Kirjahaku

Almost as soon as Claire Walters moved into Tulip Cottage, she came to the conclusion after experiencing two disturbing incidents that the picturesque and tranquil surroundings could be misleading and when the body of a woman was discovered in an area close to the cottage locally known as Nettles Hollow, she knew these first impressions had been justified.As the murder enquiry progressed, it became clear to Upper Nettles' Chief Inspector Richard Cavendish and his subordinate, Inspector Peter Gale, that the case was more complex than it had at first seemed, in that the victim, Glenda Nicholson, had tenuous, although possibly significant links with an ongoing case of fraud currently being investigated by New Scotland Yard in London whereby investors' funds were being systematically siphoned off by either individual dealers or an organised consortium.When the body of a young man is retrieved from a half-submerged vehicle off the coast of nearby Lymington, there was every indication the two deaths were in some way connected, especially as the victim's bicycle was found in Nettles Hollow, only metres away from where an attempt had been made to conceal the body of Glenda Nicholson.The parallels between the two enquiries narrow with the discovery by Claire of a computer disc among her personal possessions, the contents of which provide New Scotland Yard with positive leads towards uncovering those responsible for the illegal trading, including the person who had compiled the data. Although continuing to treat the enquiries into the murders in Upper Nettles and the fraud case as two separate entities, Keith Armstrong, a senior officer at New Scotland Yard and Chief Inspector Cavendish, liaise closely over certain overlapping of information and, following many surprising twists and turns as each potential suspect is questioned, both cases are finally and dramatically concluded.

Christina le Bouchon arrived in Meadowbank to take up a teaching post at "Holly Lodge", a boarding school for girls, in good time for the start of the autumn term and in less than two months her daily help discovered her dead body in the house she was renting in Market Square.Chief Inspector Graham Ford and his team were immediately hampered by the lack of any background knowledge of the deceased, until piece by piece began to emerge, not only of the unorthodox way in which she came to be employed at "Holly Lodge", but her suspected involvement two years earlier in the South of France in the murder of Julia Armstrong. Graham's firmly entrenched distrust for coincidences was challenged when it became clear there were very strong connections with what was known as the Armstrong case, to the murder of Christina le Bouchon. When, two days later the body of Meadowbank's librarian was found half-buried in woodland on the outskirts of the town, local interest in the 'mysterious Frenchwoman' began to lessen as they realised a woman they all knew and respected had met such a violent end. Once again, murder had returned to their town and, once again, they felt vulnerable.There was no shortage of suspects. And, to Graham's frustration, each of them had a motive for both murders, but his greatest problem was finding which one had taken that irreversible step: the revengeful sister; the disinherited son; the prominent politician; or someone yet to make an appearance? Pressured by his superintendent, "The Warrior", to bring the investigation to a speedy conclusion and being constantly stymied by Carol Cliff, the intrepid journalist singularly intent on her major scoop, the team are hard pressed to sift and sort through the evidence to find the truth behind who was responsible for what happened in what they believed should be a tranquil and uneventful market town.

When Callum Lorimer, the eldest son of "Lorimer Fruits", an old established family firm, receives a letter from his brother Alan, telling him he was cutting short his overseas contract in Zambia and returning home, it effectively acted as a catalyst.Within hours of Callum reading the letter, John Milne employed by the firm, was brutally killed. While the people of Calder Bay were still reeling from the shock of yet another murder in their midst, news reached the Lorimer family of a break-in at Alan's bungalow; there was clear evidence of a struggle but no sign of Alan. It was inevitable that the media would start connecting the two incidents; although thousands of miles apart, the fact that the Lorimer family was somehow implicated was all they needed to pique their interest, only to be thwarted by the police's evasiveness to confirm. Beverly Grant, an investigative journalist and a familiar figure in Calder Bay, determined to do her own sleuthing, believes there is a big story waiting to be told and one which could give her the scoop she wanted.Initial enquiries, led by DCI Alistair Dale and his team in Calder Bay, were scarcely underway when they were interrupted by Adrian Roberts of Interpol, advising them that the murder of an employee of "Lorimer Fruits" had alerted them to Callum Lorimer who was known to be friendly with the man in control of a drug smuggling syndicate currently under surveillance by their drug trafficking unit, and that they believed Alan Lorimer may have been a victim. A subsequent occurrence further complicates the proceedings when a neighbour of Alan Lorimer out in Zambia is murdered. An unrelated incident as far as Interpol is concerned, but when it is revealed that another member of the Lorimer family is a prime suspect, there is now a genuine fear that the escalating scandal will destroy the formerly unblemished reputation of "Lorimer Fruits".