Smiling at Death // Murder in the Orchard — Betty Rowlands

Following the third murder within six months, the village of Thanebury is living in fear. Local residents, when approached by the press, take refuge behind a wall of silence. Crime writer Melssa Craig, is getting a reputation in the Cotswolds for solving genuine mysteries. So when she reads the story reported in the Gloucester Gazette she intends to keep a low profile.

But when she finds the body of a fourth victim, bearing the hallmark of the killer, she is drawn into a sinister case with many suspects and questions. Why does Mrs Aggs think her husband is having an affair? Why does she confide in Melissa rather than Ken Harris, whom she has considered hiring as 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? Are there features of the fourth death which suggest the work of a copy-cat killer? Melissa unnerves suspects with the skeletons in their closets. And as she probes deeper, she reveals the work of a creative but highly disturbed mind.