Foul Play at Four

She’s worked through all the days of the week, turning up clues and scrubbing up both messes and murderers in the village of Long Farnden. But crime is a persistent stain, and Lois Meade is finding that sleuthing is rarely a spotless endeavor...

Magistrate Mrs. Tollervey-Jones represents the upper crust of the village, although nowadays she lives alone at the Farnden Hall estate without a staff to attend to her. Fortunately, Lois Meade’s cleaning company visits twice a week.

But Lois’s help is needed elsewhere as a series of robberies begins to plague Long Farnden. Lois’s own daughter is shaken when a thief robs her grocery store till. Good thing Josie’s got a policeman for a fiancé—he’s on the culprit’s trail soon afterward.

Before he can crack the case, though, someone cracks Lois’s husband on the head when he stops in to check on Mrs. Tollervey-Jones and interrupts a burglary. Now Lois—in collaboration once again with the besotted Inspector Cowgill—must determine who cleaned out the magistrate’s mansion, and clean up after an increasingly violent crime spree…Praise for the Lois Meade series:

"Well paced, cleverly plotted, and chock-full of cozy glimpses of life in a small English village...A fine series that just keeps getting better--a must for British cozy fans."--Booklist

"First-class work in the English-village genre: cleverly plotted, with thoroughly believable characters, rising tension, and a smashing climax."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Ann Purser was born in Market Harborough in Leicestershire and has lived most of her life in villages. She has turned her hand to many things, including journalism (as a columnist for SHE magazine), keeper of hens and donkeys, art gallery manager, clerical assistant in a village school, Open University graduate, novelist, mother of three, wife of Philip Purser, critic and writer. She is an avid reader of detective stories.