‘What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure’
Dr Samuel Johnson
Published works by Carolyn Bradley
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Carolyn Bradley's Library Room
The year is 1998. Sir George Arlington, a despicable and ruthless businessman, who has spent most of his life plotting and scheming against others, is now the target for retribution. He has no idea of the web of intrigue growing around him.
An Italian Contessa, a retired Captain of the Royal Navy, gangsters from the East End of London and those with dark secrets, brought together with four young friends from very different backgrounds, who each have their own agenda, find themselves cruising with Sir George, on a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean.
Plots and schemes abound, a death occurs and more confusion is added by a pompous Spanish police officer who resents the inevitable intervention of the British authorities.
When the plots unravel, who are the winners and who are the losers?
Holidays on a river cruiser are thought to be peaceful and stress free - this one wasn't. Elaine Forest, a police inspector from the UK, expected nothing more than a watching brief as she cruised on the River Danube. However, when you mix an assortment of characters, including an old hand of stage and screen, a snooty rival, two yokels, two amazing old ladies, a retired journalist, and girls out to have fun then blend them with a vain Italian member of staff, a Russian prince and a large dose of criminality, the results are anything but predictable.
The intervention of foreign police and the UK 'Border Force' together with smuggling, subterfuge, murder, farce, audacity and romance, all help to produce a series of surprising deceptions.
The proud and wealthy Sir Montague Hawksbury, owner of a large estate and racing stables, situated in an area known as 'Horse Valley', covets the nearby Arab stud farm with its incomparable Stallion, 'Silver Shadow'. The new owner of the stud, Eamon McMahon, is hiding a terrible secret while the disgraced ex-manager, Ralph Partridge, is scheming for revenge.
Into the mix, enters the owner of the local riding school, the domineering Selina Moore-Strong with her strange subservient husband Gillam and his shady bookmaker cousin Arthur. The two men are both hiding duplicitous secrets of their own.
To the owners of these three equine establishments, comes family scandal, threats, exposed secrets, blackmail, plots and terrorism. Unlikely heroes appear and lessons are learned by the gullible. A local murder brings the intervention of the police in the guise of Detective Chief Inspector Reg Foster and Detective Sergeant Bancroft. A confession is quickly obtained - but have they caught the right person and do they really understand the crime? Could there be far more to uncover than anyone realises?
Larger than life Texans, outrageous cockneys, haughty aristocrats, crooks, villains and those who are not what they seem to be; thrown together in a Ski Lodge with inept Police, in a 'keep you guessing,' romping,
'Who Done It'?
It should have been a good idea. An old shopping arcade transformed into a trendy retail and business venue, designed to attract an elite clientele in a classy area of London. No-one would dream that such an innocuous setting could hide a plethora of personal dramas, nor would anyone have suspected the mysteries that would be present inside its walls.
As the story unfolds, a group of diverse characters, who are in the main, complete strangers, find that their lives are intrinsically interwoven. A truly horrific crime brings the attendance of an old hand, Detective Sergeant Baker plus his egotistical and newly promoted senior officer, Detective Inspector Desmond Royce.
How could so much drama occur in one place and what did it all have to do with events in history that were long past but not forgotten?
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The 'Charlotte Cavendish Centre' holds many secrets. An old 'Dower House' reinvented as a music venue, attracts local jazz bands to perform there and allows Myrah, a beautiful seventeen-year-old girl with strange mystical gifts, to sing with those bands. Googie, her much older rival, is insanely jealous.
A wealthy businessman, Bill Stratton, has leased the centre to provide employment for his nephew David. The aristocratic Cavendish family, who previously owned the house, want it back but soon murder and death prevail, hidden events from the past come back to haunt and all are caught up in crime and scandal. When a terrorist organisation becomes involved, DI Ron Devonshire has the unenviable task of trying to make sense of it all.
