John Hughes was New Zealand’s toughest cop, David Tamihere was New Zealand’s most wanted man, and the 1989 disappearance of Swedish tourists Heidi Paakkonen and Urban Hoglin in the Coromandel was the country’s most perplexing murder mystery.

Heidi has never been found. In 1990, David Tamihere was jailed for the double murders, despite an absence of bodies. There’s no doubt that Tamihere had the form and personality of a prime suspect: a convicted killer and rapist on the run.

With Tamihere now having served his time, however, there are nagging suspicions that police went with an easy collar, rather than the real murderer.

Award-winning investigative journalist Ian Wishart covered the case from its inception: the depositions hearing, the 1990 trial, the discovery of Urban Hoglin’s body in 1991 and the appeals that followed.

Now, in this comprehensive, easy-to-read book, Wishart not only provides the first complete overview of the case, he also adds several major new pieces to the puzzle and analyses their significance.

Did Tamihere do it, or should the case be re-opened?
You be the judge…