The Secret Garden Murders

A Yorkshire Murder Mystery, Book 13

By: J. R. Ellis

A murder in a locked garden. A village full of secrets. Can DCI Oldroyd find a killer who has vanished into thin air?

When elderly Clarissa Morden is found strangled in the locked garden of historic Bishop Hewick Hall in Yorkshire, DCI Jim Oldroyd needs to solve a seemingly impossible murder. The only door was bolted from the inside, the kitchen garden walls are too high to climb, and there is no sign of how the killer escaped. If no one could enter or leave, how did the killer commit the crime and escape?

But as Oldroyd and his team uncover more evidence, they discover Clarissa wasn't the kindly neighbour she appeared; a blackmailer, she was keeping coded records of the villagers’ darkest secrets. Suddenly it seems as if half the village has a motive for murder.

In this puzzling case, Oldroyd must unravel not only how the culprit vanished from a locked garden, but also which of Clarissa's blackmail victims was driven to stop her. The tranquil beauty of Bishop Hewick conceals deadly secrets—and someone is willing to kill again to keep theirs hidden…

©2026 by J. R. Ellis. (P)2026 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.