Mortal Taste
Part 16 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
Head teacher Peter Logan is a strange case of Jekyll and Hyde. He's effected impressive improvements at his Cheltenham school, but his private life is in no way exemplary. So when he's shot in the head one September evening, does he die a martyr or is this his just comeuppance? It's up to Lambert and Hook to find out the truth.
Just Desserts
Part 17 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
At a party to celebrate the first ten years of Camellia Park Golf Club, a good time is had by all – and the noise is enough to cover the screams coming from the lavatory. Chief Superintendent Lambert investigates, but is faced with a puzzling case: a victim who was popular with absolutely everyone. So who had a motive?
Too Much of Water
Part 18 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
Gloucestershire is suffering through a brutal heatwave, but things are getting even stickier for Superintendent John Lambert and Det. Sergeant Bert Hook. The body of lovely young university student, Clare Mills, has been found strangled, and floating quietly along the Severn River. Unfortunately, not a soul who knew her is particularly grief stricken-or forthcoming. Not her mentor, or the postgrad student with the unrequited crush, or her dearest friend, or her ex-husband, or even her stepfather. And least of all, and most alarming, not even Claire's own mother who barely elicits a blink when hearing of daughter's brutal murder. That they all have their secrets isn't surprising to Lambert and Hook. But it's Claire's own secrets that are proving to be the most revealing of all. And they've yet to claim their last victim.
Close Call
Part 19 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
It wasn't the sort of place where anything should happen. Gurney Close was just a small, newly-built cul-de-sac, three nice houses and a bungalow overlooking the river Wye. None of the people who move in-three married couples and a divorcee-expect anything much to take place, beyond, perhaps, some neighbourhood friendliness. With this in mind, they organize a party to celebrate moving in. All goes well, a good time is had by everyone, until one of them is found dead the next morning. Lambert and Hook are faced with a baffling crime. For their harmless, normal-seeming victim turns out to have a darker past than they could have suspected-and enemies everywhere, very close to home...
In Vino Veritas
Part 23 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
A Lambert and Hook mystery - Martin Beaumont is the uncompromising owner of a successful Gloucestershire vineyard. He has built the company steadily over the years, with a small but dedicated team by his side. However, he sees Abbey Vineyards as his company, to do with as he pleases, much to the chagrin of his senior staff members. So when he is found dead in his car, Chief Superintendent Lambert and DS Hook don't have to look very far to find people with strong motives for the murder . . .
Die Happy
Part 24 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
The new Lambert and Hook mystery - When the committee members of the Oldford Literary Festival all receive anonymous letters telling them to resign or die, it marks the start of an unusual case for Chief Superintendent Lambert and DS Hook. All of the members identify one man as being capable of such a thing: Peter Preston, a self-important snob who is in disagreement with the head of the festival over what he sees as the dumbing down of the events programme. But could such a disagreement lead to murder? It's not long before Lambert and Hook have their answer . . .
More than Meets the Eye
Part 25 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
A shocking murder in a garden paradise marks the start of a difficult new case for Lambert and Hook. Dennis Cooper is one of the few full-time resident National Trust curators in England and lives with his wife in the grounds of the spectacular Westbourne Gardens, which receives thousands of visitors each year. On the face of things, Dennis lives a perfect life and has a dream job, but this idyllic setting is riven with dark secrets, and it isn't long before foul play draws Lambert and Hook into this troubled Eden.
Cry of the Children
Part 26 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
Seven-year-old Lucy Gibson can barely contain her excitement when she learns that the funfair has come to town and Matt, her mother's new boyfriend, has agreed to take her. Despite her slight uneasiness in Matt's company and her upset over her parent's split, she readily goes off with him one evening, as excited as only a young innocent child can be. The next morning, Chief Superintendent Lambert briefs DS Bert Hook and DS Ruth David on the disappearance of a young seven-year-old local girl from a funfair the previous evening. On questioning her distraught mother, it appears that Lucy has vanished into thin air and so begins an intense investigation, racing against time, to discover who took the young girl-and to prevent more children from going missing before it's too late…
Rest Assured
A modern police procedural set in the heart of the English countryside
Part 27 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
A seemingly idyllic English holiday park turns into the scene of a grisly murder and a perplexing case for Lambert & Hook Twin Lakes is a tranquil place. It is a complex of holiday homes in a particularly beautiful part of England. 'Rest Assured', says the sign at its entrance. And the people fortunate to occupy the luxury homes on the site are indeed able to relax in a beautiful setting. Then a series of mysterious threatening notes are delivered to one of the lakeside homes. DS Bert Hook conducts an informal investigation and the notes cease to appear. All is peaceful once more as spring moves into summer and the site is seen at its best. But suddenly a brutal death shatters the peace of this quiet place. As Lambert and Hook and the murder team investigate the crime, it emerges that the victim was by no means as innocent as most people thought him. And it seems that many of the residents lead far from ordinary lives and have secrets they will do anything to keep concealed...
Skeleton Plot
A Lambert & Hook police procedural
Part 28 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
Skeletons have a habit of revealing themselves eventually . . .When a human skeleton is discovered on the boundary of a 20-year-old property development, it seems there are a large number of people who may know the identity of the corpse and how it got there. But twenty years is a long time and those individuals were very different people back then. Skeletons are being revealed in all senses and there are many prominent local figures who are beginning to feel uncomfortable and afraid. It's up to Detective Chief Superintendent Lambert and Detective Sergeant Hook to dig around in the past and unearth the truth of how and why the body ended up buried in the ground all those years ago.
Final Act
Part 29 of the Lambert and Hook Mystery series
Lambert & Hook discover that interrogating professional actors is an impossible business in the latest intriguing mystery.
Sam Jackson is not a man who suffers fools, or anyone else, gladly. A successful British television producer who fancies himself as a Hollywood mogul, he makes enemies easily, and delights in the fact.
It is no great surprise that such a man should meet a violent death. Detective Chief Superintendent Lambert and Detective Sergeant Hook deduce that the person who killed him is almost certainly to be found among the company of actors who are shooting a series of detective mysteries in rural Herefordshire. But these are people who make a living by acting out other people's fictions, people more at home with make-believe than real life, and the two detectives find interrogating them a difficult business. How can Lambert and Hook fight their way to the truth when faced with a cast of practised deceivers?