Welcome to the home of Isabella Muir’s Sussex Crime Mysteries – for fans of Italy and the 1960s
If you love all you’ve heard – or all you remember – about the 1960s – as well as Agatha Christie style twists and turns, or if you’re a fan of Call the Midwife, Endeavour, Inspector George Gently and all those great sixties characters, then you will love this selection of novels, novellas and short stories.
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Retired Italian detective, Giuseppe Bianchi, travels to England to escape one tragic death, when he comes face-to-face with another. When the body of a teenager is found on a Sussex beach, Giuseppe is drawn to the case – a case with no witnesses, and a case about which no one is prepared to talk.
National news reports of a missing twelve-year-old in Manchester spark fear across the nation. The phrase ‘stranger-danger’ filters into public consciousness. Local reporter, Christina Rossi, already has concerns about her local community. Families are not as close-knit as they first appear.
As the sea mist drifts in and darkness descends, can Giuseppe and Christina discover the truth and prevent another tragedy?
When a violent storm blasts England’s south coast, it’s up to retired Italian detective Giuseppe Bianchi to sift through the devastation and piece together the tragic events left behind in the storm’s wake.
Giuseppe Bianchi’s brief visit to Bexhill-on-Sea has become an extended stay. He is loath to return to his home in Rome because of the haunting images that made him leave in the first place.
During his morning walks along the seafront with Beagle, Max, he meets Edward Swain, who becomes Giuseppe’s walking companion. They form a friendship of sorts and find they have a similar outlook on life.
But the devastating events of a single night lead Giuseppe to question the truth about Edward Swain. Teaming up with young journalist Christina Rossi – his cousin’s daughter – Giuseppe learns about the brutal reality lurking behind the day-to-day life of families in the local community. And as the story unravels Giuseppe is reminded how anger and revenge can lead to the most dreadful of crimes.
A hit and run accident results in a death and turns a quiet seaside town into a place of fear and suspicion.
Introducing young librarian and amateur sleuth, Janie Juke, who uses all she has learned from her hero, Hercule Poirot, to solve crimes and mysteries.
A young woman, Zara, goes missing, one year to the day that her boyfriend, Joel, was killed in a hit and run. Is Zara in danger? Is she still alive? What really happened to Joel and who is to blame?
When a stranger asks for your help how do you know what is really at stake?
Lost Property sees amateur sleuth, Janie Juke, take on her first paid case. Janie Juke has developed a reputation for finding missing people. When Hugh Furness asks Janie to track down an old friend, she discovers there is much more at stake than a missing person.
In The Invisible Case we meet Janie Juke’s aunt Jessica, as she returns from Italy with a enigmatic stranger in tow. Just when Janie was hoping to spend a fun Easter weekend catching up with her Aunt Jessica, who has returned from Italy after nine years of European adventures, the family are caught up with tragedy. Does Jessica’s friend, Luigi, have something to hide? What is the real reason he has come to Tamarisk Bay?
With war declared just a few months ago, any thoughts of celebration are overshadowed with worries about loved ones who have gone off to fight. And it is not just those who are fighting who are a cause for concern.
When a community is threatened does it come together or split apart?
It’s one year after the start of World War 2. Coastal communities are coping with relentless German bombings. Hardship is affecting families on every level, from food rationing to clothing shortages. Nearby towns and cities are experiencing looting on a grand scale, with talk of severe punishments – a lifetime in prison; even hanging.
Libby Frobisher is just three years old when she first meets her father. He brings fun and laughter into the Frobisher household, but over the next few years his visits are so infrequent it is like waiting for Christmas to come around. Libby has so many questions about her dad, but her mum and gran seem reluctant to provide any answers. When Libby discovers the truth, it feels like her whole world is turned upside down as she learns that life is far more complex than she could have ever imagined.
‘It was a painting that set me off on a journey that summer when I’d just turned sixteen. A time in my life that represents the divide between one Zara and another. All the events that summer led to a division of sorts, while at the same time resulting in a coming together I could never have expected.’
Struggling with the demons of her past, Emily is a children’s author with a dark secret, and a guilt that Zara Carpenter has reached her sixteenth year. It’s summer, she’s keen to explore the world around her. But when she meets Nicholas O’Neill she begins to doubt what her family expect of her. A secret liaison is exciting, but how will Zara be judged by her parents. This poignant coming of age story is a reminder that when we fear the judgement of others we often forget that it is our own judgements that can colour our view of the world.
At ten years old the grown-up world can seem like a confusing place. For Vera Stubbs, being ten years old, and living through a world war, there is not only confusion, there is fear too.
The once sleepy seaside town of Tamarisk Bay has become a dangerous place. Death and destruction are close at hand, and within the space of twenty-four hours the bedrock of Vera’s life is shaken to the core. There are so many questions, with the only answers leading to more questions.
Is there a way back to the life Vera once knew, or is there only a path forward into a new life that will force her to make choices she had never considered?
Struggling with the demons of her past, Emily is a children’s author with a dark secret, and a guilt that threatens to consume her. For twenty years she has lived in Brighton, England, trying to forget the day they took her baby from her, just hours after he was born. But now, in the summer of 1987, she decides to begin the search for her son.
Emily takes refuge in a small town on the Isle of Anglesey to plan the search, where she meets Walter, a gentle stranger, who helps her with his words of wisdom and kindness. But it is when she decides to return home to Hastings, that she really has to face her demons.
Estranged from her parents when she was just sixteen, Emily is shocked by what her mother has to tell her about events that occurred before Emily was even born.
Beside her, throughout her search, is Emily’s beautiful Irish friend, Geraldine, recovering from her own sad experiences. Together they uncover a truth that shocks them all.
The stories in this book were inspired by the lyrics of the popular Christmas song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. Each story delves deeper into aspects of many of the characters from the Greenland novels and series written by Christoffer Petersen and the Sussex Crime Mysteries and novels of Isabella Muir. The spirit of Christmas shines out from these the stories, which transport the reader from the far south of England to the furthest reaches of the Arctic.
Audiobooks
All three novels in the Sussex Crime Mystery series are now available as audiobooks from Audible, Amazon and iTunes.
Book 1 – The Tapestry Bag
Meet Janie Juke, young librarian, turned amateur sleuth…as she sets out on her first investigation…
Click on the title for The Tapestry Bagaudiobook – or listen to a free taster here.
Book 2 – Lost Property
This new case takes Janie back in time to the Second World War, where she learns about secret missions and brave deeds.
Click on the title for Lost Property audiobook or listen to a free taster here.
Book 3 – The Invisible Case
An Italian stranger arrives in Tamarisk Bay and brings with him mystery and intrigue…
Isabella is never happier than when she is immersing herself in the sights, sounds and experiences of the 1960s. Researching all aspects of family life back then formed the perfect launch pad for her works of fiction. Isabella rediscovered her love of writing fiction during two happy years working on and completing her MA in Professional Writing and since then has gone to publish five novels, three novellas and a short story collection.
The first series of her Sussex Crime Mysteries features young librarian and amateur sleuth, Janie Juke. Set in the late 1960s, in the fictional seaside town of Tamarisk Bay, we meet Janie, who looks after the mobile library. She is an avid lover of Agatha Christie stories – in particular Hercule Poirot – using all she has learned from the Queen of Crime to help solve crimes and mysteries. As well as three novels, there are four novellas in the series, which explore some of the back story to the Tamarisk Bay characters.
The setting for the Janie Juke mystery series is based on the area where Isabella was born and lived most of her life. When she thinks of Tamarisk Bay she pictures her birthplace in St Leonards-on-sea, East Sussex and its surroundings.
Her latest novels,Crossing the Line and After the Stormare part of a brand new series of Sussex Crime Mysteries, introducing retired Italian detective, Giuseppe Bianchi.
Isabella’s standalone novel, The Forgotten Children, deals with the emotive subject of the child migrants who were sent to Australia – again focusing on family life in the 1960s, when the child migrant policy was still in force.
Isabella Muir 