Mitchell & Markby Mystery

It is with some trepiditation that Meredith Mitchell returns to the Cotswolds: the Bamford district holds memories that, to put it generously, are bittersweet, and Christmas is a difficult time to find oneself a stranger in a new area. Yet she receives a kindly welcome, in particular from her old acquaintance Chief Inspector Markby and from her new neighbour Harriet Needham, a striking redhead with whom Meredith immediately feels a certain kinship. But Meredith has barely got to know her neighbour when Harriet is involved in a shocking - and fatal - accident at the Boxing Day Hunt. Witnesses to the death are plentiful, for the incident occurred in Bamford's crowded market square, and many are adamant it's a case of murder. Chief Inspector Markby is inclined to agree, although he suspects the guilty party is not the most obvious one. Before long Meredith Mitchell begins, reluctantly, to think he might be right ...

Even the quaintest of villages has its perils... and deadly secrets that cannot be buried... Mitchell and Markby have to dig deep to find a murderer in Cold in the Earth, the third English village crime novel in Ann Granger's Mitchell & Markby series. The perfect read for fans of Ruth Rendell, Agatha Christie and ITV's Midsomer Murders. To Meredith Mitchell, marooned in a dusty London flat, the Cotswolds seem like a haven of peace and tranquillity. But Chief Inspector Markby has a rather different view of his native area, as he witnesses the bulldozing of one of his favourite boyhood haunts to make way for yet another housing estate. And when a man's body is found buried in the foundations of one of the plots his outlook turns even grimmer. The only cheering prospect on the horizon is Meredith's forthcoming visit. The dead man however remains a mystery: the labourer who dug up his body has disappeared and the farmers whose lands abut the burial site are little help. Charming, eccentric Mrs Carmody treats Markby, whom she has known since he was a boy, with fond familiarity and Mrs Winthrop at the neighbouring farm is happy to supply him with tea and scones but gives little else away. The time has come for someone with a different perspective to see what they can glean. And Meredith, blessed with an uncanny ability for ferreting out the truth, seems the obvious candidate.

When an ambitious hotelier announces that he will be converting Springwood Hall into a smart country hotel, it is greeted with a chorus of local disapproval led by the fearsome Hope Mapple - head of the Society for the Preservation of Historical Bamford. So the grand opening, to which all are invited, promises to be a lively affair, and particularly since Hope is planning a disruptive protest "streak". However, Hope is to be unwittingly upstaged by the discovery of a recently murdered body on the premises. Chief Inspector Markby and his guest Meredith Mitchell's summer treat has suddenly become a horribly sobering crime scene...

Where Old Bones Lie is set on an isolated archaeological dig in the Cotswolds. When a body is found near the site, the suspects, witnesses and clues all conflict, and the disappearance of a group of New Age travellers just seems to add to the mystery. Superintendent Markby and Meredith Mitchell must untangle the mess, and in doing so find themselves in a dangerous and uncompromising situation... Clipper Audio productions of the Mitchell and Markby series are highly requested and praised by listeners, who revel in the absorbing village whodunits filled with eccentric characters and mystery.

In the heart of the Cotswolds a body is found. A teenage girl, probably local - somebody's daughter who went out one evening and didn't come back. It is not long before she is identified: fifteen-year-old Lynne Wills, who habitually drank underage in The Silver Bells pub and, on the night of her death, was seen leaving with an unknown man. Chief Inspector Markby's friend Meredith Mitchell has been befriended by another troubled young local girl, Katie Conway. On the surface Lynne and Katie have nothing in common except their age and home town. But could the insights Katie gives Meredith into her difficult family background throw some light on the other young girl?

When Meredith Mitchell bumps into her old school friend Rachel Hunter at the Chelsea Flower Show, she is shocked to discover that she was the first wife of her companion, Chief Inspector Alan Markby. But the meeting is not the only surprise - before the afternoon is out, Markby has a death on his hands!

Secrets won't stay buried... Only now, twelve years after the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl, will Mitchell & Markby begin to unravel the mystery in Candle for a Corpse, Ann Granger's eighth cosy Cotwolds crime novel in the Mitchell & Markby series. The perfect read for fans of Hamish McBeth, Agatha Christie and ITV's Midsomer Murders. On an unseasonably chilly summer's day a macabre discovery is made in Bamford's ancient churchyard. A body, dead some twelve years, is unearthed in the Gresham family plot, too shallowly buried to be a legitimate interment, too recent to be the last Gresham officially laid to rest. Superintendent Alan Markby cannot resist the challenge to solve this twelve-year-old crime and suddenly his long-planned canal-barge holiday with Meredith Mitchell is in serious jeopardy. When the remains are identified as those of a local teenager, Kimberley Oates, reported missing at the time of the mysterious burial, his mind is made up. Her holiday postponed, to her secret relief, Meredith finds herself with more time than usual for village chat - and for a dinner party with the local MP that reveals more than either he or his formidable mother would like about his connection with the dead girl...

Meredith Mitchell's old friend Sally Caswell and her scientist husband have moved from London to the quiet of Oxfordshire, but find nothing but trouble. Quarrels between the moody scientist and an eccentric neighbour; goats in the backyard, and a letter bomb in the mail all add to malice, mystery, and murder - and another case for Meredith and her police inspector friend Alan Markby to solve...

The two elderly sisters of the Oakley family live in poverty in an ancient mansion, and have decided to sell up to live comfortably from the profits. However, things become more complicated when a young Polish man appears claiming rights to half the fortune. When he dies in circumstances familiar to the Oakley family, the sisters are haunted by the shadow of crime, and Superintendent Markby must look back at the events of a century ago to find the killer...

A new investigation on an old case will bring shocking revelations to light... An old case Markby failed to solve over two decades ago resurfaces after the discovery of skeletal remains in A Restless Evil, the fourteenth gripping English village murder mystery in Ann Granger's Mitchell & Markby series. The perfect read for fans of Rebecca Tope, Agatha Christie and ITV's Midsomer Murders. It sends a shiver down Detective Superintendent Alan Markby's spine when he hears that a rambler has stumbled on human bones in Stovey Woods in the heart of the Cotswolds. Twenty-two years ago, as a fresh-faced young inspector, he had a rare failure in the hunt for a brutal serial rapist preying on local women. After the third rape, the attacker went to ground, never to be heard of again. Now, with a new investigation prompted by the grisly remains, the trail could be warm once more. But almost at once Markby is confronted with another body and a thoroughly up-to-date murder. Could the two be connected? It seems that some of the village residents would be just as happy to let sleeping dogs lie and secrets - both old and new - stay hidden...

When Meredith Mitchell's old friend Toby Smythe turns up on leave, she is delighted to see him. But Toby has a problem - or rather his relative Alison Jenner has - and he wants to enlist the help of Meredith's fiance, Detective Superintendent Alan Markby...