The Brokenwood Mysteries

When two fishermen find the body of a local farmer in the river, Detective Inspector Mike Shepherd is sent to the small rural town of Brokenwood to investigate the death. Is this the suicide of a man guilty of his own wife’s murder or is he the victim of foul play? As Mike uncovers a family’s tragedies and secrets, he also learns that Brokenwood is a place where shadows lurk just beneath the surface.

With Brokenwood touted for its burgeoning merlot, the annual wine show is a major event. Having bought a 10-acre block with maturing grapes, no one is looking forward to it more than DI Mike Shepherd. But when a guest judge and wine critic is found dead, drowned inside a fermenting vat, the show takes second place to the murder investigation.

A group of erstwhile members of the Brokenwood Golf Club, committee members no less, have gathered for their regular Wednesday morning round. They are playing their approaches to the first green when a zombie-like figure lurches from the early-morning gloom, coming towards them. It takes the golfers a moment or two (apparently) to realise this is actually Alison Stone, one of the 5 members of the Golf Club Committee - her face red and blistering; gasping desperately for breath. Then she falls from sight, into a greenside bunker. By the time the guys get to her, Ms Stone is very much dead. And so Mike and Kristin are called to investigate what appears to be homicide by poisoning.

The Brokenwood Cheetahs are a local rugby team of legendary status. Their losing streak of 50 straight games has broken national records. So when their hapless coach, Arnie Langstone, is found dead - stripped naked and strapped to a goalpost - some think it might be blessing in disguise – perhaps now they might start winning again. But amidst this DSS Mike Shepherd is perplexed by several other issues. Firstly, why was a pair of women’s underwear stuffed down Arnie’s throat? And what do the neatly embroidered initials ‘G.G.’ signify? But then a second body is discovered and Mike and his team are stretched to the limit. Is this the work of a serial killer or merely a puzzling co-incidence?

When a young cast member of The Brokenwood Theatre Society collapses and dies at the end of a performance of Hamlet, the initial belief is that it was from natural causes. However, Mike detects there is ‘something rotten in the state of Brokenwood’ when he gets a whiff of a lethal poison. In doing so he uncovers a complex web of ego driven dissention amongst the troupe. Was Ben Faulkner expended to create opportunity for another young rising star? Or can his death be linked to the words of the Bard himself? And how did Jared end up playing the lead role? As Mike and his team investigate the hidden secrets of this curious group of thespians ‘To be or not to be’ takes on a whole new meaning.

The bucolic coastal waters off Brokenwood support a thriving fishing industry. But when Jared discovers a severed human hand in a crayfish pot it appears to be harbouring something far more sinister. Who does the hand belong to and are they still alive?

The Frog and Cheetah’s publican, Ray Neilson, has branched into tourism with his ‘Lord of the Ringz Tours’ tailored to non-English speaking tourists. But when Ray’s wife Debbie is discovered dead under a giant foam spider in a supposed film location of Mirklewood things get ‘mirky’. Especially when Debbie’s cause of death is revealed to be from New Zealand’s only native venomous spider – the Katipo. But if it was, how did one spider administer ten times the lethal dose?

Brokenwood is in mourning as beloved local poet Declan O’Grady is being farewelled at St Judas Church after being struck down by cancer. But things go from bad to worse when his coffin accidentally falls from the hearse revealing that the corpse inside is not Declan but a young woman identifiable only by a notable scarlet tattoo.

The annual Riverstone Beach Hop is a colorful festival that brings classic car enthusiasts together from far and wide to celebrate everything petrol powered and chrome plated. But on the morning of the event Charlie Baxter, the Chairman of the Classic Car Restoration Society, is found dead next to his beloved El Dorado with a lungful of gasoline. Was this a petrol siphoning accident or something more deliberate? And does it have anything to do with the unidentified dead body found in Charlie’s garage the day before?

When Kristin, Breen, and Gina celebrate Mike’s birthday with a picnic in Brokenwood Domain, they are witness to a fatal skydiving accident. To make matters worse, Kristin knows the victim – entrepreneur Andre Barrington, an ex-boyfriend who moved onto another woman – Grace Turner, an adrenalin junkie and fellow skydiver. As the investigation unfolds, an unsettling truth is revealed. Andre’s parachute was never going to open as the cords were severed. Was it an elaborate suicide or was Grace having second thoughts about Andre? Then again – Andre’s older brother Felix was tired of living in his shadow, and his mother Lorraine’s maternal love verged on the side of sinister. Both of them were jumping with Andre too. And what about Andre’s business partner Dean Young, who was less than impressed by Andre’s work ethic? Mike and his team are forced to confront the old adage: ‘what goes up must come down’ – but not always in the way you want.

Charity Highmore-Browne is the owner and curator of Brokenwood's Historic Village. A stickler for all things Victorian, Charity lives in a time warp. Her sudden death by an arrow brings Mike and his team into the realm of New Zealand's colonial past as they deal with a blacksmith, a missionary and the local postmaster. Not to be overlooked is Charity's sister who once represented the country at the Olympics, missing out on a bronze medal in archery. As the investigation brings up questions about Charity's lifestyle and the mysterious disappearance of her husband seven years earlier, the team are faced with the possibility that Brokenwood is dealing with its first serial killer. Things are complicated further when Mike is forced out of the office due to a health scare and Kristin takes charge of the case. But can Mike truly hand over the reins?

Philip Henderson stands next to an impressive scarecrow amidst a field of damaged vegetation. His whole crop has failed. The scarecrow may have kept the birds away but this catastrophe is something bigger. Angered and distraught, he confronts his neighbour, the cantankerous Doug Randall, and accuses him of spray drift. Doug is having none of it and an ugly altercation ensues. The following day Philip is discovered dead in his field – the victim of an obscure poison. Suspicion falls on Doug and his new wife, the strident and doggedly loyal Trudy Neilson, whom it was well known had ongoing tensions with Philip over an unpaid bar tab at her pub, The Toad and Lion. But as Mike and the team dig further into the mystery, more suspects come into play. Philip’s other neighbour is the cagey Tamati Taylor, who is less than forthcoming, but as it transpires Philip had a twin brother. Why does he seem remarkably unmoved by the death of his sibling?

It's the annual Brokenwood A&P show, time for that special kind of Kiwi carnival! Amidst the shearing displays, the ‘Calf Day' competition and wood chopping, is the usual assortment of fun rides and fairground attractions. The sun is shining on happy family entertainment and ever popular this year is the shonky old Ghost Train.

The Cream Boat is a charming vessel that chugs its way up the scenic Brokenwood waterways. It carries sightseers and Christmas parties and often Hen Parties. Professional tennis player, Ophelia Marley, is one such lucky Hen. Her Bridesmaids have organised a big day migrating from the township via the Cream Boat to the Tidal View Lodge where they stay overnight.

Cycling is very de rigour around the globe and no less in Brokenwood. When one such MAMIL, (Middle Aged Man In Lycra), Lester Nyman, reaches the top of a local mountain after a gruelling ride and suffers a massive coronary, it doesn't seem suspicious. But then Gina reveals his toxicology showed astronomical levels of caffeine in his system and Mike starts to look more closely.

Mike and his team are taken into a world of Victorian dress-up and escapism when they investigate a murder at the Brokenwood Steampunk event.

World-renowned crime-writing author Jack Rudd visits Brokenwood to give a reading at the local book club from his latest novel - but never leaves, falling victim to a method of murder portrayed in his own book.

When an animal activist is killed on the first day of duck hunting season, Mike and the team must determine whether it was an accidental shooting, or something more sinister

Mike and his team are thrust into a world of antiquities when a TV crew from the hit series All Things Old and Beautiful comes to town, and one of the hosts is murdered.

The Brokenwood Health Retreat proves rather unhealthy for one unfortunate visitor, leaving the team of detectives with a very tricky case to solve.

When four masked men attempt to rob the Brokenwood Savings Bank, it's up to Mike and the team to determine which one of them pulled the trigger and killed the bank manager.

Mike Shepherd and the team get a lesson in local history when the Brokenwood museum uncovers a dead body in the most unlikely of places.

The Brokenwood crime fighters are called in to investigate a murder at a music festival, where it would appear the victim was quite literally killed by sound.

In the remote community of beaches at Pateke Point, a local resident ends up bludgeoned to death by an unknown blunt object and locked inside a house not her own.

The history of Brokenwood gets new life as a musical. But the setting literally brings with it a shock for the composer.

Mike and the team discover more than one dead body, and a significant amount of family rivalry, in the manor house where a pair of aging siblings live.

The team at Brokenwood must navigate a group of nuns who've taken a vow of silence when a member of their order is strangled on their way to chapel.

After dinosaur fossils are discovered in the foothills of Brokenwood, the town buzzes about the potential boost for tourism; but when a paleontologist turns up dead, the future doesn't look so rosy.

When the Brokenwood Small Business Association stage a Mexican "Day of the Dead" night market, they don't bargain on an actual dead body becoming part of the festivities.

A writers retreat on a picturesque estate generates ample inspiration when the mentor, Dame Audrey McKinnon, is found deceased, floating under a nearby waterfall.

Shepherd and his team investigate when a devoted fan of the band Stolen Arrow falls to her death from a bell tower. The detective must dig into the band’s secrets and dark history to find the actual cause of the victim’s demise.

When popular radio host Ryan Osbourne is killed in an explosion at his old high school, the shockwaves rattle the community. The hidden rivalries and secrets that emerge create a long list of suspects for Shepherd.

After a man is fatally stabbed during a séance, and no weapon is found, Shepherd digs into the eerie incident to catch the murderer. Questioning if supernatural forces were involved, the team must separate superstition from reality.

When a chef is found dead in a crop circle, alien abduction theories spark as a UFO convention arrives in Brokenwood; but after another death occurs, Mike and Kristin investigate whether the truth is extraterrestrial or all too human.

Young and charismatic priest Canon Zach Mantell shakes up Brokenwood's parish with his unconventional style; but when his wife dies in the church cemetery, Mike and Kristin find clues that point to a murder.

A lavish New Year's Eve masquerade comes to a tragic end following the death of its mysterious host the following morning; as gripping secrets emerge, Mike and the team must unmask the killer among the party guests.