Showing results by author "Judith Cutler" in All Categories

England, 1810. Young Parson Tobias Campion is excited to be starting at the small parish of Moreton St Jude's. But his first night in the village brings excitement of the wrong kind when he has to intervene in the attempted rape of housemaid Lizzie Woodman. Even in the normal course of events, village life is far from quiet, and soon Tobias has to deal with suspicious deaths.

From the moment Lina Townend and Griff Tripp, set up their antiques stall at the weekend fair, Lina knows they’ve made a mistake. But Lina’s day is brightened when local director Emilia Cosworth begs Griff to take part in her latest play. Lina’s own good luck seems in short supply. Griff’s frequent rehearsals put strain on her relationship with DI Morris; a new antiques centre threatens their business; and Lina is visited by a man who wants her to work for him and seems disinclined to take no for an answer.

When a colleague becomes seriously ill, Chief Superintendent Frances Harman delays her retirement to oversee an investigation into a recent spate of "happy slappings". Initially, she takes a back seat, but it is not long before she is close to the action again.

DCS Fran Harman's relationship with Assistant Chief Constable Mark Turner is going well and they are buying a house together. At work, a former protégé, Simon Gates, has just become her new boss. But there are complications with Simon and with Mark's daughter. Even the environment is hostile, the water in Fran's village tainted by something in the local reservoir. Some good old-fashioned detective work seems a useful antidote.

The last way antiques dealer Lina Townend wants to spend a summer’s afternoon is helping at a church fete. However, the vicar is an old friend so Lina ends up selling bric-a-brac. A harmless event turns into a crisis when someone tries to steal a tatty old snuff box from under her nose. Tatty it might be, but its valuable enough for the would-be thief to attack Griff, her business partner, to frame Lina for a crime she didn’t commit, and to kill and old friend. And maybe other people too.

Antiques dealer Lina Townend – bright, sharp, and pretty ���� is making a name for herself as a restorer, with a national reputation for honesty. So when she spots a dead body in a field, she calls the police – only for it to promptly vanish. And it seems that her luck has entirely deserted her when she’s accused of stealing two Anglo-Saxon rings, and no one seems to believe she’s innocent. So when her love life looks up, Lina’s delighted – and unprepared when things take a frightening turn for the worse…

When a middle-aged woman enters Lina Townend's antiques shop wanting to sell a white Beswick china horse which she claims is a cherished heirloom, Lina's instincts tell her to avoid the sale. Suddenly, wherever she goes, Lina sees the supposedly rare white horses. Something strange is afoot. As she looks further into the matter, it turns out the horses are merely the tip of the iceberg. But Lina's investigations are attracting unwelcome attention.

Chief Superintendent Frances Harman has been assigned to investigate the case of a woman beaten into a coma. Elise has been in a coma for two years, and if the hospital switches off her life support now, her attacker will be guilty of murder. Fran faces overload as she takes on more responsibilities – her elderly parents, Elise, a child abduction, the disappearance of her only witness, and the growing affection that she and her long-time colleague Mark Turner seem to share for one another.

Sophie Rivers has left behind the stresses of teaching at an inner-city college in Birmingham for a while and has just started seeing the delectable Mike Lowden, one of the country’s most exciting cricketers. When he suddenly becomes the prime suspect in the particularly nasty murder of a rival cricketer, Sophie’s got too much to lose to remain merely a spectator. The more deeply she becomes involved, the more sinister the circumstances appear. Does she have to nail a bent policeman as well as find the real murderer?

A head teacher's work is never done, especially if, like Jane Cowan, you're a victim of your own success. Her responsibilities are compounded by an influx of children, most of whom do not speak English, following their families supplying cheap labour. Jane can't turn a blind eye to the conditions in which many of these families are living, even more so when some children simply disappear. When everything points to the shadowy dealings of people smugglers in the area, she has her work cut out.

When Josie Welford settles in the idyllic West Country village of Kings Duncombe, she honestly believes she can bury her past. The widow of one of Britain’s most wanted criminals, she knows what it’s like to be an outsider and fervently wishes for a fresh start in life. But she soon finds herself on the wrong side of the locals and she begins to wonder just how far their threats will go... A feisty and highly likeable character, Josie leads the listener through a tantalizingly twisted murder mystery to a deliciously rich ending.

Sophie Rivers can't wait to settle into married life now that Mike is back from touring Pakistan and Sri Lanka with the England cricket team. So when she's offered a temporary job at his home ground, archiving a collection of memorabilia that has been left to Warwickshire County Cricket Club, she jumps at the chance, envisaging companionable journeys into work and cosy lunches in the Tom Dollery bar. But the reality is a far cry from her romantic dream.

While Jane waits for renovations to be completed on her new permanent home, she remains in temporary accommodation under the watchful eye of her landlord, Brian Dawes, chair of the governors at Wrayford School. Her work life is dominated by preparations for the all important school play, but behind the scenes the threat of major cuts to the school's budget puts a strain on morale. Alongside these concerns are her landlord's deteriorating health and the odd behaviour of her neighbours - both mysteries she could do without.

It's a busy weekend for Lina: she wins a dance competition, annoys a valuable client and has to play gooseberry when Griff, her business partner, meets an old flame. Killing time, she drives across Dartmoor only to find two men robbing a medieval church. Outraged, she manages to stop them - only to discover that it's not just in Devon that they are working. Safely back in Kent, she makes some new friends.

Morning service in the quiet village church. Josie Welford, licensee of the White Hart, is daydreaming during Father Tim Martin’s sermon. The peace is shattered when a filthy Chinese youth flings himself into the church demanding sanctuary. The Church must decide whether to accede to a request that no long has legal standing or to hand Tang over to the authorities. Josie’s friend and long-term lodger, Nick Thomas, fears for the boy’s life.

Detective Chief Superintendent Fran Harman is preparing for her forthcoming wedding to Assistant Chief Constable Mark Turner, but renovations at the rectory they plan to move into are disrupted by the discovery of a skeleton buried in the vegetable patch. As investigations into its identity progress, it's also clear that Mark's two grown-up children are less than ecstatic at the prospect of their father's forthcoming nuptials. In fact, at least one of them seems to be behaving very strangely indeed.…

On a freezing winter's night, the residents of Thorncroft House are roused from their beds by an unexpected visitor. Although Lady Stanton seems reluctant to explain the reasons for her visit, housekeeper Harriet Rowsley would never turn a stranger from the door. But tensions arise, with both visitors and servants trapped indoors by the snow. The situation worsens on the discovery of the body of a housemaid lying at the foot of the stairs.

When a local lad that vicar's wife Jodie Welsh employed to help in her garden disappears, along with Jodie's expensive camera, nearly everyone assumes the worst. But Burble's disappearance marks the start of a series of increasingly disturbing incidents - until the body shows up, and Jodie must use all her skills to unmask a ruthless killer.

1861, Victorian England. When Matthew and Harriet Rowsley are invited to a party at Clunston Park by Matthew's cousin, Colonel Barrington Rowsley, Harriet is nervous - surely the aristocratic guests will snub her? Her fears are realised on their first evening when the only person who deigns to speak to her is the spiteful Grafin Weiser and confirmed when she commits a faux pas at the cricket match the following day. Grafin Weiser is then found murdered and the finger is quickly pointed at Clara, an eleven-year-old maid, as the culprit.

Jane Cowan's abusive ex-husband has always tracked her down whichever town she lives in, whichever job she takes, whichever name she uses. However, now he is in prison for a long stretch, she feels brave enough to accept a promotion: she is to be head teacher of the Wrayford Primary School in Gloucestershire. While facing everyday battles from a lack of resources to teachers who are set in their ways, Jane encounters a persistent intruder on the school grounds.