The Windsor Knot by S J Bennett

89 year old Queen Elizabeth II secretly likes to solves crimes.  The morning after a Dine and Sleep at Windsor Castle one of the guests in found murdered in his bedroom, he has been hanged and it was staged to look like suicide.  

Whilst the police are investigating, and they suspect a member of the royal household, the Queen is making her own enquiries through Rozie, her personal secretary.  When she finds useful information she makes subtle suggestions to the police so that they make appropriate investigations to uncover who the murderer really is. The police then think they have solved the crime.   

The Woman at Number 24 by Juliet Ashton

Number 24 is a large house in West London which has been split into 5 different flats.  

Newly divorced Sarah, a child psychologist, lives on the top floor.  Below her with his new wife lives Leo her ex-husband.  The house is also occupied by single mum Lisa with daughter Una who does not speak.  Sarah is drawn to Una who she knows doesn't speak, as she herself as a child didn't, due to the split of her parents.  But she is not sure if she is able to help her as she is struggling to move on with her life and finding her job stressful.  Mavis, a long term resident in a basement flat, hides herself away and avoids the others in the house when she can.  

A new couple move in to the empty flat and want to get to know everyone and quickly get them to socialise together.  

The Cherry Tree Cafe by Heidi Swain

On her birthday, instead of the expected marriage proposal, Lizzy Dixon is dumped by her boyfriend.  She can't afford to stay in London in their flat on her own so she moves back to Wynbridge to stay with her friend Jemma. 

Jemma and husband Tom have just bought the old cafe and are working hard on the refurbishment before their grand re-opening.  Lizzy moves into the flat above the cafe and helps out with the decorating and soft furnishings.  This gives Jemma the idea that they could hold craft classes in the cafe.  

This book really comes before Coming Home to Cuckoo Cottage. 

A Summer Fling by Millie Johnson

A new manager, Christy, arrives in the bakery admin department and gets to know the four unusual women who work there.  Together, with Christy's guidance, they bond and become friends.  

Grace is trapped in a loveless marriage and is considering leaving her husband of 23 years.  

Anna has just been dumped by her fiance and is feeling old, frumpy and unloved. 

Rachel is happily married but has dark secrets in her past. 

Dawn is about to marry Calum, she wants to belong to a family as she doesn't have one of her own, but he's not really the love of her life.  

The women start to socialise on a Friday after work, they get to know each other and support each other.  

Black Dress by Deborah Moggach

Recently single retired Pru is missing the life she had with her husband Greg before he decided to leave as he needed solitude.  

She has to attend the funeral of a friend and so goes to a charity shop to buy a black dress.  Wearing the dress she arrives just in time before the funeral starts, but then realises that she is in the wrong place, this is not the funeral she should be attending, she does not know the person everyone is talking about.  This gives her the idea that she can meet new people if she attends other funerals.  No one will challenge why she is there, they will all just assume that she knew the deceased.  She is looking to find love.  

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena

A couple of days after a family Easter meal, Fred and Sheila Merton are found murdered in their home.  At first it looks like a burglary which has gone wrong. 

There had been an argument at the meal.  Could one of the children have returned to the family home later that night and murdered their parents?  The parents are very wealthy and the children are all expecting to inherit millions.  

Dan has financial problems.  Since their father sold the family business Dan has no job and can't access his investments.  

Catherine, the only child who seems to have gained any parental approval, wants the large family home in Brecken Hill for herself.

Jenna is an artist, she makes sculptures of which the parents do not approve.  She is the wild child of the family who is always being threatened that her allowance will be cut off. 

As the police investigate the siblings, who have never worked well on anything together, they keep meeting up to share information.  They each suspect the others could have been involved.  

Lyrebird by Cecelia Ahern

Documentary film makers Bo, Rachel and Solomon return to the Toolin farmhouse after the funeral of Joe Toolin. Tom, the twin brother, is now alone. Whilst looking around the farm together and checking on the bat house they meet Laura who is living in a small cottage on the land.  Unknown by Tom, she has been living in the cottage for 10 years.  

Laura has a very unique gift of being able to imitate sounds.  Now that Joe is dead she has no-one.  She is offered the chance to change her life by agreeing to be followed and filmed by Bo. The documentary will be called Lyrebird.  Solomon is attracted to Laura and wants to protect her from the outside world which is unfamiliar to her. 

Coming Home to Cuckoo Cottage by Heidi Swain

Following the death of Gwen, a friend of Lottie Foster's grandmother, Lottie is amazed to find that she is to inherit Cuckoo Cottage which had been Gwen's home.  She had regularly visited and spent holidays at Cuckoo Cottage as a child.  Gwen stipulated in her will that Lottie should live in the cottage for a year, after which time if she wishes to do so she can sell the property.  

Lottie leaves her job and moves to Cuckoo Cottage in the Fenland town of Wynbridge where everyone knows everything about everyone.  

She soon meets up with 2 different men.  Will is her neighbour and was a good friend to Gwen.  They quickly fall out and have an awkward relationship.  The other is Matt, a local builder, who is always on hand to tell Lottie what is wrong with her old cottage and how much work needs to be done.  The two men do not like each other.  

Lottie will need to find herself some work.  She then discovers four old caravans stored in one of the barns.  Gwen clearly had a plan laid out for Lottie and the caravans.  

A Day Like Any Other by Isla Dewar

Anna always wanted to be a famous poet and George left home as a teenager as she was upset by the name her parents gave her.  Now elderly, Anna and George, who have been friends since their school days, meet regularly to have lunch and a catch up.  

Anna is asked to take care a neighbour's young son after school a couple of days each week.  She's not sure about it but finally agrees.  Suddenly she is meeting new people, getting to know her other neighbours and making new friends. 

George has been remembering the flat she lived in when she ran away from home.  It had a fantastic kitchen and she starts to wonder what had happened to it after her young husband was killed and she had to leave as the rent hadn't been paid.  George really wants to see the kitchen again and Anna agrees to help try to find it.  

A Rose Petal Summer by Katie Fforde

Having seen a job advert for the role of a companion to an elderly gentleman in Scotland, Caro leaves behind her barge in London and heads north.  

She takes on some light duties on the large run down Scottish estate, but mainly she just has to keep Murdo company, read to him and play games.  Caro is attracted to Alec, Murdo's son.  She remembers meeting him one night on a Greek island about 20 years before, but he doesn't seem to remember her.  

The estate is in financial difficulties and so when Caro meets a celebrity couple who are looking to match an old and one-off perfume, she knows that Alec is the person to help them and this could just bring in the money the family most desperately need.