A Vintage Summer by Cathy Bramley

Lottie Allbright has been living in London for a while with her boyfriend.  Just when she is unsure what to do she meets a woman at the crematorium where she has been working who opens her eye to what has been happening in her life.  Lottie makes the decision to head back home to Derbyshire.  

When she gets back home she finds her father about to set off on his travels and her sister's marriage is on the rocks.  She needs a place to stay.  Butterworth Wines are advertising a temporary live-in job as a manager and housekeeper.  Betsy has been trying to keep the business going since her husband died but she is struggling with her eyesight and needs help.  Lottie comes up with lots of ideas to turn the business around and help with cashflow.  Betsy’s grandson Jensen is convinced that the business is too much for her and she should sell up and move out.  Lottie is determined to help Betsy, get the harvest in and save the business.  

Reading Allowed by Chris Paling

This is a selection of true stories and events which happened in the library where Chris Paling has worked.  

There are regular people who visit the library as a place of shelter, somewhere to meet and chat with others or to access the computers.  Some people have to be watched closely as they are known thieves and anything can be stolen when they are around.  

It highlights how many people rely on libraries as a sanctuary, not just as a place to borrow books.  

Hidden Lies by Rachel Ryan

After a trip to the park Georgina’s young son Cody talks about his ‘new granny’.  As Georgina’s mother had died only a few months ago her husband Bren is convinced that Cody has made up an imaginary friend as a way to deal with his loss.  Georgina is not so sure.  Cody has sweet wrappers and a lolly and can’t really say where he got then from.  Then there are some odd phone calls.  

Cody claims that he made up ‘new granny’ when pressed about her but Georgina knows that he is lying.  She also feels that they are sometimes being watched. 

What Lies Hidden by Fran McDonnell

Psychotherapist Isobel McKenzie is asked to help out an old friend, Peter Wright, who is a Solicitor.  Peter is concerned about one of his clients.  Thomas and Anne Banks are divorcing.  Anne is a recovering alcoholic who Peter feels may be being coerced into signing away her share of a house and access to her son.  

Isobel immediately senses that there is no relationship between the couple.  She too is concerned about Anne and so she starts to talk to some of Anne’s friends and hears some very different and worrying stories.  There is concern that the alcoholism is not true, and that Thomas is controlling and abusive.  Isobel along with Patricia, Peter’s secretary, set out to find the truth.  They uncover more and more worrying information and they only have until Wednesday when the divorce papers are due to be signed to be able find the whole truth. 

I Could be You by Sheila Bugler

Getting up late and heading out down a private lane which leads only to her house and the rental mobile home further down the lane, Dee stumbles across the body of her neighbour.  Katie had been run over and left to die.  The pushchair of her 2 year old son is in the ditch but Jake is no where to be found.  

Dee helps the police with their investigations which turn into a murder enquiry.  As a former journalist Dee starts her own investigations.  No-one knows who Katie’s next of kin is and then there is doubt over who Katie really is.  

The story does backwards and forwards in time to give Katie’s story alongside Dee’s investigations and findings.  A lot of people have not been telling the truth. 

Date with Danger by Julia Chapman

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

Samson and Delilah are called in to help investigate when there is a fatal accident at the local livestock auction.  Ron would have known better than to stay in the pen with agitated animals and one of the angry bullocks is later found to have a knife injury.  

There is a spate of sheep thefts in the area which is believed to be by a professional gang of rustlers.  Farmer Clive Knowles manages to disturb them when they are on his land and gets a look at some of the unusual gear they are using.  

With the help of some papers Ron has been collating, Samson and Delilah find a link between the sheep thefts and the recent activity at the auction.  And with the additional information provided by Clive Knowles they are able to come up with a plan to hopefully safeguard some of the local sheep. 

Your Place or Mine by Portia MacIntosh

When Diana suddenly dies her children immediately decide to sell her teashop.  Serena is out of a job and, as she lives in the flat over the shop, she is also being made homeless.  Her friend Taylor is about to go travelling and so offers Serena the use of her house, she can be their house sitter and let in the tradesmen to do jobs.  

Unfortunately Taylor’s husband has also offered the house to his friend Ziggy who is loud and messy.  As Ziggy arrived first he claimed the best bedroom and Serena is left in a small and cold room which has not yet been tackled in the renovations.  

Both Serena and Ziggy come up with ways to annoy each other in the hope of driving the other one out of the house.  Then Serena finds that she has inherited an unusual and ailing business from Diana. 

Date with Poison by Julia Chapman

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

In Bruncliffe there are a number of unwell dogs.  Herriot the local vet is looking after a few of them and suspects a connection.  He asks Samson O’Brien and Delilah Metcalfe to investigate a possible spate of poisonings.  

Samson is picked up by the police and questioned about his involvement in a murder.  This brings out all the details of his recent suspension from the police force.  This does not help his lack of popularity amongst some of the local residents.  

Delilah’s nephew Nathan gets into trouble at school and no-one will believe his version of events.  He then goes missing and many of the villagers go out on to the hills to try and find him in some poor weather conditions. 

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

Whilst out having a meal to celebrate her 45th birthday with her husband, Josie Fair bumps into Alix Summer a popular podcaster who is also celebrating her 45th birthday.  They are birthday twins.  

Josie approaches Alix and suggests that she makes a podcast about her as she is about to make some big changes in her life.  She convinces Alix that this could be a great subject to cover and Alix agrees to an initial interview.  Josie’s life is complicated, in her early teens she met the man who would soon become her husband.  He was already married and very many years older then her.  They have two children, one who disappeared years ago and the other who does not come out of her bedroom.  Alix is drawn into the story and soon finds that Josie is taking over her life.  

Alix interviews Josie’s mum and gets a very different version of the story.  

The podcast is changing from a story about a lifestyle change into a true crime story with Josie and Alix at the centre. 

The Boyfriend by Michelle Frances

Coming round in hospital following an accident, Amy has no memories of the last six months.  She is approaching her 30th birthday and has plans with her mother and a group of friends to visit her aunt’s chalet in Val d’Isere for a holiday and to celebrate her birthday.  

Amy has no memories of her boyfriend Dr Jack Stewart.  There are posts on her social media about him and places they have visited together but she does not remember him.  Jack is charming, seems to be devoted to Amy and knows a lot about her.  

Slowly odd memories start to return and Amy is sure Jack is not who he says he is.  Her friends are convinced it a paranoia linked to her memory loss.  

Death at the Seaside by Frances Brody

Kate Shackleton decides to take a break and visit her old school friend Alma and god-daughter Felicity in Whitby.  When she arrives Kate goes to the local jewellers shop to look for a present for Felicity.  Getting no response in the shop she pushes open the door to the back room and finds the jeweller dead on the floor.  

Felicity has disappeared. She has left a note for her mum along with a pawn ticket.  She has pawned a watch-guard with Jack Phillips the local jeweller.  Kate then learns that Jack Phillips is Alma’s current gentleman friend.  

Alma does not want to involve the police and the locals are not being very helpful.  Kate needs to do her own investigation to find out where Felicity has gone and who murdered Jack Phillips.  

Made for Me by Kathryn R Biel

Single, 29 year old Michele has just lost her job, is also about to lose her home and have to move back in with her parents.  She loves designing and making clothes but is very easily distracted from what she is doing.  

The only way she can see to make any money and be able to turn her life around is to enter the 'Made for Me' talent show.  The winner will design the wedding dress for a princess.  There is a lot of talent amongst the contestants.  They all have to live together for the duration of the filming of the shows and can not have contact with their families.  Michele feels a bit out of her depth with the others but does her best not to get eliminated.  

Some of the contestants are friendly and there is a possible budding romance with one of them.  

Janet Jackson's Yorkshire B&B by Becky Papworth

Janet Jackson is a divorced, single mum of teenage Chloe and works as a dentist's receptionist.  She has her wacky sister Maureen living with her and is desperately trying to make ends meet as Maureen regularly fails to provide any useful help or monetary support.  Over the last few years she has very slowly converted her two storey garage into accommodation so that she can open up a bed and breakfast.  After the first guests she changes her mind and drops the idea of providing breakfasts. 

With Chloe's help she advertises as an Airbnb and starts to get a few bookings.  Those who give notice are much easier to accommodate than those who want an instant booking and suddenly appear on the doorstep.  

Janet has to juggle learning how to cope with her new venture and the varying needs and habits of her guests, whilst holding down her regular job, Chloe having her first boyfriend and sitting exams, Maureen and her many men friends and her own first romance since her divorce.  Then a neighbour complains to the council that she does not have planning permission for the garage conversion.  

Mystery on Hidden Lane by Clare Chase

Obituary writer Eve Mallow books a few days in a holiday cottage in Saxford St Peter to spend time investigating the life of cellist Bernard Fitzpatrick who has drowned in the river near his home.  Eve plans to interview friends and colleagues of Bernard to find their most treasured memories of him for her article.  

The police discover that the death was not an accident but murder.  Whilst interviewing people and asking about Bernard's life Eve is conscious that she could be interviewing his murderer.  She creates a spreadsheet of possible suspects and adds more details after each interview.  Almost everyone has a reason to dislike Bernard.  Then another person is murdered using the same weapon.  

Her Sister's Secret by Jan Baynham

In the 1940s Rose Howells falls in love with Marco, an Italian prisoner of war.  Her father Joe will not tolerate a relationship with someone who could have killed their own men.  Joe is known to have a temper and when he finds Rose with Marco she has to leave the family home and goes to live with her aunt.  Her father tells her never to return. 

In the 1960s Jennifer Howells is getting ready to leave her family home in Wales to go to university.  She needs her birth certificate and when she sees it her world falls apart.  She is not who she thinks she is and her family have been lying to her.  First she needs to find her birth mother and then she needs to find out who her father is.  Her search takes her to Cardiff and then to Italy.  

The House Sitter by Debbie Howells

On his way to work, airline pilot Oliver is killed in a car crash.  His wife Kat soon learns that he had lost his job a few months ago due to arriving at work drunk.  She slowly unearths more and more information about his life that she was unaware of.  He seems to have been living a double life and was planning to leave her for another woman.  Oliver had been driving Kat's car and the brakes had been cut.  The police have to work out if the intended victim was Oliver or Kat.  When Oliver's will is read Kat finds that the other woman has been left the bulk of his wealth. 

In other chapters we learn all about a young woman who keeps changing her name and re-inventing herself.  She spends time living in luxury houses as a house sitter in different countries.  The owners believe their houses are being cared for, but she helps herself to their clothes, wine and jewellery.  If anyone gets in her way there can be severe consequences for them.  

Summer at Blue Sands Cove by CP Ward

Fed up with Bristol, Grace is encouraged by her friend Joan to return to Blue Sands in Cornwall for the summer and to help her out by working in her family's cafe on the beach.   

Grace meets up with old school friends and tries to avoid an old boyfriend.  She discovers the cafe could be in trouble so tries to find a way to promote it and get it on social media.  Joan isn't keen on any of the ideas or proposed new names.  

Being very competitive, when a local challenge is announced, Grace has to enter both the surfing and the cycling competitions.  

Date with Mystery by Julia Chapman

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

The Dales Detective Agency is asked to find the death certificate of a young woman who died 20 years ago as she appears, along with her brother, as the joint beneficiaries in their mother's will.  The local solicitor who hires Samson is happy to hire Delilah too to assist in this task.  Together they head to Leeds where they had been told she was killed in a road accident.  There is no death registered, nor any newspaper stories about the accident.  

The death is becoming a bit of a mystery and then Samson receives a threatening letter warning him off.  

Meanwhile Delilah needs to a find a way to be able to keep her beloved dog Tolpuddle who is in the middle of a custody battle with her ex-husband who is named is on the registration papers.  

Between the Lines by S J Butler

During a party on a boat Kev meets Eve.  One evening three months later Eve is killed in a hit and run as they are separately heading back to their homes after a night out.  He feels guilty that he had not walked her home. 

A while later Kev meet Stella and they start a relationship.  He still often thinks about Eve.  

Kev is a literary agent who is looking for his next best seller.  He receives the first chapter of a book and sends back a rejection letter.  Then the next chapter arrives, and then the next.  He realises that he is being stalked by the author and his worst nightmare is about to begin.