The mojitos will be flowing when Gareth Ward and Louise Ward convene at Kismet to discuss Murder and Mojitos, book three in the bestselling Bookshop Detectives series. In this high-stakes final instalment, Art Deco glamour, a Cuban crime queen and a grammar-obsessed killer collide. Chaired by Naomi Arnold.

* Both alcohol and non-alcohol cocktails for sale on the night. Special prizes for the best dressed flapper and shiek (cake eater)!

Booksellers Garth and Eloise Sherlock (and their cowardly dog, Stevie) have been roped into hosting Murder and Mojitos, a glamorous Art Deco festival event starring Cuba’s queen of crime fiction. Between flapper frocks, rooftop hijinks and competitive cocktail shaking, it should be the bookshop’s biggest break yet.

But when mysterious parcels arrive at the shop and a body turns up on a quiet local beach, every clue points back to Arthur Pinter – the literary-obsessed serial killer from the Sherlocks’ past. With the mojitos flowing and half of the town in costume, Garth and Eloise must untangle a web of old betrayals, new alliances and international intrigue before the festival’s finale turns into a bloodbath. Can they protect their staff, their small town and their beloved bookshop – or will this be their final chapter?

NOTE: Doug Brooks was due to chair this session but has been cast in a popular NZ series (but we aren’t allowed to talk about it publicly yet)! Big thanks to Naomi Arnold for stepping in.

Gareth and Louise Ward
Gareth and Louise Ward are the real-life owners of independent bookshop Wardini Books, with stores in Havelock North and Napier, New Zealand. Louise is known among the staff as Fearless Leader and Gareth as a bit of a dick; he is, however, the author of the Tarquin the Honest and The Rise of the Remarkables book series, as well as being the bestselling and award-winning author of The Traitor and the Thief and The Clockill and the Thief. Gareth and Louise met at police training college in the UK and are both ex-coppers. Louise has one murder arrest to her name, is an English Literature Graduate and as an ex-teacher inflicted Shakespeare on inner-city twelve-year-olds. She regularly reviews books on RNZ. Both are obsessed with their rescue dog Stevie, avoid housework and gardening, and live in the cultural centre of the universe that is Hawke’s Bay, Aotearoa New Zealand. The Bookshop Detectives series are Gareth and Louise’s first books together.

Naomi Arnold
Naomi Arnold is an award-winning Nelson journalist who has written for most New Zealand magazines and newspapers including New Zealand Geographic, North & South and The Listener. She occasionally contributes to international outlets including The Guardian and The Washington Post. She started her writing career at the Nelson Mail in 2009, where she wrote features for five years before becoming a freelance writer and author. She has written the critically acclaimed history of New Zealand astronomy, Southern Nights (HarperCollins), World of WearableArt: 30 Designers Tell Their Stories (Potton & Burton), and is co-author of Force of Nature, a history of Forest & Bird, with renowned Nelson author David Young (Potton & Burton). Her memoir about walking the length of New Zealand on Te Araroa, Northbound, was shortlisted for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.