A duke's halfwit son and brainy daughter search for a kidnapped princess and a dangerous killer in this hilarious historical mystery series debut.It's that glorious period between the two World Wars, and the exiled king of Mitteleuropa is celebrating with a visit to Tawcester Towers, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Tawcester. When the ex-king's daughter is kidnapped, noblesse obliges Blotto, the Duke's brave and handsome son, to drive off to the rescue. ...

Hard times send a pair of aristocratic English siblings to Prohibition era-Chicago where a bride, gangsters, and trouble await.It's almost too ghastly to say, darlings, but Blotto and la famille are facing . . . call it an embarrassment of no riches. No, I wouldn't have imagined it either, but this is the 1920s, famed for financial reversals. At any rate, things are so dire that the Dowager Duchess—oh she's a tiger, an absolute tiger!—is packing de...

Introducing a new, but not-so-amateur, sleuth from another peaceful English village with an alarmingly high death rate! The first mystery in a new cosy series from one of the world's favourite crime writers - perfect for fans of Richard Osmand, Janice Hallett, Robert Thorogood and M. C. Beaton._______________________Meet Major Bricket, an infrequent resident of Highfield House in Stunston Peveril, Suffolk. In the past the M...

A pair of aristocrat siblings must find a killer to clear their chauffeur's name when a weekend house party goes awry in this historical mystery.Hurrah for the return of that intrepid duo: Blotto (handsome, honorable, not the sharpest knife in the drawer), and his sister Twinks (just a bit brainier than a girl should be)! As this is the 1920s, they are of course attending a weekend house party, where—how astonishing!—a murder is announced. One of the guests has the ...

Introducing an engaging new amateur sleuth, declutterer Ellen Curtis, in the first of a brilliant new mystery series.Ellen Curtis runs her own business helping people who are running out of space. As a declutterer, she is used to encountering all sorts of weird and wonderful objects in the course of her work. What she has never before encountered is a dead body.When Ellen stumbles across the corpse of a young woman in an over-cluttered flat, suspic...

In the seaside hamlet of Fethering, Carole Seddon maintains a quiet and sensible life. She doesn’t have the time or the tolerance to deal with her new bohemian neighbor, Jude, whose outgoing personality contrasts with that of the prim and proper Carole. But her new neighbor doesn’t seem so bad when Carole discovers another addition to the neighborhood—a dead body on the beach bearing two wounds on its neck. Then unable to find the body, the police dismiss Carole’s story.But when a ...

A pair of aristocratic siblings chase art thieves to the French Riviera only to find more trouble in this humorous historical mystery.In yet another installment of the Blotto, Twinks series, his very funny parody of the golden age of mystery, Simon Brett sends his heroes to the French Riviera of the 1920s. Someone has stolen valuable paintings from Tawcester Towers, ancestral home of Blotto (the future Duke of Tawcester) and his sister, Twinks. Blotto is content to ...

The second novel in the Fethering Mystery series!Exploring the South Downs of the well-to-do town of Weldisham, Carole Seddon is caught in a sudden rainstorm. She finds refuge in an old barn—but relief turns to revulsion when she discovers the bones of a human skeleton packed inside two bags.Some townspeople believe the remains are those of a missing girl named Tamsin Lutteridge, who disappeared after becoming involved with several practitioners of alternat...

'Few crime writers are so enchantingly gifted' Sunday Times'One of British crime's most assured craftsmen . . . Crime writing just like in the good old days, and perfect entertainment' Guardian_______________________For Major Bricket, attending church in his village of Stunston Peveril in Suffolk is a good way to keep up with the village gossip. Having only recently retired from a career where he w...

'Murder most enjoyable' Colin DexterEx-Princess Etheline, daughter of the exiled king of Mitteleuropia, has been kidnapped during a visit to Tawcester Towers, ancestral seat of the Dukes of Tawcester, and ducal family honour demands that she should be rescued.The Dowager Duchess entrusts the task to her son, the Right Hon. Devereux Lyminster, known universally as 'Blotto'. He is, of course, terribly handsome, honourable and brave, but as sadly deficient in ...

Carole Seddon accompanies Jude to Long Bamber Stables so her friend can apply her healing touch to a lame horse, only to stumble upon the body of a man beyond medical help—alternative or otherwise. The victim, former equestrian champion Walter Fleet, worked in the stables—spending more time grooming himself to impress the ladies than he did grooming the horses.The police attribute the stabbing death to the mysterious “Horse Ripper,” who’s been mutilating mares across West Sussex—an...

A rare eighteenth-century encyclopedia reveals a murderous secret in this short story by the CWA Diamond Dagger–winning author of A Shock to the System.For Professor Derrick Rounsevell, antique books can bring the past into the present, through not only their content but also telling traces left by previous readers. In the case of his newly-inherited copy of Bibliotheca Classica—an obscure eighteenth-century encyclopedia—peculiar markings reveal a...