Murder In The Fens

When the body of twenty-year-old Julie Cooper is found - her pockets stuffed full of wilting flowers - in an iron-age hill fort on the edge of the fens, Detective Tara Thorpe and her team are called in to investigate. The evidence points to an illicit affair gone wrong... but is there more to the story? As always at the Cambridge Constabulary, the case turns personal. Detective Blake is exhausted after the arrival of a new baby with wayward wife Babette, and Tara is keen to put as much distance between herself and Blake as she can - both at the station and on the hunt for the killer. Charming rookie officer Jez is the perfect distraction... but is he a little too good to be true? Then Tara makes a startling breakthrough when she finds an unsettling family heirloom hidden in the late victim's bedroom - a golden statue of a sinister-looking cat with emerald eyes. As she traces its origins, Tara begins to realise that Julie's murder is no one-off crime, but a sinister plot with its roots in a terrible secret that was covered up decades earlier. An unputdownable page-turner, perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Agatha Christie and Joy Ellis. Can be read as a standalone. The Tara Thorpe Mystery Series: Book 1 - Murder on the Marshes Book 2 - Death on the River Book 3 - Death Comes to Call Book 4 - Murder in the Fens Readers absolutely love Clare Chase: 'Literally couldn't put it down!! This was an excellent thriller with well-developed characters and great twists!! From the first page until the end... a great ride of mystery, suspense and murder... Excellent thriller and crime read!!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Wow what a book! One of the best mysteries I have read! Loved it from start to finish and couldn't put it down! A masterpiece! Plotting perfection! The writing is brilliant and flows off the page, the characters stay with you. A thoroughly satisfying, absolutely stunning book! I cannot wait to read more by this amazing author!' Renita D'Silva 'Fast-paced, twisty... I just ripped right through this book.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'I have to say that I loved this book.'Jen Med's Book Reviews, 5 stars 'I absolutely loved this book... grabbed me by the throat from the opening chapter and refused to let go until the very end... The story was a fantastic puzzle... all set against the beautiful backdrop of Cambridge and the menacing emptiness of the surrounding Cambridgeshire fens.' A Little Book Problem, 5 stars 'Clever, twisty stories, with great characters.' Kate Rhodes, author of Hell Bay 'You'll enjoy her books including this one if you like Joy Ellis, L. J. Ross, and Faith Martin... I absolutely adored the setting here. It reminds a little of the sort of setting in Midsomer Murders - quaint and idyllic with some very shady characters. The twists in the plot were plentiful and I liked the relationship and dynamic between Thorpe and Blake.' Goodreads reviewer 'A tense, exciting read with plenty of twists... an addictive read.' Goodreads reviewer

The first three novels in the gritty series featuring a police detective in England’s East Midlands. Included in this compelling crime fiction collection are: The Sandringham Mystery Shocking evidence is unearthed in the cellar of a Victorian mansion belonging to a wealthy British couple. The owner knows nothing about a passport-forging operation—or about any human remains. But he does have something else to hide from DI Tim Yates and the police, and the crimes of the past may lead to tragedy in the present . . . Previously published as Sausage Hall The Canal Murders A decapitated body found in the Fossdyke Canal may be the first clue that finally connects a series of recent disappearances: a paper girl out on her rounds; a prostitute abducted off the street; an immigrant woman who vanished after stepping off a bus. But after frogmen find two more corpses and DI Yates learns about a similarity to a long-ago case, the situation starts becoming as murky as the canal itself . . . Previously published as Gentleman Jack The Heritage Murders A wealthy wanted man attempts to stay under the radar as he returns to England, driven by an obsessive need to solve a family mystery. But his presence may be stirring up trouble, and soon Yates and his partner, DS Juliet Armstrong, are looking into a vanished woman’s possible murder, a Traveller child who may be at risk, and lingering questions surrounding a trafficking ring that could still be operating under their noses . . . Previously published as DeVries

Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, as well as Peterborough City Council, all lay claim to a part of the Fens. Since Roman times, man has increased the land mass in this area by one third of the size. It is the largest plain in the British Isles, covering an area of nearly three-quarters of a million acres and is unique to the UK. The fen people know the area as marsh (land reclaimed from the sea) and fen (land drained from flooding rivers running from the uplands). The Fens are unique in having more miles of navigable waterways than anywhere else in the UK. Mammoth drainage schemes in the seventeenth and eighteenth changed the landscape forever – leading slowly but surely to the area so loved today. Insightful, entertaining and full of rich incident, here is the fascinating story of the Fens.

The Fens is a gripping modern crime novel which opens with the discovery of a body lying dead on top of a grave in a local churchyard. Mysteriously, it has been laid out in decorous and reverential fashion, completely at odds with the fact that the victim has been murdered! Detective Inspector John Naylor is put in charge of the murder of local councillor and MP Malcolm Fenton. He chooses newly qualified Police Constable Cassandra Money to help him untangle the MP’s complex private life and business interests. It seems that everyone they meet had a good reason to want to get rid of Malcolm Fenton. The investigation takes a turn when one of Fenton’s colleagues complains about Inspector Naylor’s attitude and a commissioner from Scotland Yard arrives at the rural police station to take over. Is Inspector Naylor simply annoyed because he has lost control over the investigation, or is he more involved in the case than he is letting on? Constable Cassandra Money is torn between her loyalty to the inspector and her growing suspicion that he is keeping secrets. Can she solve the murder and save the inspector’s reputation?

A vicious criminal is targeting DI Nikki Galena and her team. One by one he will hunt them down and destroy their lives, unless she can stop him first.

Discover this coastal plain in England—and the crimes that have taken place there over the centuries. The Fens of England, thinly populated with isolated farmsteads, has been the setting for a number of popular crime novels—but it has also been the actual site of many horrific, bloody, and bizarre incidents. This book takes a gripping look at the darker side of the area’s history—from crimes of callous premeditation to those born of passion or despair. Included are tales of conspiracy, robbery, violence, cruelty, and murder that reveal a previously neglected side of Fenland society. Unforgettable cases are featured—a mother who murdered her son, a police officer who hid the body of his mother, a farmer brutally slain for his money, a dustman who killed a local girl, and the headless body of a woman who has never been identified. Covering a wide range of human weakness and wickedness, this chronicle of the hidden side of the Fens will be compelling reading for anyone who is interested in the sinister side of human nature and the social conditions that nurture it.

With its rich blend of fiction and faction (‘non-fiction’) crossing between history and philosophy, and combining memoir and biography, Swamp Deaths is a unique series of detective stories written by a swamp ghost writer. It mixes different types of texts and creates new and intriguing ways of environmental storytelling that will fascinate and delight rusted-on readers of detective fiction and attract new ones. Rod Giblett is the author of 30 books of fiction and faction (‘non-fiction’). He lived by a swamp in Western Australia for 28 years and wrote several books about it. He now lives in Melbourne and wrote about it as a city of ghost swamps in several books. He is Honorary Associate Professor in the Writing and Literature Program at Deakin University. Cover Image: Eugene von Guérard, ‘Mount William and part of the Grampians in West Victoria,’ 1865 Oil on cardboard, 30.3 x 40.6 cm National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Collier Bequest 1955 (1562–5).