Page Updated: 16/06/2004

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Betty Rowlands - Page 2

Death at Dearley Manor The Cherry Pickers An Inconsiderate Death Deadly Legacy Smiling at Death

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First British Edition Severn House (1998)

Death at Dearley Manor
'I didn't kill her. I didn't. You do believe me, Susan, don't you?'
Paul Reynolds' second marriage has turned into a nightmare. It has taken him some time to realise that his wealthy wife Myrna married him for two reasons: sex and exceptional financial acumen. Nowadays she treats him more like an employee than a husband.
When Myrna is found brutally murdered, Paul is the obvious suspect, since there is more than one witness to the fact that he was goaded almost beyond restraint by his wife's behavior. But Myrna's obsession with money and power has endeared her to so few that there is no shortage of others with possible motives. Any one of the estate workers whom she threatened with eviction might know more than they are prepared to admit. And there are people with guilty secrets …
For scene of crime officer Sukey Reynolds, who discovers the body after what appears to be a routine break-in, the case brings terrible dilemmas as she is forced to confront accusations and suspicions about the man to whom she was once married for so many years...

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Paperback - NEL (1998)

First British Edition Hodder & Stoughton (1998)

The Cherry Pickers
See Review by Andrew Taylor - author of the highly acclaimed Roth & Lydmouth Series
See Review by John Boyles
The Cotswold village of Upper Benbury is buzzing with rumour and gossip. The body of a young gypsy girl has been found in a discarded freezer, recently stolen from outside the house of one of its most prominent residents.
A local newshound, hot on the trail of a story, persuades crime writer Melissa Craig to accompany him to the gypsy encampment. Later, Melissa learns that some members of the victim's family, not convinced that the police are doing all they can to solve the crime, are planning to administer their own brand of justice to the outsider who lured their girl away.
Melissa's determination to track down and warn the Romanys' intended victim, despite the disapproval of ex-Detective Chief Inspector Ken Harris, lands her in grave danger and exposes dark secrets in unexpected places.
The Cherry Pickers is an engaging, compelling tale with an authentic flavour of Gloucestershire village life. About the author:
Betty Rowlands burst on to the crime scene by winning the Sunday Express/Veuve Clicquot Crime Short Story of the Year Competition. Her success continued with her seven highly acclaimed Melissa Craig mysteries. She is an active member of the Crime Writers' Association and regularly gives talks and readings and serves on panels in crime writing conventions. Betty lives in the heart of the Cotswolds where her Melissa Craig mysteries are set.

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First British Edition Severn House (1997)

An Inconsiderate Death
See Review by John Boyles
Cold-blooded killer ... or victim of circumstance?
Lorraine Chant, wife of a wealthy businessman, is found strangled. But why, when both the Chants' safes had been discovered, was nothing stolen? Suddenly the sleepy Gloucestershire village of Marsdean finds itself host to a murder, with the victim herself all too closely involved with several key suspects...
What was Lorraine's relationship with Hugo Bayliss - a man of many faces, dubious background, and a penchant for attractive married women? How did Bayliss come to meet Sukey, police photographer and scene of crime officer, before the investigation became public? And was it just coincidence that Terry Holland, the Chants' handyman, reported his van stolen and abandoned the same day?
Then, in a cruel twist of fate, Sukey accepts an offer for some freelance photography, and unwittingly plays into the hands of Lorraine's murderer ... on the wrong side of the law.
An Inconsiderate Death is the first novel to feature Scene of Crime officer Sukey Reynolds.

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First British Edition Hodder & Stoughton (1996)

Deadly Legacy
See Review by Pauline Bell
Women in the quiet Cotswold town of Stowbridge are living in fear of a sex strangler. At the same time, surrounding villages are suffering a spate of burglaries, one of which leads to the death of Gloucestershire's most prolific novelist, Leonora Jewell. Crime-writer Melissa Craig is persuaded to complete Jewell's unfinished novel and soon has reason to believe that the author's death was not, as at first supposed, accidental. Clues in the script suggest a motive for murder and Melissa decides to do a little sleuthing of her own.
Why does Leonora's executor, who is also her godson, seem so uncooperative? How did the murder weapon manage to disappear before the police could retrieve it? Could Leonora's researches into jiggery-pokery in the art world have made her a threat to someone? And if so, has Melissa put herself at risk by stepping into her shoes? As the intrepid writer pieces together the clues - and stumbles across yet another planned twist in Leonora's novel - so the mystery of Stowbridge's crime-wave deepens before taking a bizarre turn and coming to an unexpected conclusion.
DEADLY LEGACY sees Melissa Craig, Betty Rowlands' 'canny and vigorous crime novelist' (Financial Times) on another exciting, puzzling and dangerous case.
Praise for:
A Little Gentle Sleuthing
'A first novel by a clearly gifted and knowledgeable writer, never less than engaging and readable' Financial Times
Finishing Touch
'Gently old fashioned whodunnit, riddles with lurking anguish' The Times
Over The Edge
'She has the rare skill that grabs the reader's complete attention at page one and holds it to the end' Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard
Exhaustive Enquiries:
'The gently old-fashioned style of unravelling the mystery is as riveting as any violent fast-paced novel or film' Cotswold Life

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First British Edition Hodder (1995)

Smiling at Death
Village of Fear: Residents Hide Behind Wall of Silence Following the third murder within six months, the village of Thanebury is living in fear. It is understood that there has been no response to the police appeal for information. Local residents, when approached by the press, take refuge behind a wall of silence. Crime writer Melissa Craig, Betty Rowlands' "canny and vigorous heroine" (Financial Times), is getting quite a reputation-in the Cotswolds for solving genuine mysteries. So when she reads this report in the Gloucester Gazette she intends to keep a low profile. But when she herself finds the body of a fourth victim, bearing the distinctive hallmark of the killer, she is reluctantly drawn into a sinister case which produces numerous suspects and questions. Why does Mrs Aggs think her husband is having an affair? And why does she confide in Melissa rather than Ken Harris, whom she has considered hiring as a private detective? Why do certain village newcomers want to keep their past lives under wraps? What joys of the after-life is the local reverend preaching to his flock of doting young girls? And are there features of the fourth death which suggest the work of a copycat killer? As Melissa makes a few enquiries of her own, she unwittingly unnerves suspects with a variety of skeletons in their closets. And as she probes deeper, she reveals the work of a creative but highly disturbed mind.

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