Valentine's Day is approaching, a busy time for Lake District florist Simmy Brown, and she has a number of anonymous orders to deliver. But the orders and their apparently innocuous messages cause great distress. When one of the recipients goes missing, Simmy must face the possibility that evil intent is at play.

Two teen-age brothers vanish walking home from school, and are found dead more than twenty miles from their posh Trinity School on the upper west side of Manhattan. They set out to walk home to their family’s Fifth Avenue mansion, near 96thStreet. Were they kidnapped? No ransom demand is ever made. How did the boys get to Westchester County? They both died from blunt force trauma, probably from falling from a tree or a cliff. Based on a real family tragedy from the late Middle Ages but set in today’s New York, Monte Carlo and Westchester County, the story of who did what to whom in the troubled Coniston family is surprising and chilling.

Winter has arrived in the town of Windermere, and has bought with it the death of Frances Henderson, the best friend of Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown's mother. Having known the Henderson family all of her life, Simmy must cope with the loss of an important figure from her childhood, as well as the confusion at being bequeathed something in Frances's will. When Frances's husband is violently murdered in his home, Simmy must face the fact that the family she was once so close to as a child, holds some dark and sinister secrets.

Simmy Brown has a lot on her mind. Not just keeping her florist business afloat, her father's failing health, the challenge of developing a long-term relationship with Christopher, but also the approach of Mother's Day, a busy and painful day for her. But in taking an order for a retirement party in Staveley, she is pulled into her most challenging investigation. When a daughter starts accusing her own mother of murder, Simmy, Ben and Bonnie find themselves taking different sides of the investigation. With her relationships under strain, Simmy is tried on all fronts. However, she has to learn to leave her own concerns behind to discover just who the killer is.

Originally published in 1963, this book was the first to survey the rural transport problem as a whole, and it includes the results of extensive research in an important but until then neglected field. The issues of increased car ownership and the reduction of train and bus services and the social impact of this is discussed, as well the question of subsidies in the UK as a whole. Three area specific studies deal with the Lake District, Northumberland and Devon.

Thea Osborne reconnects with her friend Emmy while on a visit to the church in Baunton, near Cirencester with her stepdaughter Stephanie. Emmy, now married to local farmer Nick Weaver, asks Thea to, help them find their missing niece, Ginny. But before Thea can get started, she stumbles upon the recently killed body of Alice, a woman they had briefly seen in Cirencester the day before. Stephanie concentrates on searching for Ginny via social media while Thea is diverted into helping the police with the murder investigation. It soon becomes clear that Ginny and Alice are linked in a sinister way.

The Trail is a crime thriller. A missing person enquiry leads Manchester DCI Rick Castle to Nepal. Manchester. DCI Rick Castle is inspecting his bees when his boss phones. A minor cannabis dealer has been reported missing. His father’s a war hero. Rick flies to Nepal, and heads up the trail. Through villages of staring children and fluttering prayer-flags. Brilliant blue skies, and snow-capped mountains. He finds a dead body. Then a second. Nothing in this world was ever straightforward. Nothing. Finally, he puts himself in the firing line, and has a decision to make. Is it the right one? The moral one? "Intelligent and pacy thriller . . . a taut, keenly-observed tale of revenge, perseverance and the struggle against injustice." Paula Hawkins, author of Girl on a Train "The Trail is a stunning debut from an exciting new addition to the world of crime fiction. James Ellson combines depth of characterisation and authentic police procedural detail with a talent for evoking a sense of place, particularly in his vivid portrayal of Nepal. An original plot lifts Ellson's first book above the level of most contemporary crime novels. And readers will be longing to hear more from his complex protagonist DCI Rick Castle!" Stephen Booth, author of the Cooper and Fry crime fiction series