Bøger af Jo A Hiestand

More than 300 recipes, plot synopses, and British customs explained -- all pertaining to the Peak District mystery series novels.

Tolling church bells are as much an aspect of rural England as are slate-roof cottages and verdant-hedged lanes. But someone in this sleepy village evidently takes exception to one slice of Merrie Olde England, for Roger, Lord Swinbrook is found on Valentines' Day in the bell tower of his estate-frightfully dead and terribly unromantic.DS Brenna Taylor and her colleagues from the Derbyshire Constabulary quickly uncover hidden secrets and open anger among the villagers...anger that may have led to a second murder under similar circumstances as the first. It's hard enough to investigate without her emotions threatening to erupt: her conflicting feelings toward DS Mark Salt, and her mounting fear that her boss, DCI Geoffrey Graham, considers her merely a co-worker. It takes the chilling close to the case, when Brenna's life is in jeopardy, for her to realize what's really important.

Things seem comfortably routine one Ash Wednesday evening in the English village of Hollingthorpe. The regulars have come together to turn the Devil's Stone, the age-old custom of shifting a one-ton boulder in the churchyard. An odd, back-breaking tradition that defies logic--except that to dispense with it always brings misfortune on the villagers during that year. Yet within minutes of shifting the great boulder, misfortune strikes. One of the participants lies beside the stone, very bloody and very dead.Detective-Sgt Brenna Taylor and the CID Team join their boss, Geoffrey Graham, who's already at the village. In the midst of their murder inquiry, one of the Team is attacked--left for dead, beaten in the same manner as the original murder. Has she discovered something in the wood pertaining to the killer? Add a missing boy days later and a convicted felon who has it in for Graham... Things threaten to spin out of the Team's control.This quickly comes true in a midnight, rain-lashed forest, plunging Brenna into very personal emotions. And through it all, the killer silently slips into and out of their lives, thumbing his nose at her and the entire CID team, ready to strike again.

Michael McLaren returns home from working a cold case in Cumbria to learn that he's missed his uncle's wedding in Scotland. Angry and fearful that his absence has re-opened the family rift just as it's healed, he drives to the ancestral home, hoping his appearance and explanation will be accepted. He's more than welcomed. His uncle asks him to investigate the murder of his first fiancee.Fiona Lennox was found in a rowboat on a Scottish loch, shot to death during a late night photo shoot. Why would she rent a boat after dark? Did she take it out to photograph the moonlight on the water? She could've done, being a professional photographer, but she was also a proponent of civic and environmental causes, which she documented with her camera. Did someone linked to one of her crusades kill her, or was the motive personal?As McLaren uncovers layers of Fiona's life and the reason for her nocturnal outing, he and his family are targets of intensifying attacks. But it's not until he races against a kidnapper's deadline and the threat of a loved one's watery death that he realizes who killed Fiona-implications that are as deep and dark as the Scottish loch.

Ex-police detective Michael McLaren is determined to have a peaceful holiday after the fiasco of his first attempt at Windermere, so he stops at a bed-and-breakfast in Moorton, a village in Cumbria. But mystery and murder seek him out, and he soon succumbs to the B&B owner's plea to investigate the year-old death of her daughter's fiancé, a young musician. The Lake District parish seems peaceful, but a rival musician's jealousy and a business partner's anger boil beneath the façade. Mix that with 'Barmy Barry's' sightings of fairy lights at the castle, references to Uther Pendragon's return and the secrets in the woods, and McLaren finds his sanity shaky. When the vicar is attacked and Barry disappears, McLaren sets a trap for the killer. But as it plays out, his concern shifts from the potential capture to praying he and his friend can escape with their lives.

DS Brenna Taylor and DCI Geoffrey Graham are summoned to investigate a drowning in a wintry pond during a family 12th Night party. The case quickly turns personal for the CID team, for one of their own detectives becomes prime suspect. Brenna finds herself caught between the police investigation and her belief in DS Mark Salt's innocence. Yet even her faith is strained when Mark's parody of "The 12 Days of Christmas" hints that he was having an affair with his murdered sister-in-law, Mercedes. It's easy to believe Mark's guilt: he attracts women like Christmas presents entice kids. As the investigation progresses, other 'attractions' in his past are revealed, and Mark's guilt intensifies with each one. Now that Brenna finally views Mark as a human being, will she lose him if he's charged with murder?

Year after year, the villagers near Stanton Moor celebrate May Day with bonfires and the laying of rowan branches to seek protection for home and cattle. But the men who gathered this May evening hadn't come for blessings. They had come for murder. The dead body is discovered on a lonely moor, decapitated in the fashion of a Muslim killing of sacrificial sheep or chickens. Which focuses the suspicion on the Muslim community, since the victim and his family are Pakistanis. Does someone in the village resent these outsiders? Or is their small import shop too much competition for another local business?Detective-Sergeant Brenna Taylor and other members of the Derbyshire Constabulary's Murder Team are called in to investigate, and soon a series of decapitated sheep and rabbits appears on the moor. Is this linked with the man's murder? As fear over a second murder grips the villagers, the Team soon discovers this dead man may have had connections with an organization that smuggles illegal products into Britain. That is bad enough, but the smuggling turns from a mere criminal case to something that hits closer to home for Brenna.In the midst of the tangle of smugglers, murder, and village secrets, Brenna fights to keep focused on the case and nab the one person who may be responsible for the trail of villainy that threatens to engulf everyone⎯cop and villager alike⎯connected with the moorland murders.

McLaren's fiancée tragically died one month ago. Trying to heal emotionally from her death, McLaren settles into a rented farmhouse in the woods near picturesque Lake Windermere, in Cumbria. But he's barely had a chance to rest when Helen, the woman in the neighboring cottage, is killed...and is discovered near his front door. Because McLaren had spent much of the previous day with her, and his snowy footprints lead to and from her house, he becomes the prime murder suspect in what the police label a frustrated romantic advance. Motives for Helen's murder are as chilling as the outdoor temperature. There's the hands-on garage mechanic who'd like to put his hands all over her, the affluent fishing guide, and Helen's former boyfriend who wanted to renew the relationship. Can McLaren find the killer before the police jail him for murder?

Janet Ennis tragically died five years ago in what the police labeled an accidental fire. But Janet's mother, Nora, believes it to be murder and arson. And she's hoping ex-cop Michael McLaren can prove it quickly, for she's losing her memory to dementia. As McLaren pokes through the case details, he becomes emotionally involved with the dead woman. Yet, Janet isn't the only person who threatens his mental well-being. A series of arsons on his own property hint that he's upset someone connected with this case. Motives for Janet's murder rise like the smoky tendrils of a fire. And, motive aside, the murder scene seems a bit too pat: a drought-stricken landscape eager to lap up flames and a conveniently locked door barring Janet's escape. Will McLaren solve the case while Nora can still comprehend the resolution, or will Harvester's plans see McLaren's career go up in smoke?

Since infancy, Michael McLaren has been the target of his paternal grandfather's anger. So when the patriarch sends an invitation to heal the rift, McLaren travels to Scotland, eager to meet and finally end the feud. But the welcome never happens. If Grandfather hadn't invited him, who had? And why? In Edinburgh, a man standing beside McLaren in a bus queue is killed in a hit-and-run accident. After an attack leaves McLaren for dead on a wintry moor, he's convinced someone from his past is trying to murder him. As McLaren trails the hit-and-run driver from the medieval 'underground city' of Edinburgh to the Boar's Rock, the MacLaren Clan's ancestral meeting place, the assaults intensify, and he's plunged into a very personal hunt for a World War II treasure. The puzzle is fascinating; he just has to stay alive to solve it.

One year ago, Marta Hughes won a purse-choking sum of money at a local casino. She never returned home. Her body was discovered in a ditch twelve miles from her home; her car was back in her driveway. Linnet Isherwood cannot let her friend's unsolved murder rest. She convinces ex-cop Michael McLaren to return to the work he loves. He sifts through a confusing web of lies, misconceptions and veiled motives. Are anonymous late-night phone calls, a vanished hitchhiker, and a stalker wielding empty beer bottles somehow related to the case? Or maybe the woman he broke off with is seeking revenge.

Luke Barber went missing from his village, leaving no clue to his whereabouts or why he left. Now, three years later, Luke's father hopes ex-cop Michael McLaren can find a trace of Luke, alive or dead. As McLaren pokes through the case details, he wonders if the pressure of succeeding in tennis or music, or his upcoming marriage, was too much for the lad and he simply ran away. And McLaren's suspicion may be correct, for he soon is assaulted and left for dead-a hint that he's upset someone connected with this case. McLaren unearths the lies and false identity shoved at him, and uncovers what became of Luke, a discovery aided by idolatrous love and an ancient stone man.

One dark night, popular singer Kent Harrison goes missing after his performance at Tutbury Castle. When his body's found in a forest, the police investigation focuses on Kent's ex-wife, a local herbalist, a covetous colleague, and even the curator of another castle who tried to lure Kent into performing there. But his occasional singing partner, Dave Morley, seems to have the biggest motive. He's dying to make his name, money, and the big time, especially at the medieval Minstrels Court reenactment, where Kent's appearance guarantees standing room only. Did Dave murder Kent to eliminate the competition...or had their partnership struck a wrong chord? To entice him into investigating, ex-cop McLaren's girlfriend plays detective. But Dena ends up in great danger. Now McLaren must not only solve Kent's murder but also rescue her, a hard task when a web of jealousy, anger, and lies covers the trails.