Showing results by author "Faith Martin" in All Categories

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Jenny Starling is working at The Spindlewood Inn for the weekend. It’s hosting a Regency Extravaganza, involving historical costume, amateur dramatics and food. Leading actress of the amateur dramatic society and reputed man-eater Rachel Norman portrays a doomed noblewoman. But when she turns up actually drowned in the pond, there’s suddenly a murder to investigate. There’s been plenty of trouble at the idyllic country inn.

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Jenny Starling is catering the 21st birthday party of upper-class twins Alicia and Justin. She arrives at their parents' country house and is immediately met by the police. A young man has drowned in the pond. Was it an accident or murder? But the birthday party goes ahead. Then, just after midnight, everyone gathers for a champagne toast...and one of the guests falls down dead. The police are baffled, and there is a whole party full of suspects.

Don't miss A Dangerous Train of Thought, the thrilling latest installment in the Ryder & Loveday series! Pre-order now. ‘A beautifully crafted crime mystery I could not put down.’ Anita Davison, author of the Flora Maguire series Oxford, 1960. As excitement builds for the inaugural beauty...

Don't miss A Dangerous Train of Thought, the thrilling latest installment in the Ryder & Loveday series! Pre-order now. ‘The pairing of Ryder and Loveday is a stroke of genius.’ Clare Chase, author of the Eve Mallow and Tara Thorpe mysteries Oxford, 1961. A family outing to Briar’s Hall...

Can Hillary finally close the case of the missing young women? Can she take down one of Oxfordshire's most wanted criminals? Can she handle her new boss? Can she help one of her team get answers on his long lost sister? And will she really get married and leave her beloved boat?

Eighteen months after Hillary suffered a personal tragedy, she is throwing herself into her work to try to get over it. Former soldier Gareth Proctor joins her team and finds himself quickly growing to enjoy his new environment. The first cold case he works on is the murder of Andrew Feeley. In 2012, this twenty-one-year-old was found dead in the woods near his home, killed by a single stab wound to the chest from his own knife.

Jenny Starling has a job on a luxury paddle steamer working for a wealthy businessman. All she has to do is cook for his small number of guests. But things quickly turn sour. Then she discovers the body of one of the passengers in the store cupboard. Who wanted him dead and why? Jenny will have to ignore many red herrings and follow the clues to get to the bottom of a complex and intriguing murder mystery. This is the third of a series of enjoyable murder mysteries with a great cast of characters and baffling crimes which will keep you in suspense to the final second.

Mattie Jones is found brutally stabbed to death in her palatial home. Hillary Greene is called in to investigate the murder of this wealthy woman. Who wanted her dead and why? Hillary discovers that Mattie's snobby attitude had made her many enemies. Mattie was also going through a messy divorce and had a secret lover. Meanwhile, in a terrifying turn of events, police officers are being gunned down outside their stations. A sniper is on the loose. Who will come under attack next? Can Hillary cope with the enemies within, a complex case, and the whole force under attack?  

Monica Noble is thrilled to be asked to judge a neighboring village’s flower show, even if she can't tell a begonia from an azalea! Her fellow judge Vicar James Davies inhales deeply from a large bloom and drops dead in the tent. At first everyone thinks he’s had a heart attack, but the doctor on hand is suspicious and calls in the police. A second murder quickly follows, this time of one of the main suspects. Monica must help Chief Inspector Jason Dury to solve the two murders and find the killer—fast, before anyone else pays the ultimate price.

Former Detective Hillary Greene and her cold case team are sweltering in their stuffy basement office on the hottest day of the year when they are handed an impossible case. Fifteen years ago, Imelda Phelps was battered to death in the hallway of her home. The brutal crime shocked the residents of the pretty market town of Chipping Norton. The killer was never caught. The motive for the murder remains a mystery. Could the happily married mother-of-two’s stunning good looks have played a part in her death?

Hillary will retire in a few weeks. But can her boss get Hillary to change her mind by putting her on a murder investigation? The victim is found dead with his head bashed in with a piece of wood. Michael Ivers was a gambler and a notorious womaniser. He had few friends and there is a long list of people who might have wanted him dead. Hillary wants to solve her final case as a police officer and she has just days left to find out who killed him. To add to her problems, her old enemy, ex-Sergeant Frank Ross is back on the scene and is a prime suspect.

Hillary Greene has returned to Thames Valley Police HQ, acting as a cold-case consultant for the Crime Review Team, looking into murders which the police have never been able to solve. She wasn't sure she wanted to go back. But solving crimes is irresistible for Hillary Greene. And it doesn't hurt that her new boss is devastatingly handsome.

Former Detective Hillary Greene and her cold case team are handed an impossible case. Thirty years ago, two days before Christmas, the much-loved Reverend Keith Coltrane was hit over the head and left to die inside his own church. The killer was never caught. This shocking crime took place in the pretty Oxfordshire village of Lower Barton. Everyone knows everyone else in this peaceful little community. The young reverend was handsome and popular, especially with the ladies of the village. Who would have wanted to harm him?

Don't miss A Dangerous Train of Thought, the thrilling latest installment in the Ryder & Loveday series! Pre-order now. 'This author's books are soothing to the soul. Her characters are likable, and the plots always keep me guessing. Excellent fun.’ Reader Review⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Oxford, 1963...

Jenny Starling has her dream job cooking for Lord and Lady Avonsleigh in a genuine castle. Then one of the castle’s treasures, a fabulously jewelled dagger, is used to murder a staff member. The victim is found stabbed through the heart in the conservatory. Lady Avonsleigh insists that Jenny help the police find the murderer. But how can Jenny solve this case when the murder was committed in front of several reliable witnesses, none of whom saw a thing?

Former Detective Hillary Greene is off on holiday. For a blissful two weeks, her life will be free of murder victims, murder suspects—and, best of all, no paperwork. She’s heading for the beautiful Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye, where she plans to spend her time browsing old bookshops and generally relaxing. Hillary arrives at the picturesque Riverside Inn where the other guests are an eclectic bunch: a charming Irishman, a rich American and his spoilt daughter, a thrice-married Canadian influencer, a wealthy widow and a taciturn taxidermist.

Monica Noble and her husband Graham, the local vicar, are invited to participate in a high-flying church conference being held at a swanky manor house hotel in their village. At the Saturday night dinner, the ambitious female cleric Celia Gordon tragically dies, seemingly of a peanut allergy. But when Chief Superintendent Jason Dury arrives on the scene he quickly discovers that it's a case of murder.

Wayne Sutton is found dead by a stream in a beautiful meadow. His head has been bashed in and a red paper heart left on his body. The handsome young artist had a reputation as a ladies' man. DI Hillary Greene discovers that many wealthy married women were buying his paintings and taking ‘private' art lesson from him. It appears that several of them might have wanted him dead.

Meet DI Hilary Greene, a policewoman fighting to save her career. Not only has she lost her husband, but his actions have put her under investigation for corruption. Then a bashed and broken body is found floating in the Oxford Canal. It looks like the victim fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Her investigation exposes a dark background to the death. Can Hillary clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?

Monica Noble is throwing a party to welcome the village’s new residents. Then as the drinks are flowing, a shotgun blast rings out. One of the guests is found dead. DCI Dury and Sergeant Jim Greer are soon on the scene and discover that the victim had many enemies. Almost all the guests harbor secrets and motives for murder. Even Monica’s daughter comes under suspicion. When another villager is strangled to death nearly a week later, the stakes are raised. Can Monica help the local detectives save her daughter and solve the murders before anyone else pays the ultimate price?