'Ethelred and Elsie are a dazzling detective duo ... witty and hugely entertaining' Martin Edwards, author of Mortmain HallEthelred Tressider and his agent Elsie Thirkettle have been invited to lecture on a creative writing course at Fell Hall, a remote location in the heart of ragged countryside that even sheep are keen to shun. While Ethelred's success as a writer is distinctly average, Elsie sees this as an opportunity to scout for new, hopefully more lucrative, talent. But heavy snow falls overnight, trapping those early arrivals inside, and tensions are quick to emerge between the assembled group.When one of their number goes missing, Ethelred leads a search party and makes a gruesome discovery. With no phone signal and no hope of summoning the police, can Ethelred and Elsie identify the killer among them before one of them is next?

'Very much set in "Golden Age" territory ... a great deal of fun' The GuardianDr Hilary Joyner is neither well liked nor well respected among his academic peers. However, he believes his next project will bring him the recognition he deserves. He's working to uncover the truth behind the 'buried treasure story', a local Sussex legend involving two invaluable golden statues, fabled to be hidden among the religious houses in the county.Although his latest book deadline is looming, Ethelred Tressider unwittingly finds himself hosting both the academic and his redoubtable literary agent, Elsie Thirkettle, for the weekend. The three soon find themselves part of a hunt for the missing figures, but it isn't long before Joyner's research project comes to an abrupt end with his death. Ethelred and Elsie must piece together the clues of the past to solve the mystery in the present – if they can avoid the distractions of chocolate and feminine wiles for long...

It's 1665, and the Black Death has London in its hideous grip. Bad news for everyone...almost. Where better, after all, to hide a dead body than among a whole city full of dead bodies? And who gets the delightful task of pawing through the corpses, in search of the one that doesn't belong, the one with some problematic papers in its pocket? John Grey, of course, the government's favorite fixer, cursed with an inability to keep his mouth shut. Two-time Edgar nominee Tyler is an expert at balancing intricate plotting with one-liners; if only John Grey were half so skillful.

It's the Autumn of 1666, and the Great Fire is still burning, the ashes of hundreds of houses and shops and St. Paul's Cathedral choking the air. The people, too, are choking, raging at the French, the Dutch, at the foreigners who—they are certain—lit the torch. Lord Arlington, the Secretary of State, might conceivably be interested in harnessing this anger; it can be so useful, at times, to have the population united in loathing of a common enemy. But this is not one of those times. And inconveniently, a Frenchman—clearly an insane Frenchman—has confessed to setting the fire. He did it with an accomplice, he says. And he subsequently killed the accomplice. It's all most irritating for Arlington, or it would be if he didn't have John Grey on call. Go poke around the smoldering ruins, Arlington says. Find me a convenient fall guy. Make this problem go away.

Ethelred Tressider, mid-list crime writer, is surprised when fellow author Henry Holiday unexpectedly turns up on his doorstep. He's even more surprised when Henry confesses that he may have committed murder while drunk on New Year's Eve. Though he has little recollection of the night, Henry fears he may have killed drinking companion and fellow crime writer Crispin Vynall, and asks Ethelred to discreetly make enquiries in order to discover the truth. As Ethelred and his trusty agent Elsie begin to investigate, they discover that Henry has been set up, and now all that remains is for them to find out why and, more importantly ...whodunnit?

Robin Pagham is dead - drowned in a sailing accident. The reaction of everyone in the village on hearing this tragic news is that Robin must have been drunk. After all, that was what he did best - that and drug dealing and breaking his former girlfriend's nose, with a bit of TV acting on the side. Surprisingly, newspaper reports of the inquest state that no alcohol was found in Robin's blood. It was accidental death, with no clear cause. At the funeral however Robin's latest girlfriend - to whom he has just got engaged - stands up and, lifting back her veil, announces that somebody in the congregation has murdered Robin and that she's going to have their arse. Although estranged, Elsie and Ethelred begin simultaneous investigations into Robin's death - as ever with some comical results.