‘Grave Intent’ by Sarah Ward

Published by Canelo Publishing,
11 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-80436682-0 (PB)

The story opens in 1870 when Josiah is digging a grave for his wife Meg in their own grounds. The parson has refused burial in the cemetery.

Current day in New England, Professor Carla James is running a summer school at Jericho College, while the college is closed for the summer break. It is a week-long programme. Carla is archaeologist specialising in the study of burial. A group of 10 young enthusiasts are attending. Working with her is Professor Jack Caron. The first student to arrive is Riley Shawcross with a crate of beer and a case of wine. Carla is not too comfortable with this as two of the attending students are underage. He is quickly followed by Cai, a lawyer from Chicago, Trudy, Scott, Student’s Shawn and Lauren, clearly a couple, Ava and Tina, and Belle, grey haired with a no-nonsense manner.  Only Melissa Wilson is a no show. 

Carla checks into her room No 4 and finds on her wall a needlework in a heavy frame bearing the word, BEWARE.

On the first day Carla splits the group into three.  Shawn was unhappy that he had been placed in a different group to his girlfriend.  Carla tasks each group to find a piece of local Jericho history in the landscape they could use aa a case study for their week’s stay.

With still no sign of Melissa, Carla telephones the number on Melissa’s admission form. It transpires that she had left a few days ago to do a bit of sightseeing before she got to the college. Adele who shares her apartment with her said she was excited about the course, as she was fascinated by New England Folklore. 

Keen to get involved with local history, the students become fixated on the century-old grave of Meg Woodthorpe. Killed for being a witch. A single stone sits on the burial site supposedly to prevent her rising again. And excavations reveal she may have. Although a body is discovered it is not Meg’s. She has been replaced by a modern victim. With no one missing, Carla must work out who this is and where is Meg. 

The description of the body found in Meg’s grave is not for the faint hearted. Carla’s former mentor, pathologist Dr Erin Collins shows her the body that has been decimated by a claw hammer, which bears the words, ‘Anthology Department, Jericho College’.  Oops, a bit too close for comfort. 

Detective Baros is called to investigate, usually not someone Carla took to when she first met him, but he seems a lot nicer than she remembered. 

Apart from the mystery of the missing body of Meg Woodthorpe, there is still no sign of Melissa.

This is a tantalising mystery with many twists as more of the past is revealed. Complex and clever this intriguing mystery will keep you turning the pages. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Sarah Ward the author of four DC Childs novels set in the Derbyshire Peak District where she lives. The Birthday Girl is the first book in her series featuring Mallory Dawson. There are now five books in the series. She has also written Doctor Who audio dramas. She also writes gothic historical thrillers as Rhiannon Ward. Her most recent series features Carla James an archaeologist. There are three books in the series.  

www.crimepieces.com

‘Murder At Canterbury Cathedral’ by Jim Eldridge

Published by Allison & Busby,
18 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-74903291-3 (HB)

This is the second novel in Eldridge’s ‘Cathedral Mysteries Series’. Set during World War II, it features the same detective pairing (the aristocratic Detective Chief Inspector Edgar Saxe-Coburg and Sergeant Ted Lampson) as those I have previously reviewed in the author’s ‘London Underground Station Mysteries Series’. 

It is May 1941. London and the south east are taking a hammering from German bombing raids. In Canterbury a canon of the cathedral, Walter de la Coeur, is found battered to death on the spot where Thomas Becket had been murdered almost 800 years previously. The influence of the Archbishop and his vicar general (the latter went to school with Coburg) ensures that Coburg is dragged reluctantly into leading the investigation. In Canterbury Coburg and Lampson come across a network of mostly unappealing characters. Henry Duckworth, a young man with a history of pilfering from his employers, has been found a job at the cathedral by his uncle, a canon like de la Coeur, in an attempt to curb his tendencies. It is a failure. Duckworth becomes associated with Percy Abernathy, an apparently dodgy solicitor who seems well acquainted with the local low life, including two potentially violent young tearaways. Abernathy is also related by marriage to Gerald Evans who has managed to extract money from the cathedral after he accused de la Coeur of molesting his son. Duckworth’s widowed mother is found to be carrying on with a married local shopkeeper. The scope for blackmail and extortion is everywhere. 

Becket and his history hangs over the whole investigation. Some people have a genuine interest in the saint and being close to where he died. Others see his martyrdom as a path to making money and are not too concerned how they do it (‘Becket is big business’ is one comment). Scams including pilgrimages, indulgences and the provenance of relics are central to this. Working out exactly who is behind criminal activity is just one of the problems facing Coburg whilst he tries to identify de la Coeur’s murderer. Another is that there are three further deaths which wipe out one or two suspects in the process. 

There is an ultimately heart-warming subplot. Lampson’s young son, Terry, is very badly injured when a previously unexploded bomb goes off in London. This brings Coburg’s brother, the Earl of Dawlish, into the story. His influence (via Churchill, a friendship we know from earlier novels) leads to Terry being treated by Sir Harold Gillies, a ground-breaking plastic surgeon (he is another person who actually existed that Eldridge brings into his fiction). Coburg is married to Rosa Weeks, a well-known jazz singer who works as an ambulance driver and who we have also met in previous stories. She and her friends provide a positive ending to the novel. 

As always with Eldridge, this is an intricately plotted, convincing and fast paced mystery. The wartime setting is thoroughly researched (a conscientious objector in the police force provides an added dimension, for example) as are the medieval connections, and the author gives us plenty of background, something he further develops in his acknowledgements at the end. I don’t imagine any reader will be disappointed.
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Reviewer: David Whittle

Jim Eldridge was born in the Kings Cross/Euston area of north London in November 1944. He left school at 16 and did a variety of jobs, before training as a teacher. He taught during the 1970s in disadvantaged areas of Luton, while at the same time writing. He became a full-time writer in 1978. He has had 80 books published which have sold over two million copies. He has had over 250 TV and 250 radio scripts broadcast in the UK and across the world. He lives with his wife in Cumbria; and is an associate lecturer at the University of Cumbria.

http://www.jimeldridge.com/

 

David Whittle is firstly a musician (he is an organist and was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for over 30 years) but has always enjoyed crime fiction. This led him to write a biography of the composer Bruce Montgomery who is better known to lovers of crime fiction as Edmund Crispin, about whom he gives talks now and then.

‘Murder at St. Alfred’s’ by Julie Wassmer

Published by Constable,
18 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-34900088-6 (PB)

Pearl Nolan runs a successful seafood restaurant in Whitstable, called The Whitstable Pearl. Her original idea when she was young was to become a police detective, but the arrival of her son Charlie scuppered that idea. But now that Charlie has left for university, Pearl has set up Nolan’s Detective Agency. 

In her role of Private Detective, she has come into contact with former Met Police Officer, Mike McGuire, which after a tricky start has developed into a loving relationship. And they are now about to marry. But currently Mike has been in London for a trial at the Old Bailey on an important corruption case. Everything is now set for the wedding except for the bridegroom. 

Pearl lives at Sea Spray cottage, and while pondering her impending marriage she is contacted by Reverend Prudence Lawson known locally as Rev Pru. Who says she needs to talk with Pearl as soon as possible.  Her problem is a young man in his twenties who has been sleeping in the church as he is homeless. He name is Ryan Stacey, and he has helped a lot in the church and seems a nice young man. With the church Sacristan recuperating after a knee replacement in the Happy Valley Nursing Home, his duties have been split between several church members.  And now a silver chalice has disappeared. 

Pearl visits Reggie Runcorn, a loveable Rogue, with a grey beard, shoulder length hair, sporting a plum-coloured smoking jacket, and a paisley cravat that has seen better days, and asks him to look at the photograph of the silver chalice to see if he can identify it. All he says is that it looks ecclesiastical.   

The story is rich in characters; there is the artist Judith Beckett who is putting Ryan up in her spare room. Judith according to Pearl’s mother Dolly is an old Cougar! Ruby, the waitress who Pearl looks upon as a daughter, and seems to have something on her mind, and Pearl’s son Charlie who is acting secretive, almost as though he is avoiding her. Charlie has tried several times to fly the nest, but it isn’t easy for this generation. Whitstable has become a popular location for ex-Londoners, known as DFL’s (short for Down from Londoners, as they are called by the locals). And they have money to buy holiday property, not too far from London. 

As plans for her coming wedding Pearl arranges to meet with Jade Jackson, St. A’s Musical director to finalise her choices on the church organ.  She was fascinated by the two mirrors above the keyboards on the organ, that enable Jade to keep an eye on the choir. But looking in the small square mirror Pearl can see a body lying with a gaping wound, eyes wide open. Dead.  The church is now a crime scene.  

This is the 11^th book in the series and with their wedding imminent they both individually look back into their past. Mike to the loss of Donna whom he was to marry, but who was killed in a hit-and-run car accident and Pearl who had never spoke of her relationship with Carl, Charlie’s father. 

This is a very layered story. Whilst Pearl has gone her own way, in bringing up Charlie, the past, as she discovers, has a way of turning up.  

Intriguing, and ingeniously plotted this episode in Pearls life is a compelling read and kept me guessing to the end. Whose body is it in the church? Will there be a wedding?  Highly Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Julie Wassmer is a television drama writer who contributed for almost twenty years to the popular BBC series EastEnders. She published her autobiography More Than Just Coincidence in 2010, in which she describes finding her long-lost daughter after an astonishing twist of fate. It was voted Mumsnet book of the year. The Whitstable Pearl Mystery is the first in her series of crime novels, involving multi-tasking private detective-come-restauranteur, Pearl Nolan. Julie lives in Whitstable and is well known for her environmental campaigning.

https://www.juliewassmer.com/

‘Five Silver Spoons’ by Sam Steele.

Published by Alison & Busby Limited,
23 April 2026. 
ISBN: 978- 0-7940 3362-0 (HB)

DI Hope Fenton has a lot to deal with, perhaps more than the average fictional police officer.  Her family life is difficult.  She has to cope with the nightmare of a missing son.  Noah, twin brother to her daughter Lily, vanished 8 years ago and it is not known whether he is dead or alive.  The stress has destroyed her marriage to Adam, a forensic scientist with whom she sometimes works, and with whom Lily lives.  In addition to this, her father, Derek, formerly a DCI, is now in a care home, the positive side of this being that she can live on his barge. 

Hope, who works from Finsbury Park Police Station, is called to a crime scene – Jack Garrett, a famous guitarist and junkie has been found dead.  It looks like an overdose but, when his body is examined more closely, a small silver spoon is found at the back of his mouth.  The continuing investigation discovers a card with the stark inscription ‘You’re first’, which suggests there might be further victims.  

In her search for who might be next, Hope finds a group of 5 Cambridge University graduates, including Jack, who were close (if not friendly) during their time at university.  The remaining four are now successful as:  a surgeon, an academic, a director of an eco-friendly company and a Junior Minister in the Ministry of Justice.  The remaining four are no longer close, nor are they keen to help her with her inquiries.  But when another one of the group is found dead, again with a silver spoon in his mouth, the tension mounts.  Hope follows what clues she can find, while the three remaining members of the student group set out to deal with the crimes in their own way. 

This is a cleverly-plotted debut novel, well-written and interesting.  The combination of police procedure and complex personal emotions works well.  Information about the case and her personal life emphasis the stress she is under and, at times, seems to overlap, as the investigation moves along some unexpected paths.  The tension is maintained to the very end, and the reader is provided with a number of different viewpoints, as well as story lines that need to be resolved.
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood

Sam Steele is the pseudonym of Sarah Steele, USA Today bestselling author of The Missing Pieces of Nancy Moon and other sweeping historical fiction. The Schoolteacher of Saint Michel, The Lost Song of Paris, The Traitor’s Wife, The Last Letters from Villa Clara, The Riviera Secret. She trained as a classical pianist and violinist before joining the world of publishing as an editorial assistant at Hodder and Stoughton. She was for many years a freelance editor and now lives in the vibrant town of Stroud. 

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society. 

‘Truth To Tell’ by Aline Templeton

Published by Allison & Busby,
21 May 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-3343-9 (HB) 

Wedding bells will be chiming in the near future for DCI Kelso Strang, head of Scotland's Rural Crime Squad, and his lawyer fiancée Catriona Fleming. Cat is a familiar figure from Aline Templeton's earlier series, as is her mother Marjory, a retired DI, and they're busy arranging flowers, seating plans and meetings with the vicar. Kelso is keen to be married but less enthused by all the wedding-related fuss, so when a body turns up in a remote Highland village, he's guiltily relieved.    

The body belongs to Brodie Campbell, the local gamekeeper, who was useful to the local police. But Brodie was so unpopular with most of the village that everyone's a potential suspect, and Kelso finds just about everyone reluctant to talk in case they incriminate someone else. 

DS Livvy Murray has been detailed to help Kelso with the investigation. The shortcomings of the Airbnb they're staying in make her keen to shift the blame for the murder on to outsiders from Glasgow's gang culture so that she and Kelso can go home, especially after the arrival of a capable graduate entry DC whom Kelso has worked with before. In the past Livvy wasn't above going rogue in pursuit of her own theories, but she has calmed down a lot.  All the same, her tendency to use her initiative pays off, with a discovery that comes close to cracking the case. 

Aline Templeton certainly knows how to put together a storyline that's almost as twisty as the mountain passes. As well as the murder, there's a drug problem, common in small communities where both work and leisure activities are thin on the ground for young people; and a parallel investigation is looking at hijackings of deliveries from local fish processors. But as always in Templeton's books, the characters and the locations are at least as important as the plot. The story unfolds against a spectacular Highlands backdrop of mountains, lochs and precipitous roads; the weather is as dramatic as the landscape and causes more than one problem for the SRCS team. 

Kelso, Livvy and Cat are familiar figures, and following their development is one of the great pleasures of the series. Kelso's boss DCS Jane Borthwick, the redoubtable JB, makes an occasional appearance and has work problems of her own; and workshy DI Mackenzie from the local force is no help at all. 

In the village, the women are nursing secrets. Mairead runs the local café despite fragile health, and has plenty to hide, especially from her feckless artist husband. Zoe Cooper, waitress at the café, girlfriend of local bad boy Jago Innes and woman of mystery, comes and goes as she pleases. And then there's Anna Bruce, who recently moved to the village and has created a thriving catering business; no one seems to know anything about her. 

Eventually secrets are revealed, Brodie Campbell's killer is unmasked, and Kelso and Livvy can go home – he to prepare for his wedding, she to await their next case. As, no doubt, will Aline Templeton's many readers with eager anticipation, me among them; Kelso Strang is rapidly becoming one of Scotland's most engaging detectives.   
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Aline Templeton grew up in the fishing village of Anstruther, on the east coast of Scotland not far from St Andrews.  The memories of beautiful scenery and a close community inspired her to set the Marjory Fleming series in a place very like that – rural Galloway, in the south-west of Scotland. After attending Cambridge University to read English she taught for a few years.  She now writes full-time.  Her most recent series features DCI Kelso Strang, officer in charge of Police Scotland’s Serious Rural Crime Squad. Truth To Tell is the seventh book in the series. 

http://www.alinetempleton.co.uk  

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

Capital Crime: 18-20 June 2026

LAST FEW TICKETS REMAINING 

‘Shadow of the Sphinx’ by Judith Cranswick

Published by Liden Press,
5 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-91884501-3 (PB)
Also available in Kindle format.

The story is narrated by Harry, a young man whose early life had been suffocatingly sheltered because he had been brought up in an old-fashioned way by his timid mother and two overbearing and judgmental aunts. This had seriously damaged his self-esteem and confidence, until he was rescued by a third aunt, Aunt Jessica, who is very different from her sisters. Aunt Jessica is a career woman, a highly respected archaeologist who, in recent years, has given historical lectures to elite tour groups. Two years ago, Aunt Jessica invited Harry to join her as her assistant and to use his excellent IT skills to make sure her lecture slides are delivered flawlessly. On his first trips Harry had been anxious and insecure, but even on these tours he was a valuable assistant who, along with succeeding in his technological duties, has helped his aunt to solve several murders. By the time Aunt Jessica invites him to accompany her on a trip to Egypt, he has grown in confidence and worldly knowledge, and is delighted to join her on a trip to visit several historic sites, such as the pyramids and the Sphinx, which also includes a journey on the riverboat, The Spirit of Isis. 

At Heathrow, Harry has an unfortunate encounter with an entitled woman who is quarrelling with an unseen man. She storms away and runs over Harry’s foot with her case on wheels and does not apologise. Naturally, Harry dislikes her at first sight, and she does not improve on further acquaintance as she bullies her assistant and tramples over the feelings of everybody who comes near. The woman’s name is Eloise Masterton and she is the owner of a high-end chain of boutiques. 

As the tour continues, Harry is increasingly impressed by what he discovers about Aunt Jessica’s past. She has worked on some very important archaeological digs with eminent archaeologists and had helped make some significant finds. As with all his travels with his aunt, Harry enjoys the wonderful sights and experiences and local culture, however his pleasure is marred by the constant presence of Eloise, who continues to be loud, demanding and boastful, while she treats those around her with contempt. She is especially condescending to Margot, her dowdy, long-suffering assistant. Despite this, Margot appears to be attached to her employer, although sometimes she is embarrassed by her. However, there are several other people on the tour that have reason to dislike, if not hate, Eloise. Chief among these is Eloise’s ex-husband, Ralf, who obviously still bears a grudge, and Ralf’s new wife, Gemma. Also present are Simon and his wife Isabella. Simon is a very handsome man whom Eloise describes as an ‘old flame’. It seems that this is a flame that Eloise wishes to rekindle, but Simon is far less keen on resuming the relationship. 

When Eloise is murdered, Harry and Aunt Jessica are determined to investigate, as well as attempting to support Margot, who is bereft at the death of her boss. Soon it becomes clear that, as well Ralf and Simon and their wives who have personal grudges against Eloise, there are also business associates who may have reasons to wish her harm. With so many suspects and so many motives, this may prove to be the most difficult case that Harry and Aunt Jessica have ever undertaken. 

Shadow of the Sphinx is the fourth book in the series featuring Harry and his aunt. Alongside the interesting murder mystery, this is a delightful travel guide that brings alive some of the most fascinating places in Egypt and explores the myths and history of the country. Harry and Aunt Jessica are engaging protagonists. Jessica is an intelligent, independent woman who has battled her narrow-minded family’s prejudices to forge her own career, while Harry has overcome his insecurities and vulnerabilities to become a much more confident young man. Shadow of the Sphinx is a delightful and unusual mystery which I recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder. I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’ 

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/  

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with
The Fragility of Poppies. 

www.carolwestron.com 

‘Stranger in the Village’ by Kate Wells.

Published by Boldwood Books
30 January 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-785134289 (PB)

Jude Gray lives in a small Malvern village, now widowed following the death of her husband Adam who had spent most of his life running a working farm full-time. Now Jude has taken over the reins assisted by her farmworker Noah, her shepherd, who was the third-generation shepherd to have been employed by Malvern farm.  After a rather gruelling lambing season, she is looking forward to some time off. 

Her sister Lucy has now moved into the farm and following a disaster at the start of the year Jude is thrilled to hear that the paperwork has now been signed off and Lucy has full custody of her son Sebbie. 

Sitting in her office, which had been her husband’s old music room, when he was a child Jude ponders on an idea of a glampsite.  Bell tents and toilet blocks in the bottom field instead of sheep. Then she thought Shepherd’s huts. A quick log onto Farmer’s Guardian and the idea takes hold. 

But not everyone is delighted with her new venture. Particularly Des Smith. Her obnoxious neighbour who had recently moved into the cottage previously inhabited by her friend Sarah. His wife Loretta is pleasant and kind unlike arrogant, pompous Des. 

Although Noah didn’t exactly love the idea of turning a grazing field into a camping site, he knows that Malvern Farm needs more than just agriculture to keep the place afloat. 

Apart from the unpleasant Des, Jude thinks that things are going well, until a night out at the local pub surrounded by friends Des gets a right hook from Spud with ‘Stay away from my wife’. When Lucy verbally hits out at Des, he comes back with ‘Sanctimonious Bitch, you’ve no idea what’s coming your way. No Idea at all’.

In this second book in the series, we meet again Police Detective Binnie who was also enjoying an evening at the Lamb. But it was short lived as the evening was shattered by a loud screech of tyres followed by a thump and the sound of rubber spinning as the driver tried to get away fast. It was too late for an ambulance.  Was it an accident or was it murder? 

The installation of her Shepherd’s huts did not go smoothly.  But her first guest Marco Ricci had a wonderful smile. Will her other guests be as charming? 

Reports of a stranger wearing red trainers roaming over her farm at night is unsettling. Who is He? What is he looking for? 

Complex and intriguing, this mystery will grip you to the end. It did me.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Kate Wells is the author of the Malvern Farm Mystery series. She began her adult life training as a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital and then moved to Reading where she took a teaching degree. When she took a career break to have her two daughters, she began creating stories and hasn't stopped writing since. Having spent time living and working on farms she developed a love of the rural life and often dreamt of running a sheep farm, especially when she married the son of a farmer. It wasn't to be though, so, she lives out her farming dreams through researching and writing her books. These days she lives in Malvern with her family and is often found out on the common talking to the free-grazing sheep and cattle or walking her collie-cross up on the hills. As Kate Poels she writes books for children. 

Coming Soon: 'The Corpse With The Steely Gaze' by Cathy Ace

 Published by Four Tails Publishing

13 July 2026

The 16th book in the Cait Morgan Mystery series

Jayson Flyntt melted millions of hearts whenever he gazed directly into the camera as the star of a long-running American soap opera; now he’s in Vancouver’s “Hollywood North” to make a science fiction movie he believes will revive his waning fortunes. When his body is discovered in puzzling circumstances at a filming location on Cait Morgan’s university campus, it’s believed he’s been the victim of a tragic accident. But Cait’s instincts tell her that not everything is quite as it seems – and not just because of the illusions being conjured around her by the production’s crew.

When Cait grabs the unique opportunity to peer behind the silver screen, she discovers that some people within the dead actor’s closest circle not only have their own – sometimes disconcerting – agendas but might even benefit by the star’s death. And when she and her retired-cop husband, Bud, focus more sharply on the dead man’s past, some unexpected local connections develop. Stumped by inexplicable clues, Cait whittles down too many suspects to...none. So she has to take some uncharacteristic steps, because she’s determined to reveal the full picture.

Making our usually confident Welsh Canadian criminal psychologist feel like a fish out of water on her home turf, this sixteenth Cait Morgan Mystery tests her with an investigation that challenges the techniques she’s leaned upon in the past, and even leads her to question some of her most deeply held beliefs.

 

Cathy Ace’s Cait Morgan Mysteries are Christie-esque whodunits featuring a globetrotting Welsh Canadian psychologist (optioned for TV by Free@LastTV). Her WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries feature a quartet of softly poached female PIs solving cases from a Welsh stately home. She’s won the Bony Blithe Award, IPPY and IBA Awards, and has been twice shortlisted for CWC Awards of Excellence, plus the CrimeFictionLover Best Indie. She’s a Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada. 

www.cathyace.com 

‘Old Bones in Puglia’ by Tom Benjamin

Published by Constable,
14 May 2026.
ISBN 978-1-4087-2418-7 (PB)

English born Daniel Leister and his father-in-law, Giovanni Fraidate, head of the Bologna-based family firm of private investigators, travel to the wilds of Puglia for an Easter break. Their destination is the remote town where Daniel’s late wife’s family originated. Giovanni, called even by his family, the Comandante, has requested the trip to visit the dying sister of his late wife who is in hospital in the town. Daniel’s daughter also accompanies them to the hospital and Daniel is struck by the resemblance between Rose and her great aunt. Both are pale skinned with striking red hair in contrast to the rest of the region’s occupants. 

They visit the Palaeolithic Museum and discover that artifacts are going missing and replaced by clever forgeries. The value of the stolen pottery lies not in its monetary value but in its historical origins. The pieces date back to an ancient tribe who inhabited this remote area in pre-Roman times. The original objects could only have been stolen by someone working in the museum. The elderly Professor Malaparte in charge of the museum is keen to buy back the originals and requests the Comandante and Daniel’s help in trying to identify the thief and trace the missing historical treasures. 

Their investigation leads them to a local art teacher, an expert craftsman still using the same clay and traditional techniques, but before they can question him, the man goes missing. Before long, Daniel and the Comandante are drawn into a confusing world of feuding mafia families, revenge, kidnap and murder where no one can be trusted. 

As in all the books in the Daniel Leicester series, ‘Old Bones in Puglia,’ has a complex plot that weaves to a fast and furious finale that keeps the reader turning the page. As always, the characters are well drawn, and this book reveals far more about the Comandante who served as a military police officer in the town many years ago and is forced to face the demons of his past. Tom Benjamin’s greatest skill as a writer is his ability to create an immersive setting. This is a community steeped in the past, where witchcraft, mysticism and superstition are never far from the surface. Even the preparations for Holy Week create an eerie sense of unease and foreboding. 

Although this is the seventh book in this excellent series, it can be read as a standalone.  
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Reviewer: Judith Cranswick

Tom Benjamin started off as a reporter covering crime in North London. After a stint on the nationals, he joined Scotland Yard as one of its famous spokesmen. He went on to pursue a career in international aid before emigrating to Italy, where he credits his language skills on the time he spent working as a bouncer on the door of a homeless canteen. A Quiet Death in Italy, the first in a series featuring Bologna-based gumshoe Daniel Leicester, was published in ebook by Little, Brown in November 2019, and in paperback in May 2020. Book Two in the series, The Hunting Season, will be published in November 2020. 

Judith Cranswick was born and brought up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager, Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but I can assure you, I've never committed a murder. I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’ 

www.judithcranswick.co.uk