You've heard of television spin-offs, well now there is a
cozy mystery spin-off.
Ann Purser, who is the author of the popular English-
based "Lois Meade Mysteries" series, has created a new
series featuring the beloved cantankerous character of Ivy
Beasley.
In THE HANGMAN'S ROW ENQUIRY: An Ivy Beasley Mystery, Ivy
has moved into a retirement home in the lovely little town
of Barrington and proceeds to liven the joint up with her
amateur sleuthing projects. She recruits her cousin Deirdre
and village newcomer Gus Halfhide to open an investigative
agency, and their first case involves an elderly neighbor
of Gus' who had been stabbed with a bread knife.
There was no love loss between Winifred Blake and her
daughter Miriam, and when Winifred is found with the bread
knife in her chest, Miriam is soon the prime suspect in the
suspicious death. It's up to Ivy, Deirdre and Gus to sort
through the village of quirky characters to determine
exactly who the real killer is. Amid the scandals and
secrets, the trio develop a working partnership that is
amazingly efficient at ferreting out the clues that lead to
a surprising ending.
Purser's "Ivy Beasley" is a truly unique character, a kind
of cross between Jessica Fletcher, Miss Marple and Mrs.
Slocum from "Are You Being Served?" -- just a delightful,
eccentric old darling that readers are sure to embrace.
Pair this with Purser's charming storytelling technique,
and you have a fast-paced tale that will keep readers
guessing to the very end.
I foresee the "Ivy Beasley Mysteries" becoming another
popular series for fans of Ann Purser and of English murder
mysteries themselves.
Ivy Beasley from Round Ringford days has moved to an old
folks` residence in Barrington, a small village in
Suffolk. Stroppy and autocratic as ever, she is busy
shaping the place up to her standards, when Augustus
Halfhide, tall, thin and oddly attractive in a wispy kind
of way, moves into Hangman`s Row in the village. He is a
mystery, determined to give nothing away about his past,
and when he offers to see Ivy home from church one day, it
is the beginning of an unlikely and fruitful relationship.
Alongside Ivy, Gus enlists Ivy`s much younger cousin
Deirdre, and Ivy`s admirer, Roy Goodman, in setting up a
detective agency called Enquire Within. Almost
immediately, their first case makes its shocking
appearance in the village. Another resident of Hangman`s
Row, an old woman known for her sharp tongue and
persecution of her hapless daughter Miriam, is found far
from well on the floor of her cottage.
Enquire Within is in business!
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