An Ellie Quicke Mystery Series

Ellie Quicke has her work cut out when past wrongdoings put the future of a child she’s grown to love at stake Ellie opens the door to a man who is a stranger but instantly recognisable as the father of her housekeeper’s brilliant but difficult young son. Mikey had been conceived at a party during which his mother Vera, a schoolgirl, had been drugged and raped. Abdi hadn’t wanted anything further to do with her – then. Twelve years later he is a high-flying consultant whose wife cannot have children, and he aims to pay off Vera and adopt Mikey: a suggestion that does not go down well. Ellie discovers that Vera still thinks fondly of her then boyfriend, even though he had also rejected her after that fatal night. But was that because he had fallen out of love with her, or because his father had been murdered that same weekend? Could the two events have been connected? And what part had Vera’s closest friends and her family played in the tragedy? Uncovering betrayals between friends and discovering the greed and jealousies behind past events only makes it more difficult for Vera and Mikey to decide on their future . . .

Ellie Quicke is surrounded by problems on all sides – will she sink or swim? Ellie’s friend on the police force asks her to enquire about some deaths in the community which might or might not be suicide, and various relatives of the deceased confirm their suspicions. Unbeknown to the police, an elderly lady moving in and out of dementia has come across some drugs and is using them to ease people in pain out of their misery. At the same time, the project to turn the quirky, turreted Pryce House into a hotel is dogged by problems and suspicion falls on the difficult twelve-year-old boy Mikey who Ellie has taken in. Social Services threaten to remove him into care. And Ellie’s pregnant daughter Diana has been juggling problems caused by the slow convalescence of her estate agent husband. Can Ellie track down whoever it is who is killing for mercy, keep Mikey at home, and steer Diana into calmer waters?

Ellie Quicke finds herself the target of a local cult-like church, but are their motives truly Christian or is there darkness at their heart? Ellie is desperate to find someone to look after their elderly housekeeper, whose health is failing. But employing a carer found by Ellie’s difficult daughter, Diana, proves to be a mixed blessing when Ellie returns from a trip to America to find that carer Claire has implemented a number of bizarre changes to the Quicke household routine. Claire, is heavily involved in ‘the Vision’, a local church with a charismatic, powerful pastor, who – seemingly coincidentally – is looking to Ellie for financial help in his current project, housing reformed addicts. But Ellie is suspicious – and more so, when details of Claire’s chequered past comes to light. Can Ellie trust Claire and Pastor Ambrose? Ellie investigates and doesn’t like what she finds . . .

Ellie Quicke finds you can choose your friends but not your family. Poppy’s wealthy father hadn’t liked the look of the men whom his twin daughters intended to marry, and had set them up in the Magpie fashion boutique to ensure they would be able to support themselves; at the same time ensuring that the girls made a will in one another’s favour. The business prospered and expanded until, many years later, skeletons start to come out of the closet. Bodies too… And Ellie’s enquiries uncover a hornet’s nest of greed and malice combined with tragic secrets.

No good deed goes unpunished, as Ellie Quicke finds out in this engaging and entertaining mystery. Ellie Quicke believes in helping people in trouble. But it would appear that her latest good deed has returned to bite her when she takes in a weeping girl who needs somewhere to stay. Selfish, thoughtless and irresponsible, Angelica is by no means the easiest of house guests, confident that someone else will always pick up the bill. But when a dead body is found in the garden the morning after a riotous party she’s organized, Angelica plunges Ellie’s household into a situation too hot for any of them to handle. Selfish and thoughtless her guest may be, but Ellie does not believe Angelica is capable of murder. However, when she attempts to uncover the truth about what happened that night, Ellie unearths a series of disturbing revelations.

Murder is no joke, as Ellie Quicke is only too aware in this absorbing and entertaining mystery. Ellie Quicke is shocked when her daughter, Diana, turns up at her door with a suitcase in tow. Bunny Brewster has died of an overdose, and Diana’s husband, Evan, is convinced that she is responsible for his friend’s death. It seems that Diana and four other neglected, bored wives of Evan’s friends recently joked about ways to kill their husbands. Diana’s suggested method of murder involved muddling up pills – could this be how Bunny died, or was it just a tragic accident? All five women are soon causing havoc at Ellie’s house, but a further distressing development confirms Ellie’s instinct that there’s more to this than meets the eye. With the safety of her nearest and dearest at risk, can Ellie work out who is responsible, and why?

The kindness of strangers comes under suspicion in the enjoyable new Ellie Quicke mystery. Ellie’s husband Thomas, a retired minister, is suspicious when he receives not one but five letters advising him that he has been bequeathed money by five different people in their wills. He barely knew three of his benefactors, and what could possibly connect him to the other two strangers? Sensing something isn’t right, and with Thomas’s reputation at stake, Ellie investigates but is soon distracted, not only by the problem of trying to ease Hetty, a difficult woman who’s recently taken refuge with them, out of their house, but also by her daughter, Diana, who’s in trouble again. As Ellie finally starts to make progress with her enquiries, she is about to uncover some disturbing truths – and in doing so, find herself in great danger . . .

The shocking death of a student in one of her charity's properties draws Ellie into another dark mystery. Ellie Quicke returns from Canada to find her home in chaos and her housing charity tearing itself apart. A student has fallen to his death from the top of one of the charity's properties, let through a reputable local estate agency. Accused of corruption, the agency is the victim of a vicious social media campaign. Was the student's death really an accident or something more sinister? Does someone have a grudge against the agency, or are they being set up to ensure the truth never comes out? As Ellie fights to save her charity's reputation, it seems her troubles are only just beginning . . .

While Ellie's away, murder will play . . . Is the death of Ellie's son-in-law really the result of a burglary gone wrong? Ellie's absence abroad is disastrous for her daughter, Diana - when her husband is attacked by intruders and left for dead one night, it falls to Ellie's next-door neighbour, Susan, to reluctantly pick up the pieces and take in Diana's children. Is Evan's death really the result of a burglary gone wrong? Joining forces with her aunt, police officer Lesley Millard, Susan discovers that Diana lied to the police about her movements on the night of the murder, and soon finds herself grappling with betrayal, shady business dealings and her own distrust of Diana as she attempts to solve a chilling conundrum: could Ellie's daughter be a cold-blooded killer?