Pre-order
1
of
1
A Ghost Hunter's Guide to Catching a Killer
An utterly gripping and cozy historical murder mystery with a killer hook
Brief Description
A hotel full of ghosts. A haunting murder. A most unusual investigation... August 1915: Alma Timperley is fully settled in the bustling coastal town of Falmouth with her fiancé Alan. In her new role as owner of the extraordinary Timperley Spiritualist Hotel, Alma offers residents the...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2999
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Pre-order
Releases
15th
September 2026
(Approx. Date)
Pre-order "A Ghost Hunter's Guide to Catching a Killer" now to secure your copy from our first shipment
Found a better price? Request a price match
A Ghost Hunter's Guide to Catching a Killer
$2999
Unit price
/
Unavailable
The second unique and spooky read in the Alma Timperley Mystery series!
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 hotel full of ghosts. A haunting murder. A most unusual investigation...
August 1915: Alma Timperley is fully settled in the bustling coastal town of Falmouth with her fiancé Alan. In her new role as owner of the extraordinary Timperley Spiritualist Hotel, Alma offers residents the chance to contact the dead – and since the start of the war, the hotel has never been busier.
But when a guest is found dead in their bed, talking to ghosts is suddenly the least of Alma's worries. The police are quick to suspect foul play, which can only mean one thing: there is a killer lurking in the hotel's shadows.
Time is of the essence, so Alma is recruited by the police to help with their investigation. Can she crack the case, before she finds herself in grave danger?
A Ghost Hunter's Guide to Catching a Killer by F.H. Petford compellingly blends mystery and the supernatural, promising an enthralling read.
Series: The Alma Timperley Mystery Series
View all-
Pre-orderA Ghost Hunter's Guide to Catching a Killer
A hotel full of ghosts. A haunting murder. A most unusual investigation... August 1915: Alma Timperley is fully settled in the bustling coastal town of Falmouth with her fiancé Alan. In her new role as owner of the extraordinary Timperley Spiritualist Hotel, Alma offers residents the chance to contact the dead – and since the start of the war, the...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableOut 15 Sep 2026Pre-order -
A Ghost Hunter's Guide to Solving a Murder
Meet Alma Timperley. She can: Run a hotel Solve a mystery Talk to ghosts...? December, 1914: After the death of her aunt, Alma Timperley is surprised when she suddenly finds herself the heiress to the Timperley Spiritualist Hotel in a pretty coastal town in Cornwall. But not everything is as it seems... the hotel offers guests a very special service:...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781399749862
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 04 June 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Hodder Paperback
Illustration: N/A
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 26.0mm
Width: 130.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 239g
Pages: 336
About the Author
F. H. Petford ran his own creative agency and was involved in writing projects for corporate clients and the London theatre world.
A Ghost Hunter's Guide to solving a Murder, the first of the Alma Timperley mysteries, was written following the success of three crime novels set in the Oxfordshire village of Great Tew at the end of the Great War. The supernatural elements in his work are inspired by his own experiences of the paranormal.He was signed to Hodder and Stoughton in 2025 and lives a quietly pagan life in Somerset.Also by F.H. Petford
View all-
A Ghost Hunter's Guide to Solving a Murder
Meet Alma Timperley. She can: Run a hotel Solve a mystery Talk to ghosts...? December, 1914: After the death of her aunt, Alma Timperley is surprised when she suddenly finds herself the heiress to the Timperley Spiritualist Hotel in a pretty coastal town in Cornwall. But not everything is as it seems... the hotel offers guests a very special service:...Paperback$2999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
More from Crime & Thriller
View all-
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 Monday -
New ReleaseIt Could Have Been Her
PREPARE TO BE HOOKED: The no. 1 Sunday Times and MULTI-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new spine tingling thriller. It was the night she almost died. Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New Release26 Beauties
The twenty-sixth thrilling novel in the globally bestselling Women's Murder Club series. Beautiful young women are disappearing by the dozen. A celebration is cut short when a concerned father crashes Detective Inspector Lindsay Boxer's party. His daughter is missing - and she's not the only one. DI Lindsay Boxer has been tracking a chilling pattern: a Jane Doe washed ashore,...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseThe Secrets We Hide
The stunning new North Falls thriller by the bestselling author of We Are All Guilty Here 'Quite simply, Karin Slaughter is the best of us' Dervla McTiernan Welcome back to North Falls -- a small town with big secrets. The house at 1601 Iris Drive looks like any other in the quiet, residential street. But rumours are rife about the Vickery...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseThe Parkwood Murders
They came for an escape, but can they escape a killer? Detective Nicola Bridge returns in another gripping and immersive mystery For its loyal guests, Parkwood Holiday Village in west Dorset is a haven- woodland walks, a tranquil lake, service around the clock. Until, just after midsummer, a body is found floating in the swimming pool. Detective Nicola Bridge, exhausted...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Hope Rises
'BALDACCI IS STILL PEERLESS' - THE SUNDAY TIMES REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD . . . Walter Nash, working under the alias of Dillon Hope, is on the road to revenge after becoming an informant for the FBI against a global criminal operation headed up by Victoria Steers. Steers has ripped everything Nash held dear away from him....Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New Release
Slash
A year after a brutal shootout left her lover dead, ex-police sergeant Honey Chalmers is a hot mess, drinking too much and eating too little, working casual gigs for a shady firm of private investigators — while holding conversations with a ghost. A desperate father asks her to investigate his missing son — a double-murder suspect last seen during the...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseA River Red With Blood
The players call it the Game, and its aim is simple: to abduct and kill a stranger without getting caught. They're very good at it. They've been playing it for a long time. And they can keep playing as long as everyone sticks to the rules: No Killing Close to Home and No Killing Outside the Game. But those rules...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
The Shadow Step
The new Detective Miller thriller from bestselling author Mark Billingham, full of tension, wit and incredible twists. The Shadow Step: One taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards ('in the shadow') Typically, such a step perfectly demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a couple in near telepathic harmony with...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips mid August -
New ReleaseBlue Lightning
Blue Lightning The fourth Shetland novel A remote island on lockdown. A killer on the loose . . . Shetland detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming when he returns to Fair Isle to introduce his fiancée to his parents. With the autumn storms raging, the island is cut off from the rest of the world. Then...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseRed Bones
Red Bones is the third Shetland novel featuring detective Jimmy Perez. Sometimes the dead won't stay buried... When a young archaeologist uncovers a set of human remains, the island settlers are intrigued. Is it an ancient find—or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is shot in what appears to be a tragic accident in the middle of the...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3800Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseThe Last to Drown
Praise for Noelle W. Ihli: 'Hands down one of my favourite reads of the year' - FREIDA MCFADDEN 'A true classic in the genre' - LISA JEWELL 'A propulsive story that haunts and mesmerizes' - KARIN SLAUGHTER FIVE DAYS. TWENTY STRANGERS. NO PHONE SIGNAL. The rafting trip was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime. But now that Kaia's...Paperback$3000Elsewhere:$3499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday
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!
