To the Manor Dead

Clara Whitfield's first booking outside Thistlewick was supposed to be simple. Instead, a man died with her own shortbread beside him.

When Hollowmere's secretive new owners hire Clara to cater their manor's grand reopening, it's the kind of chance her little bakery has been waiting for. Then a stranger claiming to be the estate's long-lost heir turns up dead in the walled garden - poisoned, and the poison came through Clara's own kitchen.

The village's groundskeeper won't say where he was that afternoon. The manor's new owners are hiding a fortune's worth of desperation behind a very good smile. And the solicitor untangling the estate's paperwork is entirely too pleased with himself for a man administering a dead man's affairs.

Clara's only ally is Detective Sergeant Thomas Reed - her boyfriend, and the one person who now has to treat her like a suspect. Between decades-old family secrets, a foxglove border with more uses than anyone admits, and a groundskeeper hiding a devotion twenty-three years in the making, Clara will have to decide how much trust survives being tested twice - before whoever poisoned a stranger decides she's asked one question too many.

A deeply satisfying English village mystery full of twists, warmth, and a killer with a very patient plan. Perfect for fans of Agatha Raisin and Richard Osman.

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