Showing results by author "Ann Granger" in All Categories

When old Monty Bickerstaffe finds a dead body in his drawing room it comes as a nasty surprise. Monty lives alone in a crumbling Cotswold manor house and the last thing he wants is the police sniffing around his property. But Inspector Jess Campbell is determined to solve the mystery, with the help of Superintendent Ian Carter, she must dig deep into Monty’s family history to reveal the shocking truth...

Victorian London is brought vividly to life in Ann Granger's fifth historical crime novel to feature Scotland Yard's Inspector Ben Ross and his wife Lizzie.... A hanged man would say anything to save his life. But what if his testimony is true? When Inspector Ben Ross is called to Newgate Prison by a man condemned to die by the hangman's noose, he isn't expecting to give any credence to the man's testimony. But the account of a murder he witnessed over 17 years ago is so utterly believeable that Ben can't help wondering if what he's heard is true.

When Mr Thomas Tapley, a respectable but down-at-heel gentleman, is found bludgeoned to death in his sitting room, his neighbour Inspector Benjamin Ross of Scotland Yard rushes to the scene. Little is known about the elusive man until his cousin, Mr Jonathan Tapley, QC, comes forward and exposes the truth of Thomas’s tragic past. As the list of suspects begins to mount, Ben can't help wondering how much of the truth is really being revealed....

As young children, Josh Browning and his sister, Dilys, stumbled across a dead body while playing on the outskirts of their Cotswold village. Terrified by what they'd seen, neither of them told a soul. Now, 20 years later, Josh finds the dead woman's charm bracelet among his sister's possessions. Who better to tell than his trusted friend, the man he gardens for, retired Superintendent Alan Markby? As Markby listens to Josh's confession, alarm bells start to ring. The dates and details tie in with a missing person case that was never solved.

Dense fog masks foul play in the streets of London, as Ann Granger brings us her seventh Victorian mystery featuring Scotland Yard's Inspector Ben Ross and his wife, Lizzie. It is March 1870. London is in the grip of fog and ice. But Scotland Yard's Inspector Ben Ross has more than the weather to worry about when the body of a young woman is found in a dustbin at the back of a Piccadilly restaurant.

Lizzie Martin, lady's companion, has been sent from London to the New Forest to comfort a young woman whose baby has tragically died. A sad enough task, but things take an even darker turn when a rat-catcher is found murdered, and the young woman is discovered beside the body, crying and covered in blood. Not knowing where else to turn, Lizzie calls upon her friend Inspector Ben Ross to solve the horrific crime.

Two years ago, Miff Ferguson chose to opt out of the rat race. Since then he's been living rough and happily so. That is until now. For, as the first signs of winter approach, everything changes. While looking for shelter, Miff stumbles across the dead body of a young woman inside a dilapidated warehouse. Quickly realising he's not alone, and what's worse he's been spotted, Miff becomes embroiled in a game of cat and mouse with a killer that forces him to abandon his life on the streets and take refuge with his aunt and uncle in the village of Weston St Ambrose.

The sixth Inspector Ben Ross mystery. On a cold November night in a Deptford yard, dock worker Harry Parker stumbles upon the body of a dead woman. Inspector Ben Ross is summoned from Scotland Yard to this insalubrious part of town, but no witness to the murder of this well-dressed middle-aged woman can be found. Even Jeb Fisher, the local rag-and-bone man, swears he's seen nothing.

It is the summer of 1871 when Scotland Yard's Inspector Ben Ross pays a visit to Jacob Jacobus, the old rogue of Limehouse: infamous antiquarian, friend to villains and informer to the police. Ben hopes to glean information about any burglaries that might take place now that the wealthiest echelons of society are back in London for the Season. Little does he realise that an audacious theft has already occurred - a priceless family heirloom, the Roxby emerald necklace, has been stolen from a dressing table in the Roxby residence, and the widowed Mrs Roxby is demanding its immediate return.

Carl Finch is a desperate man. Cut out of his stepfather's will, he is heavily in debt, and unless he can persuade his stepsister Hattie to bail him out, he'll be in even more trouble. Hattie's husband, Guy, has never liked Carl and wants his wife's inheritance for his own use, so Hattie agrees to meet Carl in secret to discuss his predicament. Little does she realise that when she arrives at their meeting point in Crooked Man Wood, she'll find Carl's dead body....

Superintendent Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell are in desperate need of a holiday—and the Cotswold village of Parsloe St John seems the perfect choice. Their neighbour, retired journalist Wynne Carter, is as convivial as the village itself and, over a glass of blackberry wine, indulges in her latest obsession, Olivia Smeaton, a racy old lady whose life—and death—she is convinced are not all they seem.

It is Spring 1871 when Lizzie Ross accompanies her formidable Aunt Parry on a restorative trip to the south coast. Lizzie's husband, Ben, is kept busy at Scotland Yard and urges his wife to stay out of harm's way. But when Lizzie and her aunt are invited to dine with other guests at the home of wealthy landowner Sir Henry Meager, and he is found shot dead in his bed the next morning, no one feels safe.

When Meredith Mitchell picks up a hitchhiker on a lonely road outside Bamford one evening she is left feeling distinctly uneasy. What business can this confident, yet secretive, young woman have at Tudor Lodge, the beautiful old home of Brussels-based lawyer Andrew Penhallow, where she asks to be dropped? Penhallow is constantly toing and froing from the Continent, but that night, unusually, he is at home, and—with his son away and his wife Carla in bed with a migraine—alone. Which is unfortunate, for the next morning he is found murdered in the garden.

Twelve-year-old Tammy Franklin has learned too much about death, too quickly. Two years ago she lost her mother to a long, lingering illness and now the body of the woman her father married in an attempt to replace his wife has been found on a railway embankment close to the Franklin farm. This time the death is murder.

Als der ehrgeizige Hotelier Eric Schuhmacher verkündet, dass er Springwood Hall, in der Nähe von Bamford gelegen, in ein nobles Landhotel umgestalten will, ist der Protest groß. Sowohl die Gesellschaft zur Bewahrung historischer Gebäude als auch die Leiterin des Tierheims, die Springwood Hall bisher nutzte, stellen sich gegen den Plan. Richtig prekär wird die Lage jedoch erst, als während der Eröffnungsfeier auf dem Grundstück die Leiche einer Frau gefunden wird. Meredith Mitchell und Chefinspektor Markby beginnen zu ermitteln.

Meredtih Mitchell kehrt nach turbulenter Zeit in das idyllische Bamford zurück, um sich dort von ihren Einsätzen im diplomatischen Dienst zu erholen. Ein unerwartet freundliches Willkommen bereiten ihr Chefi nspektor Markby sowie ihre neue Nachbarin Harriet. Kaum, dass sie sich kennengelernt haben, wird Harriet Opfer eines Unfalls. Meredith selbst ist Zeugin eines Sabotageaktes, der für die Freundin tödlich endet.

Statt Ruhe und Friede herrscht in Bramford zur Zeit Baustellenlärm, und statt einer zarten Romanze findet Meredith Mitchell eine Leiche in der Baugrube. Trotz Inspektor Markbys Nachforschungen bleibt der Tote bleibt ein Rätsel. Bis Meredith mit ihren privaten Ermittlungen in ein Wespennest sticht und sich damit in höchste Gefahr bringt.

Der verkrümmte Leichnam einer Katze und die des dazugehörigen Besitzers: Das ist Meredith Mitchells erster Eindruck von dem Städtchen Westerfield, wo sie eigentlich nur an der Hochzeit ihrer Nichte teilnehmen wollte.

London, 1864: Die junge Lizzie tritt die Stelle der Gesellschafterin einer reichen Witwe an, die zugleich Elendsquartiere in einem der ärmsten Viertel der Stadt vermietet. Lizzie findet heraus, dass ihre Vorgängerin von einem Tag auf den anderen verschwunden ist. Angeblich sei sie mit einem Mann durchgebrannt. Doch als der Leichnam des Mädchens gefunden wird, beginnt Lizzie zu zweifeln. Sie erneuert ihre Bekanntschaft mit einem Freund aus Kindertagen.

Lizzie Martin wurde von ihrer Londoner Herrschaft nach New Forest aufs Land geschickt, um einer jungen Frau Beistand zu leisten, deren Baby auf tragische Weise starb. Doch die Dinge nehmen eine noch viel düsterere Wendung, als im Garten des Hauses eine Leiche gefunden wird. Daneben kniet die junge Frau, weinend und über und über mit Blut bedeckt. In ihrer Ratlosigkeit wendet sich Lizzie wieder einmal an ihren alten Freund Inspector Benjamin Ross von Scotland Yard.