Recommendations based on "Murder After Midnight"

'Laugh-out-loud hilarious, moving and life affirming. How can one book be so many things? I couldn't put this fabulous, first class, five star read down.' JANICE HALLETT'Thoroughly wicked, compulsively page-turning, and funny as hell.' S J BENNETTHello? Can you hear me? Probably not. I'm Dr Miriam Price . . . and I'm dead.The local police, who couldn't investigate their own nostrils, think I drank myself into an early grave. The nerve! I was murdered. I was just too plastered to know whodunnit, that's all.Unless I prove to my inquest this week that my death was no 'misadventure', I'm condemned to 50 years in Limbo. I have to find my killer - but I can't communicate with any living human. Well, there's one, but she barely qualifies . . . Winnie - my neighbour and nemesis. It seems the dying can interact with the dead, which is helpful news for me, if not stellar for Winnie. Oh well. She'll live. Maybe.Suspects? How long have you got? My saintly husband, who'd reached his limit? My best friend, who was anything but? My secret lover, or his wife? My disgruntled colleague? The mother who wrongly holds me responsible for her child's death? Professor Plum? Your guess is as good as mine.So Winnie - slap on your deerstalker and strap on your granny pants. Let's catch a killer! Assuming we don't kill each other first . . .'A triumph...there are also moving moments amid the hilarity' DAILY MIRROR'Splendidly offbeat whodunnit....Evans knows how to make an unlikely plot seem entirely believable' DAILY EXPRESS'Sometimes a book comes along that reminds you why you fell in love with reading. Imaginative, witty and original...an absolute joy!' WOMAN & HOME

'The perfect mix of cosy, festive, and twisty . . . the best kind of book to curl up with on a cold night by a roaring fire' KRISTEN PERRIN, author of How to Solve Your Own Murder 'Once again Katy Watson delivers the perfect cosy: atmospheric, ingenious and fun!' IAN MOORE, author of Death and Croissants ------------ Planning the perfect Christmas wedding can be murder . . . A high society Christmas Eve wedding at a remote Scottish castle sounds like the perfect winter getaway for the three Dahlias and their partners - until a snowstorm hits, cutting them off from the mainland, and civilisation. Which, of course, is when the dead body of one of the other guests turns up in the snow outside the family chapel. A dead body wearing a wedding dress and a stolen diamond necklace... The Dahlias were ready for mulled wine, roaring fires, and romance this Christmas. Now, they're on the hunt for another murderer. And if their suspicions are right, it looks like the wedding may be off ... ------------ 'Cosy crime with a glitzy, glamorous, seasonal glow!' LANCASHIRE POST 'An unputdownable read' WOMAN'S OWN 'Pure festive fun, perfectly set in the midst of a snowstorm in remote Scottish castle . . . I couldn't put this latest instalment of the Dahlias series down!' C L MILLER, author of The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder 'Writing as crisp and gorgeous as the snow' ALEX HAY, author of The Housekeepers 'It's about as fun as a murder can get . . . ticks all the boxes for a perfect festive mystery' JO JAKEMAN, author of One Bad Apple 'A cracking Christmas mystery with all the spine tingling trappings of a Scottish castle by the sea. What more can you ask for?' S J BENNETT, author of The Windsor Knot 'This great story glitters and shines like the most beguiling Christmas ornament' J M HALL, author of A Spoonful of Murder 'A glorious winter read, perfect for snowy afternoons by the fire with a mulled wine and a couple of mince pies. The three Dahlias are enchanting' LIZA NORTH, author of The Weekend Guests

 The Blackbird sisters are back--and as witty and wonderful as ever! For richer, for poorer...                                                               Nora Blackbird, the Bucks County ex-debutante with a haute couture wardrobe, a hot job as a glamorous society columnist and a stone cold bank account, might finally have her own life just right, but everyone around her is going down in flames. Her sister Libby seems destined to be the lead character in a tabloid sex scandal.  Her sister Emma is expecting a mysterious love child.  Her best friend, Lexie Paine, is serving time in the slammer.  And now her mobbed-up boyfriend, Mick Abruzzo--who might actually be her husband--is conducting clandestine capers from Blackbird Farm while under house arrest. What's a good girl to do?  Find a killer, that's what!  Word arrives that the sisters' great aunt, Madeleine Blackbird, has died in a volcanic eruption on an Indonesian island and left her fabulous country estate, worth millions, to the three of them.  But when the Blackbird sisters show up to claim their windfall, they find the house in a state of disheartening decay and all of Madeleine's to-die-for treasures gone. Worse, the mansion has been hiding a grisly secret: the body of a woman who died there many years ago.  All the evidence points to a high society murder... Nora's special bond with flamboyant Aunt Madeleine compels her to seek out the truth.  With her aunt's amorous stepson dogging her footsteps, her unscrupulous lawyer acting like a skunk, and her devoted housekeeper not to be found, Nora's investigation is going nowhere.  Good thing Mick's close by to offer Nora distractions both dark and delightful.  And, as ever, her irrepressible sisters provide some unexpected... and highly unorthodox... assistance when she most needs it.

God rest ye merry gentlefolk, it's time for the traditional St Mary's Christmas jump - this year to Martingale Manor, where a murder mystery is unfolding... It's nearly Christmas and Leon has had a Brilliant Idea. A holiday - to enable a very reluctant Max to recover from her recently acquired injuries. Devon, 1924 - Martingale Manor. Lovely surroundings, good food and very pleasant guests. Or, as they soon become known - the usual suspects. They mysterious older woman. The absent-minded clergyman. The doctor. The military man. The charming young couple. Because this is the world of Agatha Christie and before long one of them is dead. And when the police arrive, the only person without a cast-iron alibi is. . . Leon. It was supposed to be a holiday, for heaven's sake. Readers love Jodi Taylor: 'The Chronicles of St Mary's is one of the most enjoyable series of books I have ever read' 'Jodi Taylor is a master storyteller' 'I don't think I've ever laughed out loud so much reading a book' 'I am always gutted when I finish a Jodi Taylor book as I know I will have to wait for the next one'

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes series weaves rich historical detail and provocative themes with intriguing characters and enthralling suspense. Russell and Holmes have become one of modern literature’s most beloved teams. But does this adventure end it all?   Mary Russell is used to dark secrets—her own, and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond.   And what of the other person to whom Mary Russell has opened her heart: the couple’s longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson? Russell’s faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs. Hudson’s son.   What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him—as surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant, everything changes. And when the scene is discovered—a pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the air—the most shocking revelation of all is that the grim clues point directly to Clara Hudson.   Or rather to Clarissa, the woman she was before Baker Street.   The key to Russell’s sacrifice lies in Mrs. Hudson’s past. To uncover the truth, a frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeper’s secrets—to a time before her disguise was assumed, before her crimes were buried away.   There is death here, and murder, and trust betrayed.   And nothing will ever be the same. Praise for The Murder of Mary Russell “Leaping narrative energy has always been a hallmark of this series, and it reaches something of a peak in this latest volume. . . . The lean momentum of the story never falters. . . . It’s a stunning prolonged feat of storytelling, and it succeeds in making The Murder of Mary Russell the best installment so far in an excellent series.”—The Christian Science Monitor   “[A] sharp, inventive and rewarding series.”—The Seattle Times   “Delightful . . . a triumph of plotting . . . Fans, always hungry to know more personal details about King’s iteration of Sherlock Holmes and his world, will get a few more delicious tidbits this time around.”—Booklist (starred review)

On April 1, 1930, Jonathan Ketchem's wife Jane walked from her house to the police department to ask for help in finding her husband. The men, worn out from a night of chasing bootleggers, did what they could. But no one ever saw Jonathan Ketchem again...Now decades later, someone else is missing in Miller's Kill, NY. This time it's the physician of the clinic that bears the Ketchem name. Suspicion falls on a volatile single mother with a grudge against the doctor, but Reverend Clare Fergusson isn't convinced. As Clare and Russ investigate, they discover that the doctor's disappearance is linked to a bloody trail going all the way back to the hardscrabble Prohibition era. As they draw ever closer to the truth, their attraction for each other grows increasingly more difficult to resist. And their search threatens to uncover secrets that snake from one generation to the next--and to someone who's ready to kill. Julia Spencer-Fleming has created the most intriguing entry yet in her Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Award-winning detective series, which "brings new airs and graces to the traditional small-town mystery" (New York Times Book Review).Out of the Deep I Cry is a 2005 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel.

“I AM RIVETED. The Lady Sherlock series is so smart and clever and witty.”–Julia Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of the Bridgerton seriesOnly Charlotte Holmes—aka Sherlock Holmes—could solve a puzzling murder case that implicates her friend, a Scotland Yard inspector, in this locked-room Victorian mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of A Study in Scarlet Women.Inspector Treadles, Charlotte Holmes’s friend and collaborator, has been found locked in a room with two dead men, both of whom worked with his wife at the great manufacturing enterprise she has recently inherited. Rumors fly. Had Inspector Treadles killed the men because they had opposed his wife’s initiatives at every turn? Had he killed in a fit of jealous rage, because he suspected Mrs. Treadles of harboring deeper feelings for one of the men? To make matters worse, he refuses to speak on his own behalf, despite the overwhelming evidence against him.Charlotte finds herself in a case strewn with lies and secrets. But which lies are to cover up small sins, and which secrets would flay open a past better left forgotten? Not to mention, how can she concentrate on these murders, when Lord Ingram, her oldest friend and sometime lover, at last dangles before her the one thing she has always wanted?

When the Village Blend opens a Writer’s Block Lounge, a cold case crime turns up the heat on Clare and her crew in this gripping new entry in the beloved Coffeehouse Mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle.As much as master roaster Clare Cosi adores coffee, the landmark shop she manages won’t survive if she doesn’t sell enough of it. So when the Village Blend’s customer traffic grinds to a halt, she turns to her staff for creative ideas, and the Writer’s Block Lounge is born.Madame, the eccentric octogenarian owner of the shop, is upset by this news. Years ago, a group of accomplished writers used the shop’s second-floor lounge to inspire each other, but the group disbanded when something dark occurred. Though that history is shrouded in mystery, Clare presses forward…Soon the Village Blend tables are filled with aspiring novelists, playwrights, and poets, all happy to be coaxed, cajoled, and caffeinated by her coffeehouse crew. Clare admires the stamina of these scribes, many of them toiling at night jobs—driving taxis, tending bar, ushering for Broadway—while penning projects during the day.Then one of their fictions turns fatal when a shocking secret leads to a deadly end. Unless Clare can untangle this mystery, uncover the truth, and stop a desperate killer, she fears more of these weary writers may be marked for eternal rest.Includes a knockout menu of recipes!

Full of humor and suspense, the bestselling Java Jive series heats up as the irrepressible heroine of Death Before Decaf faces off against Nashville’s upper crust to solve a shocking murder.   Former musician Juliet Langley has barely had a day off since taking over management of the coffeehouse owned by her best friend, Pete Bennett. But there’s always more to be done—such as prepping for the annual Holiday 5K Race organized by Pete’s snobby socialite girlfriend, Cecilia Hollingsworth. This year, Java Jive has a booth right at the finish line, and since Juliet and Cecilia don’t always see eye to eye, everything has to be perfect. Nothing can go wrong. Nothing . . . like Juliet stumbling over Cecilia’s dead body on the morning of the race.   When Pete is arrested for Cecilia’s murder, Juliet sets out to clear his name. She’ll do whatever it takes—even if it means standing up to the police, her ex-boyfriend, and the grande dames of Nashville. But there isn’t enough espresso in the world for the greatest challenge in her path: infiltrating Nashville’s high society to uncover the hidden hotbed of scandal without running afoul of the law herself. With her last dime staked on Pete’s bail bond and her staff growing jittery, the last thing Juliet needs is for her trademark temper to land her behind bars. As time drips away, Juliet needs to crack this case before the killer comes back for another shot. Praise for Mug Shot “The humorous and witty dialogue, mixed with romantic tension and a puzzling mystery is a fresh and unique combination. Juliet’s first-person narrative is humorous at times and poignant at others, making her a loveable character I can’t help but cheer on. . . . The mystery-suspense elements are truly tense on an emotional level. . . . This series is delightful, well written, and wildly entertaining.”—Suspense Magazine “The story is fast-paced and keeps you guessing to the very end. This author comes up with some very interesting ways to kill someone, and her injection of humor at just the right time is perfect. On its own, Mug Shot is a really good read, but if you follow the series, it will be even better.”—Linda Thompson, host of The Authors Show   “Another winner . . . Just like the first book, this one is peppered with funny scenes. . . . This is a good series and I highly suggest reading.”—Storeybook Reviews “Once you start, you’ll want to finish it. Can’t wait for more caffeine-driven escapades.”—Sweet Mystery Books

An uninvited guest...a deadly secret....and a terrible crime. When a well-loved family of five are found dead sitting around their dining table with an untouched meal in front of them, it sends shockwaves throughout the community. Was it a murder suicide, or was someone else involved? It's one of DCI Whitney Walker's most baffling cases, and even with the help of forensic psychologist Dr Georgina Cavendish, they struggle to find any clues or motives to help them catch the killer. But with a community in mourning and growing pressure to get answers, Cavendish and Walker are forced to go deeper into a murderer's mind than they've ever gone before. Dark Secrets is the eleventh book in the Cavendish & Walker series. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Joy Ellis and Rachel McLean.