‘A writer of stealthy brilliance… the Miss Marple of crime fiction.’ Andrew Taylor
Do you love a classic English whodunit? Then it’s time to meet your new favourite gentleman sleuth: the whip-smart Oxford don, Dr Patrick Grant.
A lover of rhyming verse, clever conversation, strong coffee—and impossible mysteries from history—Patrick Grant now finds himself facing a murder rooted in real life.
From a CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger winner for outstanding lifetime achievement
A grand country house. A strained family reunion. And someone who won’t live to see morning…
When Dr Patrick Grant travels to the quiet Hampshire village of Winterswick, he expects a peaceful weekend of good food, fine wine and polite conversation. But at Pantons, the Ludlow family’s imposing country mansion, tension crackles beneath the surface. Gerald Ludlow has returned from abroad with a glamorous new American wife—and not everyone is pleased. Least of all Gerald’s sharp-tongued mother.
Even the kindly housekeeper, Mrs Mackenzie, reacts with visible shock at the sight of the bride. One look leaves her pale and shaken—as though she’s seen a ghost.
By morning, the house is rocked by tragedy. Mrs Mackenzie is found dead in her bed.
The police rule it natural causes. Patrick isn’t convinced. The Mrs Mack he knew was as strong as an ox.
As whispers and suspicion ripple through the village, Patrick’s keen intellect and love of puzzles draw him into a web of secrets. Everyone at Pantons has something to hide—and one of them had a reason to kill.
Can Patrick uncover the truth before the murderer strikes again?
A masterclass in misdirection, brimming with village intrigue, sharp wit and sly humour, this page-turning mystery will delight fans of Faith Martin, Agatha Christie, Veronica Heley, the Reverend Richard Coles and Clare Chase.
‘Explores the dark undercurrents of village life.’ Daily Telegraph
‘There was nobody better… Margaret Yorke wrote with a pen dipped in acid.’ Val McDermid
MEET THE SLEUTH
Dr Patrick Grant is a man of formidable intellect—complex and finely honed, much like his whisky namesake. He’d happily spend his days immersed in Shakespeare, quietly mocking student fashions, scribbling lines of iambic pentameter and solving obscure historical riddles in the hushed library of St Mark’s College, Oxford.
But murder has a habit of intruding.
Stumbling across crime scenes is becoming something of a pattern for Patrick, and he’s never been one to resist a baffling mystery. Yet as his curiosity deepens and the danger grows, could his brilliant mind be leading him into deadly peril…?
