Shades of Murder

Mitchell and Markby #13

by Ann Granger

A mansion, a murder and a century-long mystery... Shades of Murder is the thirteenth mystery in the Mitchell & Markby series by Ann Granger, who is highly praised for her strong and appealing characters, wit and engrossing plots. The perfect read for fans of M.C. Beaton, Agatha Christie and ITV's Midsomer Murders.'The narrative keeps the reader gripped until the end' - Wiltshire Times In 1889 Cora Oakley died by inhaling a poisonous gas in her sleep, and her husband William was put on trial for her murder. Over a hundred years later, the only remaining members of the family are two elderly sisters who live in the ancestral home. Unable to maintain the mansion, the sisters decide to sell up and live off the proceeds. Then a young Polish man named Jan appears, claiming to be William Oakley's great-grandson and threatening to ruin the sisters' plans. When he is found dead, it seems that the shadow of murder has returned to haunt the Oakley family again, and Superintendent Markby must look back at the events of a century ago to find the killer...What readers are saying about Shades of 'The characterisation and dialogue are as sharp as ever, and the plot is great!''The characters were well drawn in both past and present strands of the book with some very neat twists''Two separate murder mysteries, unfolding in turn, chapter by chapter, gave me double delight'

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Audiobook, British Literature, Mystery Thriller, Historical

298 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Ann Granger attended the Northern Grammar School for Girls, and had thoughts about becoming a veterinarian, but discovered women were not accepted into vet schools because they were not believed to be strong enough. Instead she earned a Modern Languages degree at the University of London, where she first developed a desire to become a writer. worked in British embassies in various parts of the world. She met her husband, who was also working for the British Embassy, in Prague and together they received postings to places as far apart as Munich and Lusaka. They had two children.

Her first novels were historical romances published under the nom de plume Ann Hulme.

In 1991, Granger made the decision to switch to crime novels, saying, "Basically, there is only one plot in love stories: You can describe it in different ways, but you always come back to the subject of man and woman. Crime fiction opens up a world of possibilities for the writer. It lets you tackle deep and difficult issues." Her first crime novel, Say it with Poison, centred on the protagonists Meredith Mitchell, a consular clerk, and police officer Alan Markby. The book proved popular and Granger wrote 14 more Mitchell & Markby novels between 1991 and 2004.

Granger also wrote other crime novel series & in 2021, in recognition of thirty years of crime novels, Granger released a collection of eighteen short stories, Mystery in the Making.

On 24 September 2025, her publisher Headline announced that Granger had died at the age of 86

This autobiography was added to with information from Wikipedia & Encyclopedia.com.

Reviews

[Julia Buckley]

Another kind of strange and meandering plot, but ultimately quite enjoyable.

[Shirley Schwartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book refers back to a previous death of an Oakley family member in 1889. Cora Oakley was found burned to death in her bedchamber. Her husband William was charged with murder since many felt that he had poisoned her with arsenic fumes which caused her to knock over the lamp and start the fire. William was acquitted and left the country, leaving a young son behind him. Descendents of that son are now living in the family home. A stranger comes to town saying he's a descendent of Cora's husband. This puts the elderly Oakley sisters in a quandary and upsets everyone in the village of Bamford. When a present-day murder occurs. Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell are on the case. Alan, although a Superintendent, has been side-lined for this investigation because he is too close to the principals in this case, so he works from the sidelines with Meredith trying to uncover some long-buried family secrets. Ann Granger does a wonderful job of the English village mystery and her two sleuths are two of my favourites. Meredith and Alan's personal relationship always adds some interest to the mystery.

[Glenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Rhona Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book.

This book has two cases of murder....one was in 1889, case held in 1890. The other in 1999. Some people have said they've disliked the chopping and changing. But it's okay with me. You just have to read the book and enjoy it. The murders are connected to one family. William Oakley in 1889 accused of murdering his wife, and in 1999 his great grandson Jan has died....both by arsenic poisoning.
When Markby is seen to be too close to the case, a Superintendent and Inspector from the Met are called in. Will they find out who murdered Jan?

[H. Daley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but not one of her best.

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antepenultimate book in this wonderful series; I have enjoyed reading these and will be mournful when reaching the end of the last two!
This is a time-slip offering, oscillating between 1890 when William Oakley is accused of murdering his wife at Fourway House, their large mansion, and 1990 William’s spinster granddaughters Damaris and Florence may have murdered Jan Oakley, the previously unknownngreat-grandson of William, who had come forward just recently with a claim on Fourways House.
As always, Alan Markby and his companion Meredith Mitchell manage to separate the threads in this tangled skein. Fully satisfying.

[Jenny Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

An historical crime and a current crime appear to be linked. Good plot, good characters and a gripping delivery. Very enjoyable. The first Ann Granger I have read but it won't be the last.

[Sara Aye Moung · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this series. The 2 central characters are interesting and the stories are well told

[Lizzie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damaris Oakley and her sister Florence are the only remaining members of the Oakley family, now living in diminished circumstances. To enjoy a comfortable old age they have decided to sell the ancestral home. For the last hundred years they have lived under the shadow of their Grandfather’s arrest and trial for the murder of Cora their Grandmother. That William Oakley was never convicted of the murder, but disappeared directly after being released from jail has not dispelled the stigma attached to the family

So, when they receive a letter from a young Polish man claiming to be related to their Grandfather William Oakley, they panic, not only for the adverse publicity his claim will reawaken but also that any court case is bound to drag on for years, and the sisters are not young.

I loved this book, it has everything. Both periods, 1889 and the murder of Cora, and the current situation set in 1999 run side by side. We are through the author privy to the characters of both times. The wonderful thing is that it is never confusing. Possibly, because the characters of both periods are so well drawn that it would not be possible to set them in a different time.

Meredith Mitchell, who has her own problems with interlopers, is on the case, it being in her own village amongst people she knows.

For all the Meredith fans out there is one of the best books by Ann Granger I have read, and she throws in an odd comment, which had me twitching to say the least. I will say no more, you must read it for yourself.
------
Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when it was first published in 2001, and couldn't remember any of the details of the plot. Ann Granger writes well, and Mitchell & Markby are interesting characters, as are the others in this book. The book switches between two related stories, separated by over a hundred years, involving members of the same family, and centred on a very Gothic Victorian mansion. There's plenty of atmosphere, Meredith and Alan are continuing to advance their relationship, and a hint of romance in the Victorian mystery. (I thought I could remember that the reporter and the Inspector's daughter married eventually, and that Meredith learned more about them as Emily and her father lived in her cottage - but either that was in a later book, or I deduced it all from hints in this one.)

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two murders using the same poison have occurred in the Oakley family one hundred years apart - what is going on!? It’s too late now to punish the first murderer but who has poisoned Jan, the supposed relative of the elderly Oakley sisters who own Fourways, the family home that Jan is trying to lay claim to? Is it the elderly sisters or someone else?

I liked the story but never really warmed to any of the characters which always impairs somewhat my enjoyment of a book.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first one I’ve read in the series-a combination of two story lines past/present bogged me down some although I like the characters I struggled some and give it 3 1/2 stars. Will be Interested in reading other books in the series because I like the author’s style and characterizations- intelligent- Christie-type feel

[Cirrus Minor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vieles ist recht vorhersehbar und dafür war mir die Geschichte irgendwie zu langatmig.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent mystery, and I liked the obviously ongoing characters. It wasn't really difficult to figure out. Not a keeper, but good entertainment for a day or 2.

[Sherri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mitchell & Markby series is one of my favorites. I loved this particular book. Amazing plot!

[Elijah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good.

A very good read. The thirteenth in a series of 15 books starring Meredith Mitchell and Chief Inspector Alan Markby is set in two time periods.

[Lesley Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the 2 stories from different era's they were seamlessly blended, thoroughly enjoyed it :)

[Mary Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like style that features different generations in the thread of the story. Keeps one alert and trying to solve mystery with inter generational threads.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't like having the two storylines at first, but the author really brought them together by the end. Good mystery!

[The Cruciverbalistic Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good old cozy mystery, though I guessed the culprit...

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Suspense and intrigue.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murders many years apart linked to the same family cause a problem for Mitchell and Markby in this one.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in September 2001.

Many fictional detectives are at some point given a murder from the past to solve. Shades of Murder isn't like any of these; it's about how a hundred year old murder case still casts shadows into the present, bringing death once again.

Bamford, the fictional market town which is the location of Granger's Mitchell and Markby series, was also the scene of one of the notorious Victorian poisonings. William Oakley's wife seemed to have died an accidental death from fire, but her body was exhumed after a sacked servant accused him of murder. Discovery of arsenic in the body meant that he stood trial, but he was acquitted; unable to face the small town neighbours who still believed him guilty, he disappeared and no one knew what had become of him.

Moving to the present day, his last remaining descendants, two women in their eighties, are beginning to realise that they are going to have to sell the Oakley home, a Victorian Gothic house named Fourways, and move into a more practical flat that they can afford to keep up. At that moment, a young man arrives, claiming to be their cousin, descendant of a second William Oakley marriage in Poland, and demanding a share in the property. Nobody likes the way he puts pressure on the old women - but is that a motive for killing him with the now extremely unusual method of arsenical poisoning?

Because Alan Markby is already involved with the Oakleys before Jan's death, he is taken off the investigation while, to his resentful surprise, Scotland Yard are called in. In almost all police detective stories, the point of view is that of the investigator called in rather than the locals, and Granger milks her unusual device for comic as well as dramatic effect.

When I bought this novel, the lady in the bookshop - also a Granger fan - said that she had heard that this would be the last Mitchell and Markby story. I hope not - it has been a most enjoyable series of mysteries.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the small British town of Bamford, the ill-fated Oakley family has lived at Fourways house since the 19th century. The only Oakleys now remaining are two elderly sisters in impoverished circumstances, who have always lived under the shadow of their grandfather William's possible murder of their grandmother Cora--he got off, but the general belief was that he was guilty. Now the sisters are hoping to sell Fourways and move into a more comfortable flat, but their plans are disrupted by the arrival of Jan Oakley from Poland, who claims to be William's great-grandson. Everyone in the village rallies around the Oakleys, suspecting Jan to be up to no good, but when he dies under circumstances horribly similar to Cora's, no one is safe from suspicion. Detective Allen and his lover Meredith, who both interacted with Jan, are in it up to their eyes, to the point that even they cannot be exempted from suspicion.

Meanwhile, in the past, Granger relates the story of Cora's appalling death, William's trial, and the exploits of a young reporter intent on discovering the identity of the enigmatically veiled young woman who comes to watch the trial.

I really enjoyed this one, which had lots of twists and turns. I'm partial to solving old mysteries, and having the sections set in the past is like giving the reader the front-seat view into what really happened--to a point. I thought the book was a bit long, but I liked how it played out, with secrets layered on secrets. I did peg the murderer pretty early, though--someone was just a bit too "innocent" to be believed. But good description, good characters I could mostly tell apart (a large cast, though), interesting and complex relationships. I liked how the bit about Meredith's intolerably nosy officemate didn't play out as I thought it would, and turned out to have a completely different effect on the plot. Anyway, very enjoyable.

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Oakley was tried for the murder of his wife, Cora in the nineteenth century and acquitted. He was forced to flee the country because of the weight of public opinion against him. He was subsequently declared dead by the courts in order to resolve property ownership. Currently the house where the suspicious death took place is owned and occupied by two elderly spinster sisters, Damaris and Florence.

Out of the blue a young man from Poland turns up claiming to be a descendent of 'Wicked William'. When he is murdered by means of the same poison Superintendent Alan Markby must investigate and put aside all personal feelings. I thought the way the two crimes were interwoven was very well done and I found myself just as interested in the original crime as the present day one.

Links between past and present are becoming all too common as a plot device in many fiction genres but this one is rather more subtle than most and both crimes are fully explored instead of one of them carrying much less weight than the other. I though the characters were well drawn in both past and present strands of the book and there were some very neat twists which the reader may or may not spot. I didn't spot several of them.

This is an excellent read and unlike most of this series the book probably could be read as a standalone novel because the developing relationship between Meredith Mitchell and Alan Markby takes something of a back seat in this story.

[_inbetween_]

Boring (for me). Granger is/was a (consular) diplomat, her heroine isn't really needed to (nor does she) solve the crime, although of course this is better written than M.C. Beaton's village crime stories. Half of it is set 100 years before the other, like a Perry novel, although unlike McDermid's PoE the times are interlinked (no direct relation or echoes though). Most vexing was that I was sure I had never read this book, but early on I suddenly knew I had read how it ended, precisely who killed whom, even remembered that food item. I know I had read the very first of these Mitchell+Markby novels and was already bored by that, and I think that this time it was not just my usual predeliction to guess the ending, yet nothing in the book until the very end was familiar. Very annoying. Anyway, M+ M have some realistic, if utterly boring, real life every day disagreements, two tiny possible romances of secondary characters hinted at, and the dissatisfying end of the historic part I sadly remembered again.

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

ann granger is one of my faves and the only reason i haven't read this already is that i'd just about forgotten i had it. so far the intertwining of the present day happenings with events of 1889 is making it an interesting read; it remains to be seen whether this is merely a device for an author to write less about her main characters whilst keeping with the series or whether it'll elevate the series to a new level...

having finished it i don't think either of those were the case; meredith and markby did seem fresher in this book and the plot was interesting but the major thing that this book had going for it was the close connections between the two cases taking part 110 years apart that made it seem less back and forth than may otherwise have been the case.

[Julie]

it gets old saying the same thing after each of her mysteries, but they have all been really good. this was another good one. every time i think i've figured her out and maybe i know what is going on this time - i don't. another compelling story with compelling characters. can't wait to begin the next one. except that after that there is only one left. i will be sad to have finished her whole series. hopefully she is still writing them.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very rarely do you read a murder mystery that involves arsenic laden marmite.
If you have ever tried marmite, you realize you would never use it as a sandwich spread at all.
The murder takes place in Bamford, England and follows the current murder of Jan Oakley, and the trial of a murder that happened 100 years ago in the same house.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another one in a successful series with two characters, Markby and Meridith. One of the attractions for me, besides the English village whodunnit, is that the female character is well drawn and has a mind of her own.