A Fete Worse Than Death

A celebrity chef dies on stage in front of four hundred people. Everyone says it was an accident. One former TV detective knows a performance when she sees one.

Mary Blake used to solve murders on prime-time television, until the network replaced her. Now her detective agency, run with her ever-hungry brother Pea and her sharp, notepad-wielding best friend Dot, is down to a missing cat. So when she is asked to open the Hartley Green Summer Fete, she goes for the publicity.

Then star chef Hugo Pemberton drops dead halfway through his cooking demonstration. Inspector Corrigan, the man Mary still can't bring herself to call her boyfriend, sees negligence. Mary sees a fete full of people Hugo used and threw away, from his bitter ex-wife to the head chef he sacked.

When the police arrest a frightened young man Mary is sure is innocent, the trio have days to find the truth. Someone planned this to the minute. And they are still hiding in plain sight.

A Fete Worse than Death is the fourth Mary Blake Mystery, a funny, clever, character-driven whodunnit perfect for fans of classic English cosy crime.