Shadows Over Middleclere

In a village where secrets are buried as deep as the hedgerows, one woman's past may be the key to solving a deadly mystery.

Welcome to Middleclere, a picture-postcard English village where the air smells of fresh scones, secrets, and murder.

Retired Liverpool detective Annie Geraghty thought she'd left crime behind when she took over the Black Dog pub in the sleepy Larkshire Downs. But when a local stable hand is found dead at the village fête, tranquility vanishes faster than a pint on a Friday night.

Drawn back into the world she tried to leave, Annie must navigate a tangle of local gossip, buried scandals, and suspicious villagers-from the flirty farmer with something to hide, to the racehorse trainer with a shadowy past. Even the vicar and the retired judge aren't above suspicion.

With her loyal collie Lassie, a pint-pulling cook with an attitude, and a former Army major nursing an old flame, Annie races to uncover the truth before more lives are lost. But someone in Middleclere will kill to keep their secrets buried...

Shadows Over Middleclere is a charming and twisty British cosy mystery, perfect for fans of Midsomer Murders and Richard Osman.

KJ Cornwall is the pen name of multi-genre bestselling author Stephen Bentley, a former British detective and barrister. It is the name associated with the Jessie Harper Paranormal Cozy Mystery series with Book One 'Murder at the Vicarage' now on preorder.

The series is set in 1930s Liverpool, a city the author knows well.

Why KJ Cornwall? Kathleen, the author's mother, and Jack her twin brother, are honoured by the author in the choice of this pen name.