Drum roll for the publication of my latest novel tomorrow (Friday 31st July)!
As part of my launch campaign, I’m pleased to be able to offer you a day early a free bonus chapter that I hope will whet your appetite for the whole book.
Death at the Village Garden Party, the fourth in my bestselling Cotswold Curiosity Shop cosy mystery series, takes place in high summer, so it’s the perfect read for right now.
The story begins with Alice Carroll happily settled in the Cotswold village of Little Pride, running her beloved Curiosity Shop and cautiously planning the next chapter with her partner, Robert Praed.
Then Robert, who enjoys restoring derelict Cotswold farms and cottages, buys the local stately home, Bunbury House, complete with sitting tenants in the estate workers’ cottages in the isolated hamlet of Cold Bottom.
Needing to win over the loyalty of his new tenants, he decides to revive the estate’s annual summer garden party, with the assistance of Alice. This jolly jamboree, run for decades by the former Dukes of Bunbury, involves traditional fairground rides and entertainments and copious food and drink, all accompanied by a lively brass band.
So far, so good – until a tenant arriving at the special evening reception for Cold Bottom tenants falls down dead as he crosses the marquee threshold, felled by a well-aimed crossbow bolt.
As Alice, Robert, Danny and Jack were the last to see the victim alive, they are top of the local detectives’ list of suspects.
Alice must summon up all her amateur sleuthing powers to prove their innocence by finding the real killer.
With a little help from old Nell Littlewood, and her even older beau, the last duke’s former butler, can Alice outsmart the local police force? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
Fun fact: you’ll find cameo appearances in this story from certain characters in my previous novels. Let me know how many you can find!
In the meantime, click on this Bookfunnel link to download the bonus chapter “Party Planning” – a quick read to put you in the mood for Death at the Village Garden Party!
Death at the Village Garden Party will be published by Boldwood Books in ebook, paperback, hardback and audiobook on Friday 31st July.