Showing titles in Amateur Sleuths

Ghostly images appear and float across the stage, objects levitate into the air, and a beautiful assistant disappears inside a glass box, then reappears inside a second glass box. All while the audience at the Crystal Palace, including amateur investigator Mikaela Forsythe, watch the performance. Is it real? Then, an evening with her friend, Theodora Templeton, attending the one-night performance by master illusionist Jean Luc Betard, takes a ghastly turn and plunges Mikaela headlong into murder when the illusionist's young assistant is found dead at the end of his newest stunt.

Scotland, 1924: When Lady Poppy Proudfoot is invited to Glasgow University to celebrate a scholarship she generously established, she’s excited to return to her old stomping grounds. But the delightful champagne reception is interrupted by screams when a body plunges from the tower to the ground below… While everyone exclaims at the tragic death of the young student, Poppy is instantly suspicious. Just moments before the body fell, tutor Mary Christie told her a student died falling from the very same tower eighteen years ago.

In post-war Tokyo, still recovering from the devastating wartime bombing raids, a patrolling policeman passing The Black Cat Café makes a gruesome discovery: the body of a woman, lying in a hastily dug hole, with a dead black cat by her side. The woman's face is disfigured beyond recognition, and the café's black cat seems alive and well, so where did the two corpses come from, and why were they buried in the café's garden?

When Alex arrives in Provincetown to patch things up with his new wife, Mina, he finds an empty wine glass in the sink, her wedding ring on the desk, and a string of questions in her wake. The police believe that Mina, a successful romance author, simply left, their marriage crumbling before it truly began. But what Alex finds in their empty cottage points him toward a different reality: Mina has always carried a secret. And now she's disappeared.

When Lord Wrexford discovers the body of a gifted inventor in a dark London alley, he promptly alerts the watchman and lets the authorities handle the matter. But Wrexford soon finds himself drawn into the murder investigation when the inventor's widow begs for his assistance, claiming the crime was not a random robbery. It seems her husband's designs for a revolutionary steam-powered engine went missing the night of his death. The plans could be worth a fortune and very dangerous in the wrong hands.

Hercule Poirot is a guest at a weekend house party, given at the Cornish cliff top home of the celebrated actor Sir Charles Cartwright. The other visitors include keen amateur detective Mr Satterthwaite and distinguished Harley Street nerve specialist Sir Bartholomew Strange. Death visits the...

I was so excited when Darcy announced out of the blue that we were flying to Kenya for our extended honeymoon. Now that we are here, I suspect he has actually been sent to fulfill another secret mission. I am trying very hard not to pick a fight about it, because after all, we are in paradise! Darcy finally confides that there have been robberies in London and Paris. It seems the thief was a member of the aristocracy and may have fled to Kenya. Since we are staying in the Happy Valley, we are well positioned to hunt for clues and ferret out possible suspects.

'A brilliant and entertaining read' - B.A. Paris 'My verdict: all rise for a future book of the year' - JANICE HALLETT A trial is rather like a play. We wear our costumes. We perform to the audience. And on a good day no-one gets murdered. Six nights a week the cast of the smash-hit play...

A brilliant new whodunnit, perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton and Richard Osman! A night of tricks, treats, and murder… When an old school acquaintance calls on auctioneer Felicia Grant for help, she finds herself at a glittering bash at the exclusive yet mysterious Aquitaine club. What starts as...

Nurse Gemma Tate is heartbroken when she hears that one of her young charges at the Foundling Hospital has been killed. She knows that police inspector Sebastian Bell will work tirelessly to uncover the truth, but obstructed by the curt matron, he’ll need her help navigating the cloistered world of the orphanage.

Paris, 1899. Abigail Wilson has received an invitation from Professor Alphonse Flamand, a prominent French Professor of Archaeology, to join him on an archaeological dig in Egypt. Overjoyed to be presented with such an opportunity, Abigail and her husband, Daniel, travel to Paris to meet the professor at his office in the Louvre to discuss plans. However, when Abigail goes to the appointment, she finds Flamand dead with a knife in his chest. In a whirl of confusion and despite her pleas of innocence, Abigail is arrested.

Murder is the deadliest art...An invitation to an exclusive event during the Venetian Biennale gives Honorary Consul Nathan Sutherland the perfect chance to drink prosecco in the sunshine and meet some of the greats of the art world. And then a world-famous critic is decapitated by one of the installations in the British Pavilion. A terrible accident, it seems, until a postcard is discovered in the victim's pocket: an image of Judith beheading Holofernes.

'An outstanding cosy crime debut. Death by Noir is the sparkling start to a corking new series!' JANICE HALLETT, bestselling author of The Killer Question 'Uncork this sparkling delight and quaff deep. With high notes of comedy, suspense and fruity characterisation Olly Smith's debut is...

When he was 21 James Lessiter told Henrietta Cray that he loved her before all things and so broke Catherine Lee's heart. But James has a side to him that most people do not see. When the engagement is broken off no one is sure why and Rietta refuses to explain. Twenty years later James returns to the village an extremely wealthy man. Rietta is still unmarried and Catherine is a penniless widow living in a cottage on the Lessiter estate.

A collection of suspenseful standalone radio thrillers by Edward Boyd Scottish writer Edward Boyd was well known for his TV and radio plays, including The Corridor People and The View from Daniel Pike, and he also penned several episodes of Z-Cars. He specialised in the thriller genre, and this...

The first three books of the acclaimed Ginger Gold Mystery series by USA Today best-selling author Lee Strauss: Murder on the SS Rosa, Murder at Hartigan House, and Murder at Bray Manor. It's 1923, and young war widow fashionista Ginger Gold makes a cross-Atlantic journey with her companion Haley Higgins to London England to settle her father's estate. When the ship's captain is found dead, Ginger is only too happy to lend her assistance to the handsome Chief Inspector Basil Reed.

The debut cosy culinary crime thriller from Suk Pannu, creator of BBC Radio 4’s Mrs Sidhu Investigates and writer for Goodness, Gracious, Me and The Kumars at No. 42. Shortlisted for the 2024 McDermid Award ‘Stuffed with warmth and wicked, cross-cultural observations, Dead and Scone is a...

When Alexandra Richards approaches professional declutterer Ellen Curtis to ask her to help sort out her mother's chaotic flat, Ellen gets the impression Alexandra doesn't like her mother very much. But when Ingrid Richards' body is discovered in her burned-out home, Alexandra's exasperated words don't seem such a joke. Due to the hazardous state of the victim's over-cluttered residence, the police are inclined to dismiss her death as an unfortunate accident. Ellen's not so sure.

Joshua Speed, the enterprising second son of a wealthy plantation owner, has struck off on his own. But before long he makes a surprising and crucial new acquaintance - a freshly minted lawyer by the name of Abraham Lincoln. When an orphaned girl from a neighboring town is found murdered and suspicion falls on her aunt, Speed makes it his mission to clear her good name. Of course he'll need the legal expertise of his unusual new friend.

Professional declutterer Ellen Curtis doesn't need to like her clients to help them sort their homes out. Aging TV personality and curmudgeon Humphrey Carter might have a chip on his shoulder the size of England, but a job's a job. But when Ellen arrives the morning after Humph's eightieth birthday party, primed and ready to tackle his study - she gets the shock of her life. Humph's dead. . . and all signs point to him having taken his own life.