This sort of book is my bread and butter – the murder mystery with science built in. So I’m going to kick this off by saying I was a fan. Set in modern-day Rotorua, New Zealand, this story follows Alexa (like AI overlord who ignores me half the time) Glock (like the gun) as she works to solve a murder. Alexa is from North Carolina and has been in Aukland on a fellowship that just expired. She’s headed to Rotorua to attend a funeral for a friend who just died. While on her way, she learns of a murder that occurred in which a victim was found in the Wairakei Thermal Land of Enchantment, his body essentially boiled in the molten mud pots there. She believes she can help the local law enforcement because the teeth of the victim are likely going to be key to identifying him or her, and she is a forensic odontologist who has been working for a decade with U.S. law personnel on similar (but not boiling mud similar) cases. Thankfully for the sake of the story, the forensics guy who would normally work the case can’t be there, so Alexa is able to embed herself into the case. With her temporary consulting gig underway, she is off to solve the murder.

The book is an easy read and actually not too gory given the subject matter. Details were given as necessary about the crime, with some fun forensic techniques highlighted (you can get fingerprints from bird feathers?!) but nothing that would likely make a sensitive person squeamish. In some ways it reminded me of a Patricia Cornwell novel with Kay Scarpetta, if you know those books.

The pacing of the book is quick, and some people may wish for more back stories on characters. We know quite a bit about Alexa by the end but much less about others. That’s fine for me with a story such as this, but others may wish for more character development. Just be forewarned. Overall, I was a bit “meh” about Alexa as a person. She seemed to automatically assume she knew more than others, had a chip on her shoulder about being single, and her statement “flirting was safe if a man was married” was icky. But I like flawed protagonists, so I’ll let it all slide. 

As for being a good book to extend one’s stay in Rotorua, I think this book has a lot to offer in that respect. The information isn’t shoved down your throat like a guidebook, but rather is interspersed naturally in a way that advances the story. With Alexa being an outsider, it was natural for locals to teach her various aspects of the area and Māori culture without it seeming out of place. [Note: Māori is essentially pronounced “mow” – rhyming with cow – ree. I do love audiobooks for pronunciation help.]

With respect to New Zealand geography, the author does a nice job of bringing the Rotorua area to life. She describes several key aspects of the vicinity, including of course the Wairakei mud pots where the murder occurs. She shares that the mud can reach 200 degrees Celsius – hotter than water at its boiling point. We also learn about nearby Okere Falls, which lays claim to having the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world, at 7 meters! She describes the viewing platform and thrill of the rushing water with great detail, so you can transport yourself there without actually getting wet. She similarly describes the Tutea Caves and the glow worms that would light up the dark to show the way for Māori women and children who would hide during raids. In addition to landscape, we also hear some tidbits about wildlife (or lack thereof in the case of snakes). The abundance of flightless birds – such as the kiwi and the kākāpō – are described, as well as the now-extinct moa (the huge ostrich-like bird that was essentially hunted to extinction).

Regarding Kiwi culture (as the author reminds us, capital-K for the people, lowercase-k for the bird), we discover a few food-related gems. For example, we learn of the Kiwi tradition of having a Christmas day cookout with pavlova (a meringue-based whipped cream dessert). We also learn about hokey pokey (vanilla ice cream with lumps of toffee), Georgie Pies (apparently popular and sold at McDonalds for a time but have been sadly discontinued), and the fact that eggs aren’t stored in the refrigerated area in grocery stores but that it’s okay because the farmers vaccinate the to prevent bacteria from clustering on room temperature shelves. We also learn that the Kiwi word for holiday house is ‘bach’ (pronounced batch) and shopping carts are called trundlers. And, importantly, the number for emergencies is 111.

Finally, regarding the Māori, we hear wonderful details about their culture sprinkled throughout. We learn a little about haka (ceremonial dances that commemorate any significant event), patu (Māori war clubs usually made of whale bone or wood but sometimes from greenstone for royalty), greenstone (a rare and highly revered stone that is green – duh –found in the South Island of New Zealand), and moko (the tattoos worn by Māori as a form of tribal identity). We also learn that one of the most offensive curses you can tell someone is “pokokōhua” (or upoko kohua) which essentially means “boiled head” (or go boil your head) but the literal translation doesn’t do it justice. Basically, this is the ultimate insult, so maybe avoid saying it, kiddos. Finally, we learn that Pākehā is what Māori call non-Māori (usually White New Zealanders) and the Māori word for New Zealand is Aotearoa, which means “land of the long white cloud.” Ah, so much to learn from a book that isn’t actually meant to be educational. Don’t you just love it? I would recommend this book and with it being the first in a series I could see me returning to read more about Alexa and her forensic escapades. Who knows what other offensive phrases I might learn by doing so?