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This page lists novels that feature amateur detective Meredith Mitchell and policeman Chief Inspector Markby.

Say It with Poison

Ann Granger

1991

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"When Meredith Mitchell agreed to stay with her actress cousin Eve in the run-up to Eve's daughter's wedding she anticipated a degree of drama. But she hardly expected it to include murder, blackmail and unrequited love. Or to involve a certain Chief Inspector Markby, a middle-aged divorcee with an emotional history as unfortunate as her own. A material witness to the only case of murder the Cotswold village of Westerfield has ever seen, Meredith also finds herself acting as mother-confessor to the bride-to-be, who is clearly not telling the whole truth about her involvement with the dead man. Steering a path between her duty to the police and loyalty to her cousin's family is not easy; even for someone with Meredith's considerable diplomatic skills. And especially as her personal enquiries into events in Westerfield start to disinter past affections Meredith would far rather leave buried - and to provoke new ones she's not at all sure she can cope with."

A Season For Murder

Ann Granger

1991

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"It is with some trepidation that Meredith Mitchell returns to the Cotswolds: the Bamford district holds memories that, to put it generously, are bittersweet, and Christmas is a difficult time to find oneself a stranger in a new area. Yet she receives a kindly welcome, in particular from her old acquaintance Chief Inspector Markby and from her new neighbour Harriet Needham, a striking redhead with whom Meredith immediately feels a certain kinship. But Meredith has barely got to know her neighbour when Harriet is involved in a shocking - and fatal - accident at the Boxing Day Hunt. Witnesses to the death are plentiful, for the incident occurred in Bamford's crowded market square, and many are adamant it's a case of murder. Chief Inspector Markby is inclined to agree, although he suspects the guilty party is not the most obvious one. Before long Meredith Mitchell begins, reluctantly, to think he might be right."

Cold in the Earth

Ann Granger

1992

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"To Meredith Mitchell, marooned in a dusty London flat, the Cotswolds seem like a haven of peace and tranquillity. But Chief Inspector Markby has a rather different view of his native area, as he witnesses the bulldozing of one of his favourite boyhood haunts to make way for yet another housing estate. And when a man's body is found buried in the foundations of one of the plots his outlook turns even grimmer. The only cheering prospect on the horizon is Meredith's forthcoming visit. The dead man however remains a mystery: the labourer who dug up his body has disappeared and the farmers whose lands abut the burial site are little help. Charming, eccentric Mrs Carmody treats Markby, whom she has known since he was a boy, with fond familiarity and Mrs Winthrop at the neighbouring farm is happy to supply him with tea and scones but gives little else away. The time has come for someone with a different perspective to see what they can glean. And Meredith, blessed with an uncanny ability for ferreting out the truth, seems the obvious candidate."

Murder Among Us

Ann Granger

1992

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"When ambitious hotelier Eric Schucmacher announces he is to turn Springwood Hall, near the market town of Bamford, into a smart Cotswold country-house hotel, the news is greeted by a chorus of local disapproval, led by the redoubtable Hope Mapple. So the gala opening, to which all the disaffected parties have been invited, promises to be quite an event - not least because the amply upholstered Hope Mapple is planning a disruptive streak protest. But Hope's lightning dash is unexpectedly upstaged by a far more shocking event: the discovery of a recently murdered body on the premises. The victim is a local woman, and for Chief Inspectory Markby and his guest Meredith Mitchell what had promised to be a diverting summer treat suddenly turns into a horribly serious affair."

Where Old Bones Lie

Ann Granger

1993

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"What do you do when you think your ex-lover has murdered his wife? That's the question Ursula Gretton, an archeologist working on the Saxon burial ground on Bamford Hill, puts to Meredith Mitchell in the hope that Meredith's friendship with Cotswold Chief Inspector Markby might cast some light on her dilemma. But Markby is dismissive of Ursula's suspicions concerning the disappearance of Dan Woollard's wife - until a body is found in the rubbish dump near the site Woollard and Ursula have been excavating. Woollard's team of archeologists aren't the only ones to disturb the peace of the windswept hill. Much to the fury of a taciturn pair of local landowners, a band of New Age travellers has set up camp on the hill, only to disappear the day the body's discovered. Markby is faced with a tangle of conflicting clues, suspects and possible witnesses - amongst the latter Meredith Mitchell - and when a second body is found it is clear the web is growing even more complex, and destructive."

Flowers For His Funeral

Ann Granger

1994

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"When Meredith Mitchell bumps into her old school friend Rachel Hunter at the Chelsea Flower Show, it doesn't take Meredith long to realise that she and the effortlessly self-confident blonde have even less in common now than they had as teenagers. Apart from one thing - Meredith's companion, Chief Inspector Markby. For to the embarrassment of all concerned, except of course the self-possessed Rachel, Meredith's old school friend turns out to have been Markby's former wife, from whom he was divorced years before in less than friendly circumstances. The meeting with Rachel is not the only surprise the Flower Show has in store for Markby - before the afternoon is out he has a death on his hands. All too quickly he and Meredith find themselves drawn into the plush, apparently well-run world Rachel and her second husband created for themselves in their Cotswold home, Malefis Abbey, a world which Markby becomes increasingly convinced harbours a highly skilled murderer."

A Fine Place For Death

Ann Granger

1994

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"In the heart of the leafy Cotswolds a body is found. A teenage girl, probably local, somebody's daughter who went out one evening and didn't come back. It is not long before she is identified: fifteen-year-old Lynne Wills who habitually drank underage in 'The Silver Bells' pub and, on the night of her death, was seen leaving with an unknown man. Chief Inspector Markby's friend Meredith Mitchell has been befriended by another troubled young local girl, Katie Conway. On the surface Lynne and Katie have nothing in common except their age and home town. But could the insights Katie gives Meredith into her difficult family background - an unstable, aristocratic mother, a doting father at the end of his tether, and a scheming resident secretary - throw some light on the other young girl? And, given that forensic evidence now points to Lynne Wills's murder having taken place in the Devaux family mausoleum, on her murder too ...?"

Candle For a Corpse

Ann Granger

1995

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"On an unseasonably chilly summer's day a macabre discovery is made in Bamford's ancient churchyard. A body, dead some twelve years, is unearthed in the Gresham family plot, too shallowly buried to be a legitimate interment, too recent to be the last Gresham officially laid to rest. Superintendent Alan Markby cannot resist the challenge to solve this twelve-year-old crime and suddenly his long-planned canal-barge holiday with Meredith Mitchell is in serious jeopardy. When the remains are identified as those of a local teenager, Kimberley Oates, reported missing at the time of the mysterious burial, his mind is made up. Her holiday postponed, to her secret relief, Meredith finds herself with more time than usual for village chat - and for a dinner party with the local MP that reveals more than either he or his formidable mother would like about his connection with the dead girl."

A Touch of Mortality

Ann Granger

1996

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"When Sally Caswell persuaded her scientist husband Liam to move from London to the quiet of rural Oxfordshire it was in the hope of a more peaceful existence. But so far the move has led to nothing but discord. Liam's sabbatical book project is not going well so, frustrated and isolated, he quarrels incessantly both with Sally and with their next-door neighbour, the crotchety pensioner Bodicote whose unruly goats are a constant source of contention. But then a mysterious package arrives that gives the couple real cause for anxiety. It appears that Liam is being targeted by animal rights activists, though Superintendent Markby, in charge of the investigation, is not entirely convinced. Liam has many enemies, Bodicote among them, and it seems to Markby that Liam's cantankerous old neighbour is hiding something. The more Markby investigates, the more his unease grows - as does that of Meredith Mitchell, Markby's girlfriend and an old friend of Sally Caswell, for Meredith suspects Sally is far from well. Then a body is found."

A Word After Dying

Ann Granger

1996

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"Superintendent Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell are in desperate need of a holiday - and the Cotswold village of Parsloe St John seems the perfect choice. Their neighbour, retired journalist Wynne Carter, is as convivial as the village itself and, over a glass of blackberry wine, indulges in her latest obsession, Olivia Smeaton, a racy old lady whose life - and death - she is convinced are not all they seem. Markby is more interested in buying Olivia's house than the circumstances of her vacating it, but Meredith is intrigued: by the old lady, the death of a cherished horse and a dusty junk shop run by a white witch. When another fatality - of a very grisly nature - is discovered, it seems her suspicion is justified. Clearly Olivia isn't the only enigma in Parsloe St John - and her death might be the first of many unless Meredith Mitchell and Alan Markby can make sense of some very secret lives to reach the truth."

Call the Dead Again

Ann Granger

1998

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"When Meredith Mitchell picks up a hitchhiker on a lonely road outside Bamford one evening she is left feeling distinctly uneasy. What business can this confident, yet secretive, young woman have at Tudor Lodge, the beautiful old home of Brussels-based lawyer Andrew Penhallow, where she asks to be dropped? Penhallow is constantly toing and froing from the Continent, but that night, unusually, he is at home, and - with his son away and his wife Carla in bed with a migraine - alone. Which is unfortunate, for the next morning he is found murdered in the garden. To the vicarious delight of the locals, who are quick to recall old disputes, Penhallow's death results in some spectacular revelations about his double life - developments which make the murder investigation all the more delicate for Superintendent Markby, who knew the dead man as a young body. Andrew Penhallow certainly had ghosts in his past - has one come back to claim him?"

Beneath these Stones

Ann Granger

1999

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"Twelve-year-old Tammy Franklin has learned too much about death, too quickly. Two years ago she lost her mother to a long, lingering illness and now the body of the woman her father married in an attempt to replace his wife has been found on a railway embankment close to the Franklin farm. This time the death is murder. As Superintendent Markby, one of the first on the scene, well knows, Tammy now stands to have her father taken from her, for Hugh Franklin is suspect number one in the mind of the inspector to whom Markby has delegated the case. But, despite his need to distance himself from the murder, Markby begins to realise that the truth is destined to be far more complex than he ever envisaged."

Shades of Murder

Ann Granger

2000

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"In 1889 Cora Oakley died by inhaling a poisonous gas in her sleep, and her husband William was put on trial for her murder. Over a hundred years later, the only remaining members of the family are two elderly sisters who live in the ancestral home. Unable to maintain the mansion, the sisters decide to sell up and live off the proceeds. Then a young Polish man named Jan appears, claiming to be William Oakley's great-grandson and threatening to ruin the sisters' plans. When he is found dead, it seems that the shadow of murder has returned to haunt the Oakley family again, and Superintendent Markby must look back at the events of a century ago to find the killer."

A Restless Evil

Ann Granger

2002

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"It sends a shiver down Detective Superintendent Alan Markby's spine when he hears that a rambler has stumbled on human bones in Stovey Woods in the heart of the Cotswolds. Twenty-two years ago, as a fresh-faced young inspector, he had a rare failure in the hunt for a brutal serial rapist preying on local women. After the third rape, the attacker went to ground, never to be heard of again. Now, with a new investigation prompted by the grisly remains, the trail could be warm once more. But almost at once Markby is confronted with another body and a thoroughly up-to-date murder. Could the two be connected? It seems that some of the village residents would be just as happy to let sleeping dogs lie and secrets - both old and new - stay hidden."

That Way Murder Lies

Ann Granger

2004

A Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Markby novel.

"When Meredith Mitchell's old friend Toby Smythe turns up on leave, she is delighted to see him. But Toby has a problem - or rather his relative Alison Jenner has - and he wants to enlist the help of Meredith's fiance, Detective Superintendent Alan Markby. Alison has been receiving anonymous hate mail which alludes to the murder of her aunt, Freda Kemp, of which Alison was acquitted when she was just twenty. Who is the writer, and how does he or she know about this secret in Alison's past? Markby is at first reluctant to become involved, especially as he and Meredith are busy planning their wedding, but enquiries into a poison pen campaign soon turn into a murder hunt. With the help of Inspector Jessica Campbell, a new member of Markby's team, the investigation unravels a twenty-five-year-old mystery and its dreadful legacy of violence."