Showing titles in Amateur Sleuths

When crime novelist Phoebe opens the post and receives an invitation to her own funeral, she’s horrified. Not least because the date of her death is marked as tomorrow. Deciding it’s nothing more than a prank from an enemy from her past, she determines to put it to the back of her mind. But the next morning, when her completely infuriating postman (who likes to think himself her no.1 literary critic) rings her doorbell, a parcel of poisoned pen-nibs explodes in his face. Forced to confront the fact her correspondence is more RIP than RSVP, Phoebe realises someone must want her dead.

Albert Smith might be retired, but a long career as a police detective has left him with skills that just won’t switch off. So on a walking tour of the British Isles, it doesn’t take long for his eyes to spot something he wasn’t supposed to see.

Alice Ascher, a poor, elderly shopkeeper, is murdered in Andover. Betty Barnard, a young waitress, is strangled with her own belt at Bexhill-on-Sea. Next comes Carmichael Clarke, collector of Chinese art, clubbed to death in Churston. Only in Doncaster does the pattern vary: the man found...

When Olivia Shaw’s mother dies, the sophisticated food editor is astonished to learn she’s inherited a centuries-old English estate—and a title to go with it. Raw with grief and reeling from the knowledge that her reserved mother hid something so momentous, Olivia leaves San Francisco and crosses the pond to unravel the mystery of a lifetime. One glance at the breathtaking Rosemere Priory and Olivia understands why the manor, magnificent even in disrepair, was the subject of her mother’s exquisite paintings. What she doesn’t understand is why her mother never mentioned it.

Everyone knows about the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing that her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared into the care system. Now, author Amanda Bailey is writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the true-crime scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby's trail.

Murder is a dish best served ice cold... In the idyllic, small town of Dewstow, Margery and Clementine are eagerly awaiting retirement from their work on the front-line serving meals to the students at Summerview secondary school. Their peaceful life is shattered when their kitchen manager is found dead in the school’s walk-in freezer. The police are adamant that it’s an open-and-shut case of accidental death. But Margery and Clementine are convinced that something more sinister is afoot and take it upon themselves to investigate.

In The Case of the Diogenes Manuscript, we journey back to the early days of Sherlock Holmes, when the world’s greatest detective was still honing his razor-sharp mind. Set in the bustling streets of 1870s London, this gripping tale reveals one of Sherlock’s first significant cases—a mysterious manuscript theft that plunges him into a web of danger, betrayal, and intellectual challenge.

THE MILLION COPY #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY IS BACK WITH THE NEW BOOK OF THE MOMENT Delicious' JOJO MOYES 'Super-sharp, lethally witty' NIGELLA LAWSON ‘Wonderfully wicked’ RED 'Very funny… I inhaled it' JOE LYCETT ‘Taut, pacy, seamless… a huge pleasure to...

Charles Paris is thrilled – he’s landed a nice juicy part playing Sergeant Collins in the TV detective series, ‘The Stanislaus Braid Mysteries’, and his estranged wife Frances seems to be on the brink of taking him back. But filming turns out to be a tortuous process, with pompous star...

In the summer of 1143, William of Lythwood arrives at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, but it is not a joyous occasion—he's come back from his pilgrimage in a coffin. William's body is accompanied by his young attendant Elave, whose mission is to secure a burial place for his master on the abbey grounds. An already difficult task is complicated when Elave drunkenly expresses his heretical opinions, and capital charges are filed. When a violent death follows, Sheriff Hugh Beringar taps his friend Brother Cadfael for help.

Jago Trevithick KC has been busy in London with the complicated and lengthy trial of an underworld criminal. After a disastrous result, he returns to Penbartha to be with Olivia, seeking refuge and peace and to reassess his life choices. The morning after the long-awaited and eventful launch party Jago and Olivia discover a dead body and he immediately fears that his troubles in London have followed him home. As their professional lives collide, will Olivia and Jago be able to work together again to uncover the dark forces that are threatening the success of her latest venture...

'An outstanding cosy crime debut. Death by Noir is the sparkling start to a corking new series!' JANICE HALLETT, bestselling author of The Killer Question 'Uncork this sparkling delight and quaff deep. With high notes of comedy, suspense and fruity characterisation Olly Smith's debut is...

Zoe’s hard-won peaceful life is shattered when a devious thief targets her most prized possession—a vibrant portrait that’s her last connection to her long-dead brother. It’s a painting that also holds the secrets of a forgotten artist who created recipes for the most breathtaking colors ever seen. When the canvas disappears and murder follows, Zoe must unravel a palette of deadly puzzles. With her quick-witted sidekick Dorian and their eclectic group of friends, Zoe races to catch a killer, evade a secret society, and recover her beloved painting.

From Sandie Jones, bestselling author of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick The Other Woman. Addictive, page-turning psychological suspense, The Trade Off asks how far a journalist will go to get the story. Everyone has a price. What's yours? Would you print a lie across a front page? For...

Every day after school, whilst his classmates swap football stickers, 12-year-old Steven digs holes on Exmoor, hoping to find a body. His uncle disappeared aged 11 and is assumed to have fallen victim to the notorious serial killer Arnold Avery – but his body has never been found. Steven's Nan does not believe her son is dead. She still waits for him to come home, standing bitter guard at the front window while her family fragments around her.

The new Hercule Poirot mystery by Sophie Hannah, follow-up to the bestselling Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night. New Year's Eve, 1932. Hercule Poirot and his good friend Inspector Edward Catchpool arrive on the Greek island of Lamperos for a little holiday…or is it? Catchpool suspects Poirot has...

When London’s finest jazz musicians, the Dizzy Heights, are booked to play the glitzy Midsummer Ball at a country house in Oxfordshire, they expect a weekend filled with flappers and toffs having a roaring good time. But the festivities at Bilverton House take a turn for the worse when the group are stranded by a summer storm. And when a member of the Bilverton family turns up dead in a locked room in an apparent suicide, Skins, Dunn and Ellie realize this is going to be a much tougher gig than they thought.

A priceless medieval book has been stolen from the Inner Temple. The librarian has been murdered at his desk. Once again, Sir Gabriel Ward KC must provide answers. Gabriel meanwhile is preparing to represent a tiny sweetshop in Brighton brought to the brink of ruin by the postponed coronation of...

After playing a TV sleuth for years, Rita Martin retires to the sleepy town of Frantham-on-Sea. Here on the Dorset coast, she runs her own immaculate guest house, and life is blissfully quiet. But then a few doors down, harmless old Mrs. Freer is bludgeoned to death, and Rina can’t help but be drawn into the mystery. Mrs. Freer’s home was ransacked, but this was no ordinary burglary. Who knew the old lady kept a gun stashed under her pillow? And who wanted it badly enough to kill?

Pearl Nolan always wanted to be a detective but life, and a teenage pregnancy, got in the way of a police career and instead she built up a successful seafood restaurant in her coastal home town of Whitstable – famous for its native oysters. Now, at 39, and with son Charlie away at university, Pearl finds herself suffering from empty nest syndrome ... until she discovers the drowned body of local oyster fisherman Vinnie Rowe, weighted down with an anchor chain, on the eve of Whitstable's annual oyster festival. Is it a tragic accident, suicide – or murder?