Showing results by narrator "Lee Beddow" in All Categories

Rhianna Chow has been abducted, snatched from the street in front of her home, and in this second Little Compton Mystery, cleaner Liz Thorne, and accountant Tom Large team up once again to help find her. As they dig deeper into Rhianna’s life, they discover a maze of secrets and betrayals that threaten to muddy the waters, and obscure who is really responsible for Rhianna’s abduction.

When the body of a young woman is discovered in a field near Reading, it is linked to a similar discovery five years earlier. Both women had lived in or near Bristol, both had boarded a train at Temple Meads bound for London, but never reached their destination, and both were found murdered within a few miles of each other. The cold case review team in Bristol, headed by DCI John Meredith, takes on the case. With few leads to go on, and the passage of time, it was always going to be a tough case to solve.

Tom Large is an accountant with issues, issues which are not helped when he stumbles across the body of Denise Knight. The police are treating Denise’s death as misadventure, but Tom’s cleaner, Liz Thorne, won’t accept that. She declares it to be murder, and little by little, she drags Tom out of his comfort zone as they try to establish the truth of what really happened to Denise. The unconventional pair of sleuths are doing well until Tom’s daughter reveals an earth-shattering secret.

Meredith and Hodge are stranded up a mountain with two dead bodies and a murderer on the loose, Christmas is put on hold until they can catch the killer. John Meredith has been coerced into joining a group of friends, in a castle on top of a mountain, for the Christmas holiday. His irritation at being dragged away from home soon dissipates, as he relaxes in the picturesque surroundings, enjoying the company of good friends. Even the sudden snowstorm is accepted without complaint; it will be a white Christmas. But then Patsy Hodge discovers a dead body in the salt box.

Meredith's team are horrified when the daughter of one of their own is taken from the park by a stranger. Her disappearance is only the beginning of a series of abductions of young girls in the area. To catch the abductor, the team must first work out what motivates him, but time is running out, and he might just slip their net. Hodge begins to question her new career as a private investigator. But a seemingly mundane case soon finds Patsy, herself, being interrogated and hand-picked for a very different assignment.

Due to a series of complicated circumstances (denial, personal hygiene, and pregnancy), the gang all gather together at The Woodsman pub for Christmas. It’s snowing. A lot. But it’s not all festive cheer and merriment. There’s a fire, a tractor, an ambulance, and an inordinate amount of snow shovelling involved.

In October 2015, young police officer Corina Jones drowned in Bristol’s floating harbour. Was it an accident or foul play? There are no witnesses, and injuries to her body are inconclusive. When the senior investigating officer dies in a freak accident, the case is shelved and an inquest records an open verdict. Ten years later, the Chief Constable receives a series of anonymous letters, and Meredith’s cold case review team reopens the case. The letters say to look close to home, which, if true, given Corina’s circumstances, means a serving police officer could be responsible.

Meredith is impatient to get back to work following his illness, but has a few matters to sort out, and a wedding to attend before that happens. The wedding is ruined when Meredith is arrested and his half brother turns up with a body in the boot of his car. The investigation reveals that Patsy and Amanda are being stalked and are in the sights of a sadistic killer. It seems an old adversary is trying to ruin Meredith’s life before he wipes out everyone Meredith cares about.

Meredith is keeping secrets from Hodge which can only lead to trouble and raise questions as to whether their relationship can survive. But their personal issues must take a back seat as Meredith investigates a series of mysterious and motiveless murders. His interest in proving the innocence of the main suspect is raising eyebrows. Patsy Hodge takes her first major case as a private investigator. She needs to find out if a successful business woman was raped by a colleague. Both cases need to be solved before Meredith and Hodge join the murder victims.

Cast out by his father, Jeremy Rossiter drove away from his friends and into a wall. Some 40 years later, half of those friends are dead, and Amy Cleaver, who was present on that fateful night, predicts her own death. In her will, she instructs her solicitor to appoint someone to find out who is killing her friends. He appoints Patsy Hodge. Meredith is investigating a gruesome murder. Wealthy jeweler Christopher Kentish has been leading a double life, which was brought to an end in the most violent manner. As their cases collide, Meredith and Hodge join forces to find a killer.

A charismatic Cuban, Alberto Mistro, offers five middle-aged couples an all-expenses paid holiday. Too good to be true? Of course! The Mistro family has a secret past, and the holiday makers find themselves in a race against time. They are required to solve a 600-year-old puzzle. If they succeed, they get to go home. If they fail...well, let’s just say, failure isn’t an option.

Nigel Foxton was jailed for the murder of three women. Not only was the evidence damning, but during the trial, he changed his plea to guilty. Case closed...or was it? It’s almost 20 years later, and Meredith is being taunted with more victims murdered in the same way. Foxton claims he is innocent and wants to appeal, and Meredith has to prove they jailed the right man.

DCI John Meredith has one day left in the job when his friend Ben Jacobs is arrested for murder. According to the numerous witnesses in the nightclub where Jacobs works, Jacobs stabbed Aiden O’Brien in a motiveless attack. Meredith believes all is not as it seems and is determined to prove his friend’s innocence, even if it means letting down Patsy Hodge, allowing the secret intelligence service to call the shots, and ignoring his increasing ill-health.

Meredith finds himself stuck between the Russian Mafia and the Secret Intelligence Service. But whose side has he chosen? His team are investigating a series of horrific murders involving the Russians, and are beginning to question where his loyalties lie. Even Patsy Hodge has her doubts. Hodge is working on an assignment that appears to be safe and boring. When she discovers there is a connection to the Russians, her relationship with Meredith places her in danger. Has Meredith overplayed his hand? The secrets and lies are mounting up and not everyone will get out alive.

Lucy James goes out to celebrate the end of her final exams at college. It’s a decision she soon comes to regret, because next day, she has to attend an important interview, but she can’t remember why. Having recently passed the stringent vetting procedure for a top recruitment agency, she thinks she is probably meeting a prospective employer. Or is it yet another member of the agency? Deciding to wing it, she turns up and meets Gloria.

Hotelier Stephen Sanderson is dead. Stabbed after hosting a police officer’s wedding. Chief Superintendent David Ashworth is a family friend of the victim and assigns the case to Meredith. Sanderson had a past that the family would rather keep quiet if it’s not related to his murder, but Sanderson’s life style provides the police with many suspects, including some in his own family.

Charlie Birch is dead. A knife, thrust into his chest, has effortlessly sliced through his right ventricle, quite literally breaking his heart, which given his past behaviour, was perhaps a fitting end. An unexpected chain of events had placed a desperate Charlie and many of the Middle Mound villagers in the White Hart pub that morning. Then Charlie decided to hold them all hostage. That was his last mistake.

A nine-to-five dead-end job with no prospects wasn't the life I planned for myself, but I only had myself to blame. Art was my dream. I wanted to see my creations in the Tate Modern display alongside the great artists of our time. How did I end up leaning on a counter, twiddling my thumbs watching the newest customer make a mess of the display I just tidied up? A series of missed opportunities and wrong turns. Something needed to change and fast.

Maggie Carter has had enough. Enough of working with politicians, enough of her husband, and enough of keeping secrets. The trouble is if she tells her secrets, dangerous people will be angry, and the one person she loves might end up hating her even more. A risk worth taking? Maggie lets her conscience guide her and Meredith and Hodge find themselves on the hunt of a serial killer.

Trixie was within yards of her mother and other shoppers in a busy supermarket, yet no one witnessed her disappearance. Trixie had died within hours of being taken, her body discovered two days later.