Fire in the Thatch (Unabridged‪)‬

The Second World War is drawing to a close. Nicholas Vaughan, released from the army after an accident, takes refuge in Devon renting a thatched cottage in the beautiful countryside at Mallory Fitzjohn. Hard work and rural peace seem to make this a happy bachelor life. 

On a nearby farm lives the bored, flirtatious June St Cyres, an exile from London while her husband is a Japanese POW. June’s presence attracts fashionable visitors of dubious character and threatens to spoil Vaughan’s prized seclusion. 

When Little Thatch is destroyed in a blaze, all Vaughan’s work goes up in smoke, and Inspector Macdonald is drafted in to uncover a motive for murder.