A spirit photograph. A camera nicknamed a detective in a box. A Scandinavian boy who speaks only Maori. A body floating in the marshes north of Napier. And a new opportunity for James Hardy to exercise his mind.

New Zealand 1882: When Constable Foster catches a young, blond boy who runs with a gang of Maori boys, he discovers he speaks only Maori, even though he is clearly Scandinavian. Inspector Scully, busy with a body that has recently been discovered in the marshes of the lagoon north of Napier, asks James Hardy to investigate. The trail leads back to the Seventy Mile Bush, where a broken family shows no interest a missing child. But will it also lead back to the body in the swamp?

The Mr. Hardy Investigates series is a spinoff of The Sergeant Frank Hardy Mysteries.