The Village Detectives and The Art of Murder by Fiona Walker

As her mother is about to sell the family home and move in to a retirement village, Juno Mulligan is returning to the village of Inkbury to help out.  Juno has asked her son Eric to look into the background of Dennis, her mum's gentleman friend.  The result is that he has had three previous wives and they have all died in suspicious circumstances.  Juno is convinced that her mum could be in danger.   

Old College friend Phoebe Fredericks, who writes murder novels under the name of Dorothy De'Ath, is also living in Inkbury and Juno ropes her in to help her look for a house to buy.  Phoebe is a bit of a hermit and keeps to herself and so doesn't really know very many people within the village or what may be available.  When they meet up in the local pub for lunch there is an argument between a couple of the other guests and one of them ends up dead. 

Juno, Phoebe and Mil, the landlord at the pub, team up together to find out who killed Si and why.  Juno is convinced that it will be Dennis.  

The Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer

Gary Thorn sees that he has a meeting scheduled with a new client, Mr Sequence.  When they meet Mr Sequence offers Gary money to disappear and not attend the court trial which is due to start the next week.  Gary refuses.  His girlfriend Emily has moved to Brighton to take over the hotel where she grew up as it has been left to her by her father.  The hotel needs updating before it can be re-opened.  She changes its name to The Hotel Avocado as her father hated avocados.  

Gary has to disappear for a while as he, his friends and family are now being threatened.  His closest friend is Grace who lives next door with her dog Lassoo.  Together they eat a lot of pies.  Gary does not want Grace to be harmed and so pretends they are not friends to try to keep her safe.  He heads off to Brighton to stay with Emily but is followed.  

A Date with Justice by Julia Chapman

This is the ninth book in the Dales Detective Agency series. 

During a wedding reception Delilah's brother Will has a very heated argument with Ross Erwin, an Ecologist who is preparing a report on his neighbours farm.  The farmers want to diversify and open a glamping site.  The next morning Ross Erwin is found dead.  Will seems to be the most likely suspect.  

Samson returns to Bruncliffe for a break from his duties in London with the Met.  Together with Delilah they take on Will's case as they both believe he is innocent.  The Dales Detective Agency is growing in size as Delilah has offered some work, and a roof over his head, to Gareth the local gamekeeper who has lost both his job and home as he can no longer hold a gun licence.  They look through hours of wedding footage taken on guests' phones to work out who left the reception and when, and who could be a possible murderer. 

Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves

This is a Vera Stanhope story.  

When Julie Armstrong arrives home after a night out she finds her teenage son lying dead in the bath.  He had been strangled and surrounded by flowers floating on the water.  

The body of a young student teacher is then found in a rock pool.  She also had been strangled and surrounded by flowers.  There has to be link between the two young people who have been murdered.  Inspector Vera Stanhope has to work out what the link is and why someone would want to murder these two seemingly unrelated people.  

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne

Whilst working as a waiter in a Berlin hotel, Maurice Swift meets Erich Ackerman.  Erich offers Maurice the opportunity to travel with him as his assistant as he goes on tour to promote his latest book.  Maurice is a budding writer himself.  Erich tells Maurice about his life as a teenage boy, about how Jewish people were treated and how he fell in love with another young man.  Maurice encourages the story telling and uses this to his own ends.  He is a good writer but lacks the inspiration to know what to write about.  

Years later when Maurice has made a name for himself and is married, he is again struggling for inspiration and tells his wife that he is writing during the day whilst she is at the local University lecturing.  He has already stolen stories from others and is about to do the same again.  

A Year at Castle Court by Holly Hepburn

Friends Sadie and Cat had always dreamed of opening up a biscuit shop together.  When Cat returns from working in a Michelin starred restaurant in France and Sadie's marriage is over they both need a new start and so take on the lease of a shop in Castle Court in Chester.  

Cat bakes the biscuits and Sadie decorates them.  Most of the other residents in the food area of Castle Court are helpful and friendly.  There are just a few who are not.  Over the first year they have a lot of ups and downs.  They make both friends and enemies within the Court.  

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Dr James Sheppard lives with his sister Caroline. Caroline always seems to know everything before he does, including who has died and how.    

Dr Sheppard receives a phone call telling him that Roger Ackroyd is dead.  He has only been with him a few hours beforehand and he had seemed to be ok.  When Dr Sheppard gets back to the house the room that Roger is in is locked from the inside and the key is still in the lock.  The door has to be forced to gain entry.  Once inside they find Roger has been stabbed and is dead.  The butler denied having made the phone call to the doctor.  The police are struggling to find the answers and so bring in Hercule Poirot as a consultant as he has recently moved in to the village.  He needs to work out how Roger was murdered within a locked a room and how the murderer escaped.