Cold in the Earth (Mitchell & Markby 3)
An English village murder mystery of wit and suspense
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2.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Even the quaintest of villages has its perils... and deadly secrets that cannot be buried...
Mitchell and Markby have to dig deep to find a murderer in Cold in the Earth, the third English village crime novel in Ann Granger's Mitchell & Markby series. The perfect read for fans of Ruth Rendell, Agatha Christie and ITV's Midsomer Murders.
'Set in the familiar mode of traditional country crime stories, there is nothing old-fashioned about the characters, who are drawn with a telling eye for their human foibles and frailties' - Oxford Times
To Meredith Mitchell, marooned in a dusty London flat, the Cotswolds seem like a haven of peace and tranquillity. But Chief Inspector Markby has a rather different view of his native area, as he witnesses the bulldozing of one of his favourite boyhood haunts to make way for yet another housing estate. And when a man's body is found buried in the foundations of one of the plots his outlook turns even grimmer. The only cheering prospect on the horizon is Meredith's forthcoming visit.
The dead man however remains a mystery: the labourer who dug up his body has disappeared and the farmers whose lands abut the burial site are little help. Charming, eccentric Mrs Carmody treats Markby, whom she has known since he was a boy, with fond familiarity and Mrs Winthrop at the neighbouring farm is happy to supply him with tea and scones but gives little else away.
The time has come for someone with a different perspective to see what they can glean. And Meredith, blessed with an uncanny ability for ferreting out the truth, seems the obvious candidate.
What readers are saying about Cold in the Earth:
'There are plenty of suspects in this well written murder mystery and some interesting historical background as well'
'A splendid story'
'Ann Granger, as always, breathes life into her characters and in this novel she also creates a threatening atmosphere'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Far from cozy, this chilling, unsentimental English village mystery features such urban ills as drugs and land exploitation, which here are seen to ruin rural lives. Meredith Mitchell, a career woman in the Foreign Office, is delighted to escape the daily grind in London when Chief Inspector Alan Markby invites her to house-sit for his sister in the village of Bamford. Although the pair (seen last in Say It with Poison ) are wont to quarrel, Meredith is soon helping Alan investigate the murder of a man buried alive at a development site, a former farm, where a concrete foundation is about to be poured. She points out that the corpse has gold teeth, unusual for a Briton. While the duo seeks the victim's identity, various suspects surface, including red-haired Alwyn Winthrop, who longs to escape nearby Greyladies farm, development architect Steven Wetherall and the contractor Dudley Newman. After the dead man is ID'd as a French undercover narc, Granger springs a further surprising and convincing ending. First-rate characterization and the atmospheric Cotswolds setting give this tale uncommon depth.
