Gwen Moffat Books In Order

Publication Order of Miss Melinda Pink Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Gwen Moffat is a British mountaineer, guide, and author of literary fiction best known for the crime mystery series “Miss Pink.” As the pioneering female mountain guide in the UK, she established herself as a woman that does not tread the familiar or well-traveled paths in life. She loves to think of herself as a free-spirited climbing rebel who has no interest in adhering to the traditionally gendered roles established in the 40s and 50s. Her existential attitude drove her life purpose in several ways that made it possible to finance her climbing adventures across Europe in the Alps and I the UK. She worked as a mountain guide, dispatch rider and driver in the Army, writer, forester, artist’s model, helmsman of a schooner, and winkle-picker. Her varied and atypical career path soon led her back to a career in writing that she had attempted sporadically over the years. She launched her crime writing authorship career with the novel “Lady with a Cool Eye” the first of the “Miss Pink” crime mysteries in 1973 and has never looked back since. Having garnered much respect from the climbing community over the years, her life was immortalized in the movie “Operation Moffat” that won a ton of awards across the globe and became a critically acclaimed film. With so much success “Space Below My Feet,” her 1961 memoir was reprinted.

While Gwen Moffat loved reading and writing, she does not remember the first book she read though the first novel ever read to her was about Brer Fox and Uncle Remus. Apart from the pseudo folk narrative, she read a lot of other books in her house even before she was old enough to visit the town library. Among her favorite novels during this period of her life included “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens, “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas, and Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe.” During this time of her life, they hitched everywhere and still lived in barns. Since there were no specialized clothing, an Army gas cape was an excellent groundsheet while she delighted in reading “Always a Little Further” by Alastair Borthwick by torchlight. Lounging on the shores of Llyn Ogwen, she had a lot of fun reading on those cold winter evenings when one could do nothing else. Growing up with an interest in mountain climbing, “Mountaincraft” by Young was a favorite. She referred to it when she got cold feet on her first professional engagement and immediately gelt her confidence flood back.

Gwen never did consciously set out to break traditional gender roles though the many jobs she has held over the years may suggest so. Since she was eleven and reading the likes of Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, and Ella Maillart, she was always interested in storytelling. She was never conscious of aspiring to emulate these authors or her aunt who had climbed the Himalayas and the Lakes. All she was interested in was climbing, writing, and living even though she took a short story writing correspondence course while she lived on the shores of Lake Loch Ness. However, she lived with a lot of astute people that encouraged her to pursue her dreams. As she grew older, she worked for a living though for a time she also milked amenable cows that came close when she was spending the night on a field and also stole cauliflowers while she was living in Cornwall. As for the rejections she was getting, she never let it get to her as she knew they were part and parcel of getting established in the industry. She started submitting short stories to small publications and finally got one story about having a baby on a boat published on Health and Efficiency. She was soon getting her work published in glossy magazines and soon after was selling scripts to the BBC. As the successes were amplified, the rejection slips became less and less until she finally published “Two Star Red” in 1964.

Gwen Moffat’s “Miss Pink at the Edge of the World” is set in a hotel in the Cuillin of Skye mountains at a small town named Glen Shira. It is a spot favored by dedicated climbers and professional guides including amateur detective Melinda Pink J.P. Right from the start, the gathering is incredibly fragile given the different personalities. A forty-something-year-old guide is growing careless and soft and womanizing is not helping his case. Also on the premises is an incredibly attractive female guide that never tried to hide the fact that she was having an affair with her client, which made the man’s wife green with rage and envy. The owner of the hotel who everyone derisively refers to as “the Colonel” does not like the permissiveness of his guests and the general direction society is taking. Things come to a head when a very young woman arrives in the scene with flip flops, a big floppy hat, jeans, and a halter top. Miss Pink now has two ingeniously concealed murders to deal with and her understanding of people and climbing expertise will come in handy in her investigations.

“Over the Sea to Death” by Gwen Moffat opens to the mysterious deaths of two climbers on “Old Man of Scamsdale.” One of the dead men is a huge celebrity that is as famous as he is hated. Trevor Stark had been working on the beach with helicopters and boats as he intended to film a TV program involving the column of rocks in the area. Suspicion falls on a local landowner that wanted to keep tourists from the spot and avoid publicity at any cost. However, initial investigations point to the deaths being freak accidents but a fellow climber and the landowner believe the men had been deliberately killed. But since only the two had both the opportunity and expertise to pull off such a bold crime, suspicion quickly falls on them. But then a middle-aged amateur sleuth that also doubles up as author and magistrate butts in and tries to solve the mystery. She feels drawn to the plight of the two men that have been falsely accused and wants justice for the victims. Using her expertise on human nature and keen observation skills, she investigates even as her own life is in danger from the perpetrators that would do anything to stop the wheels of justice.

Gwen Moffat’s “The Stone Hawk” is set in Salvation Canyon, a small community in a rural part of Utah. Set in an intimidating landscape, it seems like the perfect sanctuary though there is a history of cattle rustling and stern Mormonism. Moreover, it was a place of rich Indian history which the townsfolk guard jealously. Such places typically have a lot of secrets and hence when a young half Indian girl named Birdie goes missing, her disappearance is linked to her well-known interest in discovering the truth in ancient legends of the town. Things get even more interesting when a second child goes missing soon after, leaving Miss Pink to start thinking that maybe the two cases were related. Alibis and accusations are flying all over the place as Miss Pink rifles through them all trying to make sense of it all. Master of discernment, it will not long before she gets to the bottom of a depraving and shocking case.