Madoc Rhys

A killer wielding poisonous green beans terrorizes a small Canadian town Agatha Treadway has done her own preserving ever since the day her husband was done in by a can of supermarket tomatoes. And after four vigilant decades canning everything from peaches to spinach, it is her own green beans that kill her. Inspecting the fatal jar, Janet Wadman finds it has been tampered with, so that toxic botulism was allowed to seep in. But before she can tell the town doctor that Mrs. Treadway was murdered, the doctor joins the widow in untimely death.   To investigate, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police sends Madoc Rhys, a Mountie who doesn't look the part. Masquerading as a relative, this squat Welshman helps Janet dig into the town's dark side. And what they find is a deadly secret that proves even more poisonous than botulism.

In the frigid Canadian north, Madoc and Janet try to keep warm and stay alive Though he may not look the part, Madoc Rhys is a Mountieand his keen sense of detection tells him it's time to ask Janet Wadman to marry him. They have just gotten engaged when Christmas rolls around, and Janet's boss invites them to his family estate for a last holiday fling before Janet leaves her job. After a long helicopter ride, they are at Graylings, ancestral home of the Condryckes, a family so strange that Canada's shortest Mountie fits right in.   There is a psychic old woman, an erudite butler, and a family patriarch who is the spitting image of an English country squire. And when the elderly Mrs. Condrycke is found murdered, Janet will be glad she brought Madoc along. Though civilization is far away, when there is a Mountie in the house, justice is close at hand.

After witnessing a strange explosion, Janet becomes a murderer's next target Janet Rhys is driving through the backwoods of Canada when she sees the truck ahead of her lose control, smash into a snow bank, and flip sideways, completely blocking the road. Springing to action, she darts into a nearby barn, searching for something to use to rescue the person trapped inside. When she hears an explosion, Janet returns to find the truck is nothing but smoking wreckage, and the driver has stolen her car.   Janet takes shelter in an abandoned house, and is waiting for help to come when the truck driver's accomplices set fire to her hideout. Just before she is engulfed in flames, she leaps through a window and escapes into the snow. The killers think their witness is dead, and if Janet doesn't move quickly, they will be right.

While stranded in the wilderness, an orchestra confronts a killer in its ranks Although he is a decorated officer of the Mounted Police, Madoc Rhys's tin ear has long been an embarrassment to his musically fixated family. But when his father's orchestra needs a policeman, the Mountie gets a chance to make daddy proud. It began as pranks among the brass instruments, but something is rotten inside the Wagstaffe Symphony, and is about to graduate to something criminal. Called in to look into the tensions within the group, Madoc arrives just in time to see the French horn player keel over.   The death appears natural, and the orchestra boards the plane to its next engagement. But when a storm forces them to make an emergency landing and take shelter in an eerie old lodge, the extent of the danger becomes clear. Madoc may never understand music, but he has a good ear for murder, and is about to show off his chops.

Out of jurisdiction, but in his element, Madoc investigates a Welsh murder For mounted policeman Madoc Rhys and his wife, Janet, the pains of traveling with an infant are worth  taking young Dorothy to Wales for Great-Uncle Sir Caradoc's ninetieth birthday. Along with every other member of the Rhys clan, they make the pilgrimage to the ancestral pile, to enjoy a few days of drinks, dinner, andas it turns outdemonic sacrifices.   On their first morning at the family manor, Madoc stumbles upon a concussed shepherd and a dismembered ram. It appears to be a botched attempt at an ancient rite, executed by one of those Welshmen who still carry a torch for the religion of the druids. For a spot of fun, the Rhys family decides to stage its own ritualrecreating the fertility ceremony of the Beltane bonfires. But when the flames turn a member of his family into a fireball, Madoc springs to action. Even five thousand miles from Canada, a Mountie always gets his man.

The first three cozy mysteries in a series featuring a Royal Canadian Mountie and his resourceful wife from an international-bestselling author. The beloved sleuthing couple solves a trio of murder cases in the austere beauty of Canada's New Brunswick. Originally published under the pseudonym Alisa Craig, these three tales are a witty look at murder in a small town-"the epitome of the 'cozy' mystery" (Mostly Murder). A Pint of Murder: When Janet Wadman realizes her friend Agatha was murdered with a jar of tainted green beans, her discovery leads to another untimely death. Height-challenged Mountie Madoc Rhys proves more capable than he looks, and Janet is duly impressed. Murder Goes Mumming: Madoc decides to ask Janet for her hand in marriage. But when the newly engaged couple finds their Christmas plans spoiled by murder, the investigating duo once again finds they have a gift for serving justice. A Dismal Thing to Do: Janet witnesses a terrible accident on the back roads of Canada. But after dashing into a nearby barn to get help, someone thanks her by stealing her car and then trying to kill her. Or were they? Madoc arrives and together they work to stop a deadly crime wave in its tracks.