The Dorothy Martin Series
Dorothy Martin books are available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble in a variety of formats, including hardcover, paperback, ebooks (Kindle, Nook) and audiobooks.
1. The Body in the Transept
My first book, my first-born child! Dorothy Martin, an American expat living in England, is feeling sorry for herself on her first Christmas Eve as a widow. As she leaves the cathedral after the midnight service, she literally stumbles over a dead body, and it’s one of the priests—the unpopular Canon Billings.
2. Trouble in the Town Hall
When Dorothy Martin visits the Sherebury historic town hall, the body of a young man is found. Despite warnings from her dear friend Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, Dorothy investigates. What she discovers is that there are plenty of skeletons in local closets, enough to keep an amateur sleuth on her toes—unless the hands of a murderer reach her first.
3. Holy Terror in the Hebrides
On trip to the Isle of Iona, Dorothy finds tempest and tragedy instead of the serenity she had been led to expect. Incidentally, she also receives a proposal of marriage. Perhaps my favorite of my books, because Iona may be my favorite spot on earth.
4. Malice in Miniature
When their gardener is arrested for the theft of a 17th century miniature tea set, Dorothy and new husband Alan investigate and discover the world of rabid dollhouse collectors. When more mayhem insues, including a murder, Dorothy does her best to stay one step ahead of the killer. [I got to indulge my own love of miniatures in this book.]
5. The Victim in Victoria Station
A young man in a train falls into conversation with Dorothy—and is dead by the time the train rolls into London. This is set in Bloomsbury, a London neighborhood I know well and love.
6. Killing Cassidy
Dorothy receives a small bequest from a man she knew back in Indiana, on the condition that she come back home to collect it. When she and Alan get there, they discover that the man thought he was going to be murdered. This story was born when I got a great plot idea from a friend, but one that would work only in the USA.
7. To Perish in Penzance
Dorothy and Alan revisit the scene of an unsolved crime from Alan's policing days, only to become embroiled in a fresh one. The research for this book of course required a visit to Cornwall—tough job, but somebody's got to do it.
8. Sins Out of School
Dorothy is asked to pinch-hit as a substitute teacher in the local elementary school and gets involved in a very nasty religious sect. I tried, in this book, to explore some of the important differences between religions based on love and those rooted in hate and fear.
9. Winter of Discontent
The curator of Sherebury's town museum is found dead, and when it turns out he was an old flame of Dorothy's best friend, she investigates. In this one I got to talk about some of the problems of aging, problems with which I'm becoming intimately acquainted.
10. A Dark and Stormy Night
When Dorothy and Alan are invited for a country house weekend they expect nothing more explosive than the Guy Fawkes fireworks. Even Dorothy could not have anticipated an epic storm and the discovery of a skeleton among the roots of a fallen oak tree. I wrote this for a friend who loves the traditional country-house murder, and decided to go with the cliché title for fun.
11. The Evil That Men Do
Dorothy and Alan are on holiday in the idyllic English village of Broadway, in the Cotswolds, when they stumble across the body of a man who appears to have fallen into an abandoned quarry. But when they learn that the man was probably pushed over the edge and the police haven't found either a motive or suspects, Dorothy can't help but get involved in what becomes a dangerous situation.
12. The Corpse of St. James's
Dorothy and Alan visit Buckingham Palace to watch a dear friend, Jonathan Quinn, receive the very prestigious George Cross for bravery from the Queen. After the ceremony, while walking in St. James's Park, they discover the body of a young girl with no means of identification. When Quinn, who was invalided out of the Metropolitan Police in a terrible accident, tells Dorothy next day that he knows who the girl is, and has concealed that fact from the police, things become very complicated.
13. Murder at the Castle
Dorothy and Alan are invited to join their close friends Nigel and Inga at a music festival in Wales, where Nigel will perform in a medieval castle with world-renowned conductor Sir John Warner. However, tragedy ensues when an accident takes the life of a chorus member, and a star operatic soloist falls to her death. Dorothy and Alan become involved in an investigation as tumultuous and passionate as any opera.
14. Shadows of Death
Dorothy Martin, with minimal enthusiasm, accompanies husband Alan Nesbitt on a visit to the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland. She's surprised to find that the Stone Age excavations and structures captivate her imagination. They're both even more surprised when the principal benefactor for the largest dig is found dead on the site. Are ancient curses at work here, or modern greed?
15. Day of Vengeance
Alan Nesbitt is asked to sit on a committee to choose a new bishop for Sherebury. It's a complex procedure, involving acrimonious church politics, and is further complicated when first one of the candidates is found dead, then another. Who is murdering the clergy of England?
16. The Gentle Art of Murder
One summer's evening, Dorothy Martin and her husband, retired police detective Alan Nesbitt, are guests at Sherebury University art department's drinks party. But the evening turns sour when, on a tour of the sculpture department, the lift breaks down—revealing a corpse at the bottom of the lift shaft...
17. Blood Will Tell
Accompanying her retired police detective husband to a conference in Cambridge, Dorothy Martin, while exploring the campus, stumbles into a laboratory and finds a pool of blood on the floor. But when Alan checks it out, nothing is there! Was she mistaken? Or has a crime been committed? Unable to resist a puzzle, Dorothy determines to find out.
18. Smile and Be a Villain
When Dorothy Martin and her husband Alan visit the beautiful island of Alderney, they hope for a pleasant, peaceful holiday. However, on their very first day, they discover a body on a precipitous hill path. The dead man is an American named Abercrombie who had made himself both loved and hated during his few weeks on the island. Though no concrete evidence of foul play, Dorothy and Alan are uneasy about the death and decide to delve further. (Author's note)
19. The Missing Masterpiece
Dorothy Martin goes to France, worried because her French is rudimentary at best. It isn't only the language barrier, however, that embroils her in several mysteries. At Mont-Saint-Michel, she meets several people with various reasons for visiting the Mont—all probably lies. It seems possible, though, that the thread running through the stories concerns a monk, Peter Abelard, dead since the 12th century. It takes "thinking outside the box" for Dorothy and Alan to untangle this one.
20. Crisis at the Cathedral
While visiting the Sherebury Cathedral, Dorothy Martin and her husband meet a wealthy Muslim family and are charmed by their courtesy, perfect English, delightful children, and ardent commitment to peace. After attending a concert at the Cathedral, the parents are nowhere to be found, though the children are still asleep at the Rose and Crown Inn. Tensions escalate when the boy, age eleven, also disappears, so Dorothy and Alan join their efforts to those of the police and MI5 to find and help their new friends.
21. A Dagger Before Me
Dorothy Martin's husband Alan decides to treat ex-pat Dorothy to a "tour" of some of England's more interesting peculiarities that Americans find amusing such as "Black Rod," or "swan upping"—the elaborate parade to honor the Lord Mayor of London, a non-elected, unpaid dignitary with no duties or authority. When invited to another odd ceremony involving a historic dagger, their role as god-parents is threatened by the dagger's disappearance. When it is apparently found in someone's back, all Dorothy and Alan's detective skills are required to prevent a series of tragedies.
22. Death in the Garden City
When Dorothy Martin and her ex-policeman husband Alan are asked by some good friends to look into a series of petty crimes that are perplexing the local Mounties in the picturesque Canadian city of Victoria, they jump on a plane to British Columbia and settle themselves into the heart of the local community. When a young woman goes missing and a body is discovered, it appears that the petty crimes have turned deadly. As they investigate, it’s not long before Dorothy and Alan realize they have embarked on a trip that will become far more dangerous than they ever envisaged.
23. Death Comes to Durham
An old friend of Alan's invites him and Dorothy to visit him in Durham, where he has retired from the police force of Exeter. They become embroiled in a complicated murder that involves the friend's great-aunt, her gradually worsening dementia, and several students of Durham University—and an encounter that sends Dorothy to the hospital!
24. The Bath Conspiracy
It's Dorothy's birthday, and Alan decided to blow the budget and treat her to a week in Bath, famed for Roman history, Jane Austen, amazing architecture, and nearby Stonehenge. When they are suspected of the theft of a number of souvenirs, including a chunk of Stonehenge, the pair go into action to find the real thief and defend themselves.
25. A Deadly Web
When the ping of an unexpected text on Alan's phone wakes Dorothy Martin from a nap, she learns that his unofficial great-niece Lucy is coming from the States for a conference. When she arrives, Lucy gushes about her fiancé, Iain. But no sooner has Iain landed in the UK when he's the victim of a mysterious hit-and-run. Drawn into the police investigation, Dorothy learns that Iain was not all he seemed to be, and uncovers a shocking trail of deceit. Can she separate fact from fiction to untangle a deadly web of lies?
26. Village Politics Can Be Murder
When an old friend of Alan's invites them to Grasmere for a visit, Dorothy Martin and her husband Alan jump at the chance to holiday in the beautiful Lake District. However, the trip proves to be anything but idyllic. When an unpopular and egotistic local man, hoping to become a politician, is found mysteriously dead, was it a medical emergency or murder? Dorothy and Alan find themselves catapulted into a disturbing case that will lead them back in time, and to a terrible, scandalous secret that someone is determined to keep hidden.
27. Terror on a Train
Dorothy Martin and her husband, retired chief constable Alan Nesbitt, attend a wedding on Vancouver Island, Canada. Opting for the scenic route, they board the Empire Builder sleeper train from Chicago to Seattle. But the journey takes a terrifying turn when Dorothy witnesses a person falling from the train. The body of a man is found on the route, and Dorothy feels compelled to investigate. Who was he? Is his fate linked to a confrontation on the train? As they unravel the secrets surrounding the dead man, disturbing dark truths are discovered.
28. A Thief's Folly
While enjoying a chat in the garden on a perfect summer day, Dorothy Martin is devastated when Jane, her neighbor and best friend, suffers a stroke. Later, while in the hospital, Jane desperately tries to tell Dorothy something, but is unable to write or speak. However, Dorothy becomes convinced that a valuable item is hidden in Jane's house, but what is it? Then a thief breaks into Jane's house—suggesting that the item has been found. After identifying Jane’s treasured—and sadly stolen—item, Dorothy is determined to track it down and to do so must embark on a trip overseas.
Winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel (1995)
“Fans of the English cozy will put the kettle on, snuggle under a lap rug, and sigh contentedly...” - Kirkus Reviews