Kelsey & Lambert

A Kesley and Lambert novel. Did Vera Foster commit suicide? That's what everybody thinks. But Chief Inspector Kelsey has another theory. He insists Vera's husband Gerald killed his wife, even though he was seventy miles away when she died. Following his intuition, and risking his reputation, Kelsey sets out to prove Gerald's guilt and solve the most complicated puzzle of his career.

A Kelsey and Lambert novel. A Longmead schoolteacher is found strangled with her own silk scarf and several of the village's men become suspects, as Chief Inspector Kelsey investigates.

A Kesley and Lambert novel. The sun has risen but successful young stockbroker Gavin Elliot is still in bed. He lies on his side, his pajama top hitched up to reveal his back- and a knife sticking out from between his shoulder-blades...

Two sisters' bodies are discovered near the industrial town of Cannonbridge. As detectives Lambert and Kelsey investigate the double murder, they find themselves upsetting the locals. The girl in the green anorak who came into the pub one rainy evening was looking for her sister, who had left home four years before. Now, because an unexpected legacy could not be paid until both girls were accounted for, she is hot on the scent, never suspecting that for her it is a scent of death and that each step she takes to try to trace her sister Helen will soon be followed by Detective Chief Inspector Kelsey and Sergeant Lambert. It is apparent that the vital clue they are seeking lie in Helen's life between the time she left home and the November night when she had vanished without trace. Patiently Kelsey and Lambert follow Helen through various jobs, to the house where she had a flat, the clinic where she had an abortion, the young man from whom she bought a car. At no point could it be proved that Helen was dishonest, yet Kelsey suspects that the hard-working, helpful secretary knew more about her employers and their practices than some of them wished. And therein lies the clue to a double murder.

A Kesley and Lambert novel. Chief Inspector Kelsey and Detective Lambert are investigating the murder of divorcee Venetia Franklin. Venetia's ex-husband Ray Franklin and his new wife certainly have a motive: Ray had had to continue providing for Venetia after the divorce. But, there are other suspects: Philip Coburn who had recently broken off an affair with Venetia, and an intense young man she had met just before her death. Kelsey is following every lead on the suspects when the death of a mentally disturbed man makes him see them in a new light...

A Kesley and Lambert novel. A 16-year-old girl is found beaten and suffocated in the woods. Her name was Karen Boland and her short life had been secretive and unhappy. The police find plenty of suspects: Karen's middle-aged lover, her stepfather, her classmates... As they dig deeper, they discover that the teenager's life had been surprisingly complicated.

A Kelsey and Lambert novel. Has Chief Inspector Kelsey meet his match at last? Anna Conway, rising twenty, had much to live for: not least a devoted young husband who put her welfare before all else. Yet she suffered from depression and, just before leaving on a restorative cruise, she was found dead in her bath. Chief Inspector Kelsey and Sergeant Lambert at first accepted Anna's death as suicide, and the more they learned of her unloved childhood, the more understandable suicide became. So it was with shock that when Anna married David she was already the widow of an elderly man, whose death was not without unusual features. But when they learned that David Conway too had been a widower, his first wife having also committed suicide, Kelsey developed a gut feeling that this grief-stricken widower was a cold-blooded murderer. Yes, there was testimony on all sides to his devotion to Anna, his alibi was unimpeachable and his motive for murder non-existent. Doggedly the Chief Inspector set out to prove David's guilt. But each time he unearthed a suspicious circumstance, David came up with an innocent explanation.

A Kesley and Lambert novel. Cannonbridge's wealthiest and poorest are drawn into the complex web of DCI Kelsey and Sergeant Lambert's investigations. The body of an old man is discovered in the garden of an abandoned house. There are no witnesses. There is no murder weapon. The victim is Harry Lingard, the hardworking owner of the council house he grew up in, who still fights for the rights of local tenants. Harry had made enemies in high and low places with his vigilantism, investigations into corruption and confrontations with government housing officials. Harry's granddaughter Jill, obsessed with the glamour of her customers at the department store where she works, may not have been pleased when Harry refused to lend her money.

A Kelsey and Lambert novel. Chief Inspector Kelsey investigates a murder case that will prove to be one of the most difficult and complex of his career. When Grace Dalton is found dead the morning after celebrating her 70th birthday, she leaves behind a houseful of suspects, all of whom are mentioned in her will, and money seems to be the motive. Could the killer be Esther Milroy, who is discovered to have booked an expensive holiday just prior to the tragedy? Or is Esther's brother Mathew- facing financial ruin before his stepmother's death- the more likely suspect? And what about Verity Thorburn, spurned by her lover, firmly believing that if only she had a bigger disposable income the man who got away would come running back to her? DCI Kelsey investigates and, this time, it's personal - the dead woman was a friend. He'll do everything he can to put her killer behind bars.

A Kelsey and Lambert novel. A chance meeting with the attractive Julie Dawson should have been no more than a pleasant interlude for DS Lambert. When she is reported missing two months later however, Lambert decides to look into the matter himself. He discovers that Dawson may be conducting her own private investigation, and starts to follow in her footsteps - but will the trail, which has already unearthed suspicious deaths from the past, lead to a present-day murder?