Like In the Wake of Madness, this is set on a whaler, in the Pacific
Years ago, when I was researching in the New Zealand Archives in the Auckland office, a volunteer sent me two huge files, both of court records from the Bay of Islands. "It's worth looking up a murder trial in 1886," she said, "but be prepared to be shocked."
McGilp was the name that was given to me -- Constable Alexander McGilp. He was the sole arm of law and order in the Bay of Islands, with one man from Auckland to help when the riotous Yankee whalers were in port, an extremely efficient fellow, with a nose for crime. A natural detective.
He was the first to be shocked. And he did something that policemen both then and now are not supposed to do -- he leaked his report, along with all the gory details, to the press. Which led to the most notorious trial of the decade, the Petrel Affair.
And years later, after a great deal of research into archives, court records, and the sensational newspapers of the time, the true story of a horrible series of crimes has been written -- along with the highly unexpected solution.
Available on kindle from Amazon. Paperback out soon.
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