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Wendy M. Wilson left New Zealand at 20 and returned in spirit with this series. The Sergeant Frank Hardy books are based on family history from Schleswig in Denmark, extensive research and knowledge drawn from two degrees in English Literature with a focus on Victorian novels. Her favourite Victorian novels include Middlemarch, Far From the Madding Crowd, and Bleak House. Sergeant Frank Hardy was named for Thomas Hardy and Sergeant Frank Troy from Far From the Madding Crowd, played so well by Terence Stamp in the 1968 movie. When Mette Jensen imagines a future husband who leans on the mantle and talks to her about books, she is channelling a scene between Julie Christie and Alan Bates in that movie. What can I say! I loved it back in 1968.Wendy has been an avid reader since she was a child; as you might tell from her own novels, she was torn between historical fiction that had a hint of romance - Jean Plaidy and Georgette Heyer - and boys adventure stories like the Biggles books and Kipling.
She also loved stories about brave female spies in the French resistance. The New Zealand she grew up in was not like the current version, but more like the nineteenth-century version, without the wars. However, she spent her childhood in two of the hotbeds of war (Waitara and Patea) without actually hearing about what had happened there. She was too busy memorizing the names of the kings and queens of England.
Wendy has twice been shortlisted for the University of Toronto School of Creative Writing's Penguin, Random House Award, and won the 2013 Innovation Award from Desire2Learn, for her gamified MOOC.
Genres: Historical Mystery, Cozy Mystery
New and upcoming books
Series
Sergeant Frank Hardy Mystery
0.5. The Diehard (2024)
0.5. The Settlers (2024)
1. Not the Faintest Trace (2018)
2. Recalled to Life (2018)
3. Dead Shot (2018)
4. A Dark & Painful Mystery (2019)
5. Lying Under Water (2020)
6. Come to Grief (2020)
7. Night Train to Napier (2021)
8. Come to Kill (2023)
A Christmas Visitor (2023)
0.5. The Diehard (2024)
0.5. The Settlers (2024)
1. Not the Faintest Trace (2018)
2. Recalled to Life (2018)
3. Dead Shot (2018)
4. A Dark & Painful Mystery (2019)
5. Lying Under Water (2020)
6. Come to Grief (2020)
7. Night Train to Napier (2021)
8. Come to Kill (2023)
A Christmas Visitor (2023)
Mr. Hardy Investigates
1. Death in the Bush (2021)
2. Death in the Marsh (2022)
3. Death on the Walk (2022)
4. Death on the Sandbar (2023)
5. Death on the Docks (2024)
1. Death in the Bush (2021)
2. Death in the Marsh (2022)
3. Death on the Walk (2022)
4. Death on the Sandbar (2023)
5. Death on the Docks (2024)
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