The McLaren Mysteries Series

When a young art student is murdered, the sister of the accused simply cannot believe her brother is responsible. Worse than that, he dies of a heart attack, provoked--she claims--by a vigilante group and the local shock jock. Ex-police detective Michael McLaren investigates the year-old cold case and soon becomes the victim of a series of driving assaults. Perhaps just as bad, he encounters Charlie Harvester, his nemesis from his days in the Force. A coincidence, or is Harvester somehow wrapped up in the murder? As McLaren discovers the meaning of the brooch, he slowly untangles the web surrounding Amy's death, and barely escapes his own planned murder.

Michael McLaren returns home from working a cold case in Cumbria to learn that he's missed his uncle's wedding in Scotland.  Angry and fearful that his absence has re-opened the family rift just as it's healed, he drives to the ancestral home, hoping his appearance and explanation will be accepted. He's more than welcomed. His uncle asks him to investigate the murder of his first fiancée. Fiona Lennox was found in a rowboat on a Scottish loch, shot to death during a late night photo shoot. Why would she rent a boat after dark? Did she take it out to photograph the moonlight on the water? She could've done, being a professional photographer, but she was also a proponent of civic and environmental causes, which she documented with her camera. Did someone linked to one of her crusades kill her, or was the motive personal? As McLaren uncovers layers of Fiona's life and the reason for her nocturnal outing, he and his family are targets of intensifying attacks. But it's not until he races against a kidnapper's deadline and the threat of a loved one's death that he realizes who killed Fiona¾implications that are as deep and dark as the Scottish loch.

McLaren's fiancée tragically died one month ago. Trying to heal emotionally from her death, McLaren settles into a rented farmhouse in the woods near picturesque Lake Windermere, in Cumbria. But he's barely had a chance to rest when Helen, the woman in the neighboring cottage, is killed…and is discovered near his front door.   Because McLaren had spent much of the previous day with her, and his snowy footprints lead to and from her house, he becomes the prime murder suspect in what the police label a frustrated romantic advance.  Motives for Helen's murder are as chilling as the outdoor temperature. There's the hands-on garage mechanic who'd like to put his hands all over her, the affluent fishing guide, and Helen's former boyfriend who wanted to renew the relationship.  Can McLaren find the killer before the police jail him for murder? 

Ex-police detective Michael McLaren is determined to have a peaceful holiday after the fiasco of his first attempt at Windermere, so he stops at a bed-and-breakfast in Moorton, a village in Cumbria.  But mystery and murder seek him out, and he soon succumbs to the B&B owner's plea to investigate the year-old death of her daughter's fiancé, a young musician. The Lake District parish seems peaceful, but a rival  musician's jealousy and a business partner's anger boil beneath the façade.  Mix that with 'Barmy Barry's' sightings of fairy lights at the castle, references to Uther Pendragon's return and the secrets in the woods, and McLaren finds his sanity shaky. When the vicar is attacked and Barry disappears, McLaren sets a trap for the killer. But as it plays out, his concern shifts from the potential capture to praying he and his friend can escape with their lives.

Each April the members of a mystery writing group gather on Stanton Moon for camaraderie and to fuel their plots. The moody area seems the perfect setting for hatching a whodunit. Unfortunately, an unscripted mystery materializes like an unsolicited manuscript on a publisher's slush pile—the leader of their group is found on the moor, her head bashed in and very dead. Lesley Keeton's murder takes on the aspects of a novel's first draft: the suspects shadowy and the killer unnamed. Now, a year later, ex-police detective Michael McLaren is asked to tidy up the plot and expose the killer. McLaren investigates and discovers anger and jealousy cropping up as often as editor's red marks on a manuscript page. The group members crafted more than stories—they planned a mass exodus, fleeing Lesley's tutelage, dictatorship and tongue lashings. Add a tinge of blackmail, an illegal business and an affair to this framework, and the deadly combination has the earmarks of a bestseller. In the midst of this, McLaren's lady friend arrives unannounced and disrupts the case…and unbalances his emotions. Both are tested one dark night in a churchyard when she stumbles into the arms of the killer…and McLaren must rescue her without letting evil go free.

One dark night artist Craig Saxton went missing from his village.  His body was found thirty-two hours later in the river, floating like a bobber on a fishing line.  Rumors swell like tidal waves: did his ex-wife or his fiancée's father kill this likeable young man? Or was it simply a case of jealousy by the village's other artist? Now, two years later, Craig's fiancée hopes ex-police detective Michael McLaren can find out. From speaking to villagers, McLaren quickly realizes that what appears to be a straightforward investigation is fast becoming as tangled as fishing lines. Are the fish poaching incidents, the reappearance of the local ghost, and assaults on him merely to muddy the investigative waters, or are they connected to Craig's death? McLaren has his hands full. They become even fuller when a nemesis from his past appears one night, bent on revenge. And the inevitable struggle opens a new future for one man…and leaves the other empty handed.

Playing a mystery game seems the perfect way to celebrate Jamie Kydd's promotion to Detective Sergeant rank. But the game turns real when a body turns up in the pretend crime scene. Perhaps worse than spoiling the party, the corpse is someone Jamie knows. Even though the police take on the case, Jamie asks his friend, former police detective Michael McLaren, to also investigate—concerned that the victim's criminal past may dampen the Constabulary's usual fervor to nab his killer. It seems to have been a smart decision, for the police aren't expending a lot of energy on the inquiry. Suspects float around McLaren…half truthful, hard to find. More like wraiths than flesh and blood. If the victim's burglary partner, ex-wife, or childhood friend didn't kill Dan, who did? It's a desperate game between McLaren and a killer who's playing Hide and Seek.

From the moment ex-police detective Michael McLaren arrives at his friend's house, he's plunged into a nightmare of a case. Two men, hanged a year apart, each killed on a Good Friday. A barrister. A solicitor. Related careers. Related by murder. Related motives? Pottery shards, a torn newspaper article, and biscuits are found in each man's pocket. What do they signify? And the blackmail letters Melanie receives… Are they related to the murders, or are they separate, terrifying in their own way? Professions, calendar date, McLaren's attack. Could it all be entwined? Or is the motive for murder something else, something so secret that keeping it is worth attempting a third one?

Former police detective Michael McLaren arrives in Scotland, ready to immerse himself in the fun of the Highland Games and to enjoy a holiday with Melanie. But the old saying of plans oft going awry rears its ugly head: Simon Shaw, a member of McLaren's folk group, dies. Murdered a year to the day following his uncle's death. McLaren is determined to find out who killed Simon. Needing justice for his friend is only half of his incentive. He also needs to appease his guilt for suggesting the group sing there in the first place. As McLaren becomes immersed in the investigation, he wonders if the two deaths are linked, or have to do with the family or their clan. Perhaps Simon's former wife killed him, bent on revenge more powerful than mere divorce. Or was the killing tied to an old hunt for diamonds? After all, diamonds aren't only a girl's best friend. Sometimes they birth greed and murder. And entrap the innocent.

Cameron Rutter drowned two months ago in a lake on a Cheshire moor. Some say a morgen—a spirit who drags men to a watery grave—was responsible. Others say it was the phantom Grey Lady. The police say Gareth Gynne was the guilty one. Whoever—or whatever—killed Cameron needs to be sorted out. And ex-police detective Michael McLaren is asked to do just that. McLaren's not keen on delving into the mystery. The accused is the nephew of McLaren's nemesis, Charlie Harvester. And if there's one thing McLaren doesn't want to do is to associate with another Harvester, no matter what generation he is. Suspects and motives seem nearly overwhelming. There's the opinion that a villager opposed Cameron's crusade to keep the moor in its pristine state, rather than develop it for the tourist trade. Equally as plausible is that someone Cameron had arrested came back to kill him in a vindictive attack. Or was the morgen really responsible? Can McLaren discover the killer, or will he too become a victim of the haunted water?

A spate of three murders in as many months has Derbyshire's local police and populace in near panic. And there will most likely be a fourth killing in two weeks unless something happens to stop the cycle. Former police detective Michael McLaren is that "something" that his best mate, Jamie Kydd, is counting on to end the alarming deaths. He enlists McLaren's help to look into the events, hoping his friend can solve what, so far, has confounded the Constabulary. Each of the three crime scenes is the same, yet different: the same types of things but not the same specific things left with each body. As McLaren becomes enmeshed in the hunt for the killer, his friend Melanie arrives for a planned visit. Can his days become more complicated than simultaneously playing host and unmasking a killer? They can when he's aware that each tick of the clock brings them closer to the next planned murder. And perhaps an unplanned one...thrown in for fun.

Former police detective Michael McLaren is at the home of his lady friend, Melanie. The house is sold, the removal van is booked.  All that is left is to help her pack her belongings for her move to his village. But the laborious task is interrupted when one of Melanie's neighbors asks McLaren to investigate the circumstances of her parents' murders. McLaren's reluctance to take it on and abandon Melanie appears to be solved when his best mate, Jamie, steps in to help with the packing. It's not the easy investigation McLaren was hoping for, however. Sightings of Mordred and a ghost, and a burglary at the local Tudor Hall complicate the murder inquiries. What had seemed to McLaren a perfect remedy with Jamie close at hand now disintegrates into a horrendous mistake. And McLaren questions if the investigation is really worth it, especially when he puts the people he cares about most in danger.

Former police detective Michael McLaren is looking forward to spending Christmas at his grandfather's ancient Hall. Not only because it will be his first holiday with his grandfather and uncle, but also with his lady love, Melanie. Everything seems perfect for the Scottish Highland getaway. Even Mother Nature is contributing snow, adding a festive and romantic overtone to the gathering. But McLaren's holiday plan gets snowed under when a dead man is discovered outside his grandfather's house--in circumstances similar to an older murder. And it's not long before McLaren is asked to look into the previous death. The victim was a drummer in a local pipe band. He also drummed at the Christmas market, where his body was found on a snowy, cold evening. The man found dead at the door of his grandfather's house also played in a pipe band. Are the two murders connected? Or did their jobs at the bank have to do with their deaths? Can McLaren wrap up the cases in time to unwrap Christmas gifts with Melanie? It's a race against the calendar and weather if he wants the Day—and his future with her—to be merry and bright.

Under usual circumstances, being a beneficiary in a person's will is heart-warming and perceived as an honor. However, this circumstance is not usual, for the bequest is a two-ton granite millstone. And the beneficiary of this gift wants former police detective Michael McLaren to find out who the gift-giver is and why she received it. McLaren reluctantly agrees to delve into the questionable gift and soon becomes enmeshed in the larger mystery of a bride left at the altar and two murders--one old and one contemporary. Both of which send him on a chase for a killer in a rain-soaked night and threaten his very life.