The Secret of the Angel who Died at Midnight
Rosie Fenwicke
300 pages
Wonderful World
Published June 9, 2025
The Secret of the Angel who Died at Midnight is a well written police procedural set in Martinborough, which is a small town in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand, just North of Wellington where I live, so I know it well. I’ve read and enjoyed a few of this author’s novels across several genres, but this was her go at first crime fiction, and I loved it, both for the carefully plotted mystery and the quintessentially Kiwi elements. It recently became available in Kindle Unlimited.
DSS Kate Sutton is the recently divorced mother of two nearly adult boys. She’s something of a workaholic loner, but gets on well enough with her seniors, even if her junior constable doesn’t trust her judgement. When Martinborough’s solo GP is found dead in his garden with a suspicious head injury, and a second murder follows soon after, the pressure is on Kate’s to solve the case quickly, but how is it related to the unsolved disappearance of a young French backpacker three years earlier?
I haven’t read much NZ crime, which clearly I need to rectify. The mark of a good mystery is when the baddie and their motivation is finally revealed, it seems completely obvious – except you didn’t guess it before the reveal. The significance of the title also had me stumped well into the book, but it does all make sense. I liked the atmospheric descriptions of the various Wairarapa locales, and all the medical details – the author is a former Wellington GP, like me, so knows her stuff. I was happy to see that a sequel is due out next year, as I liked Kate a lot as a heroine so hopefully this is the start of a new favourite series.
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