Meet Melissa: cat lover, caring mother... daring detective? Melissa Craig is absolutely delighted with her new life in an old crumbling cottage, spending her days pruning the primroses and getting to know Binkie, the ginger cat next door. She only wishes she had made the move to the countryside sooner. But when a knock at the door brings news of a shocking discovery, she suddenly finds herself thrown in to the middle of a baffling mystery: the bones of a young woman have been found in the woods just behind her new home. Perhaps the little village of Upper Bembury is not as idyllic as it first seemed? Strange phone calls in the night convince Melissa that the police are barking up completely the wrong tree, so she can't resist doing a little digging of her own. From the bingo hall to the beauty salon and beyond, her search ruffles a few feathers and uncovers many of the village's most scandalous secrets, but gets her no closer to finding the culprit... The discovery of a tatty old photograph in a drawer is the final piece of the puzzle she needs, but as a newcomer in this close-knit community, does Melissa have what it takes to get to the bottom of this extraordinary murder mystery alone? A joy to read! An absolutely unputdownable whodunnit for fans of Agatha Christie, P.D. James and Faith Martin. This book was previously published as A Little Gentle Sleuthing.

A gifted and knowledgeable writer . . . engaging and readable' Financial Times Melissa Craig has taken time away from writing bestselling mysteries to script a murder play for an amateur drama group. 'Murder with a giggle' is how she thinks of it. But no one is laughing when a cast member dies in the cellar of the old Cotswold Heyshill Manor Hotel where the play is to be produced. Persuaded by the manager to investigate, Melissa finds . . . nothing. No well-ordered clues, no sure suspects, just lots of tension. Then she chances upon a vital discovery in the hotel's parking lot, and everything begins to fall into place. This isn't a matter of "murderous plots and murky deeds, all in rhyming couplets" but a death-defying journey along a trail of crime on an international scale.

'A gifted and knowledgeable writer . . . engaging and readable' Financial Times Crime novelist Melissa Craig flees London, her agent and her over-protective lover to take refuge in the Cotswolds and produce bestsellers in peace. But a series of bizarre phone calls leads her to a young journalist convinced a real crime has been committed. When a corpse is discovered under the leaf-mould in woodlands, professional curiosity gets the better of judgement. And in the course of her investigations, Melissa finds that the truth is stranger than her own fiction.

Melissa Craig is a successful crime novelist who has left London to pursue her career in the more relaxed atmosphere of the Cotswolds. It doesn't take her long to discover that fact and fiction are sometimes frighteningly similar, and the gentle country existence she planned for herself is, instead, providing grist for her creative mill. Finishing Touch finds Melissa becoming more involved with the local community, and teaching creative writing at the local Tech. But murder stalks the college art department, reminding both Melissa and Iris, her artist neighbour, of a bizarre event they had witnessed some time before. 'A gently old-fashioned whodunit, riddled with lurking anguish' The Times

A group of guests gather in a large country house, owned by the dying Lord Warbeck, who wants what is left of his family around him to celebrate what he assumes will be his last Christmas. The guests are a motley bunch, including Sir Julius Warbeck, Chancellor of the Exchequer, the wife of one of his underlings, the fascist son of the present Lord Warbeck, and the Chancellor's bodyguard. Also present is foreign historian Dr Bottwink, and the traditional faithful butler. When the first murder occurs, the house is cut off from the rest of the world by a heavy snowfall, and it is left to Sir Julius's bodyguard to initiate a preliminary investigation before contact can be made with the local police force.

Harry Bingham’s Talking to the Dead introduced readers to one of the most compelling new heroines in crime fiction, Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths, earning comparisons to Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander. Now D.C. Griffiths returns to investigate a series of gruesome murders—and their connection to her own shadowy past. D.C. Fiona Griffiths is facing the prospect of a dull weekend when the call comes in, something about illegal dumping in a Cardiff suburb. But when she arrives on the scene she finds, in a garage freezer, a severed human leg, complete with a pink suede high-heeled shoe. South Wales police are able to ID the body part as that of a young woman who went missing five years earlier; a young woman who once made a living as an exotic dancer. All at once, Fiona’s job as a detective and her role as a loving daughter collide: Fiona’s father owns a Cardiff strip club and was once deeply involved in the local crime scene. Still in recovery from a devastating psychotic breakdown, Fiona is wary of exploring a path that might end at her father’s door . . . yet her obsessive approach to criminal investigation leaves her no other option. But Fiona’s specialty is not the living, it is the dead. And as she is just starting to get into the murdered girl’s head, a severed hand is found—and this one is male. Soon, police are swamped with an increasing number of body parts found in and around suburban gardens, sheds, and garages. Media attention is intense, and investigators are working from a list of hundreds of persons of interest. When the department identifies the second victim, Fiona struggles to connect him with the dead stripper. What do the victims have in common? And why this macabre method of disposing the corpses? The answers may be more than Fiona can handle. Because in order to solve the riddle of these hideous murders, D.C. Fiona Griffiths will have to delve into the mysteries of her past—and hope she comes out intact . . . and alive. Praise for Love Story, with Murders “A most intriguing, if peculiar, detective . . . Although his volatile protagonist certainly dominates the first-person narrative, [Harry] Bingham doesn’t stint on plot (very complicated), procedures (very detailed) or action (very brutal). . . . Satisfying.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review “Love Story, with Murders is a dark delight, and I look forward to Fiona’s future struggles with criminals, her demons and the mysteries of her past.”—The Washington Post “Bingham’s superb second police procedural featuring Det. Constable Fiona Griffiths delivers an even more intense plot and richer character study than his first. . . . Fiona’s past mental problems and her unconventional personality make her a distinctive lead.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Some of the most memorably staccato narration in the genre . . . [Bingham’s] remote, unquenchable heroine makes her stand apart from every one of her procedural brothers and sisters.”—Kirkus Reviews “Compelling . . . [Love Story, with Murders] amply proves the freshness and flair that [Bingham] has brought to the police procedural. . . . Surprisingly delicate, it weaves a sinuous, seductive spell and confirms we have a new crime talent to treasure.”—Daily Mail (UK) “Love Story, with Murders boasts what must be the most startling protagonist in modern crime fiction.”—The Sunday Times (London) From the Hardcover edition.

When Melissa Craig arrives for a stay in Uphanger Manor in the Cotswolds, she walks straight into an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion, which alerts her crime-writer's mind. Why is the owner, Stewart Miles Haughan, so unpopular with his employees? What lies behind the tension between him and his wife? Who is the composer of the haunting poems that keep appearing among his correspondence, and why is he taking them so seriously? Haughan practically coerces Melissa into trying to track down the anonymous poet. Then things start to turn nasty . . . 'Full of sharp insights with an unexpected twist in the tail' Val McDermid