Lola Dakota had to call in the police several times to restrain her abusive husband, but he always returned, so when they got wind of his plan to hire a hitman to kill her she agrees to play her part in the sting which would see both men arrested. It proves to be a great success, but several hours later and when her husband is under lock and key, Lola is truly dead -and by someone's hand. The police team on the original sting are in disarray, so Alex Cooper and Mike Chapman are swiftly in place to take over. Looking beyond her husband into her professional life, they discover a university department riddled with jeolousies, extra-marital affairs, swindled funds and the unexplained disappearance of a student known to be a drug user. The one thing which seems to link all the players with all the misdemeanours is the university's research site on an island off Manhattan where they were investigating the remains of the Victorian isolation hospitals and lunatic asylums and the morgue - the deadhouse. But why Lola's murder is connected to the place is not so easy to prove, nor the identity of her killer.

The first year of the 20th century when Nell, a student at Oxford, experiences her first kiss and investigates her first murder

This Nell Bray mystery takes us back to the first year of the 20th century when Nell, a student at Oxford, experiences her first kiss and investigates her first murder. She suspects that a member of her travelling party is guilty of killing their host.

In the last summer of Queen Victoria's reign it was not considered 'proper' for unmarried women to go travelling with members of the opposite sex. But Nell Bray can't understand why she and a mixed group of her student friends should not stay with an uncle of one of them, and they decide to risk the wrath of their colleges. Their intention is to discuss philosophy and literature and to walk the fells of the Lake District. However, when they arrive they find that Alan's uncle, the 'old man', having spoken out against the Boer War, has been ostracised by the village and is suspected of having murdered the local magistrate's son even though no body has been found. Her curiosity piqued by this tale, and by the old man's unconventional household, Nell determines to separate the facts from the myth. But first of all love gets in the way, and then the old man is discovered dead. At first it seems he chose a spectacular method of suicide to avoid scandal and ill health, but Nell then works out that he could not have killed himself in this way without help and she suspects that one of their party is a murderer .

Detective Inspector Peter Diamond is caught up in the most difficult investigation of his career - the murder of his wife. Found in one of Bath's parks, she has been shot. Mad with grief, Diamond finds himself under suspicion and decides that a little independent action is called for.

Nothing much ever happens in Deerton, a village on the outskirts of a quiet market town. Yet one night, peace in this rural haven is disrupted when four local schoolboys force themselves into the home of a fellow pupil, knowing that he and two friends are on their own for the evening.

`What a load of shit', says one of them before hurting a cushion, and then the entire contents of the fridge all over the floor. In their frenzy, the lads seem unstoppable. Alarmed, one of the other boys runs for help from a neighbour. A knife is drawn, and the man who has come to the rescue is killed.

The three innocent boys each wrestle with their consciences, and the very real fear of a revenge attack should they tell the whole truth to the police. Meanwhile, watching the drama unfold, a recently released murderer finds the crime, and the reactions to the event among those involved, curiously stimulating .

Now a practising psychotherapist, this stranger is in a position to offer counselling...or to inflict considerable damage.

Margaret Yorke lives up to her well-deserved reputation as a writer with a talent for scratching below the surface of respectability, and providing interesting psychological insight.

Margaret Yorke was born in Surrey, but lived in Dublin until 1937, before moving back to England. During the war, she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service as a driver. She then worked in the libraries of two Oxford colleges, the first woman ever to work in Christ Church library. A campaigner for Public Lending Rights for authors in Britain, she was also chairman of the Crime Writers' Association between 1979 and 1980.

Her first novel was published in 1957, but after eleven 'problem' novels, she turned to the subject of crime with Dead in the Morning which was published in 1970. With No Medals for the Major (1974), she began writing novels of suspense, which include The Small Hours of the Morning, The Point of Murder and more recently, Almost the Truth and Serious Intent.

In 1982, she won the Swedish Academy Detection award for the best translated novel, The Scent of Fear. Her books are translated and published in 16 countries, including the United States and the Czech Republic. In 1993, she won the Golden Handcuffs award which is given in recognition of the popularity of the country's leading crime writer within the library service and to its borrowers.

She lives in a village in Buckinghamshire.