British Women Sleuths

“As engaging and entertaining a worldwide romp as the first two books…Ritter Ames has penned a marvelous story with Laurel Beacham continuing to show her cleverness and intuition portraying a strong character…I was thrilled!” – King’s River Life Magazine Abstract clues lead to new questions. New leads turn to “dead” ends. A heist plot ties to forgeries. Adversaries resurface twisting an already complicated case. And art recovery expert Laurel Beacham must not only outwit criminals, but keep her wits around Jack Hawkes’s cheeky ego. Before the criminals they were tracking ...

While attending a crime scene on the outskirts of Maidstone, DI Kay Hunter makes a shocking discovery. The victim has been brutally cut to pieces, his identity unknown. When more body parts start turning up in the Kentish countryside, Kay realizes the disturbing truth–a serial killer is at large and must be stopped at all costs. With no motive for the murders and a killer who has gone undetected until now, Kay and her team of detectives must work fast to calm a terrified local population and a scornful media. When a third victim is found, her investigation grows even more complicated.

Driving home during a swirling blizzard, Vera Stanhope's only thought is to get there quickly. But the snow is so heavy that she becomes disorientated and loses her way. Ploughing on, she sees a car slewed off the road ahead of her. With the driver's door open, Vera assumes the driver has sought shelter, but when she inspects the car she is shocked to find a young toddler strapped in the back seat. Afraid they will freeze, Vera takes the child and drives on, arriving at Brockburn, a run-down stately home she immediately recognises as the house her father, Hector, grew up in.

Single mom and school historian Beth Haldane has promised her new beau, Detective Harry York, that her sleuthing days are behind her. But when she stumbles over the body of local artist Mark Smeaton while ambling in the park, it’s clear a dangerous killer is on the loose in peaceful Dulwich Village. Shocked, Beth can’t resist delving into the mystery. Snooping around the nearby cozy cafes, Beth listens carefully to gossip and soon learns Mark's graffiti-style art was famously controversial. There are plenty who might want him gone.

From the bestselling author of Murder at Rutherford Hall and Murder at Ravenrock, comes the third book in the Rachel Markham Mystery Series. The Riverton Case A Rachel Markham (Mystery Book Three) –Set in 1947, England and India. Jeremy and Rachel set sail for Indian shores on the behest of a fabulously wealthy Indian Maharajah, to solve a case, unlike anything they’ve encountered before. The journey takes them through the lives of Indian Royalty and gives them a fascinating glimpse into the charmed life of British India. Rachel and Jeremy must travel back in time to 1945, towards the ...

In peaceful Dulwich Village, a group of elderly residents meet every week for Bridge Club. Green cloths are laid over square tables, the deck is carefully dealt, and every beady eye is on the lookout for cheating. Amateur sleuth Beth Haldane has never understood the rules, but she’s drawn into the drama when her mother’s bridge partner Alfie Poole is found dead. He was last seen heading out for a breath of fresh air after a particularly tricky hand. Beth knows poor Alfie was a sweet old man, but when she learns he was poisoned it’s clear someone wanted him gone.

When DI Allie Shenton is called out to a murder suicide, it quickly becomes clear that it's a double slaying, and there is a killer on the loose. The bodies are found in a property owned by local entrepreneur/drug dealer Kenny Webb. Several young women are staying there, they are refusing to talk and one of them is missing. While she waits on forensic evidence, Allie decides to do what she does best. She takes to the community to see who will talk. Right now, she's the only one who can get answers. But then a third murder rattles everyone.

From the bestselling author of Murder at Rutherford Hall, Murder at Ravenrock and The Riverton Case, comes the fourth book in the Rachel Markham Mystery Series - The Santinelli Case. Set in the exciting world of post-war Paris, in the winter of 1947, Rachel and Jeremy are called upon to investigate the sensational murder of Countess Santinelli in a Montmartre art studio. Their quest to uncover the truth leads them from the charming avant-garde streets of fashionable Paris and the gilded rooms of the Ritz and Maxim’s to the dingy by-lanes of Montmartre - a place that offers refuge to ...

Anna is a wife, a mother, a businesswoman...and a serial killer. As part of a unique support group comprised of like minded compulsive multiple murderers known as the Bristol Savages, she has been able to suppress the compulsion to kill and begun to carve out a normal life for herself. But someone is aware of the Bristol Savages, and is targeting its members...and making it look as if Anna is responsible. At the same time, a new task force is set up to focus solely on psychopaths, and as this new unit begins to close in on her and the Bristol Savages, Anna must race against the clock to ...

Teenager Cordelia Mathison went missing during a gap year trip in 2017. When her freshly dumped body is found three years later, in fields less than a mile from her home, local police are baffled. Detective Inspector Nate Lawrence is new to his posting on the east Essex coast. His first case here will challenge him like no other. The investigation takes him to a remote Mediterranean island and throws him together with Bridie Croft and her parents; an intriguing local family who may just hold the key to unlocking what seems like an impossible mystery.

A bustling festival, a shocking murder… and a tearoom owner bound to the past—literally. Sidmouth’s Folk Festival is the highlight of the summer, and the owner of the town’s Jane Austen-themed tearoom, Trinity Bishop, is ready for a week of lively music, busy crowds, and endless cups of tea. But when the festival’s director is found dead, the festive atmosphere turns uneasy, and Trinity once again finds herself tangled in a murder investigation. With DI Cormac O’Malley determined to keep her out of police business, and festival-goers whispering rumors of jealousy, rivalry, and ...

“We have a secret the Devil and I.” These are the chilling words on the back of an old photograph that Sister Joan uncovers while cleaning out the attic storerooms. What she discovers among the dusty antiques leads to her most dangerous case yet. Joan has the strangest feeling that she's being followed. But the person she thinks she saw died over a year ago . . . Or did he? Then a young secretary turns up dead. She's been strangled. Another body is found and Sister Joan must get to the bottom of things before the murderer strikes again.

A young girl is murdered on the beach, a beach just like the famous Bondi Beach in Sydney Australia. Detective Bigfoot wants to stop for Breakfast but Sargent Elizabeth West is impatient to find out who and why then Elizabeth is abducted by the killer. A comic whodunit.

When Mother Dorothy's godmother dies of a heart attack and leaves all her money to the convent, Sister Joan is uneasy. While on visiting duty at the hospital, she makes some tacit enquiries. Things don't seem quite right. The nursing staff are always away from their posts at crucial times. The surly young doctor seems very out of sorts. Then a little girl goes missing. Sister Joan knows there's something truly sinister going on. She teams up with Detective Sergeant Mill, but can they get to the bottom of things before tragedy strikes?

Revised - Revamped - Refreshed - 2025 A Riveting Psychological Thriller Geri and James are back—sharper, bolder, and caught in their most explosive mystery yet! Just when their neighbour, Lydia, finally seems to have found peace with the birth of her second son, disaster strikes once more. Determined to help their friend, Geri and James step in—but they soon realise Lydia’s troubles are only the beginning. While researching historic unsolved murders for James’s latest book, Geri stumbles upon a chilling revelation: one of the prime suspects from a decades-old case is now a resident ...

Beth Haldane is getting ready for a quiet Christmas with her son and their beloved grumpy cat when fellow single mother Nina begs her for help. Something fishy is going on with Mr. Potter, the solicitor she works for.... Business is slow, with the accounts empty. So why does his wife have such an impressive collection of designer dresses? Unable to resist a puzzle, Beth agrees to cover Nina’s job as a receptionist to get a closer look. But just as she finds a mysterious key hidden away in the office, Mrs. Potter arrives in floods of tears with terrible news for her husband.

When prison inmate and former police officer John Brace says he’s willing to give up information about the location of a dead body in return for protection for his family, Vera knows that she has to look into his claims. But opening up this cold case strikes much closer to home than Vera anticipates as her investigation takes her back in time to The Seagull, a once-decadent and now-derelict nightclub where her deceased father and his friends used to congregate.

Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island, forging a bond that has lasted a lifetime. Now, they still return every five years to celebrate their friendship and remember the friend they lost to the rising waters of the causeway at the first reunion. Now, when one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now.

Dorothy Martin and her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, have just visited Buckingham Palace, where Alan was awarded the George Cross, when they and a friend, retired Chief Inspector Jonathan Quinn, stumble across the body of a young girl hidden in St James’s Park. Wondering what led to the unfortunate girl’s demise, Dorothy can’t help but get involved in the case when Jonathan calls the next day and admits he knew who the victim was …

DI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her hippy neighbours keep her well-supplied in homebrew and conversation so she has more tolerance for them than most. When one of them goes missing she feels duty-bound to find out what happened. But her path leads her to more than a missing friend... It's an easy job to track the young woman down to the Writer's House, a country retreat where aspiring authors gather to workshop and work through their novels. It gets complicated when a body is discovered and Vera's neighbour is found with a knife in her hand.