Murder at Madingley Grange


Book Description

The acclaimed author of the Inspector Barnaby series offers a madcap manor house mystery: “well-written, witty, and elegantly plotted” (The Guardian, UK). Simon Hannaford is in need of some fast money, and murder seems the obvious solution. Specifically, a 1930s Murder Mystery Weekend, to be held at Madingley Grange, his aunt’s superbly hideous gothic mansion. Simon and his sister are meant to be house-sitting, but surely Aunt Maude would not begrudge them the chance to earn a few nearly honest shekels. As the guests arrive—each one dottier than the last—Simon’s grand plans quickly go awry. Meanwhile, the staff Simon hired on the cheap are busy hatching larcenous plans of their own. But when an actual body turns up, deprived of actual life, Simon’s charade of detection is suddenly forced to begin in earnest.




Faithful unto Death


Book Description

'Simply the best detective writer since Agatha Christie' The Sunday Times Discover the novels that inspired the hit ITV series Midsomer Murders, seen and loved by millions. The compelling fifth novel in the Midsomer Murders series by Caroline Graham, starring Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby. Features an exclusive foreword by John Nettles. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Ann Granger and James Runcie's The Grantchester Mysteries. 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. . . Praise for Caroline Graham's novels: 'Everyone gets what they deserve in this high-class mystery' Sunday Telegraph 'A witty, well-plotted, absolute joy of a book' Yorkshire Post 'A treat . . . haunting stuff' Woman's Realm 'Swift, tense and highly alarming' TLS 'Lots of excellent character sketches . . . and the dialogue is lively and convincing' Independent 'Hard to praise highly enough' The Sunday Times 'Her books are not just great whodunits but great novels in their own right' Julie Burchill 'Enlivened by a very sardonic wit and turn of phrase, the narrative drive never falters' Birmingham Post 'Read her and you'll be astonished . . . very sexy, very hip and very funny' Scotsman




Written in Blood


Book Description

'Simply the best detective writer since Agatha Christie' The Sunday Times Discover the novels that inspired the hit ITV series Midsomer Murders, seen and loved by millions. The fourth novel in the Midsomer Murders series by award-winning writer Caroline Graham, Written in Blood, stars Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby. Features an exclusive foreword by John Nettles, ITV's DCI Tom Barnaby. If you love Agatha Christie, Ann Granger and James Runcie's The Grantchester Mysteries, you won't be able to get enough of the Midsomer Murders mysteries. 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 key to the killing must surely be their illustrious guest speaker, a face from Gerald's past. But Jennings is nowhere to be found. . . Praise for Caroline Graham's novels: 'A mystery of which Agatha Christie would have been proud. . . A beautifully written crime novel' The Times 'Tension builds, bitchery flares, resentment seethes . . . lots of atmosphere, colourful characters and fair clues' Mail on Sunday 'Lots of excellent character sketches . . . and the dialogue is lively and convincing' Independent 'The mystery is intriguing, the wit shafts through like sunlight . . . do not miss this book' Family Circle




The Killings at Badger's Drift


Book Description

font size="+1"'Simply the best detective writer since Agatha Christie' The Sunday Times/font size A book that will glue you from beginning to end. If you love Agatha Christie, you'll adore Caroline Graham, with characters who charm and murderers who terrorise. Named by the CWAs as one of 'The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time', The Killings at Badger's Drift is the first spectacular novel in the Midsomer Murders series, the novel that inspired the ITV hit drama, now featuring an exclusive foreword by John Nettles who played best-loved TV detective and star of Midsomer Murders, DCI Tom Barnaby. 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. She calls on Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby to investigate, and it isn't long until the previously unseen seamy side of Badger's Drift is brought to light. But as old rivalries, past loves and new scandals surface, the next murder is not far away. Praise for Caroline Graham's novels: 'One to savour' Val McDermid 'A mystery of which Agatha Christie would have been proud. . . A beautifully written crime novel' The Times 'Tension builds, bitchery flares, resentment seethes . . . lots of atmosphere' Mail on Sunday 'A witty, well-plotted, absolute joy of a book' Yorkshire Post 'Swift, tense and highly alarming' TLS 'Lots of excellent character sketches . . . and the dialogue is lively and convincing' Independent 'Read her and you'll be astonished . . . very sexy, very hip and very funny' Scotsman




Murder Undeniable


Book Description

The Deacon of an English Midlands village turns to sleuthing when a killer leaves a victim behind her husband’s pharmacy in this cozy mystery. As a Deacon at St. Lawrence parish Katerina Rowe enjoys a quiet life in the village of Eyam. But everything changes when she discovers the body of a man and a badly beaten woman in the alleyway behind her husband’s pharmacy. Kat is immediately drawn to Beth, the young woman she saved. But in order to keep her safe, Kat finds herself embroiled in a baffling mystery. When Beth’s house is set on fire, Kat offers the young woman sanctuary in her home. Soon the pair begin investigating the murder, with some help from Beth’s feisty grandmother, Doris. Neither the police, nor Kat’s husband, want Kat and Beth looking into their affairs. But as they keep digging, the pair of sleuths discover what kind of nightmares reside in their sleepy village . . .




The Envy of the Stranger


Book Description

Someone's watching. Someone's waiting. The perfect life will always come at a price . . . From the author of the Midsomer Murders novels comes a spine-chilling domestic thriller about jealousy and revenge. Perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves, Sophie Hannah and A. J. Finn. 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. A fame-hungry stranger whom Roz has unwittingly snubbed. A man who is dangerously delusional and spiralling out of control. A man who will stop at nothing to get his revenge. Whatever it takes . . . Praise for Caroline Graham's novels 'Simply the best detective writer since Agatha Christie' The Sunday Times 'One to savour' Val McDermid 'Swift, tense and highly alarming' Times Literary Supplement 'Lots of excellent character sketches . . . and the dialogue is lively and convincing' Independent




A Spoonful of Murder


Book Description

When her grandfather dies, fourteen-year-old amateur detective Hazel Wong and her best friend Daisy Wells travel to Hong Kong, where the girls find themselves framed for murder and tangled up in a family mystery.




The Dead of Jericho


Book Description

Winner of the CWA Silver Dagger Award, The Dead of Jericho is the fifth novel in Colin Dexter's Oxford-set Inspector Morse series. As portrayed by John Thaw in ITV's Inspector Morse. Morse switched on the gramophone to 'play', and sought to switch his mind away from all the terrestrial troubles. Sometimes, this way, he almost managed to forget. But not tonight . . . Anne Scott's address was scribbled on a crumpled note in the pocket of Morse's smartest suit. As he turned the corner of Canal Street, Jericho, on the afternoon of Wednesday, 3rd October, he hadn't planned a second visit. But he was back later the same day – as the officer in charge of her suicide investigation. Following another local death, Morse is not convinced of Anna’s suspected suicide and begins the search for answers . . . The Dead of Jericho is followed by the sixth book in the detective series, The Riddle of the Third Mile.




The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien


Book Description

The third book in the new Penguin Maigret series: Georges Simenon's haunting tale about the lengths to which people will go to escape from guilt, in a compelling new translation by Linda Coverdale. A first ink drawing showed a hanged man swinging from a gallows on which perched an enormous crow. And there were at least twenty other etchings and pen or pencil sketches that had the same leitmotif of hanging. On the edge of a forest: a man hanging from every branch. A church steeple: beneath the weathercock, a human body dangling from each arm of the cross. . . Below another sketch were written four lines from François Villon's Ballade of the Hanged Men. On a trip to Brussels, Maigret unwittingly causes a man's suicide, but his own remorse is overshadowed by the discovery of the sordid events that drove the desperate man to shoot himself. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in previous translations as Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets and The Crime of Inspector Maigret. 'Compelling, remorseless, brilliant' John Gray 'One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories' Guardian 'A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness' Independent




The Social Life of Books


Book Description

“A lively survey…her research and insights make us conscious of how we, today, use books.”—John Sutherland, The New York Times Book Review Two centuries before the advent of radio, television, and motion pictures, books were a cherished form of popular entertainment and an integral component of domestic social life. In this fascinating and vivid history, Abigail Williams explores the ways in which shared reading shaped the lives and literary culture of the eighteenth century, offering new perspectives on how books have been used by their readers, and the part they have played in middle-class homes and families. Drawing on marginalia, letters and diaries, library catalogues, elocution manuals, subscription lists, and more, Williams offers fresh and fascinating insights into reading, performance, and the history of middle-class home life. “Williams’s charming pageant of anecdotes…conjures a world strikingly different from our own but surprisingly similar in many ways, a time when reading was on the rise and whole worlds sprang up around it.”—TheWashington Post