“Aird’s delicious concoctions are never less than elegant and mischievously sharp.” —The Times (London) DCI Sloan and Constable Crosby are on the case again. A young girl has been murdered, found dead in the river. But what connection does she have to the recently deceased Josephine Short? Following the twisting trail of evidence, Sloan works to uncover the truth behind the life of Josephine Short and uncover the murderer behind a young girl’s death.

A letter received by an old woman's son after her death alerts Detective Inspector C. D. Sloane that one woman's death by natural causes in a local nursing home may actually be murder. But that is just the beginning of the odd goings-on in this nursing home catering to former members of a WWII regiment."Intricate, witty, and thoughtfully delightful . . ."—Publishers Weekly on A Going Concern

“Found drowned, my foot,” said the pathologist two minutes after looking at the body. The unidentified young man pulled from the salt water near the little fishing village of Edsway hadn’t drowned after all. And he hadn’t been a bather either, observed Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan. One simply didn’t go swimming in a shirt and trousers. Not voluntarily, that is. And then there was the matter of the mysterious copper weight stuffed in the dead man’s pocket… and the sunken ship discovered offshore. It all added up to murder as Inspector Sloan set out in a dinghy to net the killer before he got the chance to send another victim to a watery grave.

For decades, Catherine Aird's crime novels featuring C.D. Sloan have been beloved by fans and lauded by critics for their adroit plotting, playful wit, and literate charm. With Amendment of Life, Aird delivers the lively and engrossing novel that readers have come to rely upon.Detective Chief Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Calleshire CID is used to the occasional oddity in his relatively quiet part of the English countryside. But lately things have taken a strange turn. First, in the center of a yew maze that is the showpiece of the Tudor-era house, Aumerle Court, a body is spotted by Miss Daphne Pedlinge, the elderly chatelaine of the Court. By the time the groundskeeper actually makes it to the center, he, too, spies the body, and it is indeed dead. Meanwhile, a few miles away, a slaughtered rabbit is left on the Bishop's doorstep in nearby Calleford, an omen as portentous as the body in the maze. Now Inspector Sloan, with the somewhat trying personage of...

A tourist discovers a body in a suit of armor on display at an English country estate. Suspicion centers on the owning family whose archetypical members are superbly portrayed by Robin Bailey. His takeoff on the two aged aunts is just delicious. Distinction is made, as it is in British society, between the aristocrats and ordinary folk like Detective Sloan, a continuing Aird sleuth. One senses that both writer and reader are having fun with this one. Bailey has read other of Aird's "cosy" mysteries, but has died, so this is the end.

"Fans have waited two years for another of Aird's Calleshire County police procedurals, and if you like golf, this well-crafted whodunit was especially worth the wait....Full of poetical, biblical and Shakespearian references, this fun read delivers a denouement that finishes the game well under par. Nicely played."--Publishers Weekly on Hole in One"Trust mystery writer Catherine Aird to add her own special twists and lots of biting wit to murder...the settings are classic, the characters delightfully quirky, and the words of wisdom many." --Boston Herald on Amendment of LifeThe dramatic theft of an 18th Century painting is discovered just moments before the old manor house from which it was stolen -- and is uniquely depicted in the background of the portrait -- is set on fire. Making matters more grisly even is the pile of bones that is sighted in the blazing inferno moments before the roof collapses. What started as simple, if...

A large collection of artifacts is left to the Calleshire museum in the will of a local man once prominent in the British colonial service. But Inspector C. D. Sloan of the local police gets involved when the 3,000 year old mummy case is found to contain a body that's been dead less than a week.

'Like Agatha Christie, Aird specialises in classic puzzles . . . Intricate , witty and thoroughly delightful' Publishers WeeklyWhen the incessant mutterings of gravely ill Derek Tridgell culminate in a clear cry of foul murder, Detective Inspector Sloan and Detective Constable Crosby are brought in to investigate whether these are deathbed ramblings or revelations. They uncover three tragic deaths that may or may not be linked to Derek's last words, including a fatal car accident from which his son Paul walked away unscathed.With a tight-lipped Paul knowing more than he's letting on, Sloan and Crosby have their work cut out if they're ever going to untangle this complex case.'Gorgeously entertaining' Daily Telegraph