Finishing Touch // Murder in the Morning — Betty Rowlands

Melissa Craig is a successful crime novelist who has left the hurly-burly of London to pursue her craft more single-mindedly in the Cotswolds. But the gentle country existence she planned for herself is instead fuelling her pen.

Finishing Touch finds Melissa getting drawn into the local community and teaching creative writing at the local Tech, an occupation guaranteed - one would think - to keep her out of trouble. But murder stalks the college art department, recalling for Melissa and her artist neighbour Iris a macabre event they had both witnessed some months before.

For Melissa there is the added complication of being attracted to one of the chief suspects. While Iris attempts to tamp down her emotional involvement, Detective Chief Inspector Harris is once more on hand to issue stern warnings. But it takes a second murder and some bewildering revelations before Melissa Craig is able to resolve the mystery.