Tides and Bodies – Book One

‘Several minutes later, four hooded figures stood in silence as they watched the corpse. Divested of its redundant bonds and gag, it hung from the balustrade, the body twitching and swinging in its death throes’

A spate of seemingly unrelated murders shatters the peace and tranquility of Wisstingham village as the baffled Chief Inspector Stone and his team strive to discover motives and murderers.

Meanwhile, at Wisstingham Hall, Commander Selwyn Fitzgerald’s ever-thwarted search for the family treasure barely gains momentum before his beloved fiance, ex-mayor Miriam, suffers a spate of attempts on her life.

This leaves the formidable librarian Amanda to strive alone in trying to organise Wisstingham’s first arts and crafts festival, to coincide with the public opening of the Hall. To add to her woes, the arrival of a vengeful Frenchman sparks off even more chaos and death.

Life for Amanda would be so much less stressful if fiance Sebastian would recover from his depressive episode and the various festival committee members didn’t stop disappearing or dying horribly.

As a tangled web of deceit, intrigue and revenge threatens to engulf the Hall’s residents, there appears to be no final escape for Amanda and Sebastian.

Harry Gaverty slid the gun into his inside pocket. It had been a good friend to him over the years, got him out of many scrapes, threatened a fair number of people, crippled others and relieved some of their lives. This time it will meet Selwyn and Sebastian.

Little do Commander Selwyn Fitzgerald and Sebastian, realise, when they journey in desperation to France to recover embezzled estate money and stolen goods, that they’ve boarded a roller-coaster ride of grim pursuit and murderous revenge.

Their encounter with a wily, fugitive, Maurice Fox, with a dark background, avaricious intent and a hitman on his trail, can only bring further jeopardy and terror.

At home, further disaster awaits with a suspicious death, Selwyn’s estrangement by his lover and the crooked council leader’s intention to seize estate land under an old agreement.

A ghost from the past also rises, only to become ensnared in the web of intrigue that threatens to bring ruin Wisstingham estate and death to those who live there.

In this dramatic sequel interwoven with suspense, romance, humour and pathos, Nigel Hanson’s loveable personalities from ‘Murder Mapped Out’ return, to be joined by other endearing, chilling and always larger-than-life characters in this second gripping saga from The Wisstingham Mysteries.