Ethelred Tressider and his agent Elsie Thirkettle have been invited to lecture on a creative writing course at Fell Hall, a remote location in the heart of ragged countryside. When one of their number goes missing, Ethelred leads a search party and makes a gruesome discovery. With no phone signal and no hope of summoning the police, can Ethelred and Elsie identify the killer among them before one of them is next?
Ethelred Tressider, mid-list crime writer, is surprised when fellow author Henry Holiday unexpectedly turns up on his doorstep. He's even more surprised when Henry confesses that he may have committed murder while drunk on New Year's Eve. Though he has little recollection of the night, Henry fears he may have killed drinking companion and fellow crime writer Crispin Vynall, and asks Ethelred to discreetly make enquiries in order to discover the truth.
Ethelred and Elsie embark upon a hunt for two golden statues, along with academic, Dr Hilary Joyner. When Joyner is found dead, the pair must avoid all distractions to solve the mystery.
When obscure crime writer Ethelred Tressider vanishes, his dogged literary agent, Elsie Thirkettle, is soon on his trail. Finding him proves surprisingly easy. Bringing him home proves more difficult than expected.
Ethelred Tressider is a crime writer with problems. His latest novel is going nowhere, mid-life crisis is looming and he's burdened by the literary agent he probably deserves: Elsie Thirkettle, a diminuitive but determined individual who claims to enjoy neither the company of writers nor literature of any sort.
Robin Pagham is dead - drowned in a sailing accident. The reaction of everyone in the village on hearing this tragic news is that Robin must have been drunk. After all, that was what he did best - that and drug-dealing and breaking his former girlfriend's nose, with a bit of TV acting on the side. Surprisingly, newspaper reports of the inquest state that no alcohol was found in Robin's blood. It was accidental death, with no clear cause. At the funeral however Robin's latest girlfriend - to whom he has just got engaged - stands up and, lifting back her veil, announces that somebody in the congregation has murdered Robin and that she's going to have their arse. Although estranged, Elsie and Ethelred begin simultaneous investigations into Robin's death - as ever with some comical results.
Roger Norton Vane is dead. Twenty years ago he went for a walk in the Thai jungle with his partner, Tim MacDonald, and never returned. After years of wild speculation, fruitless searches and unconfirmed sightings, finally his death is to be made official and somebody will inherit his accumulated wealth. But at his memorial service, a man interrupts proceedings, claiming to be Vane. He installs himself in his old flat, evicting Tim MacDonald, and sets about proving his right to Vane's money. Crime writer Ethelred Tressider is as surprised as anyone. He has been commissioned to write a biography of Vane and finds the man vague, full of scurrilous anecdotes. It soon becomes clear that many people wish Vane had stayed dead and that his anecdotes had died with him.
