Betty Rowlands Books

Two fatal cases of food poisoning at Framleigh House, the smart residential home where Melissa Craig's mother Sylvia is staying, are treated as accidental by the authorities. To Melissa's consternation, Sylvia decides to do some detective work of her why do the once-married couple ignore one another in company but make a secret rendezvous in the grounds? Do the two gay actors fit into the puzzle? Can Sylvia trust the confidante whom she has roped into her 'investigation'? When another resident is taken ill Melissa starts to take her mother's concerns seriously and begins to investigate with the aid of local journalist Bruce Ingram. And in so doing puts her own life in jeopardy.

Second in the witty series, featuring mystery writer-turned-sleuth Melissa Craig. Melissa decides to teach her craft at the local college, where she becomes distracted by a real-life crime. It seems the department secretary has met her death at the hands of a jealous lover--and Melissa soon finds herself investigating the fine art of murder.

Instead of the relaxing break in the Cotswolds she had planned, Melissa finds only hostility and suspicion. Someone is slipping haunting poems into Stewart Haughan's correspondence. Who is the poet, and why is Stewart taking it so seriously? Melissa begins snooping, and then things turn nasty.

Originally published as A Little Gentle Sleuthing , republished as Murder at Hawthorn Cottage Meet Melissa Craig, friendly neighbor, loving mother… and daring detective? Melissa Craig has always prided herself on making a good living from crime, courtesy of her lively imagination, and with a string of crime novels to prove it. Now, she flees London, her devoted but over-protective lover and her kindly but dominating agent, and takes refuge in the Cotswolds. With no more serious distractions than Iris, her eccentric, artistic neighbour, her cheerful, romantic domestic help Gloria and a rector who is a secret devotee of her fiction, Melissa dreams of undisturbed peace for the production of yet more bestsellers. But a series of bizarre telephone calls leads to a meeting with an engaging young journalist convinced that a real crime has been committed. When a corpse is discovered in woodlands a short distance from her isolated cottage, curiosity gets the better of judgment. In the course of a little gentle sleuthing, Melissa finds the truth stranger than her own fiction and uncovers a story of villainy, frustration and despair which leads to further violent death before the mystery can be resolved.

After a third murder within three months, the residents of Thanebury village now live in fear. Despite her local reputation for solving mysteries, crime writer Melissa Craig has no intention of getting involved, until a fourth victim turns up in her own village of Upper Benbury. As Melissa hunts for clues, a fifth murder occurs, and it becomes clear that at least one very disturbed mind is at work...

The once sleepy Cotswold town of Stowbridge has been plagued by a sex strangler, a series of burglaries, and now the death of novelist Leonora Jewell. Melissa Craig is persuaded to complete Jewell's unfinished novel, and discovers clues in the script which suggest a motive for murder.

French cheese, fine wine and… a mystifying murder? A delightful afternoon stroll turns to disaster when the guests of an artists’ retreat in the French mountains spot the body of a man at the bottom of a cliff. Amongst them is Melissa Craig who, binoculars at the ready, suddenly finds herself at the centre of a very puzzling mystery. Was it an accident, or was he pushed? Her suspicions are confirmed when another body is found days later in almost exactly the same spot. It can’t be a coincidence; someone in this idyllic French village is up to no good, and it’s up to her to find out who. Between the eccentric locals and mischievous guests, Melissa finds herself with no shortage of potential suspects: was it the surly handyman with a dark past, or perhaps the short-sighted widow with an excellent golf swing? But the real question is: how close to the edge will Melissa have to tread to find the culprit…? An absolutely unputdownable murder mystery you’ll read in one sitting. Perfect for anyone who loves Agatha Christie, P.D. James or Faith Martin. This book was previously published as Over the Edge . <

Hrdinkou tří volně na sebe navazujících příběhů je úspěšná spisovatelka detektivek, která se při hledání námětů dostává ke skutečným zločinům. V prvním příběhu pátrá po autorovi tajemných telefonátů a záhadné dívce Babs. Ve druhém pomáhá objasnit smrt mladé dívky. Třetí příběh se odehrává ve Francii na letních kursech, kam doprovází svoji přítelkyni a zároveň hledá inspiraci na svoji další knihu. Zajímavé, dobře psané detektivní příběhy, které jistě potěší milovníky tohoto druhu literatury....