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Bound To Die: Thornbury Murder Mysteries Book 1
A charming English village. A grandmother's bookshop. A body in the garden.
When Clara Ashworth inherits Hollytree Books after her grandmother's death, she plans to sell up, settle the estate, and get back to her real life in London within the month. Thornbury St. Mary was never supposed to be more than a chapter she'd already closed.
Then Lord Edmund Thornfield collapses at his own summer gala, a glass of poisoned champagne still warm in his hand, and Clara's tidy exit plan falls apart. The prime suspect is Rory Fenwick, the manor's landscape gardener, the one person in the village who ever made Clara want to stay, and the one person with the expert knowledge of foxglove growing wild in Thornfield's gardens to make it look like an accident.
The police have their man. The village has already made up its mind. Clara isn't so sure.
Armed with her grandmother's old bookshop ledgers, a sharp editor's eye for what doesn't add up, and a best friend who runs the local tea room and hears everything, Clara starts asking the questions no one else wants answered. A land sale that's torn the village in two. A family fortune quietly bleeding out for years. An estate manager everyone trusts a little too much. As she digs deeper, the danger stops being abstract, and the one man everyone's decided is guilty may be the only one she can trust.
Cosy, warm, and full of village charm, Bound to Die is a fair-play whodunit for readers who love amateur sleuths, slow-burn romance, and a mystery you can actually solve alongside the heroine. Perfect for fans of Agatha Raisin, Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club, and any cosy mystery with a bookshop at its heart.
Book one in the Thornbury St. Mary Mysteries. Grab your tea, curl up, and find out who's Bound to Die.
When Clara Ashworth inherits Hollytree Books after her grandmother's death, she plans to sell up, settle the estate, and get back to her real life in London within the month. Thornbury St. Mary was never supposed to be more than a chapter she'd already closed.
Then Lord Edmund Thornfield collapses at his own summer gala, a glass of poisoned champagne still warm in his hand, and Clara's tidy exit plan falls apart. The prime suspect is Rory Fenwick, the manor's landscape gardener, the one person in the village who ever made Clara want to stay, and the one person with the expert knowledge of foxglove growing wild in Thornfield's gardens to make it look like an accident.
The police have their man. The village has already made up its mind. Clara isn't so sure.
Armed with her grandmother's old bookshop ledgers, a sharp editor's eye for what doesn't add up, and a best friend who runs the local tea room and hears everything, Clara starts asking the questions no one else wants answered. A land sale that's torn the village in two. A family fortune quietly bleeding out for years. An estate manager everyone trusts a little too much. As she digs deeper, the danger stops being abstract, and the one man everyone's decided is guilty may be the only one she can trust.
Cosy, warm, and full of village charm, Bound to Die is a fair-play whodunit for readers who love amateur sleuths, slow-burn romance, and a mystery you can actually solve alongside the heroine. Perfect for fans of Agatha Raisin, Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club, and any cosy mystery with a bookshop at its heart.
Book one in the Thornbury St. Mary Mysteries. Grab your tea, curl up, and find out who's Bound to Die.
538 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 25, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 29, 2026
Murder and a little love.
If you can say a murder mystery is delightful, this is it. In a village where gossip travels faster than lightning and changes just a little with every telling, the murder of Lord Thornfield ensnares several folks who seem to be good scapegoats. Clara, who has inherited the bookstore finds clues as to what has been happening under everyone's nose and gives the information to DI Wren it becomes very interesting.
If you can say a murder mystery is delightful, this is it. In a village where gossip travels faster than lightning and changes just a little with every telling, the murder of Lord Thornfield ensnares several folks who seem to be good scapegoats. Clara, who has inherited the bookstore finds clues as to what has been happening under everyone's nose and gives the information to DI Wren it becomes very interesting.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review