‘Deadly Company’ by Ann Granger

Published by Headline,
21 July 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-4722-9018-2 (HB)

It was with delight that I opened Deadly Company, the new book in the Superintendent Alan Markby and his wife Meredith series.

It is February 2005 on a gloomy a Saturday evening, when Alan opens the front door to a slim woman who asks, ‘Are you the Vicar?’  When Alan replies in the negative, she says ‘But this is the vicarage’. Alan’s explanation that the vicar has moved, and the vicarage has been decommissioned, cuts no ice with her, and clearly annoyed she scurries away.

Later Alan is awoken by a hammering on the front door, leaning out of the window to ascertain who is now seeking the vicar, a voice shouts, ‘There’s a dead guy in the churchyard.’ When the caller identifies himself as Callum Henderson, a landscaped gardener known to him, Alan realises he will have to investigate.

Callum who had taken his usual short cut through the graveyard on his regular visit to the Black Dog pub is horrified when Alan declares that the scene has all the hallmarks of a murder. Calum had assumed the bloke had sat down for a rest and had a heart attack,

Now a Superintendent Markby is no longer required to attend post-mortems, but as the corpse had turned up nearly on his doorstep, he accompanies DI Steve Kendal and DS Beth Santos who he has assigned to the case to the mortuary.  Beth Santos is new to the team and Markby is keen to see how she performs in the investigation. The post-mortem reveals that the man was stabbed.  Interestingly there were no defence wounds on his hands although there were slash marks that were made after death.

We are introduced to many interesting characters, Gus Toomey Callum’s employee, the strong silent type. Solicitor Jeremy Hawkins who travels up to London for his job.  He is beginning to wonder if he should maybe spend more time at home especially as his son Rob has suddenly become rather morose. But then again, he’s a teenager.  Then there are the Garrets, Charles and his wife living with his sister.  The Market town of Bamford is like many other places in England. People going quietly about their daily business while underneath thoughts fester with discontent, resentment and maybe murder.

Meanwhile, the investigation proceeds slowly as identification of the victim is proving allusive.  Markby becomes concerned that Callum appears to be in cahoots with DS Beth Santos. I took to Beth and liked her very much. I cannot say the same for DI Steve Kendal, who acted more like a spoilt child than a Detective Inspector.

Incredibly cleverly plotted, with many twists and turns which made this is a compelling read. The identity of the killer was a shock – someone I had not suspected. Most highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Ann Grange  was born in Portsmouth where she was a pupil at the then Northern Grammar School for Girls and went from there to London University where she achieved a BA in Modern Languages (French with German). After a period spent first teaching English in France and then working in the Visa Section of British Embassies around the world. She met her husband, who was also working for the British Embassy, in Prague, and together they received postings to places as far apart as Munich and Lusaka. She is the author of the Mitchell and Markby Mysteries, the Fran Varady series and more recently the Lizzie Martin mystery series. She lives in Bicester, near Oxford.

https://www.anngranger.net/

‘Solace House’ by Joy Ellis

Published by Jaffe Books,
7 October 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-80405557-1 (PB)

 Detective Inspector Rowan Jackman befriends the new owners of Solace House, Holly and Hugh and their two children, Poppy and Aaron. They have only lived there a short while, but they are thinking of moving out again very soon. They tell him the house has a very unsettling atmosphere, really creepy. They knew about a murder that took place there some years ago, but it seems there is more to the feel about it than that. Jackman promises to look further into its past.

Meanwhile Superintendent Ruth Cooke asks him and his team to investigate further a twenty-year-old murder. A young woman’s body was found, minus her head. It was thought at the time that she was a sacrifice in some sort of cult ritual. A witness has now come forward saying he has evidence about what actually happened.

Then discarded black sacks are found by the roadside, they contain dismembered human body parts again minus any heads. The police cannot believe their eyes when they note the same symbols marked on them as were on the body of the girl found twenty years ago. Surely it must have been done by the same person or persons, but why now again after all these years?

Jackman is torn between solving these murders and finding out more about Solace House. With help from members of his team, he discovers the property was used in Victorian times as a kind of baby farm and is shocked to uncover the suspicions about the place at the time. Babies seemed to have “disappeared”.

Events then turn really nasty at the House; someone obviously wants them out badly and quickly. Certain things come to light leading Jackman to wonder if the happenings there can possibly be connected to the bodies in the black sacks, but if so, how? It does seem a bit farfetched.

Then he has a personal tragedy which knocks him sideways. Is it connected somehow to the cases he is investigating? How can he possibly carry on?

A wonderfully absorbing atmospheric and at times tragic thriller from Joy Ellis. She brings to life the characters and the fenlands in which many of her books are set. I do so enjoy her books and highly recommend this latest one.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Joy Ellis was born in Kent but spent most of her working life in London and Surrey. She was an apprentice florist to Constance Spry Ltd, a prestigious Mayfair shop that throughout the Sixties and Seventies teemed with both royalty and ‘real’ celebrities. She swore that one day she would have a shop of her own. It took until the early Eighties, but she did it. Sadly the recession wiped it out, and she embarked on a series of weird and wonderful jobs; the last one being a bookshop manager Joy now lives in a village in the Lincolnshire Fens with her partner, Jacqueline. She had been writing mysteries for years but never had the time to take it seriously. Now as her partner is a highly decorated retired police officer; her choice of genre was suddenly clear. She has set her crime thrillers in the misty fens.   

www.joyellis.info

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.

‘Mystery at Southwood School’ by Clare Chase

Published by Bookouture,
10 November 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-80314-409-2 (PB)

We meet up with our intrepid investigator, Eve Mallow, who is actually an obituary writer, who in the process of learning about her dead subjects has turned into an amateur sleuth.  In the period between obituary writing, she works part time for Viv who runs Monty’s teashop in the village of Saxford St Peter in Suffolk where Eve has settled following her move from London, and a controlling ex-husband

Although pleased to have been asked to assist Viv in the catering for Founders Day at the prestigious Southwood School, Eve is becoming less enamoured as Viv who attended the school tells her how strict the rules were. Currently they are on their way to meet ‘the coven’ the name for the committee that run the school. If that doesn’t give you the heebie-jeebies it does me.

As they near the entrance for the meeting several other join them, the headmaster of the school, Sabina Montague, mother of Viv’s late husband Oliver, and the mother-in-law from hell. Also, instantly Eve recognisees Natalie Somerson, the famous talk-show host who is there as a former student of the school and this year’s guest of honour.  

But it quickly becomes apparent that there are tensions between the staff over Natalie’s presence and when she gives her speech it clearly stirs up old resentments with several people present. She is also extremely rude to the current head girl. Why? Eve asks herself was Natalie invited?

When Eve spots Natalie talking to Robin, who is doing some gardening in the school grounds, and who regular readers of this series will know looks after most of the gardens in Saxby St Peter, she is instantly on alert. He and Eve are in a relationship but known only to three other people, the reason being that Robin’s past has to stay that way – in the past. Eve later learns that Natalie is certain she knows Robin from somewhere and she is sure it will come to her eventually.

When a body is found in the school Robin immediately comes under suspicion, particularly by the odious Inspector Palmer.  Luckily Detective Sergeant Greg Boles is on the case but can he and Eve find the killer before Palmer arrests Robin.

This is the ninth book in the series, and they get and better.  Intriguing, and cleverly plotted with lots of red herrings and twists along the way. I greatly enjoyed this entry in the series.  

A terrific read. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Clare Chase writes fast-paced romantic mysteries, using London and Cambridge as settings. Her influences include JD Robb, Janet Evanovich, Mary Stewart and Sue Grafton. Brought up in the Midlands, she went on to read English at London University, then worked in book and author promotion in venues as diverse as schools, pubs and prisons. More recently she’s exercised her creative writing muscles in the world of PR and worked for the University of Cambridge. Her current day job is at the Royal Society of Chemistry. Her writing is inspired by what makes people tick, and how strong emotions can occasionally turn everyday incidents into the stuff of crime novels. It would be impossible not to mix these topics with romance and relationships; they’re central to life and drive all forms of drama. When she’s not reading or writing, Clare enjoys drawing, cooking and trips to the Lake District. Closer to home she loves wandering round the pubs, restaurants and galleries of Cambridge where she lives with her husband and two teenage daughters.

www.clarechase.com