the truth more difficult.

Willow Foxglove is delighted when her favorite television mystery films locally, until a sound technician is electrocuted. With the show's leading actress suspected of murder, Willow and her friends investigate to keep their beloved series alive.

Widow Willow Foxglove anticipates tea and romance, but discovers her prospective boyfriend dead on her doorstep. Under suspicion, she enlists two friends to clear her name while coping with a newly acquired kitten and troublesome allergies.

A beekeeper installs hives in Christchurch's red zone, only for a body covered in bee stings to appear nearby. To protect her bees from destruction, she investigates a tangle of domestic tensions, property disputes, and suspicious neighbors.

After a school principal dies, police identify one of Alice's honey jars as the murder weapon and arrest her friend Sally. Alice investigates Sally's hidden past while also worrying about her dog Chester's impending exploratory surgery.

Hotel inspector Diana Halcomb expects sightseeing during a Manhattan visit, but discovers a murdered teenager in a neighboring election office. Her previous encounters with dead bodies attract police suspicion, leaving her and reporter Harry to identify the killer.

Holly Waterston caters a wake whose arrangements expose unwelcome secrets among the deceased's relatives. When an attack deepens the family's troubles, she must sort through their suspicions and resentments while keeping up with her bakery responsibilities.

A developer threatens Marjorie Hardaway's kitten café, then a newly arrived calico becomes a witness to murder. With police suspecting her friend, Marjorie investigates while break-ins and other disturbances put her business and its feline residents under pressure.

Marjorie hopes a regular customer will complete his adoption of escape-prone kitten Houdini, but the student disappears. With police occupied elsewhere, she follows clues involving a twin brother, two girlfriends, and an unexpectedly complicated private life.

Holly Waterston becomes matron of honor at her sister Crystal's wedding, only to find herself investigating a guest's murder. With visiting relatives and other attendees among the suspects, she must protect Crystal's happiness while unraveling the crime.

Yoga instructor Hine Trewlove can understand dogs, a talent she keeps hidden from police. When a participant's owner is kidnapped outside her studio, Hine turns to her canine companions to track the abducted woman and identify her captors.

Marjorie shelters a rare kitten after its owner dies, while preparing for a Christmas celebration for foster families. When donated presents are stolen, she rallies the anxious community to find the thieves and preserve the children's festivities.

Emily Curtis buys a puzzle box at auction and acquires the ghost of a witch. The spirit needs help freeing her trapped sister, but a missing spell book and competing seekers leave Emily racing a deadly deadline.

Emily Curtis encounters a ghost with dementia who claims the identity of a living retirement-home resident. With few reliable clues and another spirit's unwelcome advice, she must unravel a decades-old mystery to recover some peace in her life.

Recovering from a devastating car accident, Emily Curtis takes a charity-shop job in a rural New Zealand town. There she awakens a demanding ghost who cannot remember her murder, leaving Emily to investigate secretive relatives and former employees.

Holly explores moving the family bakery, but a poisoning at a neighboring restaurant leaves her sister Crystal critically ill. With police blaming Crystal's cupcakes, Holly investigates a difficult collection of suspects to protect her sister and their livelihood.

Holly Waterston and Aidan discover a body during a forest walk, and police soon take Aidan in for questioning. A missing boyfriend, feuding relatives, and another death make sorting out the family's secrets increasingly urgent.

Holly and Crystal cater a large wedding, then become stranded at the manor with blocked roads, no telephone, and a dead butler. When their cupcakes are blamed, Holly must disentangle the guests' relationships to clear the bakery's name.

Tash Mallory loses her longtime knitting-shop job, then discovers her former employer dead and learns she has inherited the business. Challenges to the will and accusations from locals force her to question whether the death was truly natural.

During New Zealand's strict pandemic lockdown, Marjorie Hardaway feels isolated while delivering meals to local residents. When a regular client is found dead, she and her neighbors must find ways to investigate without gathering in person.

A body uncovered opposite Tash Mallory's knitting shop unsettles the town of Patiti. When her new employee's father, also Tash's former sweetheart, becomes a suspect, she investigates amid old secrets and the threat of further violence.