Chance brings together Nina Thomas and elderly Laura Chadwick just at the time when Laura is in need of a friend to help with an interfering family member. Their growing bond is one thing that Nina will be sorry to leave behind as she relocates from Australia to England, but they promise to stay in touch. It will prove to be a significant friendship.
In England, Nina's path soon crosses with handsome Sean Reynolds and she finds herself taking on a project larger than she had ever expected: Lavender Lane. Apparently, the appealing group of properties was a convalescent home for officers from the armed forces, although it has been closed for a few years. Reopening the site will be quite a challenge. As Nina begins to put down roots, Lavender Lane has a number of surprises awaiting her, but will this corner of the Wiltshire countryside become the home she craves?Shrewsbury, 1866. At the Station Hotel, staff struggle in vain to rouse Mr Julian Lockyer who requested an early wake-up call to catch a train. When they force open the door, they are horrified to discover a bloodied corpse in the bed, a knife still in the dead man's hand.
Inspector Robert Colbeck, the Railway Detective, is dispatched to investigate and soon begins to question whether this is really a case of suicide. For why would a man reaching the pinnacle of his career, about to be named the Chairman of the Great Western Railway, choose to take his own life? And why was his trip to Shrewsbury a secret from his family? Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming must probe deeply into Lockyer's life and lies to find the answers and to catch the killer.1866. On a train bound for Portsmouth, an elegant woman shares a compartment with the lecherous Giles Blanchard. It is a lucky encounter for her, as she steps off the train after picking his pocket and in possession of scandalous material for a potential blackmail. It is a less fortuitous meeting for Blanchard, who will never reach his home on the Isle of Wight alive.
Detective Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are swiftly dispatched to sift through the evidence. With Queen Victoria poised to spend the summer on the island, a speedy resolution to the case is imperative for their superiors. Tracing Blanchard's killer is an endeavour freighted with difficulties, but will the fact that their inquiries lead them to the door of a royal residence be one complication too many?
London, March 1918. British newspapers carry the disastrous news that the German Spring Offensive has begun, with thousands of British lives lost. Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy eagerly awaits his release from hospital and is anxious to resume the fight against crime on the Home Front.
Against this sombre backdrop, further mayhem strikes in the capital when a fire provides the diversion needed for an audacious bank robbery. The gang of criminals escape with a sizeable haul and leave one police officer dead and another gravely injured in their wake. For Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion, the investigation has a personal connection, but the task of bringing the culprits to justice will prove to be an uphill battle without Keedy, his detective partner, at his side. And nothing in this case is quite what it seems .London, March 1918. British newspapers carry the dire news that the German Spring Offensive has begun, with thousands of British lives lost. Against this sombre backdrop, further mayhem strikes in the capital when a fire provides the diversion needed for an audacious bank robbery which leaves a police officer dead in its wake.
For Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion, the investigation has a personal connection. However, the task of bringing the culprits to justice will be an uphill battle without Detective Sergeant Keedy, who is anxious to be released from hospital, at his side. And nothing in this case is quite what it seems .Midsummer, 1145. Walter, the steward of Evesham Abbey, is found dead at the bottom of a well pit. The Abbot, whose relationship with the lord Sheriff of Worcestershire is strained at best, dislikes needing to call in help. However, since foul play is suspected, he is relieved by the arrival of Undersheriff Hugh Bradecote, Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin.
As the sheriff 's men investigate the steward's death, stepping carefully around contentious undercurrents, they discover that truth is in short supply. With the tensions between the Abbey and the local castle guard reaching boiling point, another killing will force the investigation down a dangerous path.Christmas is coming to the picturesque Cotswold countryside, and the days are merry and bright at the Slocombe house. Thea's daughter Jessica has come to stay, much to her stepdaughter Stephanie's delight, and the family are looking forward to the festivities. But things soon take a turn for the worse.
A local family, the Frowses, find themselves increasingly harassed by an aggressive landlord and his overbearing new wife. When Beverley Frowse suddenly goes missing without a trace, Thea and Stephanie both feel they should help to investigate her disappearance, if only to ease the growing concern of Beverley's son, and Thea's friend, Ant.
Christmas Day arrives, with all the traditional trimmings and general goodwill, despite Thea's barely suppressed hankering to be involved in events at the Frowses' house, where a dead man has just been discovered nearby ...
There is something sinister about Drumdalloch Woods in the Black Isle near Inverness. It is a place of tangled growth and shadowy darkness, and it has business opportunists, biological scientists and conflicted family members all competing for a say in its future. Then a body is found, and everything starts to look suspicious.
As DCI Kelso Strang's investigation grows more complex, he unearths layers of hatred, greed and revenge that cast suspicion even on the local police force. Having only just found happiness with his new girlfriend, Cat Fleming, Strang faces an existential threat not only to his career but to his very life.Juno Browne, self-proclaimed Domestic Goddess who can turn her hand to cleaning, dog walking or home help jobs, is feeling overworked and underpaid. Her elderly client, Maisie, is demanding more of her time and staff absences at the Ashburton antiques shop Juno owns are making business difficult. She is not the only one with problems, very serious problems. Among her friends, Elizabeth is being blackmailed, and Ricky's errant nephew is on the run from criminals in London.
In an attempt to get to the bottom of these disturbing developments, Juno finds herself drawn from an isolated manor house on Dartmoor to London's glamorous but shady theatreland. Can she avoid being fatally entangled in threads of deception and murder?As Christmas draws nearer, Simmy Henderson is invited to a party in Glenridding at the heart of the Lake District. However, the festivities are overshadowed by two alarming discoveries: a man's body in the beck above the village and a vulnerable newborn baby, apparently abandoned by its mother.
Caught in the crosscurrents and tensions of the inhabitants of Glenridding, Simmy is drawn into the investigation. The season of goodwill has been eclipsed by far darker emotions and a murderer must be found.Spring, 1941. The struggle of the war continues with grim news of defeats abroad and relentless bombing raids at home. A breakthrough is needed at Bletchley Park where desperate efforts are being made to crack the German Enigma code. This endeavour is suddenly very close to home for Frederick Rowlands, blind veteran of the Great War, when his cryptographer daughter, Margaret, is arrested on suspicion of betraying secrets to the enemy.
Then a young woman is found murdered and Rowlands is drawn into a deadly battle of wits where he must decode a series of clues that will lead him to the killer and enable him to discover the real traitor at Bletchley Park.Penniless Gwinny Tuffel is delighted to attend her good friend Tina's upmarket wedding. But when the big day ends with a dead body and not a happily-ever-after, Gwinny is left with a situation as crooked as a dog's hind leg.
When her friend is accused of murder, Gwinny takes it upon herself to sniff out the true culprit. With a collection of larger-than-life suspects and two pedigree Salukis in tow, she is set to have a ruff time of it.When tragedy brings Merrin McKenzie back to St Ives, she knows adjusting might take time, even with the comfort of Christmas back in her hometown. Stepping back from her career as a solicitor, she agrees to clean holiday rentals for her friends who own cottages nearby. She anticipates dirty laundry and sandy floors, but she didn't sign up for a dead body, neatly tucked up in one of the guest beds.
The police are baffled by the young man's identity and the strangeness of his death. For Merrin, however, coincidences are beginning to stack up. Even though Inspector Louis Peppiatt is sceptical of her theories, something sinister is hiding beneath the festive surface of this charming seaside town. As the case unfolds, a dark side to the Cornish coast emerges.
Gwinny Tuffel, preparing for her first West End role in a decade, is continuing to dog-sit to keep the wolf from the door. What should be an easy gig, staying on a Little Venice houseboat to help ageing rock star Crash Double with his Border Collie, takes a sinister turn when the singer's dead body surfaces during the annual Canal Carnival festivities.
While the police dismiss the death as an accident, Gwinny suspects murder most foul and it is up to her, with Ace's on-the-ground knowledge, to make sure the killer faces the music.
1866. On a train bound for Portsmouth, an elegant woman shares a first-class compartment with a gentleman in a celebratory mood. Giles Blanchard reveals his lecherous side as the journey gets underway, but he will never reach his home on the Isle of Wight alive. This chance encounter is to prove fortuitous for the woman and her partner-in-crime. They find themselves not only the richer for picking the dead man's pocket, they also now possess the material for an extremely lucrative blackmail.
Detective Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming are swiftly dispatched to sift through the evidence. They are all too aware that with Her Majesty Queen Victoria spending the summer on the island, a speedy resolution to the case is a priority for their superiors. Tracing the pair who lured Blanchard to his death is an endeavour freighted with difficulties, but will the fact that their inquiries lead them to the door of a royal residence be one complication too many?Pippa Mason is ready for a fresh start. She has bought Pumpkin Cottage in the picturesque Wye Valley village of Riverdean, where her late mother grew up, and plans to renovate the run-down bed and breakfast into the business of her dreams. Adjusting to her new life on the Welsh-English border might take time, but Pippa is settling into village life and starting to fall for the charms of local Jake when problems start coming thick and fast ...
Jenny Foster has enough on her plate running Riverside Lodge as well as managing her husband Phil's diagnosis of early-onset dementia. She did not need the threat of another B&B on her doorstep. When a spat between Pippa and Jenny escalates and an autumn storm brings matters to a head, they will have to see if Riverdean is big enough for the both of them.