Books by Des Hunt

Twelve-year-old Cassi Whelan and her dad have just moved into a repaired house on the edge of Christchurchs Red Zone. Although Cassi was only four when earthquakes decimated Christchurch, her memories still haunt her. An obsessive runner, she finds the wide-open spaces of the cle...ared Red Zone suit her perfectly. However, she becomes suspicious about strange comings and goings at the broken-down house next door. A chance meeting with a boy who lives on the other side of the house who is a tech geek leads to them setting up a surveillance system to investigate whats happening... and the adventure begins.
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"Logan's grandfather grew up near Palmerston North in the 1940s. One day, he and his sister Mavis spotted a beautiful and unusual bird in the kowhai tree outside their house: it was a huia bird, which was believed to be extinct. The bird flew away, and in an attempt to photograph... it they managed to track it deep into the Manawatu Gorge. It was a dangerous journey through two train tunnels, made even more so when the horrible Carson boys got wind of their mission and decided to try and find the huia first so they could shoot it and sell its highly valuable feathers. More than 60 years later, 11-year-old Logan has returned to the Manawatu with Grandpop and a scientist to try and solve the mystery of what happened to the huia that he and Mavis found all those years ago. Grandpop must remember all the details of the events of many years ago. Can the group rely on his version of the events, and find the huia's final resting place? Will the huia still be there, and will its DNA still be valuable for scientific research into NZ's native fauna? And whoever would have thought that those Carsons are still living in the area and on the loose, and still up to their nasty tricks?"--Publisher information. Suggested level: primary, intermediate, junior secondary.
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When Tyler Matthews wins a national ecological competition for a place on the Nature South Eco Tour, he has no idea where it will lead him. After he travels to the bottom of New Zealand's South Island to join the tour, he meets the other two winners, Hine and Mandy and finds hims...elf in a maze of mystery and adventure. Ages 9-12.
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"Inseparable best friends Dean and Pelly frequently get up to no good. Dean is a dare-devil, and Pelly always seems to end up going along for the ride. Dean's amateur bomb-making is one step too far, and is soon followed by a bombshell of another sort, Pelly's parents are shiftin...g the family back to New Zealand. Via email and Skype they arrange for Dean to visit in the school holidays. In the meantime, Pelly and his new friend Afi have stumbled upon a drug ring operating between their school and near Afi's beach bach. The pair are well on the way to collecting the evidence they need to bust the operation, when Dean joins them from Australia. Pelly might have changed, but devil-may-care Dean most certainly hasn't. In no time at all, Dean's bomb-making obsession threatens not only the investigation but also lives"--Publisher information. Suggested level: primary, intermediate.
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A sequel to Frog Whistle Mine. Tony Hogan-White now lives in Christchurch, with his Mum and her geologist partner. Tony and his new stepfather have a holiday bonding trip back to Fox Glacier, where another exciting adventure ensues.