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Ann Purser

    Ann Purser draws inspiration for her novels about country life from her charming village setting. Before turning to fiction, she explored various careers, including journalism and running an art gallery, where she gained insights into human relationships and stories. Her passion for detective fiction inspired her to create the Lois Meade Mysteries series, with each title reflecting a day of the week. Her diligent studies and engagement with community life provide rich material for her stories, which often resonate with the real experiences and feelings of rural dwellers.

    Theft on Thursday
    Weeping on Wednesday
    Threats At Three
    Tragedy at Two
    Found Guilty At Five
    Warning at One
    • 2014

      The Blackwoods Farm Enquiry

      • 292 pages
      • 11 hours of reading
      3.5(109)Add rating

      Retiree Ivy Beasley, a college student? Interested in penning her memoirs, Ivy decides to take a creative writing course. But it’s hard to find time to put pen to paper when this current chapter is so full of lies, jealousy and murder… Rumors are flying around the village of Barrington about Mrs. Winchen Blatch, a reclusive widow living alone in her old farmhouse. In the past few weeks, the widow claims she has been tormented by ghostly visitations, so she hires Ivy and her fellow investigators at Enquire Within to get to the bottom of the mystery. Ivy’s new classes are very close to the widow’s farmhouse, perfect for combining studying and snooping… With each new clue—a dark chamber, a smoking cigar and an amorous lodger—it becomes harder to separate fact from fiction. And when the ghost is revealed to be flesh and blood, the lonely widow may be in more trouble than Ivy and her team can handle… 

      The Blackwoods Farm Enquiry
    • 2014

      Suspicion At Seven

      • 304 pages
      • 11 hours of reading
      3.6(184)Add rating

      The 14th book in Ann Purser's cosy crime series in which Lois Meade, owner of the New Brooms cleaning business, tidies houses - and also solves crimes. When a woman is discovered in the Mill House Hotel, strangled with a silver necklace, Lois puts on her sleuthing hat and delves into the case. As Inspector Cowgill and Lois hope the bling may shine a light on the killer, the discovery of a second body on the old waterwheel in the hotel may be grist for the mill in solving the murder - if they can manage to catch the culprit without getting the run-around.

      Suspicion At Seven
    • 2013

      The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry

      • 304 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      Set against the backdrop of a quaint village, this mystery unfolds as a series of peculiar events disrupt the community's tranquility. The protagonist, a determined amateur sleuth, navigates through a web of secrets and lies, uncovering hidden motives among the villagers. With engaging characters and a richly detailed setting, the narrative explores themes of trust, betrayal, and the complexities of human relationships, all while keeping readers guessing until the very end.

      The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry
    • 2013

      She’s had her hands full sorting out both clues and clutter in the village of Long Farnden. But a mother’s work is never done, and Lois Meade is discovering detective work is both dirty and dangerous… A wedding is always a happy occasion, even if Lois Meade must remind herself she isn’t losing a daughter, but gaining a policeman. Her new son-in-law is in the Tresham force—and happens to be Inspector Cowgill’s nephew—so now Lois has another link to the law. But when her youngest son invites a mysterious woman, Akiko, as a guest, Lois wonders why she refuses to talk about her past. And when a thief waltzes off with the young woman’s cello, Lois enlists the inspector’s help to find the valuable instrument. When Akiko herself goes missing, Lois discovers that this could be another in a string of murderous musical thefts. Now she must pull out all the stops to find the girl and protect her son…before the music stops permanently…

      Found Guilty At Five
    • 2013

      She’s worked through all the days of the week, turning up clues and scrubbing up both messes and murderers in the village of Long Farnden. But crime is a persistent stain, and Lois Meade is finding that sleuthing is rarely a spotless endeavor... Magistrate Mrs. Tollervey-Jones represents the upper crust of the village, although nowadays she lives alone at the Farnden Hall estate without a staff to attend to her. Fortunately, Lois Meade’s cleaning company visits twice a week. But Lois’s help is needed elsewhere as a series of robberies begins to plague Long Farnden. Lois’s own daughter is shaken when a thief robs her grocery store till. Good thing Josie’s got a policeman for a fiancé—he’s on the culprit’s trail soon afterward. Before he can crack the case, though, someone cracks Lois’s husband on the head when he stops in to check on Mrs. Tollervey-Jones and interrupts a burglary. Now Lois—in collaboration once again with the besotted Inspector Cowgill—must determine who cleaned out the magistrate’s mansion, and clean up after an increasingly violent crime spree…

      Foul Play At Four
    • 2012

      When the Long Farden village hall is in danger of being destroyed, the citizens form a committee to save it, with the usual grumps and curmudgeons included. But it seems someone opposes the preservation enough to set the historic building on fire. When a dead body turns up in the canal, Inspector Cowgill fears the dispute is only going to get uglier-and deadlier. Naturally, he turns to Lois Meade to sort out the culprit before the village hall becomes a funeral hall...

      Threats At Three
    • 2012

      The Wild Wood Enquiry

      • 294 pages
      • 11 hours of reading
      3.5(161)Add rating

       In a brand-new mystery from the author of The Measby Murder Enquiry, the cantankerous golden years gumshoe Ivy Beasley keeps her mental faculties sharp with a strict regimen of crime detection. Apart from the unwelcome noise made by the morning cleaning crew, life has been quiet at Springfields Home for the Elderly. Too quiet, in fact. Ivy and her team of sleuths, Enquire Within, have resorted to finding lost cats, and Gus is even threatening to return to his memoirs. But no sooner does he attempt to put a winning phrase together than he receives a call from his ex-wife, Katherine, who is in desperate needs of a place to hide.Though Gus has a difficult time getting a straight answer from Kath—just as it was in their many years of marriage—something is most certainly afoot, and soon Enquire Within is back in business. This time they have their hands full, not only with missing pets, but missing jewels, and evidence of foul play uncomfortably close to their too quiet home…

      The Wild Wood Enquiry
    • 2011

      The Measby Murder Enquiry

      • 336 pages
      • 12 hours of reading

      Ivy Beasley, a spirited spinster, discovers that her retirement in Barrington is anything but dull. After forming a detective agency with her new friends at Springfields assisted living, she successfully solves a murder. As autumn arrives, Ivy’s sleuthing skills are put to the test once more when her team is called to investigate a puzzling death in the nearby village of Measby, all while balancing their social activities like card games.

      The Measby Murder Enquiry
    • 2010

      Tragedy at Two

      • 320 pages
      • 12 hours of reading
      3.7(23)Add rating

      Set in the village of Long Farnden, the story follows Lois, who has tackled various challenges, including crime, as she cleans up the community. When her daughter's boyfriend is found critically injured, Lois embarks on a perilous investigation that uncovers a web of arson, local troublemakers, hidden agendas, and blackmail. As she navigates these dangers, she seeks to unravel the truth behind the crime that threatens her family and the village.

      Tragedy at Two
    • 2010

      A new series and a new sleuth from Ann Purser-author of the Lois Meade mysteries!Ivy Beasley, the beloved cantankerous spinster from the Lois Meade mysteries, has found a silver lining in her golden years as an amateur sleuth.She teams up with Gus, a mysterious newcomer to the small English village of Barrington who can't resist a little excitement even as he strives to keep his past a secret, and her own cousin, a widow with time on her hands and money in her purse. Together they're determined to solve the murder of Gus's elderly neighbor.

      The Hangman's Row Enquiry