Showing results for "Caroline Graham" in Crime Fiction

The village of Badger's Drift is the essence of tranquillity. But when resident and well-loved spinster Miss Simpson takes a stroll in the nearby woods, she stumbles across something she was never meant to see, and there's only one way to keep her quiet. Miss Simpson's death is not suspicious, say the villagers. But Miss Lucy Bellringer refuses to rest: her friend has been murdered. She is sure of it.

Backstage nerves are fraying, and revenge is on its way. As Causton Amateur Dramatic Society prepares for the opening night of Amadeus, in the wings Esslyn Carmichael suspects his wife is having an affair with the leading man. And where better to settle scores than the stage? Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby expects an evening of entertainment, attending only to show support for his wife. But when someone turns Esslyn’s final grand gesture into a gruesome coup de theatre, Barnaby’s investigation suddenly begins.

Everyone deserves a second chance – or at least that's what ex-vicar Lionel Lawrence believes when he decides to open up the old rectory to a stream of young offenders. Lionel only wants to help these poor souls, but his good deed quickly spirals into a deadly mix of blackmail and murder...

To the distaste of the Compton Dando villagers, the big house has been taken over by a group of New Age eccentrics. And when the first death is reported, no one is surprised...or disappointed. The coroner rules it an accident. But only weeks later, there’s another death. And this time, it is murder. Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby is called to the scene immediately, and there’ll be no escape until he has sifted through the world of psychics, cult leaders and horrifying deaths to get to the cause of it all.

For all its old-fashioned charm, Forbes Abbot is far from the close-knit community that ex-Londoners Mallory and Kate Lawson expected. In this village, everyday squabbles can quickly turn to murder. As the couple begins to settle into their new life away from the big city, it isn't long until they're thrown into the horror and mayhem of a true Midsomer Murders mystery. Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby has encountered many intriguing cases in his years on the force, but soon he will discover that the incident of the ghost in the machine is the most challenging of them all.

Despite the fierce, and seemingly personal, objections of secretary Gerald Hadleigh, members of the Midsomer Worthy Writers' Circle press ahead and invite bestselling author Max Jennings to talk to their group. Besides, it's not as though he'll say yes. So when Jennings turns up to their meeting, they are completely over-awed by his presence. But before the evening is over, Gerald has been brutally murdered. Summoned to investigate, Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby discovers that Gerald's life was as much of a mystery to his neighbours as his violent death.

The Fawcett Green bell-ringers don’t bat an eyelid when Simone Hollingsworth fails to turn up to practice. They merely assume that bell-ringing has become the latest in a long list of her abandoned hobbies. But then the increasingly strange behaviour of Simone’s husband, Alan, begins to raise neighbourly suspicions about her whereabouts. And when the discovery of a body draws Chief Inspector Barnaby to the village, it becomes clear that unravelling the couple’s tangled lives will have painful repercussions for the whole village.

When a failed entrepreneur is temporarily left in charge of his aunt's huge gothic home, he knows he must be able to make a profit from it somehow. Murder, he decides, is the only way to do it. For Madingley Grange is the perfect venue for a 1930s murder-mystery weekend, and Simon Hannaford – with the reluctant help of his long-suffering sister – soon hatches a plan for money-spinning mayhem. From the conservatory to the claret cellar, the clues are carefully sprinkled. But when the guests arrive, it is obvious that the game won't be going as planned.

Roz Gilmour is a happy woman with two children, a loving husband, a successful career as a local radio presenter and a comfortable home in North London. Sometimes she can't believe just how fortunate she is. But a woman who has everything has everything to lose, and Roz's luck is about to change. Not everybody is as content as Roz Gilmour. There are people who dislike her—if only because of the apparent ease and success with which she lives her life. And one of them is insane.

On an isolated farm in southern Ireland, a decades-old grave houses the dismembered bones of 11 women. Detective Superintendent Katie Maguire of the Irish Gardai is used to bloodshed, but these white bones speak of unimaginable butchery. Not far away, a young American tourist is at the mercy of a sadistic killer. His tools are a boning knife, twine, and a doll fashioned from rags, nails, and fish-hooks. The murder of his victims is secondary only to his pleasure at their pain.