Veronica Heley

In the latest Abbot Agency mystery, Bea finds herself obligated to help a businessman whose life is in danger . . . and is sucked into a community packed with scandal, intrigue and corruptionBea Abbot is asked to find the man or woman who laid a booby trap for Sir Lucas Ossett, the powerful head of an international company, in his own block of flats. She finds Sir Lucas's wife in a state of fear, while gossiping elderly ladies cast doubt on the probity of their neighbours; these include a 'therapist', an ex-employee of Sir Lucas's, and a cross-section of yuppies and oddballs with life-threatening problems. Call-girl cards have been left in tenants' letterboxes, a cat has met an untimely end, and snow is forecast. Sir Lucas's influence reaches out to touch and perhaps corrupt even those nearest to Bea, while trivial incidents escalate into violence and death. Bea ruins two beautiful pairs of high-heeled boots in her attempt to separate the foolish from the murderous and reveal who it is who has brought death and destruction to so many people . . .

Ellie is desperate to find someone to look after their elderly housekeeper, whose health is failing. But employing a carer found by Ellie's difficult daughter, Diana, proves to be a mixed blessing when Ellie returns from a trip to America to find that carer Claire has implemented a number of bizarre changes to the Quicke household routine.Claire, is heavily involved in 'the Vision', a local church with a charismatic, powerful pastor, who - seemingly coincidentally - is looking to Ellie for financial help in his current project, housing reformed addicts. But Ellie is suspicious - and more so, when details of Claire's chequered past comes to light. Can Ellie trust Claire and Pastor Ambrose?Ellie investigates and doesn't like what she finds . . .

Ellie Quicke has her work cut out when past wrongdoings put the future of a child she's grown to love at stake.Ellie opens the door to a man who is a stranger but instantly recognisable as the father of her housekeeper's brilliant but difficult young son. Mikey had been conceived at a party during which his mother Vera, a schoolgirl, had been drugged and raped. Abdi hadn't wanted anything further to do with her - then. Twelve years later he is a high-flying consultant whose wife cannot have children, and he aims to pay off Vera and adopt Mikey: a suggestion that does not go down wellEllie discovers that Vera still thinks fondly of her then boyfriend, even though he had also rejected her after that fatal night. But was that because he had fallen out of love with her, or because his father had been murdered that same weekend? Could the two events have been connected? And what part had Vera's closest friends and her family played in the tragedyUncovering betrayals between friends and discovering the greed and jealousies behind past events only makes it more difficult for Vera and Mikey to decide on their future . . .

An Abbot Agency mysteryBea Abbot's friend Leon Holland has asked for her help in establishing an alibi. But why would he need one? First, he tells her, he had a narrow escape from being run down in the road, and then he was lured with a mysterious message to a car park to meet someone who didn't turn up.Matters escalate when two bodies are found in the car park, slumped over their steering wheels, stabbed to death.Then everything is thrown into chaos as a devastating virus infects the agency's systems. A hidden camera. Hate mail. A nasty practical joke. It's clear that the Abbott Agency has been targeted. But why? And where is it leading?Bea is about to find herself drawn into a vicious power struggle involving greed, envy, ambition and tangled family relationships.

Ellie has always disliked the local big estate agent - aka Great White Shark - and is distressed when her daughter Diana announces that she is carrying his child and about to become his fourth wife. But Ellie is soon drawn into the family circle when one of the Hooper children dies in their private gym and another succumbs to a peanut allergy. The police want to write off the deaths as accident and misadventure, but Ellie believes someone is targeting members of the Hooper family. Surely Diana wouldn't . . . or would she?

Ellie Quicke is backEllie and her new husband Thomas are suffering from terrible colds when called to deal with Ursula, a young student, who has staged a sit-in at church and refuses to move. Ursula challenges Ellie to solve three mysteries: a broken engagement, her friend Mia's disappearance, and a murder. As she investigates, Ellie begins to suspect that there is more to these events than anyone is willing to admit. Soon she finds her own friends and family targeted as a powerful group hunts her down.Meanwhile Ellie's ever-demanding daughter Diana makes herself homeless, and her architect cousin lands himself in yet another financial mess. Both become caught up in the race to ruin Ellie before she can produce the dreadful evidence of corruption and abuse that is haunting the council chambers. Every lead returns to Ursula, who has not been entirely open with the truth. But what can one young girl do, against such a powerful family?

An Abbot Agency mysteryThe fake diamond in Dilys Holland's engagement ring implies that all is not well in her marriage, and the Holland family matriarch, Sybil, calls on Bea Abbot for help. Bea soon discovers that Dilys and her little girl live in fear of her abusive husband, a man called Benton with whom Bea has already clashed.Benton wants Bea to rescue the ailing fortunes of his company, part of the Holland empire, and has no scruples about trying violence on her too when she turns him down. To make matters worse, Bea's Member of Parliament son has tied both his fortune and his marriage to Benton's future and is desperate for Bea to rescue him. Then Dilys tries to commit suicide . . . or does she?

An Abbot Agency mysteryBea Abbot runs a domestic agency that does not 'do' murder. But the disappearance of Tomi, the star of an award-winning short film, is a different matter, especially when charming but feckless Chris bribes Bea to investigate with a bouquet of flowers. When Bea - working through personal problems - discovers that Tomi is not the only one amongst his friends to vanish, however, she wonders if her own life might be in danger too . . .

Ellie Quicke believes in helping people in trouble. But it would appear that her latest good deed has returned to bite her when she takes in a weeping girl who needs somewhere to stay. Selfish, thoughtless and irresponsible, Angelica is by no means the easiest of house guests, confident that someone else will always pick up the bill. But when a dead body is found in the garden the morning after a riotous party she's organized, Angelica plunges Ellie's household into a situation too hot for any of them to handle. Selfish and thoughtless her guest may be, but Ellie does not believe Angelica is capable of murder. However, when she attempts to uncover the truth about what happened that night, Ellie unearths a series of disturbing revelations.

Ellie Quicke believes in helping people in trouble. But it would appear that her latest good deed has returned to bite her when she takes in a weeping girl who needs somewhere to stay. Selfish, thoughtless and irresponsible, Angelica is by no means the easiest of house guests, confident that someone else will always pick up the bill. But when a dead body is found in the garden the morning after a riotous party she's organized, Angelica plunges Ellie's household into a situation too hot for any of them to handle. Selfish and thoughtless her guest may be, but Ellie does not believe Angelica is capable of murder. However, when she attempts to uncover the truth about what happened that night, Ellie unearths a series of disturbing revelations.

This is the fourth 'Abbot Agency' mystery. Bea Abbot runs a domestic agency that doesn't 'do' murder. There's nothing sinister about Zander's request for Bea to accompany him on an errand to a grieving widow, but it's awkward because it was Zander who'd exposed the scam that his boss Denzil had been running on the Tudor Housing Trust...after which Denzil had, unexpectedly, died. His widow, 'Lady' Honoria, turns out to be a bullying racist who wants to sue the Trust for defamation of character, while the paperwork that could have proved her husband's guilt has gone missing. Oliver, Bea's computer geek of an assistant, is delighted to delve into the mysteries left on Denzil's computer, while Bea is cajoled into silence by elderly Lord Murchison, whose family has run the charity for ever...and who faces ruin if the truth comes out. Zander and Oliver find themselves suspected of murder, while Bea thinks up a novel way to rescue her son's failing marriage. As the plot thickens, it emerges that although the first death may have appeared natural, those which follow definitely do not.