A Talent for Murder by Andrew Wilson

On a train platform in London, Agatha Christie is pushed and then rescued from falling in front of an on-coming train.  Her rescuer, Dr Kurs, turns out to be the person who pushed her.  He blackmails Agatha.  If she won't do as he says and help him in his plot to kill his wife, then he will let everyone know about her husband's affair with the much younger woman Miss Nancy Neele.

When told to do so Agatha has to meet Dr Kurs by the pond.  Here he pushes her car, leaving her coat and overnight bag inside, and they set off a journey.  During the eleven days that Agatha Christie was missing in the winter of 1926, we learn of the plot made by Dr Kurs, his blackmail of Agatha and Agatha's attempt to manipulate the situation so that it appears she has carried out the request without actually committing a murder.  

Dark Undertakings by Rebecca Tope

Drew Slocombe has started a new job and career as a trainee undertaker.  He no longer wishes to be a nurse.  

He is called out to the home of Jim Lapsford who has been found dead in bed that morning next to his wife.  The local GP has already visited and declared the death to be by heart attack.  To save money the local GPs have been asked to only order a post mortem if the cause of death is not clear.  Jim, aged 55, had been in really good health and did not take any medication.  Drew is not convinced that it was a heart attack.  

As Drew talks to people and tries to make his own enquiries into Jim's life and death he finds that many people did not like him and he was known to have liaisons with lots women in the town.  Jim is going to be cremated and so Drew has only a few days to try to establish if he was murdered, and if so, who by.  

Last Light by Andy McNab

Nick Stone is assigned by British Intelligence to carry out an assassination in central London.  When he sees the age of the target, he deliberately misses.  He is then threatened.  He must travel to Panama and finish the job, or the life of Kelly, for whom he is a guardian, will be at risk.  

He heads off to finish the job and finds that there is a conspiracy plot and yet more innocent lives are at risk if he can't stop a plot to bomb a ship.  

A Year at the Star and Sixpence by Holly Hepburn

Just at a time when they both need to get away, sisters Nessie and Sam inherit a country pub from their estranged and now dead father.  The pub is in the village of Little Monkham in Shropshire.  When they arrive they find the pub in a very run down and messy state.  The village postmistress, who is also Chair of the local preservation society, announces to the sisters that they need to be re-opened by Boxing Day.  This gives them just 3 weeks to turn things around.  

Over the next year they do their best to make the pub into a thriving business which is back to being at the heart of the village again.  During this time Nessie is working her way through a divorce and is very attracted to Owen their neighbour.  Sam is trying to hide away from her previous life in PR in London and keep her head down and out of the limelight.  They make lots of friends in the village and finally find out things they didn't know about their father.  

The Picture House by the Sea by Holly Hepburn

Gina leaves her life in London and heads to Polwhipple to help her grandparents with their ice-cream business.  Ferdy, her grandfather, has broken his leg and won't be able to make all the gelato.  As well as selling to businesses they also run their own concessions area in the Palace which is the local cinema.  

The Palace is an old art deco building which Gina remembers from her visits in her teens.  She used to sneak in the fire exit with her friend Ben.  She is saddened to see the poor state of the building.  Goran, the owner, has let things slide and not kept up to date with modern technology.  His business sense is poor, he doesn't advertise films in advance and very few people visit.  

Gina can see great potential and convinces Goran to let her help and put on a film she feels will bring people in.  With the help of old friend Ben, who is now a builder, they are able to make a difference and then decide that they should work together as a team to improve the Palace back to its former glory. 

An Untidy Death by Simon Brett

This is the second book in the Decluttering Mysteries series. 

Declutterer Ellen Curtis is approached by Alexandra Richards who requests she meets with her mother to help sort out her flat which is full of newspapers.  Alexandra does not seem to like her mother very much and says to Ellen 'My mother's going to kill herself, that is if I don't kill her first'.  Ellen visits and gets on really well with Ingrid who used to be an actress.  Ellen then discovers that there has been a fire at the flat and Ingrid is now dead.  She is asked by the police whether or not she would have considered the flat to be a fire hazard as the old lady chain smoked.  Ellen seems to have been manipulated into a situation where she is being used to confirm the flat was a hazard.  Ellen is not so sure.  Ingrid was very clear that she was careful about her cigarettes and valued and took care of her life.  

The police seem to be disregarding the fire as an accident.  Ellen is not sure that it was and starts her own investigation into what could have happened as she is suspicious about the nature and timing of the death. 

The Clutter Corpse by Simon Brett

 This is the first book in the Decluttering Mysteries series.

Ellen Curtis has set up her own business helping people to declutter spaces in their homes.  Ellen is asked by her friend Hilary to help an elderly lady to declutter her home so that her son can be released from prison and go to live with her.  Whilst looking around the house to assess what will need to be done she finds a dead body.  The police immediate suspect that Nate Ogden, the son, is responsible for the murder.  

When the identity of the body is known, Ellen realises that she had met the young woman before.  She tells the police and then she herself is also under suspicion.  After being interviewed by the police Hilary then goes missing.  

The Back Road by Rachel Abbott

This is the second book in the DCI Tom Douglas series. 

Tom Douglas has recently moved to the village of Little Melham. One night a teenage girl is involved in an accident on a back road which is only used by the locals.  She has been hit by a car and then dragged to the side of the road before being left.  Luckily she is found in time and is in intensive care, in a coma, in the hospital.  

Ellie Saunders, Tom's neighbour, had gone out that night.  Her sister Leo, who had come to visit, had heard Ellie leave the house.  Max, Ellie's husband, had been out with colleagues and friends at a party held at the local rugby club.  He was driven home late by a colleague. There are a number of the locals who seem to have been out that night, they all have secrets to keep.  

Ellie starts to get messages and phone calls from a blackmailer.  Someone knows she was out and threatens to tell her husband she has been seeing another man.  The other man is also watching her, following her every move and won't accept that she does not want to see him.  

The Dead Ex by Jane Corry

Following an attack Vicki has been left with a head injury which has caused her to suffer from epilepsy.  Unable to cope with this, her husband David leaves her to go off with his mistress.  Vicki had taken advantage of aromatherapy to help her and then trained as therapist was a complete change in career. 

Vicki is visited by the police as her ex-husband David has gone missing.  They want to know when she last saw him.  They then believe that David is dead and that Vicki may have been involved.  Due to her medication and condition, she can struggle with her memory and this does not help her case.  The police think she is involved and may have killed him.  

Alongside Vicki's story is Scarlett who as a young child was placed into care when her mum was sent to prison.  

The Tanglewood Tea Shop by Lilac Mills

Having broken her leg, Patisserie chef Stevie is sacked from her job in a Michelin starred restaurant.  Her Great Aunt Peggy then dies and leaves almost all her money to Stevie.  This is her chance to get out of London and have a fresh start away from her family.  

Stevie finds a tea shop for sale in the welsh village of Tanglewood.  It is ideal for her as it also has living accommodation upstairs.  

Some of the locals are welcoming, others are not.  Stevie starts to have regulars who come in for drinks and cakes, and her gets a lot of tourists and hikers popping in.  

Here initial contact with Nick, the local stable owner, is not a positive one, but then they start to become attracted to each other.