Sunday, August 18, 2019

People Disappear in New Zealand


HANK: Yay! The theme continues—and it proves you don’t have to budge from your comfy chair. The Reds will take you to places you’ve never been. Prague? Sure. Underground Oklahoma City? No prob. And today?  Meet the brave and plucky Sara Johnson, the debut mystery author who, when love and curiosity called, picked up packed up and went—well, would you have done the same thing?

A Great Adventure



     People ask how I got the idea to write the Alexa Glock mysteries set in New Zealand. It started when my husband proposed living in Aotearoa, “the land of the long white cloud,” for a year. Could we do it? I left my teaching job as a reading specialist at a Chapel Hill, North Carolina middle school, three children (the youngest was a college sophomore), and cat, to find out.

((Ed. note via Wiki : Aotearoa; commonly pronounced by English speakers as /ˌaʊtɛəˈroʊ.ə/   is the Māori name for New Zealand. It was originally used by the Māori people in reference to only the North Island but, since the late 19th century, the word has come to refer to the country as a whole. Several meanings have been proposed for the name; the most popular meaning usually given is "long white cloud", or variations thereof. This refers to the cloud formations which helped early Polynesian navigators find the country.  Now to our regular programming. 
(Map from Gringer - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11342313 )
     
My first glimpse of the Southern Alps from an airplane left me chilled: jagged rows of snow-capped peaks raked the spine of the South Island not far from where we rented a house in Christchurch. The Canterbury area welcomed us with a three day “active front” which blew cars off the road and two trees down in our back “garden.” I loved the newspaper headline describing gusts of more than 222 kmh: “By Crikey it was windy.”

     A headline during our first week also caused me chills: “Chance of finding tourists alive very remote.” A Canadian couple driving a camper van disappeared while crossing Haast Pass. We planned to cross the same pass, one of three that bisect the Alps. We followed the story closely. It played out like this: first the wheels and chassis of the van were discovered 80 meters down a gorge in the Haast River. Most likely a rock slide from the same storm that welcomed us to this rugged country swept their van off the road. The next week the young woman's body was found on a downriver stretch of beach. The man's thigh bone was discovered three years later.

     People disappear in New Zealand.

     An early adventure was to the tip of the North Island, Cape Reinga, where the Maori believe the soul departs. It's a wild and spiritual place, and we could watch the Tasman Sea crash into the Pacific Ocean. Nearby, the Te Peki sand dunes rise 140 meters above the sea and attract attention. I joined a line of twenty-somethings trudging up the dunes in gale winds, my boogie board trying to escape, or carry me aloft, my bare feet sinking into the fine sand, so I could ”depart” from the crest.

     A body could disappear in this sand, I thought, and the idea for a mystery series crystallized.

     Thermal activity abounds on the North Island. The Rotorua area has the highest concentration of geysers, boiling springs, sinter terraces, sulphur pools, and mud pots in the world, and I was hot to visit. Skull and crossbone signs warned us, but even so, my husband dipped a finger into a steaming stream. “Get back,” I yelled, like a good wife. The year before, a boy slipped off the path and into one of the pools. Headline: Boy dies after being boiled alive in NZ thermal spring.

At the thermal mud pots I oohed at the bubbling stinking Hades, and knew I had to kill someone there. Molten Mud Murder takes place at those mud pots. My protagonist, Alexa Glock, must identify the remains through dental X-rays. Everything else boiled away.

     Foveaux Strait, separating the South Island and Stewart Island, is notoriously rough. The Maori call the wind whipping the strait hau-mate, or death wind. The year before we made the crossing, a rogue wave capsized a fishing boat, killing eight men. Tourists, like my husband and me, visit Stewart Island for many reasons: hiking (yes), birding (yes), hunting (no) and shark cage diving (NO). There are at least 44 tagged great white sharks in the area. They like to visit, too, and certainly could be blamed for a ravaged body washing ashore.

     That happens in the second Alexa Glock mystery, Chum (coming September, 2020). Was the shark really the culprit?

     My husband and I hiked the 33-mile Milford Track, “the finest walk in the world,” in sunshine. We could actually see the glacial streams, alpine passes, gushing waterfalls, sheer cliffs, and not fall off swing bridges. This is unusual. The area gets 268 inches of rain each year. One hiker blogged about being airlifted out halfway through, after 15 inches submerged the track. Shortly after we completed Milford, a hiker, right in front of her partner, was swept away in a swollen creek.

     But what if the partner gave a little shove? In book three, Alexa hikes the Milford Track. As she clutches the flimsy rail of a swinging bridge, she spots a body in the river below.

     We reached the Cape Kidnappers gannet colony on a trailer pulled by a 1949 Minneapolis-Moline tractor. The old tractor pulled us between the breaking waves and spectacular cliff formations. I was shocked to spot a golf course atop one cliff. Our tractor driver told us a rich American bought the land, built a house and golf course. Many Silicon Valley hedge fund managers have also bought New Zealand property, perhaps as doomsday escape hatches. New Zealand has since banned foreigners from buying homes. But this man already had, and what if his neighbors didn't like it? The clamor of thousands of gannets protecting their chicks would eclipse a scream for help.

     Book four, I think.

     There are countless ways this brutal landscape can swallow a body, and thus makes a perfect setting for the Alexa Glock mysteries. The cat is on my lap as I peck away back home in North Carolina.

HANK: Told you! Adventure! Anyone been to New Zealand? Do you want to? Did you know it was called Aotearoa?



When a body is found half-submerged in a Waiariki Thermal Land of Enchantment molten mud pot, forensics expert Alexa Glock, her specialty odontology, spots a way to prolong her stay in New Zealand. Her fellowship has ended and no one is waiting for her to return to the States. Men have never been her expertise, but teeth are. Other ways of identifying the body may have… melted away.
A determined Alexa barrels her way onto the scene and into the lives of Rotorua’s finest, especially Detective Inspector Bruce Horne. There’s something about his glacial blue eyes that gets under never-married Alexa’s skin, even though she’s sworn off men.
Danger lurks in “the land of the long white cloud.” The murder victim, a city councilman, had trespassed on a sacred island forbidden to Pakeha, or non-Maori, and Alexa must follow suit. The Maori community is incensed that the rules of tapu have been disregarded and the consequences are disaster, demonic possession, or death.
Say what?
Alexa doesn’t believe in these three D’s, but when she discovers an unorthodox death threat in her rented riverside Trout Cottage, she reconsiders. A second murder heats the case to the boiling point and reveals a molten mix of motives and suspects. At the heart of Molten Mud Murder is an age old debate: is the past better left undisturbed, or unearthed? And at what cost either way?



Sara E. Johnson’s debut novel, the start of a series based in New Zealand, presents a page-turning story of facing the past and cracking the door open to an unexpected future. Sara E. Johnson is a mystery writer who spent nine months exploring wondrous New Zealand. Everywhere she snooped, there was a mystery that needed writing. Molten Mud Murder, Sara’s debut novel, will be published September, 2019 by Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks. It is the first in the Alexa Glock Mystery series set in New Zealand.

Sara has a BA in Journalism and an MA in Education from the University of North Carolina.
Sara lives in Durham, North Carolina with her husband and golden doodle. She is a part-time educator and full time snooper. She is the current president of Triangle Sisters-in-Crime and a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

74 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your debut book, Sara . . . it sounds quite exciting. I daresay your Alexa must be very brave in the face of some of those storms and mud pots and winds and whatever . . . .

    Although I knew its Maori name, I’ve never visited New Zealand and I am not too certain that I am actually brave enough to go there after reading this . . . .

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    1. You're funny! My eighty-year-old Mom came to visit while we were there. The scariest thing for her was the interminable plane ride.

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    2. Oh, wow--yes, how long does it take? From North Carolina, for instance?

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  2. I always thought I would like to visit New Zealand, but now I'm not so sure. Besides, I doubt I could leave the cats. That doesn't mean I can't read about it though!

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    1. The majority of people who visit beautiful New Zealand come to no harm! Our cat Pattie, who lost weight in her foster home while we were gone, has gained it all back, and more. I hope you love Molten Mud Murder.

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    2. Must have been hard to leave her-I bet she was so happy to see you again!

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  3. New Zealanders are incredibly nice people and their country is spectacular. Well worth a visit.

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    1. I agree! The Kiwis are friendly, outdoors loving, down-to-earth people. The diverse landscape -from snow-capped volcanoes to golden beaches- is breathtaking.

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    2. I woke up this moving thinking how much fun it would be to go---and good wine, too, ight?

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  4. Wow, Sara. The place sounds like such a death trap! And also gorgeous. Good for you for finding inspiration in Aotearoa. I haven't been yet, but very much want to. At least now I know I can get a taste of New Zealand through your books. Was your husband working there for that year? Was it just adventure? Do tell!

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    1. Edith- my husband had just retired. We didn't want 24/7 holiday. We made a life in Christchurch by joining a church, gym, and - of course - library. (You could check out magazines! And buy coffee!) We both found volunteer jobs. My husband worked at a food bank and I worked one day a week at Totara Club, a day care program for adults with early stage dementia. The people there were more beautiful than any adventure travel.

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    2. Sounds perfect! Thanks for the details.

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  5. New Zealand never was on my bucket list, and so it shall not remain! Congratulations on your new book. It sounds fascinating. But your description of New Zealand gives me goose bumps. I know very little about it, and now I want to know more.

    Thinking what Stephen King could do with this location, considering what he did with a hotel in Colorado.

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    1. I don't want to scare anyone away from New Zealand. It's SO beautiful. But you're right- the landscape is ripe for a Stephen King novel.(King's book On Writing is one of my all time faves.) I hope you love Molten Mud Murder!

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  6. New Zealand is definitely on my 'list' -- but after reading this, I'm not so sure I'd survive the trip. But what an adventure!!

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    1. Hallie- you will adore New Zealand- from the sub-tropic north to the sub-Antarctic south. Don't you love how backwards that sounds?

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    2. Oh, how funny. Yes. And the toilets flushing the opposite way??

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  7. Good for you, Sara! What an adventure! I love New Zealand, have wanted to visit after reading Ngaio Marsh and after watching Lord of the Rings--especially the extended version. I'll be seeking out Alexa, you can bet!

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    1. Yes, Lord of the Ring, can you imagine seeing that in real life? (And do we know how Ngaio Marsh wound up in NZ? Or was she born there?)

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    2. My mystery book club is reading Ngaio Marsh's A Man Lay Dead next month. I can't wait! (And yes, Hank, Marsh was born in Christchurch in 1895.) Alexa Glock, in Molten Mud Murder, drives right past the Shire in Matamata- she's always in a hurry. Flora- I hope you love the book.

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  8. Congratulations on your debut! Yes, New Zealand is on my short list.

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    1. Thank you Margaret. When you get to New Zee, make sure to visit the thermal areas on the North Island, where Molten Mud Murder takes place. I regret not taking a mud bath, but we did stay in a motel with a hot tub - RIGHT NEXT TO OUR BED. There are heaps of fantastic (Kiwis say 'heaps' a lot!) places to visit.

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  9. What a wonderful year Sara! We do want to see New Zealand, and sounds like you'll provide us with reading all through the trip...

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    1. Lucy- living in New Zealand certainly was a wonderful experience. I hope you'll get to Aotearoa soon, and that Alexa Glock keeps you company. Great idea about a Jungle Red tour, Hank!

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  10. Armchair traveling is one of my favorite things about reading! I've always wanted to visit New Zealand, especially after reading The Fatal Shore, years ago. I had no idea it was so far from the coast of Australia, or we might have tried to visit when we went to New South Wales about a dozen years ago. But I did not know the Maori name. "New Zealand" sounds Dutch to me. Unlike Uluru/Ayres Rock, I suspect the original name will not be restored; it's too hard to pronounce!

    The Australian TV series Top of the Lake shows a glimpse into the side of New Zealand you describe, Sara. Looks like much of it is a wild, uninhabited place, with spectacular scenery. It would be very easy to lose a body there.

    How marvelous, that you were able to live there. And survive to write about it!

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    1. OH, right--we started watching that I think--very bleak. It has some surprising actor as the main character--do you remember who she was?i

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    2. Elisabeth Moss. She is astonishing in the role.

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    3. Karen- you are so right! New Zealand is a long way from Australia (1,200 miles). People tend to lump them together, though they refuse to be lumped! (The Kiwis do love this odd candy called pineapple lumps.) Dutch explorer Abel Tasman dubbed the islands New Zealand ('sealand') in 1645. Aotearoa might not win, but aren't you glad President Obama reverted Mt. McKinley to its original name Denali?

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    4. Pineapple lumps sound wonderful!

      And yes, Denali is a much better name.

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  11. Nope! Not going! Except in books!

    DebRo

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    1. ALTHOUGH, DebRo--you could probably describe New York in pretty scary terms. And the Grand Canyon. And the Appalachian Trail. Maybe Sara is just telling us the dramatic side!

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    2. Most places in the world have a dark underbelly. Alexa Glock keeps bumping into it.

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  12. New Zealand seemed like the end of the earth travel destination, and now it is almost over 'tourist-ed'. I am amazed at the courage of the Maori people who first settled here. I just ordered a copy of Molten Mud Murder, and look forward to the rest of the series. Your choice of name for our sleuth, Alexa Glock, implies for me, a no nonsense person. How did you choose her name?

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  13. I love anew Zealand and have been several times but when our kids were small and we visited Rororua I had one strapped in the stroller and one on reins, held firmly. New Zealanders are certainly the nicest people in the world!

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    1. I wish I had had reins for my husband when he dipped his finger into a steaming stream! Will you ever go back?

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  14. Thanks Coralee, for ordering Molten Mud Murder. I hope you'll love it, and the respect it pays to the Maori. We had a neighbor in Christchurch, a fearless earthquake survivor psychiatrist. She took us on a day long bike tour and I do NOT know how I kept up with her. She forged ahead with abandon, and Alexa is named for her. Glock came from Southern Living columnist Allison Glock. I thought- what a perfect last name for Alexa!

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  15. What wonderful adventures you had, Sara, and I loved that you could find murder potential almost everywhere. I have not been to New Zealand or much of anywhere else but I so enjoy reading about those places.

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    1. Me too, Judi. I love reading books set in remote locales- Iceland, Sweden, South Africa. One book I loved, Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton, was set on the Falkland Islands. What are your favorite settings? I hope you'll like Molten Mud Murder.

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  16. It seems unbelievable, all those different environments in an area that must be larger than I thought. And hiding dead people in all of them? Something tells me Alexa Glock is going to busy for quite some time. And now I have a new country to visit, through the pages of a good book.

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    1. New Zealand is a tad larger than Great Britain, if that helps. We drove from Auckland to the tip of the North Island one time. It was ten hours- I thought we would never get there. I hope you'll love Molten Mud Murder.

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  17. BREAKING NEWS: AND THE WINNER of Catacombs from yesterday is LANA . Send your mailing address to me at h ryan at whdh dot com

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  18. Hi, the Alexa Glock series sounds just wonderful--New Zealand has always been on my bucket list and now it seems even more compelling! Molten Mud Murder is now on preorder. And any mystery series is going to make a place sound dangerous - St. Mary Mead anyone? - but then, there's no railing on the Grand Canyon and plenty of signs reminding people "Your safety is your responsibility." I guess you should take that approach anywhere!
    -Melanie

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    1. Melanie- one thing I noticed while in New Zealand is that the safety rules for various activities are more relaxed than here. I hope you'll love Molten Mud Murder, and get to New Zealand soon.

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  19. My partner and I were there in 2008 and I loved every moment. 3 weeks wasn't nearly enough time, and I feel I might have to go back and spend more time in the South Island.

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    1. Susan- nine months wasn't even enough time. I want to go back too. I hope you'll recognize some of the setting in Molten Mud Murder.

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  20. Sara, I have to say that I love the sound of your book. I'm adding it to my buy list!

    I have never been to New Zealand. I'm not much of a traveler of any kind really. I suppose if I had the ability to travel my main area of interest would be Ireland, Scotland and England...plus Hawaii.

    However, if I was taking a specific purpose trip to New Zealand, I'd want to visit the shooting locations for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There used to be a travel package tour that did that very thing. I'm not sure if it still exists now though.

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    1. Jay- I hope you'll love the book. In Molton Mud Murder, Alexa drives right by Hobbiton- always in a hurry. There are still many Lord of the Rings tours on both islands. Happy trails!

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    2. Well, actually, no. We drove on by, too. Next time!

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  21. Sara, you are so adventurous! And I would love to read a series set in New Zealand--it's been very underrepresented, I think. My brother and sister-in-law were sailors and they lived in Russell for several years while they were having a boat built. They made the NZ-Australia crossing many times, and the Pacific crossing twice. Unfortunately, I must have been behind the door when the adventure gene was passed out, but I will love reading about New Zealand. And, like Jay, I would LOVE to see where LOTR was filmed.

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    1. Deborah, my husband claims I am cautious! (That's probably why I'm here to write about our adventures.) The Bay of Islands area is drop dead gorgeous. I remember the cliff top lighthouse that probably guided your brother and sister-in-law to safe harbor. You can only reach it by 8 hour walk, or water taxi. Hikers can spend the night. If I go back, I'm going to do it. Duncan and Gemma (I am a BIG fan) would be at home in many New Zealand villages.

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  22. Sara, I had to laugh at how you describe the places you visited in New Zealand, ending with how a murder could quite easily take place there. I know that mystery/crime writers are always keeping an open mind about settings for murders, but your approach shows how funny that can be. Even as a reader of mystery/crime, I look at places differently sometimes, but if I were writing the stories, I'm sure it would be a constant checklist of suitable for murder requirements. Of course, I am so impressed that you and your husband took the year to live in New Zealand and explore it. My author friend Catherine Lea lives in New Zealand and has encouraged me to visit. Maybe I need to look at that more closely.

    Congratulations on your debut novel set in this fascinating place. There are some books/stories that help readers learn about a setting, and I think Molten Mud Murder and this series will definitely do that. So, your novel is really quite irresistible in that the story itself is intriguing, and the setting is a new frontier for my reading. In other words, Molten Mud Murder is going on my wish list and TBR list.

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    1. Kathy- I am glad my down under adventures made you laugh. I believe Alexa Glock will too. She's a bit fish-out-of-water in the wop wops (boondocks) of New Zealand. It is my intent lure people, physically or mentally, to 'the land of the long white cloud.'

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  23. This series sounds thrilling! I can see I have some catching up to do. Thank you so much for visiting today, Sara. I am
    absolutely thrilled to add you to the top of my TBR pile!

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    1. Jenn- you'll be signing at Poisoned Pen Press in Scottsdale two days before I will. I can't wait to read Word to the Wise! I wish we could meet. Thank you for hosting me.

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    2. Such fun! I'll be there this coming Saturday--yikes!

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    3. Congrats, Hank. I also can't wait to read The Murder List. Thank you for hosting me today. It was super fun.

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  24. After hearing how other people fared I'm reminded of Maxwell Smart: Missed by that much! It sounds like you and your husband had a fabulous adventure. What did you do with your house, bills, etc. while you were gone so long? (Asking for a friend....) I am anxious to read the first of your mystery series!

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    1. Hi Pat- we did have a fabulous adventure. As far as logistics- we rented our house to a sabbatical professor which covered the cost of renting a home in Christchurch.(The Kiwi family we rented from came to D.C.- so it was like a big circle.) We paid bills electronically. Toughest part was finding a temp home for our kitty. I hope you'll love the Alexa Glock series, starting with Molten Mud Murder!

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  25. I always wanted to go to Australia and New Zealand but only would if the transporter was real. No 2-day plane trips for me! I read Ngaio Marsha many years ago and watched The Lord of the Rings films and Heracles and Xena. Lovely scenery.

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    1. Gorgeous! And yes, it is FAR. Like, three trips to California from Boston away.

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    2. A transporter! I like the way you think, Sally. We cut the New Zealand flight in half by stopping in Hawaii. But then I had more clothes suitable for Hawaii than New Zealand, where the average temp in 60 degrees.

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