Coming Soon: Mystery at Hideaway House by Clare Chase

Published by Bookouture
7 May 2025

Book 14 in the Eve Mallow series

Amateur sleuth Eve Mallow is enjoying a very well-deserved holiday in a charming cottage with her new husband. But murder never takes a break…

Nestled among the trees of a gorgeous country estate, Hideaway House is the perfect place for a holiday – complete with roof terrace, cosy fireplace and four-poster bed. It’s been a labour of love for charismatic Duncan Blake, who shot to fame thanks to his TV shows restoring old buildings, and he’s hoping his hard work will pay off with a good review.

Despite her misgivings – Eve can’t be bought! – she packs up Robin and dachshund Gus and heads to Kesham. But from the beginning it’s the holiday from hell. First, she finds a threatening note warning her that Hideaway House has history…

And then Duncan is found dead at the bottom of a ditch.

But who wanted to demolish the building expert? Was it his keen apprentice, who was working for free? His wife, who gave up her dreams to follow his? Or the owner of nearby Kesham Hall, whose relationship with Duncan was on decidedly rocky foundations?

Brick by brick, Eve gathers her evidence: a missing murder weapon, a long-lost daughter, and the secret sabotage of Duncan’s plans. But can she nail the killer before she digs herself into a deadly hole?

Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations. Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium. As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.

www.clarechase.com

‘Marshal of Snowdonia’ by Simon McCleave

Published by Stamford Publishing,
20 February 2025.
ISBN: 979-830393192-6 (PB)

A good detective never quite retires, even when he’s served his time, taken his pension and found another part-time job. And Frank Marshal was always a good detective; so, when his close friend Annie, also retired but in her case from the judiciary, asks for his help, he can’t say no.

Annie’s sister Meg has gone missing from the static caravan she lives in with Callum, her supposedly recovering addict son. Callum seems to be missing too, but he turns up quite soon, albeit with a bad attack of amnesia. Evidence emerges to suggest that Meg has come to harm, but she’s an adult, and the police aren’t really interested, especially DCI Dewi Humphries, an old adversary of Frank’s.

Then Frank and Annie make a gruesome discovery at the caravan. And shortly afterwards a body is found. Now the police are interested, but this is rural north Wales; there’s no murder investigation team, and scant experience of crime of this magnitude.

Annie and Frank set off on their own investigation and unearth a trail of clues and red herrings which lead variously to a drugs baron, police corruption, a convicted murderer, and much closer to home. Meanwhile, they are both juggling tricky situations at home. Frank’s wife Rachel is in the early stages of dementia, and his daughter has moved in with her young son in order to escape from an abusive relationship. Annie’s husband Stephen is a serial adulterer, and she can hardly bear to be in the same house as him. 

The plot twists and turns around most of north Wales, with occasional forays further afield. Suspects abound before the culprit is finally revealed, and both Frank and Annie look danger in the face more than once. There are interesting characters on both sides, but mainly it’s very plain who we’re meant to love and who to hate.

This is only the first case for Frank and Annie, and the stakes are already pretty high. Marshal of Snowdonia is the first in a new series by this already prolific author; it introduces an unusual crime-fighting team, and lays threads for a developing backstory for them both. Frank’s new career is as a park ranger in Snowdonia National Park: cue stunning backdrops to future stories. Annie’s background as a judge speaks of a keen intelligence and an ability to weigh evidence meticulously. It will be interesting to see where they go next.
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Simon McCleave is a million selling crime novelist who lives in North Wales with his wife and two children. His first book, The Snowdonia Killings, was released in January 2020 reached #1 in the UK Chart, selling 250,000 copies. His nine subsequent novels in the DI Ruth Hunter Snowdonia series have all been top 20 bestsellers. Simon is about to launch a new crime series based in Anglesey in May 2022 for Harper Collins. The Dark Tide is Published 12 may 2022.  

www.simonmccleave.com

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.

‘An Extremely Unlikely Death’ by Hannah Hendy

Published by Canelo,
20 March 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-474-1 (PB)

All is not well at Summerview Secondary School. The governors have called a meeting just before the start of term.  They announced that the headmaster, James Barrow has been replaced by a Mrs Cooper who has been parachuted in to sort out the school’s problems and bring the school up to standard. She has brought with her a Miss Martin who will be the new deputy much to the chagrin of Rose, James’ wife who had been the previous deputy.

 At the end of the meeting, a fierce argument develops between two of the governors and Mr Fitzgerald ends up with a bleeding nose. Later that night, the body of Mr Fitzgerald is discovered at the foot of the stairs in his antique shop. The policeman in charge of the case is keen to judge the situation as an unfortunate accident, but Officer Symon is not so certain. What is the explanation for the broken glass and, most telling of all, why was his beloved Jack Russell, Jason, locked up in a cupboard? 

Prevented from investigating the case further by his boss, Officer Symon must rely on dinner ladies Margery and Clementine to do the sleuthing. Much to their surprise, Mr Fitzgerald has left his shop to the two dinner ladies who now have the perfect opportunity to investigate the crime scene more thoroughly.

This is the sixth book in Hannah Henry’s The Dinner Lady Detectives series of cosy mysteries though it can be read as a standalone novel. This has the fastmoving plot with plenty of twists and turns, red herrings and misdirection that will delight all lovers of comic cozy-crime novels.

The characters may be somewhat excentric but remain credible. Dinner ladies Margery and Clementine Butcher-Baker are a delight. The new headmistress, with all her new regimes and the setting up of student-police to spy on all those who break the new rules, is a character you can’t wait to get her comeuppance.
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Reviewer: Judith Cranswick   

Hannah Hendy is a professional chef by day and author by night. She has recently signed a three book deal with Canelo publishing and is the author of the upcoming novel, ‘The Dinner Lady Detectives’. Hannah lives with her brand new wife (covid wedding!) and two cats in South Wales, UK.  

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!’ Her most recent book is Journey to Casablanca  

http://judithcranswick.co.uk/

‘No Precious Truth’ by Chris Nickson

Published by Severn House,
1 April 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-4483-1445-4 (HB)

The story is set in February 1941, when Britain is immersed in the horror and deprivation of war. Cathy Marsden is a police sergeant in Leeds who has been seconded to the SIB, the Special Investigation Branch that focuses on deserters and related crimes on the Home Front. Cathy is the only woman in a squad of tough ex-policemen, who are now part of the military, but she has proved herself and been accepted by all of the men, apart from one chauvinist, who will always snipe at her and try to undermine her. Cathy still feels that she continually needs to prove herself, and the last thing she needs is to find her older brother, Dan, standing in the SIB office. Dan has always been the clever one who put Cathy in the shade, however hard she worked. Cathy had felt pleased when he moved to London to take up a post with the Civil Service, while Cathy stayed on, living with her parents in their modest council house, and working her way up in the police force. Now Dan is back in Leeds and requiring the help of the SIB. He is now working for a new government department, known as the XX (the double cross) Committee, which is part of MI5. The role of this committee is to work on German agents that have been captured and turn them into double agents, then these agents are supposed to feed false information back to the Germans. Dan has returned to Leeds because a Dutch agent that they thought they had successfully ‘turned’ has fooled them. He has escaped from the agents who were monitoring him and has disappeared. MI5 has information that the spy, Jan Minuet, is heading to Leeds, a city he had visited before the war, and he has got maximum destruction on his mind.

MI5 are short of men, and they need the SIB to work with Dan, in order to catch Minuet before he causes irreparable destruction. They start by checking out the most likely targets for sabotage and use the army to increase their security. They also give out pictures of Minuet to all the places where he may be looking for somewhere to stay. Most taxing of all, they have to hunt down the criminals who are also traitors, who are aiding Minuet. The hunt is gruelling, dangerous, and is made even more exhausting because of nights broken by air raids, and the tension that continues to mount. Worst of all, it is bitterly frustrating, because Minuet always seems to be one step ahead of them, and his methods for dealing with anybody who gets in his way are ruthless and violent. For the first time in her life, Cathy begins to get to know her brother and understand the strain it has been for a working class boy from Leeds to try to fit in with his new public school colleagues. However, this crisis involves more desperate consequences than the destruction of Dan’s career. This dangerous and cunning spy could deal a serious blow to the British war effort, and Cathy and her colleagues must track him down and stop him, whatever the risk to their own lives.

No Precious Truth is the first book in a new series featuring Cathy Marsden. It is a compelling read, with a perfectly paced, tense plot, and engaging, believable characters. The historical details are beautifully observed and skilfully inserted, bringing alive the deprivation and tension of the Second World War. This is a page-turner, which I thoroughly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

 

Chris Nickson was born and raised in Leeds. He is the author of historical mysteries set in Leeds. The Richard Nottingham books are set in the 1730’s. The books are about more than murder. They're about the people of Leeds and the way life was - which mean full of grinding poverty for all but the wealthy. They're also about families, Nottingham and his and Sedgwick, and the way relationships grow and change, as well as the politics, when there was one law for the rich, and another, much more brutal, for everyone else. Chris has penned a further six series, and to date has published 37 books. For full details visit his web site. In addition to this Chris is also a music journalist, reviewing for magazines and online outlets

http://chrisnickson.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