MURDER & MOJITOS

Name: MURDER & MOJITOS
Start: 2026-10-28T17:30:00+12:00
End: 2026-10-28T18:30:00+12:00
Location: KISMET COCKTAIL & WHISKY BAR

Gareth Ward + Louise Ward

Writers + Kōrero

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 Doug Brooks.

* 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?

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.

Doug Brooks

Doug Brooks is a New Zealand born writer, actor and director of European and Ngāti Pāmoana descent and co-founder of the Top of the South Filmmakers. Beginning as an actor before branching out to teaching, writing, directing, and producing, he has been a key player in the growing filmmaking community in his home base of Nelson. His recent acting credits include the short film Blue Moon, the BBC series Mystic, US series The Wilds, and Shortland Street. Doug has had production experience in a wide variety of roles, on sets ranging from BBC Scotland and Dreamworks’ Light Between Oceans to community short film projects. He was nominated for the Falvey Filmmaker of the Year Award at the 2021 Top of the South Film Festival. His short film Sons of 71 won the People’s Choice award at the 2017 Top of the South Film Festival, and The Flame won Best Short Film at the 2017 Auckland International Film Festival. He was also awarded best actor at the Top of the South Film Festival in 2017 and 2016.