The second Dodie Fanshaw mystery by Marina Oliver, author of 80+ novels. Dodie's rural peace is shattered, first by a mermaid walking up the lawn from the river Thames, and then by a body near the pool. The body belonged to an author who lived next door. His girlfriend, publisher and agent, ex-lovers and neighbours crowd the garden. But who might have killed this best-selling novelist? And why? Inevitably Dodie is drawn into trying to solve the mystery.

Janie Tempest's idyllic cottage, left to her by her godmother, is being demolished to make way for a new industrial park, and at the last minute the removal company can't do the job of moving her large items. Luckily the men dealing with her neighbour's move are willing to help. The handsome Manuel asks her out for dinner, and then becomes involved in her feckless sister's latest disaster. To make things even worse, Brian, the step-nephew of her godmother produces a will leaving the cottage to him.

Hugo, Earl of Winton, needs a wife and an heir if his weak cousin William and his unpleasant French wife Hortense, with the son who might not be her husband's, is not to succeed him. He decides Phillipa Stannerly will be suitable. She is pretty, and an heiress. Phillipa, in love with Charles, is distraught. Then her French cousin Sophie du Plessis comes to London and promises to help her. Their mothers were twins, and the girls are sufficiently alike to confuse people who do not know them well. When Hugo sees Sophie on her own he offers her a lift home, intending to pursue his suit in the...

This privateer is not what Sibylla expects She is in love with her brother Gerard's former friend, Randolph, and meeting him secretly. When she discovers he means to betray Gerard, who is working to help restore Charles II to the throne, he dare not leave her and abducts her, taking her on a fishing boat. They are captured by Josselin, a French Privateer, who takes them to his chateau. Randolph escapes, and fearing for Gerard they chase him to St Malo, and the wide bay with its rapidly retreating tide. How can Gerard be saved and Randolph defeated?

The Earl of Winton was a notorious rake at the Court of Charles II, but falls in love with Sophie when he abducts her in mistake for her cousin Phillipa. They plan their wedding, but Sophie and her parents must go home to France, where her grandmother is ill. Strange happenings follow them, and they suspect Hugo's discarded mistress, Kate Trent, and Monsieur de Terville, a probable agent of King Louis XIV, both of whom wish them ill.

Marigold Smith, born into the small mining town of Hednesford, is devoted to her family, especially the small and delicate Ivy, for whose accident she blames herself. She is determined to try and make life easier for Ivy and her middle sister, Poppy, as well as her hard-working parents. When she is given the chance of going into service in Oxford she meets the wealthy and charming Richard Endersby, whose father owns a factory in the Potteries. Despite the differences of class, education, and background they fall in love. Then comes the Great War, and Richard, a qualified pilot, joins the...

Nell is desperate to escape from her drunken, violent father and the Birmingham slum where they live. This is made possible with the help of Gwyneth, who has fled from her father, a bigoted Welsh preacher. Both want to dance, and at the studio they meet Kitty, wealthy, but neglected by her mother and not knowing who her father is. Together the three friends soon join a chorus line and begin to dance at 1920s Music Halls. They have to overcome threats from their families, and the attractions of the men who admire them. There is Paul, a wealthy doctor, the dilettante Hon Timothy, and Kitty's...

The Golden Road When Josie Shaw's stepfather George dies, and she and her mother Dora are left with nothing but debts. Dora wants Josie to make a good marriage. Josie, however, is strong and independent. George's son Leo, offers Josie a job as a secretary in his Birmingham jewellery factory. Together with her cousin Lizzie, Josie becomes fascinated by the motoring rallies popular in the 1930s, and longs to compete in the Monte Carlo Rally. Then a chain of disasters strike, and she has no job, no home, and little hope of a bright future. The contrasts of the Birmingham slums, the glamorous...