Belgrave Square (A Victorian Murder Mystery)

Sample

Nicholas Rhea

Detective Inspector Montague Pluke, of CID, is England's most superstitious police officer. With crime at its lowest level for years, he decides to conduct a cold-case review. But there are no major unsolved crimes so, alerted by his wife, Millicent, to a large number of recent deaths - all attributed to natural causes - his expert knowledge of superstitions and folklore lead him to identify areas of suspicion sufficient to justify re-opening a case. Could an undetected mass-murderer be operating in Crickledale? His inquiries reveal that many of the deceased had been attended by Crickledale Voluntary Carers and he quickly produces a list of possible suspects. Indeed, the entire team of carers falls under suspicion - and Detective Inspector Pluke's wife, Millicent, is one of them.

Sample

Patricia Wentworth

Miss Silver investigates a disappearance in a village near a top-secret government research facility. Jenny Maxwell is a bright young child. After an automobile accident leaves her barely able to walk, she retreats into a world of fantasy, devouring novel after novel of steamy romance. Now she has begun to write, and for a twelve-year-old she shows great promise. After she sends her work off to a publisher, the house sends a representative to meet the young woman and guide her. But the stories she tells him are hardly fictional. Trapped in her room for hours at a time, Jenny hears all. She knows about the young woman who disappeared from town, and about the strange young man who works at the nearby military research center. What sounds like harmless gossip could actually be a grave threat to national security—one which only private investigator Miss Silver is capable of unearthing.

Sample

Martin Edwards

The magnificent Dungeon House and gardens overlook Cumbria's remote western coast with its mix of beaches, dunes, and fells, Roman ruins, and nuclear plant. Twenty years ago the wealthy Whiteleys called it home. But not a happy one. Malcolm Whiteley had begun to disintegrate under financial and emotional pressures. He suspected various men in their social circle of being his wife's lover.

Sample

Freda Davies

The peaceful English village of Tolland is shaken when the body of a missing American GI is found after more than fifty years, along with the corpse of a present-day blackmailer. DI Keith Tyrell is sent to investigate.