Kate Shackleton

Bridgestead is a peaceful spot: a babbling brook, rolling hills and a working mill at its heart. Pretty and remote, nothing exceptional happens... Until the day that Master of the Mill Joshua Braithwaite goes missing in dramatic circumstances, never to be heard of again. Now Joshua's daughter is getting married and wants one last attempt at finding her father. Has he run off with his mistress, or was he murdered for his mounting coffers?

It's no rest for the wicked when Kate Shackleton picks up her second professional sleuthing case. But exposing the culprit of a pawn-shop robbery turns sinister when her investigation takes her to the wealthy neighborhoods of Harrogate - and murder is only one step behind. A night at the theater should have been just what the doctor ordered, until Kate stumbles across a body in the doorway. The knife sticking out of its chest definitely suggests a killer in the theatre's midst. Kate likes nothing better than a mystery - except solving it. So when a ransom note demands GBP1,000 for the safe return of the play's leading lady, Kate must piece together clues - and lure criminals out of their lairs.

Young Harriet and her brother Austin have always been scared of the quarry where their stonemason father works. So when they find him dead on the cold ground, they look for some help. When help arrives, the quarry is deserted and there is no sign of the body. Were the children mistaken? Is their father not dead? It seems like another unusual case requiring the expertise of Kate Shackleton. But for Kate this is one case where surprising family ties make it her most dangerous and delicate yet.

Plagued with guilt, Freda Simonson, the only witness to the murder of the landlord of Langcliffe's tavern, believes that her testimony may have convicted the wrong man, but when she passes, the case seems closed. It just so happens, though, that Freda's nephew is courting the renowned amateur sleuth Kate Shackleton, who has decided to holiday in Langcliffe with her teenage niece, Harriet. When Harriet strikes up a friendship with a local girl whose young brother is missing, the search leads Kate to uncover a suspicious death and an illicit affair. As the present mysteries merge with the past's mistakes, Kate is thrust into the secrets that Freda left behind and realizes that Freda has entrusted her with solving the murder from beyond the grave.

Nothing ever happens in August, so Kate goes off on a long-overdue holiday to Whitby to visit her friend Alma who works there as a fortune teller. She's been looking forward to a relaxing seaside sojourn, but, upon arrival, she discovers that Alma's daughter, Felicity, has disappeared, leaving her mother a note and the pawn ticket for their only asset: a watch-guard. What makes this more intriguing is that the jeweler who advanced Felicity the thirty shillings is Jack Phillips, Alma's current gentleman friend. Kate can't help but become involved, so she goes to the jeweller's shop to get some answers. While there, she makes a horrifying discovery in the back room, and it becomes clear that her services are needed. But she's met by a wall of silence by town officials, who are keen to maintain Whitby's idyllic facade, so it's up to Kate-ably assisted by Jim Sykes and Mrs. Sugden-to discover the truth behind Felicity's disappearance. And they say nothing ever happens in August...

Yorkshire, 1928. Indomitable sleuth Kate Shackleton is taking a well-deserved break from her detective work and indulging in her other passion: photography. When her local Photographic Society proposes an outing to the opening of the Bronte Museum, Kate jumps at the chance to visit the setting of Wuthering Heights. But the setting proves to be even more sinister than the dreary classic when a member of their party is found murdered. The event is one of the most popular of the decade, and each of the seven photographers was there to capture the perfect shot of a lifetime. But Tobias, the deceased, was known for being loud-mouthed and didn't care to curb his demeanor. Kate deduces that he must have had several enemies. But soon, she begins to suspect that perhaps the murderer is amongst them. And before they shrink to a group of just five, Kate must pick back up her magnifying glass and sleuthing cap to crack the case.

London, 1929. In the darkness before dawn, a railway porter, unloading a special train from Yorkshire, discovers a man's body, shot and placed in a sack. There are no means of identification to be found and as Scotland Yard hits a dead end, they call on the inimitable Kate Shackleton, a local sleuth, confident her local knowledge and investigative skills will produce results. But it's no easy task. Suspicion of political intrigue and fears of unrest in the Yorkshire coalfields impose secrecy on her already difficult task. The murder of a shopkeeper around the same time seems too much of a coincidence. The convicted felon was found with blood on his hands, but it's too tidy, and Kate becomes convinced the police have the wrong man. By then it's too late. Kate finds herself in a den of vipers. The real killer is still at large, and having tinkered with Kate's car, nearly causes her to crash. Not only that, but Scotland Yard has turned their back on her. As Kate edges toward the shocking truth, she's going to need all the strength and resourcefulness she can muster to uncover this sinister web of deceit.

North Yorkshire, 1930. It's the season for warm and spirited countryside celebrations. Ever since the war, pubs have been in the doldrums, and in an attempt to promote and breathe new life back into the business, brewers select a charismatic employee as local queen-to be the face of their industry. And this year's queen, wages clerk Ruth Parnaby, has invited the ever intrepid Kate Shackleton and her niece Harriet to accompany her on public engagements at a garden party thrown in her honor. But when Ruth leads children to the stables for pony rides, the drayman is missing, later found in the last place imaginable-the fermentation room-deceased. What looked to be a simple case of asphyxiation in the dangerous fermentation room is quickly clarified by the pathologist as murder-the drayman was already dead before he was taken into the room. Someone was looking to cover it up. The horse dealer who sold the pony to the drayman comes under suspicion, but more and more, Ruth's nasty father Slater Parnaby's strong motive to dissuade his daughter from any festivities lingers in Kate's mind, despite his having an alibi. The case is muddy, at best, and it's going to take Kate at her keenest to decipher the truth.

When Kate Shackleton disembarks at Saltaire station, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, she has no idea what to expect. A stranger, Ronnie Creswell, has written to say that he has urgent information about the past that will interest her, and he persuades her to make the journey to Milner Field, the grand house that is said to be cursed. But moments after Kate arrives at the lodge, a messenger brings devastating news to Ronnie's parents: he has been found drowned in the mill reservoir. Ronnie's father suspects that this was no accident, and the post-mortem proves him right: Ronnie was murdered. Terrified and distraught, Mrs. Creswell refuses to stay at the Lodge a moment longer. But events take an even more shocking turn when ten-year-old Nancy Creswell, eyes and ears for her blind Uncle Nick, goes missing. An account of the fateful Saturday of Ronnie's death arouses Kate's suspicions, and further investigations could prove her right. But truth is never so straightforward at Milner Field. Uncle Nick spins an old story that could hold the key to finding Nancy alive, though the fabled curse may not have claimed its last victim yet, and only a set of old bones buried on the grounds will finally reveal the horrifying truth.