Cozy Mystery Scotland

She keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon...and keeps him on his toes. Everyone's awed by his Scotland Yard successes - but they don't know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries' polished detection skills are up to the task...proving that behind every great man, there's a woman - and that a crime-solver's work is never done.

Sir George Braxton was found lying face down in a frozen fountain with the back of his skull bashed to bits. The case is complicated by a distinct lack of holiday cheer in the victim's three argumentative middle-aged daughters and their sullen house guests. Even the cranky cat hates everyone. To top it all off, the home secretary has called in Inspector Witherspoon over the heads of some touchy local lads, making matters stickier than a plum pudding. Only the help of his housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries, will give the poor inspector any chance of sleeping on Christmas Eve....

Eccentric Annabeth Gentry pretty much keeps to herself. Besides her recent inheritance - and the attention her bloodhound gets for digging up the body of a murdered thief - her life is in fact, rather dull. So why does she think that someone is trying to kill her? That's what Mrs. Jeffries and her staff has to find out. What they discover is a dead body next door, and three attempts on Annabeth's life. It sounds like there's a jealous dog in their midst. Mrs. Jeffries will have to sniff out some clues before the plot thickens....

I am NOT going up in one of those When the Cairncroft Hotel suffers an outbreak of petty thievery, having a detective agency onsite comes in handy. But is there more to it than petty theft? Meanwhile, a string of deaths reminiscent of Aunt Claire’s captures Daisy’s attention—could there be a serial killer loose in Cairncroft? And will Daisy persuade Sam to go up in a hot air balloon? MURDER & MAYHEM AT THE CAIRNCROFT HOTEL is the third outing of Sam & Daisy’s cozy mystery series, following on from the success of “The Murder Hotel” and “The Cairncroft Detective Agency”. AS ...

Professor Claire Lane’s students are always close to her heart. When one disappears into fells and becks of the Lake District in Northwest England, she is not convinced the woman has gone to meditate on Scafell Pike. A talented and gifted writer, Bo Huan, a Chinese National follows her dream. Claire in desperation seeks help from her fiancé Lord Ralph McGinniss, known for his uncomplicated investigations as a Senior Detective at Scotland Yard. The Lake District is meant for walking and enjoying nature, not murder and international spying. Ralph and Claire join forces to solve a delicate ...

A well written and fun story with plenty of humour and intrigue. Sam and Daisy are fantastic, as usual. Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ WHO KILLED SANTA CLAUS? This could be the Cairncroft Detective Agency’s strangest case yet! Daisy’s motivated to solve this one. She’s furious at the prospect of her stocking being empty on Xmas morning... But when Daisy’s family crash back into her life, Santa gets relegated to the back-burner. You thought the “Adams Family” were a weird bunch? Daisy’s mum could eat Morticia for breakfast... This was a delightful read. Knucklebitingly ...

On Christmas Eve, Leger suffers the indignity of getting stuck trying to escape from a top floor window in front of a cluster of carol singers. So, he chooses to spend the most magical night of the year at his girlfriend, Ginger's home. This decision may be one he will live to regret as they wake up on Christmas morning with a basket of newborn kittens next to them. Leger vows to find the mother of the kittens before they lose their bond with her completely but it won't be easy. He has no idea where to start and nobody in the neighbourhood was pregnant in the first place. How will he begin ...

The neighbours of Glasgow's Creamery Crescent are taking a festive break. Of course, no trip would be complete without their pets so Leger and his closest friends travel north to enjoy the Christmas period in a secluded cottage in the Highlands. The celebratory mood changes when Nicole Goldsworthy witnesses a man and woman burying a body in a shallow grave. The murderers attempt to knock her down in their car but with help from her animal friends, old and new, Nicole survives the hit and run. The situation is complicated further by the arrival of Poppy, who followed the group from Glasgow ...

Leger's beloved companion, Annabella, is wrongly accused of armed robbery. To clear her name, Leger must head out of the suburbs and go downtown where he will make new friends and face fresh dangers. He is reluctant to leave the neighbourhood at all as Ginger is pregnant with his kittens and due to give birth any day. However a betrayal by one of his close circle of friends convinces him it is best to concentrate on freeing Annabella but when Ginger's daughter Amber learns the truth there are tragic consequences. Will Leger be able to track down the real robber? Will he make it home in time...

A wedding is due to take place but the freshly decorated venue has been sabotaged. Leger sets out to catch the vandal and reconnect with the sisters he hasn't seen since kittenhood. But they have a secret and despite Amber's attempts to protect him from the truth, it seems he is going to find out that family is about more than blood.

It's February, love is in the air and spring is just around the corner - but so is deceit. Maxine has just moved in to the street across from Leger and she is so smitten with him that she instantly adopts and renames him. She and Leger bond quickly, so when she is accused of stalking and harassment by her former neighbours, Leger cannot believe she would do such a thing. Besides, she was with him at the time when the harassment occurred. But a cat is not an alibi who will stand up in court. Desperate to clear Maxine's name, Leger seeks help from his friends, both feline and human and along ...

Leger's lifestyle has finally caught up with him and he is now living in hiding in the highlands with Annabella and Nicole. Life in the wilderness has many benefits but Leger finds it difficult to adjust to his new, temporary home and gets lost one evening. When he is rescued by a kindly American lady and her son and returned home by them, he is filled with gratitude. The visiting Americans invite their new Scottish friends for Thanksgiving dinner the following day, but Annabella has a bad feeling about this woman. Leger decides to throw himself into the celebrations until he accidentally ...

Leger McInnes is ready to retire. He still loves detective work, but after a lifetime of investigating crimes in the local area and beyond, his priorities have changed. Ginger has lost her sight, Bob has seizures, Nicole suffered sepsis and now his beloved Annabella has found a frightening lump. It's time for Leger to move onto his next life as a nurse. However, there's just one last job to do before he retires and that's to find the people who robbed Meg, his next door neighbour. All the suspicion seems to fall on Ingrid, a mysterious woman who has turned up on their doorstep claiming to ...

Malky Maguire is dead. The news has shocked the neighbourhood, but with so many dirty deeds recently, nobody is in the mood to mourn the local gangster and former cat lover. Leger sees it as his duty to solve the case, despite having no enthusiasm for it. With the help of his father, Ragnar, who has come to visit Maxine, Leger starts piecing together little bits of information that have been collected by Lily, Sparkle and Ragnar. Can Leger focus on the case while he is still mourning the death of one of those closest to him? Can he stop rejecting Ragnar and get over his fear of losing his ...

April Fools' Day has arrived and Leger can't help himself from playing tricks. With his new-found reading skills, as basic as they are, he manages fool Ginger's human, John, into believing he is a psychic cat who can predict the winner of dog races. Thinking Leger is the key to untold riches, John takes Leger's signs and signals seriously and plans to gamble with Leger's help. However, a trip to the local pub, and the slot machine there sheds light on the shady dealings of of the pub's owner.

In Leger's latest mystery, Irenie, who claims to be a psychic with the ability to read tea leaves and tarot cards visits the hotel with a warning for Annabella. Leger is not to be trusted! Leger then has a nightmare about Annabella where he is to blame for her untimely death and begins to wonder if perhaps he really is bad luck. However Lily is concerned by the psychic's behaviour and after some digging, she uncovers a startling truth about her. Can Lily reveal Irenie's true intentions before it's too late?

You might think that with Scotland locked down and nobody able to get in or out of their homes that there would be no crimes to solve. Leger certainly did, until one happened under his own roof. There are currently six humans staying in his home, including Annabella. As they all have chronic health conditions and require to "shield" they have gathered together to form a bubble with their pets and live together so they don't get lonely. Then Leger notices that £2,000 that Annabella had foolishly hidden in her bedroom has vanished. Nobody has come or gone from the house, so one of the guests...

Leger returns for his fourth book set at the hotel on "the island" far away from Glasgow. Kevin the swan has confessed to killing a local man by drowning him in the loch, but is he telling the truth and why would he claim he is a murderer? While trying to uncover the real story, Leger and Bob also have to look for Carole, who Lily is convinced is the real killer. Can they clear her name?

After returning to the island following his lost week in Glasgow, Leger finds Hugh and Annabella preparing for a murder-mystery themed opening night, much to his delight. But, on learning that Annabella is to play the victim, he is not so keen. Once the lights go out, Annabella is found lying on the floor. All the humans assume it is part of the game but Leger and the other animals know the truth. She really was pushed from the stairs. It should have been an easy task for Leger as Amber witnessed the attack and was desperate to relate exactly what happened, but when he also assumed it was ...

With Billy Johnston arrested for his recent crime, Leger and the clowder assumed he would be behind bars and they could all move on with their lives. However, it was not to be, and after being released he becomes the victim of a revenge attack. Naturally, Nicole is at the top of the list of suspects but Leger knows she is innocent and sets out to find the real attacker in the hope that this will divert everyone's attention away from Nicole. What he finds out however, may bring him face to face with an old enemy he had hoped to never see again. Meanwhile, in need of a distraction from her ...