NEW ZEALAND, 1877: After half a lifetime fighting around the world and In New Zealand with the 57th Regiment, Sergeant Frank Hardy has tired of war. He is living in a small town in the New Zealand bush, making a living as a mail coach driver, driving a difficult route across the perilous Manawatu Gorge.

But two teenaged boys are missing from town after crossing the river in search of illegal drinks. Have they drowned, or has something worse happened? Some of the women claim to have seen a man lurking in the bush near town. The townfolks are mainly men and women who have sailed from Schleswig to escape the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, and they can't get the police to take their fears seriously.

When the settlers ask Sergeant Frank Hardy, once a sharpshooter with the 57th., to search for the boys, he's not interested. He's missingthe excitement of his old life and bored with his new one, but looking for the bodies of two drowned boys is not the excitement he craves. And stories of men hiding in the bush to harm the settlers are unconvincing. He knows that ex-soldiers like him are traveling around the country, hiding from the army they likely deserted.

Then he recalls his brother who went missing a decade ago after crossing a different river, and he changes his mind. But as he begins his search, an event from his army days resurfaces, and his danger increases. And now he has a young woman to protect: the attractive cousin of the missing boys, who has assigned herself the task of helping him search.

Set in the picturesque New Zealand countryside, Not the Faintest Trace, a gripping mystery with a touch of romance, is the first of eight books in The Sergeant Frank Hardy Mysteries series. Based partly on a family story of two young men who crossed a river and disappeared, and partly on a little known but brutal atrocity, this book is a product of the author's imagination.

WHAT READERS SAY

"Once I started to read it, I could not put it down."

"This is a masterpiece for anyone who likes their history woven and properly displayed by a master storyteller. Wendy Wilson beautifully captures the many unique cultures of early and illuminates personalities of the many thousands of people who immigrated to NZ in the 1800's from across Great Britain, the wider UK, Europe, Scandinavia, America and China, etc. She has made the characters come alive by creating and understanding how those cultures interacted with the Maori peoples of NZ and beautifully illustrating the lore, language and family bonds which dominated their way of life."

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