Elizabeth Ferrars

One of the best-loved and most prolific crime writers of her generation.

Helena Sebright is given a three-month job in the newly independent African state of Uyowa. She is to escort a seven-year-old girl to stay with her grandparents there, and to bring her back to her parents, in England, at the end. It seems a lucky break. But Helena is not to know she will become involved in a dangerous criminal enterprise. Against the background of a disintegrating state and imminent bloody revolution, Helena finds herself caught up in a series of mysteries, catastrophes - and gruesome deaths . . .

Antonia Winfield sensed someone was following her. She'd seen a man in a brown suit. He was even behind her in the travel agents where she'd booked her holiday abroad. But perhaps she'd just imagined things. This year she was going on a restful, comfortable trip to a lovely Greek island - but that's not the way things turned out. Mrs Winfield's niece was going on the trip with her, and the two ladies soon had a third companion: the man in the brown suit . . .

Why, on a wet and stormy night, did the old and very ill novelist Dan Braile decide to take a walk? When he doesn't come back his family are at first reluctant to call the police, despite the fact that he had claimed someone was trying to poison him. But they become steadily more tense as the evidence points towards a horrifying conclusion - and under the strain their united front begins to crack . . .'A consummate professional in clever plotting, characterisation and atmosphere' Washington Post

Dr Charles Gair was found hanged, but that is not what killed him. This was the first of the bizarre surprises awaiting those who penetrated the home of the head of the Martindale research establishment on a Sunday morning to see what was amiss. Even more startling was the discovery of a second body, perfectly mummified . . .'The writer who may be the closest of all to Christie in style, plotting and general milieu' Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

Henrietta Cosgrove's eightieth birthday luncheon had gone very well, her five stepchildren all gathered to celebrate in her lovely old thatched house. But then Henrietta dropped a bombshell. To shore up her dwindling income, she proposed to sell two landscapes by a painter whose work had recently appreciated. That night the house burned down. When the pictures were found to be missing it looked as though the fire was intended to cover the theft. But what the fire uncovered was far more dramatic . . .

Retired headmaster Malcolm Chance and his wife, Frances, have settled down in the quiet village of Ravenswood, where the greatest excitement revolves around the newest production of the local dramatic society. Until, that is, the Chances' next-door neighbour is murdered. When another murder takes place and the investigation unfolds, it becomes clear that there are many secrets in this small village - infidelity, blackmail, unrequited love, even sexual perversion - and many reasons to kill.

Alec and Veronica Guest are a happily married couple living in the quiet village of Maddinghleigh. Their existence has been a peaceful one. Then, one of their friends has a valuable old clock stolen. The Guests don't believe the incident is too serious, but it turns out to be the prelude to a series of sinister events that culminate in murder. Is the death connected to the stolen clock, or does it have more to do with the arrival of the Guest's new neighbour, the beautiful, enigmatic Nina Elvin? Will the killer in their midst be discovered before a second murder is committed?

When Sam Partlett joined the staff at the Institute of Pomology at King's Weltham, he brought nothing but discord. But it was not Sam who was found dead at the Institute, throat slashed with one of the laboratory razors. In the close-knit scientific community, Inspector Day quietly sets to work to probe the secrets of people busy with different experiments - but has someone carried out an experiment with death?'One of the best contemporary writers of civilised murder mysteries' The Times

When Caroline leaves hospital her sister Fenella insists that she must convalesce in her house in the West Country. But, in the event, Caroline's visit is far from restful.Fenella's husband is moody, excitable, reckless and inexplicably affluent, and soon the brooding atmosphere explodes into violence and murder . . .'Her great virtue, exceeding even her meatily logical plotting and gift of hitting often on really intriguing situations, is her portrayal of people' The Times

The 'Decayed Gentlewoman', Colin and Ginny had called her as children - a disregarded painting badly in need of cleaning, which later vanished. But the 'Decayed Gentlewoman' re-entered their grown-up lives with a bang. The manner of its reappearance sparked a train of suspicion about the true nature of past events. And now Dr Colin Locke, with his childhood emotions vividly reawakened, finds himself drawn into a maze of theft, legal complexities and murder.

When Holly Dunthorne returns home to the village of Roydon Saint Agnes she finds that a friend, Marcus Meriden, has been accused of beating up an old man. There are witnesses who say they saw it happen, and the only one who might possibly clear him stays stubbornly silent.But when murder happens and a newcomer to the village seems to attract everyone's attention, Holly finds everything has changed, not least her old friends, the Meridens, among whom she feels herself a stranger - and afraid.

Roberta Ellison lives in Madeira where she had settled with her late husband after being crippled in a motor accident. Domestic help was easy to come by and the climate was ideal. Then her sister Camilla comes to the island to help her to find a companion, bringing problems of her own with her, problems that at first seem trivial, but that soon involve the sisters in a violent and mystifying spiral of events. As more newcomers appear, so Camilla's history begins to unfold and it emerges that all is not as it seems . . . and then murder strikes.

It is at a party that Richard Hedon first hears about the mysterious Paul Clyro and his sudden disappearance. Clyro had been a scientist, doing secret work on viruses with a colleague named Wolsingham. But when Wolsingham committed suicide, Clyro found the body and promptly vanished without a trace. Richard's curiosity is piqued, and he follows Clyro's trail - all the way to Madeira, where a man known as Gavin Chilmark is living a comfortable life free from any breath of suspicion . . .

Alice Robertson was now too old and frail to cope with the stairs. But when Charles Robertson returned from an evening stroll he found something had made her tackle them once more - with tragic results. There were few people with a motive for the old lady's death. But then a rumour spread that in the house, forgotten for generations, were objects that had belonged to the first James Robertson. Someone had rediscovered them, recognised their value - and killed for them.

Margot Dalziel, the well-known journalist, was due in London on Friday and expected at her rural cottage on Saturday. By Sunday it had become apparent that she had vanished. Margot's country neighbours are soon swept into a web of mystery and suspicion. A murder that seems simply a wanton act becomes a focus for people already taut with fear - and the villagers have already made their collective mind up as to who is responsible . . .'A first-class writer of detective stories' C. P. Snow

What happens to a woman after she has been acquitted of murder? Can she ever take up a normal life? And what happens when a journalist sees easy money in ghostwriting her memoirs? What happens when a helpful young woman, checking on the details of the story, gets caught up in the ugly world that surrounds Teresa Swale, legally acquitted - and possibly a victim herself - of murder? 'A consummate professional in clever plotting' Washington Post

One of the best-loved and most prolific crime writers of her generation - 'the writer who may be the closest of all to Christie in style' Ellery Queen Mystery MagazineSuicide or murder? Despite all indications to the contrary, Alec Methven had not eaten his last meal in solitude, and somebody was very anxious to conceal that fact. As if one death on the beautiful island of Madeira was not enough, there was another. Peter Corey, who had found Methven's body, had a cast-iron alibi: he was on a plane to the island at the time of the death, en route to visit his old friend. But what of the second killing that so inexplicably occurred?

When Toby Dyke and his companion, George, get caught in torrential rain one night, they are surprised to find that they are not the only ones out in such a fierce storm: Edgar Prees, aging botanist of prestige and reputation, is attempting to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff top. The two men drive Edgar home, collapsed and shaken. When he is then found the following morning shot dead with his own revolver, it seems that his attempt at suicide has succeeded - but is the case really as clear-cut as it appears?

When Meg Jeacock let out the furnished cottage next to her house she did not care that her new tenant had certain rather sinister characteristics - he'd paid three months' rent in advance. But Meg's husband Marcus sensed he was a crook. And when the stranger shows an inexplicable interest in Shandon Priory, the big house nearby, whose elderly owner has recently died, it becomes clear that there is trouble brewing - which, when it comes, takes the form of double murder . . .