Pre-order
1
of
1
Missing Pieces
Brief Description
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the thirteenth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, Chris Waters is assigned an unusual cold case. A dubious, rejected theory might have the answers. As the first anniversary of the...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2399
$2800
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Pre-order
Releases
17th
November 2026
(Approx. Date)
Pre-order "Missing Pieces" now to secure your copy from our first shipment
Found a better price? Request a price match
Missing Pieces
$2399
$2800
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Latest News
The Play to Screen Report - 8th October 2026
From iconic toys and games heading to the big screen to comics getting the TV...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visits Hero HQ 🇳🇿📚
It was an honour today to welcome Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to visit Hero HQ.
New Releases to add to your TBR this week (6th October)
With some huge new novels for Fiction, some incredible memoirs and cookbooks, plus some new...
Review: Threshing Day
Our Book Hero Ambassador @NZBookTokGirl is back with her latest read, and this time it’s...
Story to Screen - 7/10/2026
The Story to Screen Report is back! Sacha has rounded up the latest news from...
See more
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the thirteenth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, Chris Waters is assigned an unusual cold case. A dubious, rejected theory might have the answers.
As the first anniversary of the formation of the Kings Lake murder squad approaches, there is a problem — they've run out of murders.
As a result, they are given the task of reviewing unsolved cold cases. One of these comes back to life in unexpected ways as the team try to discover the identity of the young woman whose body was found in the Norfolk countryside two decades ago. And even if they can give her a name, how can they possibly find her killer after so many years?
Series: A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series
View all-
Some Sort of Justice
The first time in print for the million-copy-selling crime writer. This time, a cast of good coppers, a wily ex-detective and a shadowy, well-connected operative are brought together by an aristocratic fatality. Only there's no body, no forensics—and enemies in the highest places. When Caroline Thorpe succeeded in casting doubt on the verdict of the inquest into her brother's death,...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
An Accidental Death
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the first book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, an experienced detective's unorthodox methods land him in troubled waters. When a young man drowns after a boisterous party in a small riverside town, his friends and family report it to the Kings Lake police as...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Songbird
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the ninth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, Chris Waters is finally in charge of a crime scene. Now he has to make a career-changing decision. Detective Sergeant Chris Waters got the call at 05.29 that July morning. "This is it," said DCI Reeve,...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
A Private Investigation
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the eighth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, DC Smith is ready to retire. But first, he must take one last look into the eyes of a serial killer. When fourteen-year-old Zoe Johnson doesn't come home on a Monday night in early December, the...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
On Eden Street
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the eleventh book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, the Kings Lake detectives are on a routine case. This time the victim isn't who they think he is. The new Kings Lake Central murder squad is about to spend its first morning on team-building exercises...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Roxanne
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the eleventh book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, a young woman is missing, presumed dead. Cara Freeman's determination to find her is personal. Life, as DC Smith used to say, is just one thing after another - as one investigation ends, a new one...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Truth
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the twelfth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, an ex-sergeant might be in trouble. He reunites with DC Smith to discover the truth. He said if he hadn't heard from you by high noon today, he was going to strap on his six-guns and...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
But For The Grace
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the second book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, death in old age shouldn't be suspicious. DC Smith thinks this one is. "We are living in the departure lounge," said Ralph Greenwood, "and flights leave with monotonous regularity." So when another resident of the Rosemary...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
In This Bright Future
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the fifth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, DC Smith is recuperating. Then an unexpected call sends him to Belfast. Two weeks of rest and recuperation – that's what the doctor ordered. Detective Sergeant DC Smith could listen to some music, make some of...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Luck and Judgement
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the third book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, DC Smith is looking for a body. What he finds is far more sinister. When a worker goes missing from a North Sea gas platform, there seem to be just two possible explanations: it was a...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Persons of Interest
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the fourth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, DC Smith has solved hundreds of crimes, but he's never been accused of one. Until now. In the peace and tranquillity of the woods at Pinehills on a Saturday afternoon, a mobile phone begins to ring....Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Rags of Time
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the sixth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, other detectives are content to connect the dots of a case. DC Smith paints a whole picture. Mark Randall lay dead in a field near Lowacre long before Smith had done what he had to do...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781804961537
Publisher: Cornerstone
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 12 November 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin (Cornerstone)
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 35.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 500g
Pages: 352
About the Author
Peter Grainger is the 'creator of the greatest fictional sleuth you've probably never heard of' (FT magazine). A former sixth-form English teacher, Peter is the author of 23 self-published novels, 19 of which are now scheduled for release by major British and North American publishers. Peter lives with his wife, sometimes a grandson and a dog in a cottage in the Cambridgeshire fens. He travels as often as possible to the Norfolk coast he once called home.
Also by Peter Grainger
View all-
Teaching
The sixth edition of Teaching: Making A Difference stands as a cornerstone resource for pre-service educators seeking a comprehensive, contemporary, and accessible introduction to the field of teaching. Through its meticulous attention to accuracy and relevance, this text offers students the possibility to engage with the latest initiatives and governmental mandates shaping educational landscapes. Local case studies woven throughout each...Paperback$18199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Some Sort of Justice
The first time in print for the million-copy-selling crime writer. This time, a cast of good coppers, a wily ex-detective and a shadowy, well-connected operative are brought together by an aristocratic fatality. Only there's no body, no forensics—and enemies in the highest places. When Caroline Thorpe succeeded in casting doubt on the verdict of the inquest into her brother's death,...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
An Accidental Death
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the first book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, an experienced detective's unorthodox methods land him in troubled waters. When a young man drowns after a boisterous party in a small riverside town, his friends and family report it to the Kings Lake police as...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Songbird
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the ninth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, Chris Waters is finally in charge of a crime scene. Now he has to make a career-changing decision. Detective Sergeant Chris Waters got the call at 05.29 that July morning. "This is it," said DCI Reeve,...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
A Private Investigation
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the eighth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, DC Smith is ready to retire. But first, he must take one last look into the eyes of a serial killer. When fourteen-year-old Zoe Johnson doesn't come home on a Monday night in early December, the...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
On Eden Street
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the eleventh book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, the Kings Lake detectives are on a routine case. This time the victim isn't who they think he is. The new Kings Lake Central murder squad is about to spend its first morning on team-building exercises...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Roxanne
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the eleventh book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, a young woman is missing, presumed dead. Cara Freeman's determination to find her is personal. Life, as DC Smith used to say, is just one thing after another - as one investigation ends, a new one...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Truth
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the twelfth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, an ex-sergeant might be in trouble. He reunites with DC Smith to discover the truth. He said if he hadn't heard from you by high noon today, he was going to strap on his six-guns and...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
But For The Grace
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the second book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, death in old age shouldn't be suspicious. DC Smith thinks this one is. "We are living in the departure lounge," said Ralph Greenwood, "and flights leave with monotonous regularity." So when another resident of the Rosemary...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
In This Bright Future
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the fifth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, DC Smith is recuperating. Then an unexpected call sends him to Belfast. Two weeks of rest and recuperation – that's what the doctor ordered. Detective Sergeant DC Smith could listen to some music, make some of...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Luck and Judgement
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the third book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, DC Smith is looking for a body. What he finds is far more sinister. When a worker goes missing from a North Sea gas platform, there seem to be just two possible explanations: it was a...Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Persons of Interest
A million-copy-selling crime writer comes into print for the first time. In the fourth book of A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series, DC Smith has solved hundreds of crimes, but he's never been accused of one. Until now. In the peace and tranquillity of the woods at Pinehills on a Saturday afternoon, a mobile phone begins to ring....Paperback$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
More from Crime & Thriller
View all-
New ReleaseKing’s Ransom
Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe French Illusion
Bestselling author John Grisham delivers a new gripping, suspenseful page-turner about aParis honeymoon gone horribly wrong - and the nightmare that follows. After Paul and Chelsea Tanner's fairytale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseKing’s Ransom
Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...Hardback$4499Elsewhere:$4999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe Heights
In The Heights by #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sir Ian Rankin, murder comes to London's most exclusive high-rise - and every resident is a suspect... MURDER COMES TO LONDON'S MOST LUXURIOUS HIGH-RISE: AND EVERY RESIDENT IS A SUSPECT. The Heights: a gleaming, high-end high-rise looming over Hyde Park. Newly built from steel and smoked glass, it is a billionaire's playground offering sumptuous suites...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseDeath Row
With all hope of an appeal fading away, the fate of a condemned murderess takes a shocking turn in a breathtaking short story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid! A thrilling novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden! Death is coming for her… unless she finds the truth first. Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering...Paperback$2299Elsewhere:$2400Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseDying Days
Award-winning writer delivers a pulse-pounding espionage thriller. Missing soldiers, MI6 secrets and European partisans collide in a deadly game where the lines between lies and reality are fast disintegrating. In the dying days of the Second World War, a new conflict is about to ignite. May, 1945: After fighting to liberate Europe from the Nazis, Tito's Yugoslav Army and Allied...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3699Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseFury In Death: An Eve Dallas thriller (In Death 63)
In the new crime thriller from the bestselling author, Lt. Eve Dallas journeys into the darkness where murder is born… NYSPD homicide detective Eve Dallas has seen a lot in her time but even she is shocked by the savagery of a beating which leaves a wealthy biotech executive dead in his home office. The victim’s corpse is so mangled...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Tom Clancy Pressure Depth
Jack Ryan Jr leads a team of divers in a race to beat the Chinese Navy to a weapon of terrible destructive power in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Jack Ryan Jr. is on Guam to work on a project for Hendley Associates. It's a perfectly ordinary insurance matter, but trouble finds the Ryans...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseThe Country Road Murders
From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a pulse-pounding thriller about justice, vengeance and the roads that lead us home. No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades — LEE CHILD Cross Rivers is the kind of small town where everyone knows your name – and your secrets. Silas Tucker...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseEvery Lake
Scary stories are fun... until your life becomes one. When Alice was fifteen, her father killed Mia Heywood in their lakefront cottage before vanishing into the trees. At least that's what the locals think happened. Over a decade later, Alice has lost her job as a journalist, she's going through an expensive divorce and she desperately needs to sell the...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Nautilus
The follow-up to the bestselling novel The Turing Protocol. Nautilus is a machine with the astonishing power to send messages eight weeks back in time. Its users must follow a set of protocols established by its inventor, Alan Turing, including that it can only be used by a descendant of his family, and only to avert global disasters. But what...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3699Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New Release
Cold River
The sensational new novel from the author of the bestselling thriller, The Creeper, winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction 2025. Deep in the mountains, secrets grow deadly... Detective Constable Sally White knows how easily hikers can go missing in Victoria's high country. But there's something about the disappearance of Louis Taylor, a young man lost up...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
Crime & Thriller lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listCrime & Thriller
Thriller Novels for the Spooky Season
I love that my local book club always chooses a thematic book for October to fit with Spooky Season, but instead of...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listCrime & Thriller
Classics for the Crime & Thriller Reader
Here are some classics that are perfect for someone who already loves a crime & thriller novel - the fathers (and mothers)...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![We Need to Talk About Kevin]()
Lizzy's listCrime & Thriller
Thriller Novels that Won't Leave Lizzy's Brain
These are the books that Lizzy almost wishes she could forget about because they've ruined something for her - whether it's making...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Shirl's listCrime & Thriller
Shirl's Crime & Thriller Picks
I've always loved a good crime and thriller read! Here are a few of my favourites from past and present that have...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listCrime & Thriller
Lizzy's Top Kiwi Crime/Thriller Writers
Looking for your next Crime/Thriller pick? We have some amazing authors right here in Aotearoa doing everything from releasing amazing spine tingling...View the list -
![]()
![]()
![]()
Hannah's listCrime & Thriller
Gripping Crime and Thriller Books
From the fast paced and stressful to the laborious and creepy, this is a selection of some of my favourite crime and...View the list
