Catherine Raynes: Polkinghorne and Broke Road

Polkinghorne by Steve Braunias  

In Polkinghorne, literary journalist Steve Braunias takes readers on an extraordinary and often chilling journey through the most high-profile murder case in modern New Zealand history.  

With unparalleled access to the key players, Braunias offers readers his unique insight into the investigation, the trial and the astonishing revelations that kept the New Zealand public utterly transfixed. The death of Pauline Hanna in her home in Remuera, and the arrest of her husband, eye surgeon Dr Philip Polkinghorne, led to an epic trial that played out like a scandalous expose of rich Auckland life. Braunias pieces it all together and presents it as an unforgettable opera - including an extraordinary encounter that will leave readers stunned.  

Fascinating, engrossing, and filled with unforeseen turns, Polkinghorne goes deep inside the courtroom case that shocked a nation and explores the lusts and torments that we try to conceal. This is a must-read for true crime enthusiasts and anyone who has followed the case and wondered about the truth behind the headlines. 

  

Broke Road by Matthew Spencer  

A young woman is found dead in her isolated town house in rural Red Creek, an up-and-coming wine tourism destination outside Sydney. No forced entry. No signs of struggle. And her geologist husband has an alibi, though it’s not exactly solid. While a tabloid journalist is quick to spin her own damning narrative, homicide detective Rose Riley is questioning everything she sees—especially in a rapidly developing community that already seems on edge. 
 
While Riley and her partner, Priya Patel, work the case with a local detective, crime reporter Adam Bowman follows his own leads. Then forensic evidence matches that of a pair of unsolved murders elsewhere in two other married women, murdered months apart yet in the exact same manner. Riley realizes she’s dealing with a serial killer. But one whose victims weren’t random. These women were chosen, watched, and targeted for a purpose. 
 
As the secrets in this small town emerge, the suspects mount. Now Riley must unearth the deadliest secret of all—the true motive behind the murders—before another woman dies. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from news Talks at b.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Twenty two to twelve on news Talks, he'd be Jason
Pine might have been pulled away from his beloved Wellington
to be in Hamilton for the All Blacks, But of
course Wellington is hosting Wrexham FC versus The Phoenix later
this afternoon five pm kickoff, and Catherine Rain's, our book reviewer,
is going to be there in the stand.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Tay, Catherine, Hey, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah? Very good things. So so you're a REXAM fan
or a Phoenix fan.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Oh, look, probably a little bit of divided loyalties, but
probably erring slightly towards Wrexham.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
I think just very good.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah. I think I'll go and hang out at the
Makeshift to pub and see what the atmosphere's like and
start from there.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
I think it's going to be so much fun, amazing,
isn't it. How like a TV show like that can
can and I presume you've watched the TV show can
develop a fan base around the world, so that team
like that can tour Australia and New Zealand and they
can expect twenty thousand.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
I just think it's amazing and I think I also
think that what Ryan Reynolds and Rob mclhoney have done
for the team. I mean, obviously their Hollywood background has helped,
you know, but just how they've built up the city
of Rixham as well and the people around it. And
what I like about the TV show is that they
talk about all of the characters they're involved, and it's
not just about the players, it's about the town. It's
a really interesting watcher for sure. Anybody hasn't watched it

(01:28):
as well? Worth while?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, what are they called the real life ted Lesso
in a sense?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah they do?

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, yeah, Oh so good. So they're in the championship
next season, which is going to be a big ask
but amazing and so good that the big Cacaci is
going to be playing for them as well. But anyway,
two reads to recommend to us this weekend. So we
will begin with the latest from Steve Braunius tell us
about Polkinghorn.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
So this is where and Steve Bornis is as a
journalist and he's covered a lot of murder trials in
New Zealand and this one about Pokinghorn. He set through
and he listened to what you can only really describe
as a very intriguing and unusual murder case. And of
course this covers that eight week trial of Philip Polkihorn,
who was accused of murdering his wife Pauline Hannah, and

(02:11):
the police quickly suspected him of murder and then sort
of slowly, and as Braunius describes, not altogether in a
particularly competent way, went about investigating every aspect of his
life and a lot about his sex life, and finally
arresting him for the murder of his wife sixteen months
after he made the one one one call after saying
that she hanged herself in there room you were a home,

(02:33):
And of course now we know he's been acquished, and
it's just it's fascinating. Braunius discusses Madison Ashton, the sex
worker who had this relationship with Popinghorn, and you know,
kind of that was the motive that he had to
kill Pokinghorn. But you know, as we know, she disappeared
and refused to appear, only of course later to have

(02:54):
converse fully with the media. And what I found really
fascinating about it is that normally when someone's on trial
for murder, they kind of hidden sort of behind a
glass box and that's where they are, and he wasn't
fine to that at all. He sort of had a
row to himself behind his legal team and he appeared
at the kind of the dock at the beginning of
the trial to enter his plea and at the very
end otherwise he was sort of part of the population.

(03:16):
And you know, I suspect that he formed some relation,
you know, relationships with people in Chattingham in the courtroom.
And but the trial revealed these very dark secrets of
these privileged and very unhappy life and brauni has had
access to many of those key players in the investigation,
and it just it makes for really interest in reading
in a different perspective on it.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
So there's Polkinghorn by Steve Braunius. You've also read Broke
Road by Matthew Spencer, so.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
This is something completely different. There's follows two detectives, Des
Rose Riley and DC Prior Patel, and they head north
to this village in New South Wales in the beautiful
Hunter Valley called Red Creek, and a young married woman there,
Penelope Armitage, has been strangled in her home on this
newly built townhouse on this residential development, and it becomes

(04:03):
very clear that she knew who had attacked her and
who murdered her, but the evidence suggests that she was alone,
and so Riley is told to be wary of the
local police force and she sort of sets up her
own instant a room away from the police station. And
then the media becomes interested and the tablaiu joiness lists
start to appear, and then they're framed a very trusted

(04:24):
true home journalist, a guy called Adam Bowman, he appears too,
and he starts to talk about the series, and they're
joined by this local detective, a guy called Christian Rigus,
and they investigate the circumstances of the death and carry
out these investigations and witnesses and Bowman on the other hand,
is using his journalistic skills to sort of deep deep,
to a deep dive into the political ruption corruption within

(04:45):
the community. And then the forensic results come in and
there's a connections to other murders, one in Canberra and
one in Adelaide, and Riley and at ten've got to
figure out how they're connected and narrowing down their suspects
to work out who they're dealing with, and the author
does this really good job of building suspense and lots
of suspects and keeps the story moving and lots of

(05:05):
red hea and shifty characters, and it's that kind of
book that you just keep wondering who really did it?

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah? Right, that sounds great. So that's Broke Road by
Matthew Spencer. Catherine's first book was Polking Horn by Steve Brawny.
Has have a great time at the game this afternoon,
won't you?

Speaker 3 (05:20):
I will thank you.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, we'll be thinking of you. Katherine Rain's our book
reviewer there. Those books will be on the news Talks.
He'd be website as well.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to news Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.