Showing results by author "Veronica Heley" in All Categories

When Ellie Quicke's friend, Felicity, witnesses a Pitbull savage a young mother in the park, she goes into shock and calls on Ellie for help. Ellie's enquiries indicate that the dog and its owner are strangers to the neighbourhood, but soon there are other attacks...and after each one, the dog vanishes.

Ellie Quicke is shocked when her daughter, Diana, turns up at her door with a suitcase in tow. Bunny Brewster has died of an overdose, and Diana's husband, Evan, is convinced that she is responsible for his friend's death. It seems that Diana and four other neglected wives of Evan's friends recently joked about ways to kill their husbands. Diana's suggested method of murder involved muddling up pills - could this be how Bunny died?

Velma is charm itself, especially when she's being inexact with the truth. Now she wants Bea, widowed owner of the Abbot Agency, to check up on her stepson Philip - he's somehow acquired a valuable picture last seen in the flat of an elderly lady who's been murdered. Maggie, Bea's assistant, moves into a flat in Philip's building, to investigate. However, Rafael a professional art thief who aims never to leave his victims alive, is also after the picture.

Ellie's friend on the police force asks her to enquire about some deaths which might or might not be suicide. Unbeknown to the police, an elderly lady with dementia has come across some drugs and is using them to ease people in pain out of their misery. At the same time, the project to turn the quirky, turreted Pryce House into a hotel is dogged by problems and suspicion falls on the difficult twelve-year-old boy Mikey who Ellie has taken in.

While out collecting some Portuguese laurel for the formidable flower arranger Mrs Dawes, feisty widow Ellie Quicke comes across a dead body - a corpse without an identity. Next day, Mrs Dawes is discovered by Ellie and her grandson, Frank, badly beaten and close to death. Much to Ellie's dismay, the police think shaven-headed Neil, Mrs Dawes' grandson, is responsible, even after a third body comes to light.

Ellie opens the door to a man who is a stranger but instantly recognisable as the father of her housekeeper's young son. Mikey had been conceived at a party during which his mother, Vera, a schoolgirl, had been drugged and raped. Abdi hadn't wanted anything to do with her, but now he is a consultant whose wife cannot have children, and he aims to pay off Vera and adopt Mikey. Ellie discovers that Vera still thinks fondly of her then boyfriend, even though he had also rejected her.

Ellie Quicke believes in helping people in trouble. But it would appear that her latest good deed has returned to bite her when she takes in a weeping girl who needs somewhere to stay. Selfish, thoughtless and irresponsible, Angelica is by no means the easiest of houseguests, confident that someone else will always pick up the bill. But when a dead body is found in the garden the morning after a riotous party she's organised, Angelica plunges Ellie's household into a situation too hot for any of them to handle.

Bea Abbott runs a domestic agency which does not “do” murder. But the disappearance of Tomi, the star of an award-winning short film, is a different matter, especially when the charming Chris bribes Bea with a bouquet of flowers. Can Bea find time to help him, when some well-meant advice she’s given to her daughter-in-law has led to a breakdown in family relationships? Bea discovers that Tomi’s circle contains a secret so deadly that they are dying one by one, even though none of them will go to the police.

Lady Elisabeth Silverwood is young, beautiful, and an heiress but no fool. Fleeing the advances of a notorious rake, she finds herself pursued and her carriage cut off at a ford. A personable young farmer rescues her and proves to be much more to her liking than Sir Maurice. Unfortunately Robin Prior despises everything she stands for, and though he helps her straighten out her tangled household affairs, he will not flirt with her as she desires.

It was on the boar hunt that the Lady Joanna injured her arm – saving a nine-year-old page from the charging beast. And there – in the forest – there was no one to help her…other than the Hermit…He was like no other hermit she had ever seen – he was young, strong and dark – and vowed to silence. His name was Keren, but he was always called the Hermit…

Cast out in disgrace from the family estate, dashing young Sir Gervase Escot was drawn towards the great castle at Malling. For there lived the much-courted beauty, Lady Elaine, to whom Gervase was once to have been betrothed. Rescuing a young girl from robbers, Gervase discovered that she was Elaine’s sister, the Lady Beata - a rebellious girl pledged from birth to the Church, taking with her an enormous dowry to redeem her father’s pride. Would Gervase ever be able to reveal his true identity to Beata?

There’s nothing sinister about Zander’s request for Bea Abbott to accompany him on an errand to a grieving widow, but it’s an awkward situation. Zander exposed a scam that his boss Denzil had been running on the Tudor Housing Trust…after which Denzil had, unexpectedly, died. His widow wants to sue the Trust, while the paperwork that could have proved her husband’s guilt has gone missing. Oliver, Bea’s computer geek of an assistant, is delighted to delve into the mysteries left on Denzil’s computer.

When the family castle is besieged by an ancient enemy, Ursula rides for help to Aylmer, who has asked for her hand in marriage. Ursula admires and respects Aylmer, who is much older than she. He loves her dearly and promises to help lift the siege. Aylmer offers the services of Benedict de Huste, a young man with a tragic past whom Aylmer regards as an adopted son. Together Ursula and Benedict fight a double battle.

Raven-haired Sophia knew him as Philip Rich, a poor relative of the Earl of Rame. And she knew that he awakened in her a craving that her betrothed, Sir John Bladen, could not satisfy. But she was pledged to wealthy Sir John in order to save her beloved Tarrant Hall. So she scorned Philip’s love only to discover, to her horror, that he was, in reality, the famous Earl himself. And now the Earl has vowed to humble Sophia and to avenge his honour.

Ellie Quicke, although comfortably re-married, is still inclined to act hastily. But when she took in a young rape victim, she didn’t expect it to become an invitation to murder. When she was released from the hospital, Mia had nowhere to go. Mia is threatened by violent deaths which dog her every move . . . and Ellie’s. But who is responsible for these terrifying “accidents”? Ellie has other things on her mind as well, after being asked to help organise the weddings of both her best friend and her daughter.

Bea Abbot's friend, Leon Holland, has asked for her help in establishing an alibi. But why would he need one? First, he tells her, he had a narrow escape from being run down in the road, and then he was lured to a car park to meet someone who didn't turn up. Matters escalate when two bodies are found in the car park stabbed to death. Then everything is thrown into chaos as a devastating virus infects the agency's systems. A hidden camera. Hate mail. A nasty practical joke.

Ellie has always disliked the local big estate agent - aka Great White Shark - and is distressed when her daughter Diana announces that she is carrying his child and about to become his fourth wife. But Ellie is soon drawn into the family circle when one of the Hooper children dies in their private gym and another succumbs to a peanut allergy. The police want to write off the deaths as accident and misadventure, but Ellie believes someone is targeting members of the Hooper family. Surely Diana wouldn't… or would she?

Bea Abbot is asked to find the man or woman who laid a booby trap for Sir Lucas Ossett, the powerful head of an international company. She finds Sir Lucas’ wife in a state of fear, while gossipy elderly ladies cast doubt on their neighbours; these include a "therapist", an ex-employee of Sir Lucas’, and a cross-section of yuppies and oddballs. Call-girl cards have been left in tenants’ letterboxes, a cat has met an untimely end, and snow is forecast.

While Bea Abbot worries that she’s lost control of her domestic agency, she’s asked to find some domestic help for an eccentric little musician falsely accused of murder. She doesn’t realize how dangerous this might be until Jeremy - fleeing from attempts on his life - lands up on her doorstep. Researching the gang who’d used an attractive girl to entrap Jeremy, Bea finds traces of them throughout high society. Can Bea keep Jeremy - and herself - alive, while all he thinks about is composing a song for pretty, dead Josie?

Bea Abbot's domestic agency does not investigate murder...that is, until she finds herself in the company of a dead man dressed as a pantomime dame. It looks like suicide, but why don't his red-spangled shoes fit? Matthew Kent was an entertainer known to be a modest man in private, so why had he staged this grotesque charade in death? And why is his daughter so keen to hustle away his remains?