Recommendations based on "A Birthday Lunch"

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are spending the Christmas hols in snowy Cambridge. Hazel has high hopes of its beautiful spires, cosy libraries and inviting tea-rooms - but there is danger lurking in the dark stairwells of ancient Maudlin College.Two days before Christmas, there is a terrible accident. At least, it appears to be an accident - until the Detective Society look a little closer, and realise a murder has taken place. Faced with several irritating grown-ups and fierce competition from a rival agency, they must use all their cunning and courage to find the killer (in time for Christmas Day, of course).The fabulously festive fifth mystery from the bestselling, award-winning author of Murder Most Unladylike.

A New Mystery Is Afoot In The Third Book In The Thursday Murder Club Series From Million-copy Bestselling Author Richard Osman. Coming Autumn 2022! Pre-order Your Copy Now. Readers Can't Get Enough Of The Thursday Murder Club Series! ---------- What People Are Saying About The Man Who Died Twice 'a Thing Of Joy . . . Richard Has A Natural Sense Of Humour' Kate Atkinson 'i Absolutely Loved It. He'd Not Only Done It Again, But He's Done It Even Better' Phillipa Perry 'the Tonic We All Need' Shari Lapena 'this Slick Sequel Will Leave You Buzzing With 'the Gentle Hum Of Contentment'' The Times 'full Of Humour And Heart, Osman Delivers Another Must-read. I Loved It' Harlan Coben 'superbly Entertaining' Guardian 'it's Like Reading Ice Cream... A Pure Pleasure' Linwood Barclay 'he's Back And He's Better Than Ever!' Jeffery Deaver What People Are Saying About The Thursday Murder Club: 'a Warm, Wise And Witty Warning Never To Underestimate The Elderly' Val Mcdermid 'so Smart And Funny. Deplorably Good' Ian Rankin 'smart, Compassionate, Warm, Moving And So Very Funny' Marian Keyes 'thrilling, Moving, Laugh-out-loud Funny' Mark Billingham 'pure Escapism' Guardian 'funny, Clever And Achingly British' Adam Kay 'as Gripping As It Is Funny' Evening Standard

‘a Sparklingly Delicious Confection To Satisfy The Mystery Reader's Appetite’ Helena Dixon, Bestselling Author Of The Miss Underhay Mysteries The First Book In A New Cosy Mystery Series!

Detectives Byrne and Balzano return to the streets of Philadelphia to put an end to a macabre succession of murdered children.A quiet Philadelphia suburb. A woman cycles past a train depot with her young daughter. There she finds a murdered girl posed on a newly painted bench. Beside her is a formal invitation to a tea dance in a week's time.Seven days later, two more young victims are discovered in an abandoned house, posed on painted swings. At the scene is an identical invitation. This time, though, there is something extra waiting for Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano: a delicate porcelain doll.It's a message. And a threat. With the killers at large, Detectives Byrne and Balzano have just seven more days to find the link between the murders before another innocent child is snatched from the streets.

The first children's murder mystery from number-one-bestselling author of The Appeal, Janice Hallett, perfect for fans of Robin Stevens and Rhian Tracey. When Ava and Luke discover a mysterious box of papers in their attic they are instantly curious about secrets it might hold. As they read through letters, diary entries, newspaper cuttings and listen to secret recordings, they realize that a decades-old, still unsolved, murder mystery is unfolding right in front of them . . . Ava and Luke decide to try and crack the case themselves. But as they work through the clues, it soon becomes clear that the mystery isn't something left in the past- the killer is still be out there - and might be closer than they think... YOU know the facts. YOU have all the clues. Can YOU solve the mystery before they do?

New York Times Bestseller • Now a MASTERPIECE mystery series on PBS! Bestselling author Anthony Horowitz brings back his famous literary detective Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland, hero of Magpie Murders, in an inventive, labyrinthine story that is “catnip for classic mystery lovers” (Time magazine). Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted. But is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss London. And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married—a picturesque inn on the Suffolk coast named Farlingaye Hall—fascinates Susan and piques her editor’s instincts.  One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Cake, on that very crime.  The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened. Brilliantly clever, relentlessly suspenseful, full of twists that will keep readers guessing with each revelation and clue, Moonflower Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction from one of its greatest masterminds.  

A new tie-in edition of Agatha Christie's bestseller, to coincide with the broadcast of the new movie on ITV starring Geraldine McEwan. Includes a full colour plate section, a 'making of' essay, background facts and a bonus chapter. The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Jane Marple, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which reads: 'A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.' A childish practical joke? Or a hoax intended to scare poor Letitia Blacklock? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, a crowd begins to gather at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out...

A sunny evening, a tranquil garden—and an old man brutally gunned down on his doorstep. In a pretty and tranquil town, a proposed superstore development has divided the population in an increasingly bitter war. The low-level aggression of bored youth that is generally tolerated has become sinister. The bloodied carcass of a sheep abandoned in the streets is more than just unpleasant vandalism, and teenage bikers, terrorizing a woman to the breaking point, are impossible to control. When a second victim is killed in what seems like a random shooting, the fear in the town becomes palpable. Detective Fleming will not accept that the crimes are motiveless, but she struggles to make sense of the two murders when nothing makes sense anymore and no one will believe anything. Not even the truth.

With sparkling wit, charming characters, and historic detail, multiple award winner Rhys Bowen brings early-twentieth-century New York City and the fantastic performers of the time vividly to life in The Last Illusion. Irish immigrant and private detective Molly Murphy is thrilled to have a ticket to see world-famous illusionist Harry Houdini. But before he can even take the stage, the opening act goes horribly wrong--and the sensational Signor Scarpelli's lovely assistant is sawed in half. In the aftermath, Scarpelli accuses Houdini of tampering with his equipment. Who else but the so-called Handcuff King could have got a hold of his trunk of tricks, which he keeps under lock and key? And it seems the maestro Scarpelli's not the only one critical of Houdini. Now that he's raised the stakes to such a perilous level, lesser acts are being put out of business. With everyone on edge, Houdini's wife hires Molly to watch his back. But how can she protect a man who literally risks his life every night? Now it's up to Molly to keep an eye on Houdini and find out whether these masters of illusion are simply up to their tricks--or if there truly is something much more treacherous going on....

The second thrilling and unputdownable mystery starring a new generation of the Detective Society, from the million-copy-bestselling author of Murder Most Unladylike: Robin Stevens. March 1941. Britain is at war, and a secret agency called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up children as spies - because grown-ups always underestimate them. Enter May, Eric and Nuala: courageous, smart, and the Ministry's newest recruits. May's big sister Hazel has arranged for them to stay on a quiet street close to the Ministry, home to an unlikely collection of people thrown together by the war. And it is in the basement of the bombed-out house at the end of that street that they discover something mysterious. Something that was not there when the Blitz wreckage was first combed through. Something that has been placed there recently. A body... Could this be the missing Ministry spy that Daisy Wells is on a dangerous mission in France to find? Or could it be someone else - someone a resident of the street wanted silenced . . . ?