Ellis Peters

World-famous opera singer Maggie Tressider wakes up in a hospital after an accident, haunted by the certainty that she has committed a murder. Her doctor suggests that, with the help of a psychiatrist, she may be able to lay the nameless specter to rest. But Maggie chooses a very different expert to help her unearth the secrets of her past. Her commission launches private investigator Francis Killian on a hunt across Europe in search of a grave. But the trail also leads him to one Bunty Felse, a former colleague of Maggie’s, and the wife of Inspector Felse. The successful end of Killian’s search is only the beginning of a long pilgrimage—a journey that leads not only back into the past, but also to a remote corner of the Austrian Alps where death awaits.

Singers and musicians are gathered for a course in folk music that will occupy a weekend in the fantastic country mansion called Follymead. Most come only to sing or to listen, but one or two have non-musical scores to settle. When brilliantly talented Liri Palmer sings "Black, black, black is the color of my true-love's heart!" she clearly has a message for someone in the audience. Passions run high, and there is murder brewing at Follymead.

> The reading of the will of legendary diva Antonia Byrne turns out to hold some unpleasant surprises for her nearest and dearest: one way or another, none of them get quite what they are expecting. >And when a quirk of Fate maroons the mourners in a tiny snowbound mountain village for Christmas, it is inevitable that feelings will be far from festive. >But what no one could predict is that one of their number has lethally sinister intentions and when the final curtain falls, it turns out to be Antonia herself who has had the last laugh ...

All of Comerford is shocked when Detective George Felse arrests Kitty Norris, the daughter of a rival beer baron, the last person to see Armiger alive, and the main beneficiary of his will. But Kitty, charming and popular, has an unexpected advocate in Felse’s young son, Dominic, who has fallen in love with her. Passionately convinced of Kitty’s innocence, Dominic sets out to find the true culprit, a hazardous undertaking that could cost him his life. Death and the Joyful Woman is the 2nd book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order

An Inspector George Felse Mystery