The Baby-Snatcher

Who hanged the headmaster in the playground on the night of the school Hallowe'en party? Almost everyone in Heppleburn either hated or feared the viper-tongued Harold Medburn. Inspector Ramsay is convinced it was the headmaster's enigmatic wife, but Jack Robson, school governor and caretaker, is determined to prove her innocence. With the help of his restless, enthusiastic daughter, Patty, Jack digs into the secrets of Heppleburn, and uncovers a cesspit - of lies, adultery, blackmail and madness.

News of the murder first came to Inspector Stephen Ramsay early on Monday morning. They found the strangled body of farmer Ernie Bowles lying on his kitchen floor. The gruesome discovery had first been made by Lily Jackman, a new-age traveller who was living with her boyfriend in a caravan on Bowles' land. Then another person is strangled, a woman who, on the surface, had absolutely no connection with the dead farmer. Surely two such killings in the same locality are more than just chilling coincidence. 

Gus Lynch is directing the Youth Theatre through a rehearsal. The cast is in place, but the female lead, Gabriella Paston, is missing. Later that evening her body is discovered in the boot of Gus' car. Detective Inspector Stephen Ramsay and Sergeant Gordon Hunter are assigned to head the murder enquiry. Meanwhile, violence is escalating on the Starling Farm Estate as police battle to contain the latest outbreak of joyriding. Is the death of Gabriella connected to the events at Starling Farm?

It is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbour Catherine Ross. The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man – loner and simpleton Magnus Tait. But when police insist on opening out the investigation a veil of suspicion and fear is thrown over the entire community. For the first time in years, Catherine's neighbours nervously lock their doors, whilst a killer lives on in their midst.

No one in Heppleburn has a bad word to say about Alice Parry. But here she is, murdered in her own backyard. And when detective Stephen Ramsay starts asking questions in the village, a more ambiguous picture begins to emerge. Yes, old Mrs Parry was loved by everyone, but sometimes her kindness had caused trouble. Yes, her two nephews were devoted to her, but they didn't really want her interfering in their personal lives.