T. E. Kinsey

Revised edition: This edition of A Quiet Life In The Country includes editorial revisions.

A Lady Hardcastle Mystery

A Quiet Life in the Country

Missing diamonds. Mysterious deaths. And all that jazz. London, 1925. With their band the Dizzy Heights, jazz musicians Ivor 'Skins' Maloney and Bartholomew 'Barty' Dunn are used to improvising as they play the Charleston for flappers and toffs, but things are about to take a surprising turn. Superintendent Sunderland has had word that a deserter who stole a fortune in diamonds as he fled the war is a member of the Aristippus private members' club in Mayfair--where the Dizzy Heights have a residency. And the thief is planning to steal a hoard of jewels hidden there under the cover of a dance contest. As mutual pal Lady Hardcastle has suggested, Skins and Dunn are perfectly placed to be Sunderland's eyes and ears--and Skins's wife Ellie soon lends a hand with a bit of light snooping. But the stakes change dramatically when a mysterious death at the club brings a sinister note to the investigation. With the dance contest fast approaching, the trio must solve the mystery of the missing diamonds, unmask the murderer, and prevent more deadly crimes--all without missing a beat.

The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds

When Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Florence, are invited to Lord Riddlethorpe’s country estate for a week of motor racing and parties, they both agree it sounds like a perfectly charming holiday. But when one of the drivers dies in a crash during the very first race, they discover that what seemed like an uncharacteristic error in judgement may have a more sinister explanation . . . Closer investigation reveals that the driver’s car was sabotaged – and the driver murdered. The local constabulary are quick to dismiss the case, but Flo and Lady Hardcastle are determined to find out just who has committed this dastardly act, and why. As the pair begin to make enquiries of Lord Riddlethorpe’s servants and guests, it seems that, below stairs and above, there is more to this case than meets the eye. And, even in the quiet of the countryside, death is always just around the bend.

Death Around the Bend

Spring, 1909, and Lady Hardcastle, amateur sleuth and all-round eccentric, is enjoying a well-deserved rest. But a week after a trip to the cattle market, Spencer Caradine, a local farmer, turns up dead in the pub, face-down in his beef and mushroom pie. Once again, it is up to Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Florence, to solve the case. Armed with wit and whimsy, not to mention Florence's mean right hook, the pair set out to discover what really happened and why. Was it poison or just ill luck? As they delve further into their investigation, they encounter a theft where nothing is stolen, a s�ance with a troubled ghost and an ever-increasing number of Spencer's family and friends who might just have motive for murder. One thing's for sure: Lady Hardcastle has a mystery on her hands.

In the Market for Murder

A locked room. A mysterious death. Just another gig for the Dizzy Heights. When London's finest jazz musicians, the Dizzy Heights, are booked to play the glitzy Midsummer Ball at a country house in Oxfordshire, they expect a weekend filled with flappers and toffs having a roaring good time. But the festivities at Bilverton House take a turn for the worse when the group are stranded by a summer storm. And when a member of the Bilverton family turns up dead in a locked room in an apparent suicide, Skins, Dunn and Ellie realise this is going to be a much tougher gig than they thought. But here's the lick. What if it was in fact cold-blooded murder? And what if the killer is still at large? It's up to the Dizzy Heights to once again put down their instruments and get improvising if they want to solve this confounding mystery.

A Baffling Murder at the Midsummer Ball

July 1910. Lady Hardcastle and her tireless sidekick Flo have finally embarked on a long-overdue seaside break. But just as they're wavering between ice creams and donkey rides, their fellow guests start to go missing--and the duo find themselves with a hysterical hotel manager and a case to solve. The first to disappear is Dr Goddard, a scientist doing something terribly top-secret for the government. Gone too are his strongbox and its mysterious contents. By the time Lady Hardcastle has questioned the horde of international guests, her number-one suspect has been dispatched in grisly circumstances--and then the others start vanishing too. As the case begins to look like a matter of national security, Lady Hardcastle takes advice from her brother in the secret service. But could there be an even more personal connection at play? To solve the case, Lady Hardcastle may face a shocking discovery of her own.

Death Beside the Seaside

January 1910. A journalist has been killed in a suspicious blaze. Everything points to a group of suffragettes, but the apparent culprit insists she is innocent. When Lady Hardcastle receives a letter from a suffragette requesting her urgent help, the retired spy turned sleuth knows only she stands between an accused young woman and the gallows. Evidence at the scene makes Lizzie Worrel's innocence difficult to believe, and with the police treating it as an open-and-shut case of arson, Lady Hardcastle faces a barrage of resistance as she tries to dig out the truth. With her trusted maid and confidante, the formidable Flo, Lady Hardcastle sets off in pursuit of the truth as time runs out for the accused suffragette. Was she set up? And if so, is the real culprit a traitor to the cause--or part of a darker conspiracy?

The Burning Issue of the Day

August 1911. Emily Hardcastle and her inimitable lady's maid Florence Armstrong are enjoying a fine summer until Harry, Lady H's brother, turns up out of the blue with a mystery for them to solve. A routine parachute test at a local aeroplane factory has gone horribly wrong--with pilot Dickie Dupree plummeting to his death. Harry is certain there is more to this 'tragic accident' than meets the eye, having discovered that someone at the airfield is leaking top secret intelligence to foreign rivals. In between strolls to the Dog & Duck and planning for the annual village show, the daring duo dust off the Crime Board and go undercover at Bristol Aviation. With international powers investing heavily in aeronautics, the stakes are high--sky high--and the suspects soon mount up. Can Lady Hardcastle find the culprit before someone else falls down dead?

The Fatal Flying Affair

Summer 1911. A scorching heatwave engulfs the quiet town of Littleton Cotterell and brings about an unusually early harvest. The villagers are thrilled, but events quickly turn sour when one of them turns up dead in an apple orchard, stabbed through the heart. Amateur sleuth Lady Hardcastle and her trusty lady's maid, Flo, suddenly have a juicy case on their hands. Might the mysterious stranger they recently met in the village be to blame? When a second cider-related murder takes place, it quickly becomes clear that there's more to these mysterious deaths than meets the eye. The daring duo uncover whispers of an ancient order and moonlit rituals. And evidence points to a macabre secret in the village stretching back years. A secret someone will do anything--anything at all--to keep hidden. Something is rotten, that's for sure. With the local constabulary baffled, Lady Hardcastle and Flo must use all their powers of wit and whimsy to get to the bottom of the dastardly deed. But can they catch the killer before any more people drop dead?

Rotten to the Core

An Act of Foul Play

May 1912. After the previous year's deadly heatwave, it's been an uneventful spring in Littleton Cotterell. Though for Lady Hardcastle and her fiercely loyal lady's maid Flo, at least there are the provincial delights of the village's inaugural art exhibition--and bicycle race--to look forward to. But at the exhibition opening, there's a panicked shout of 'Fire!' In the confusion, the main attraction--an extremely expensive book--is stolen from under everyone's nose, as is a valuable painting lent by Sir Hector Farley-Stroud. Then the race, which starts as a charming day out, ends in a shocking death. And to top it all off, the Farley-Strouds reveal they're in debt and might lose their house. The sleuthing duo soon find themselves torn between a murder investigation, an art theft mystery, and trying to help their pals. All with a suspicious figure from Flo's past, a supercilious insurance investigator, and a pair of rather bizarre treasure hunters on the loose...

A Fire at the Exhibition

It's Spring 1909 and Lady Hardcastle and her maid Florence Armstrong are back for four more mysteries. The Farmer's Revenge - Our heroines resume their amateur sleuthing when a sudden death at the cattle market begins to look like murder. The Ghost of the Dog and Duck - Flo persuades Lady Hardcastle to attend a seance where a medium calls forth a ghost who begins to haunt the village pub. The Trophy Case Case - There's a burglary at the rugby club on the night of the end of season celebrations and Lady Hardcastle and Flo agree to help the village police find the thief. The Last Tram - There's sabotage, murder and kidnap in the city. Lady Hardcastle and Flo are called in to find out who's behind the chaos at the tram company but things go from bad to worse."

T. E. Kinsey

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