Rina Martin

After playing a TV sleuth for years, Rita Martin retires to the sleepy town of Frantham-on-Sea. Here on the Dorset coast, she runs her own immaculate guest house, and life is blissfully quiet. But then a few doors down, harmless old Mrs. Freer is bludgeoned to death, and Rina can't help but be drawn into the mystery. Mrs. Freer's home was ransacked, but this was no ordinary burglary. Who knew the old lady kept a gun stashed under her pillow? And who wanted it badly enough to kill? Detective Sebastian McGregor is called in to solve this baffling case. But with her neighbors' safety at stake, Rina knows she needs to give him a helping hand. This enchanting character-driven mystery was originally published as A Reason to Kill.

It's lonely out on the cliffs of Marlborough Head-lonely and dangerous. When a body washes up on the rocks below, everyone assumes it must be brutish Edward Parker. Weeks ago, he slipped over the cliff's edge, never to be seen again. But on closer inspection, it's not him. The dead man is Pat Duggan, son of a wealthy nightclub owner, and it's not the sea that killed him, it's a gunshot wound. In life, Pat had a habit of disappearing. He worked for his father, alongside missing Edward Parker. Coincidence? Rina and her unlikely new detective friend don't think so... Can she unravel the mystery before more innocent victims die? This enchanting character-driven mystery was originally published as Fragile Lives.

Meet Rina Martin, a retired actress with a taste for tea, gardening, and crime solving. She played a TV sleuth for years, but now she has to do it for real. One glorious morning, Rina heads out for a stroll along Frampton promenade, where all is picture-perfect...until she spots something that stops her in her tracks: a luxury yacht sailing round in circles. Rina knows that can't be right. As for the captain, he is nowhere to be seen...until coastguards board the yacht and find him shot dead-execution-style. The captain's name is Paul de Freitas: a high-powered software designer from out of town. What was he doing in Frampton, and who is the mystery man who shared his fate? Rina's determined to get to the bottom of it all, but has she finally bitten off more than she can chew?

It was the night that shattered his life. One year ago, Rina's dear friend Detective Mac McGregor witnessed something unspeakable: the murder of a child on a golden sandy beach. The girl died in his arms while her killer fled into the night, never to be seen again. But then, out of the blue, Mac gets a call that changes everything. His old adversary is back in town, and this could be Mac's final chance to put him away. But now that Mac's back on the killer's trail is he about to become the hunted? Rina fears he's playing a dangerous game...

Rina accepts an invite to Aikensthorpe, a country-house hotel with a sinister past. Her fellow guests are an eccentric bunch of magicians and scholars who want to re-enact a séance. Back in 1872, it left one man dead and another mad. But Rina won't be drawn into all of that. She's relieved when Detective MacGregor comes to her rescue. But then a blizzard sets in...leaving them trapped in the house, cut off from civilization. And then the first of the bodies is found, a distinguished scholar, smothered in his sleep. Who will be next to die on this dark and stormy night?