Candle for a Corpse

Mitchell and Markby #8

by Ann Granger

A macabre discovery in the All Saints' parish graveyard leads Superintendent Alan Markby and his friend, foreign office official Meredith Mitchell, to the dark secret behind the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl twelve years earlier. The vicar of Bamford, Maurice Appleton, knew he was a dying man. When he discovered traces of a strange, unauthorized ritual in his church, he pleaded with parishioners to say nothing about the black-swathed candle and the flowers anonymously placed on the altar. For twelve years, the incident was forgotten. Then, one unseasonably chilly summer's day, a corpse is unearthed in the Gresham family plot. The remains are too shallowly buried to have been legitimately interred and too recent to be those of the last Gresham laid to rest. For Superintendent Markby, newly returned to his old haunts, the challenge of the unsolved crime proves irresistible. Suddenly, his plans for a long-awaited holiday with Meredith are in jeopardy. When the body is identified as that of a local teenager, Kimberley Oates, who was reported missing at the time of the mysterious burial, Markby's mind is made up. To Meredith's secret relief, the holiday is canceled. She finds herself with more time than usual for village chat - and for a dinner party with the local MP that reveals more than either he or his formidable mother would like about his connection to the dead girl.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, British Literature, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Detective

275 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

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

[Paul Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cold cases don’t come much colder than this one!

A thoroughly entertaining modern murder mystery, not quite small town early 20th century Agatha Christie drawing room cozy murder, but most definitely not 21st century noir Harry Bosch LA either. CANDLE FOR A CORPSE is somewhat more akin to Patrick Robinson’s Inspector Banks in a slightly smaller Cotswold village setting with the general reception to the discovery of a long dead, long murdered but more recently buried corpse in the local church graveyard being, “But, oh my … how we love a lurid murder!”

The body, proven by autopsy to belong to a ne’er do well and very pregnant local young lady who had disappeared twelve years earlier (well, to call a spade a spade, most of the town’s older residents characterized her as a tart of rather easy virtue), was unearthed by the local gravediggers as they prepared the churchyard to receive the body of a recently deceased elderly resident. Superintendent Alan Markby is given the challenge of solving the cold case. As he proceeds with the investigation, however, it seems he is faced with the even bigger challenge of keeping his fractious love interest, Meredith Mitchell, from endangering herself by intruding on the investigation and digging up clues and tidbits she shouldn’t be anywhere near.

CANDLE FOR A CORPSE is a delight! Wonderful dialogue, superb character development, elegant plotting, a dynamite absolutely unpredictable solution to the mystery, and a slick, unequivocal tying up of every loose end that Markby and Mitchell encountered throughout the entire novel. I’m willing to wager that there was even a loose end or two that was so small and inconspicuous in the telling that even attentive readers had forgotten all about it.

Definitely recommended. Count me a fan of Ann Granger’s MITCHELL AND MARKBY series.

Paul Weiss

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you don't like cozy mysteries then don't bother picking this up. This is #8 in the series, of which I had previously read none. It's very generic and formulaic in regards to this genre but it did have moments of le gasp and oh nos. Decent but not spectacular plot twists but still unexpected reveal. I did not see that coming. Overall this is a good palate cleanser, short yet engaging before moving on to the next. I won't necessarily go out of my way to get another in the series, but if one gets passed on to me, sure I'd read it.

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two grave diggers discover a skeleton which is much ore recent than it should be in the old graveyard. Superintendent Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell were planning a canal barge holiday but this is cancelled because Markby must investigate the twelve year old crime of the murder of teenager, Kimberley Oates. At first it looks like he may have undertaken a task similar to seeking a needle in a haystack as no one still living in Bamford seems to remember Kimberley until a young man comes forward to say he worked with her for a time.

Gradually bits and pieces of information are pieced together until the various strands of the crime are unravelled. I completely failed to spot the murderer and it was as much a surprise to me as to the main characters when the perpetrator was revealed. The clues are there when you look back at them but it is easy to misread them.

I enjoyed reading this well plotted mystery and can recommend both this book and the series of which it forms a part. The series really needs to be read in order to follow the development of the relationship between the main characters. If you like low key crime with plenty of humour and interesting characters and plot then you may enjoy this series.

[Gary Van Cott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was ok. Along the same lines as the rest of the books in the series I have read so far. The author manages a little plot twist at the end of many of these books, this one included. I think Mitchell has had more vacation time in the 8 books I have read than I have had in the last 20+ years.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, a very good book. Did some thinking and up until the very end was not able to figure out who the murderer was :)

[Elijah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read.

It was exciting from beginning to finish. Very much recommended to those who like good crime fiction. The dialogue is good.

[Paul Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love The Mitchell and Markby Series of Books by Ann Granger, I love the idea of a Detective and an Amateur Joining forces to solve Crimes and have loved previous Books in the series so it saddens me to say I didn't like this book as much by a longshot, I loved the synopsis (Or thumbnail sketch as I heard a synopsis described on a programme years a go but I just couldn't get on with this book, I found it unnecessarily complicated and found myself losing focus at times which is a shame, I shall continue with the series and hope I find the next one more enjoyable.

[Rhona Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another case solved.

This case is a cold case when a skeleton turns up in a graveyard that had not been buried properly with a funeral. Also mention of a candle in the church burning, but surrounded by black.
The story was forgotten as time went by until the skeleton turned up. Then it's Meredith and Markby interviewing the previous members of the parish Council and also once identified confirming who killed her. But then a murder occurs in the graveyard shed. Is this a connection? Highly recommended

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid, enjoyable English village mystery -- but not the "shocker that'll knock your socks off" that the Chicago Sun-Times review is quoted as claiming in the cover blurb. It is apparently part of a well-established series that I thought was new to me, but it turns out I read two of the earlier books decades ago. In this one, old bones are discovered when an old family grave is opened for an additional burial, but the bones aren't deep enough or old enough to be ones that belong there.

[Martina Kovaříková · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is bit less usual from the other books since it deals with an old murder to start with. I read another book which had this theme, but usually it is a murder, which just happened.
I admit I did not guess the killer, but I was pretty close. Yet some of the revelation (especially in the last chapture) surprised even me.

[Cirrus Minor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es geht nun doch bergauf mit Mitchell und Markby. Weiterhin gibt es nahezu unerträgliche Zufälle, aber gerade das Ende war sehr überraschend und unterhaltsam. Ich bin gespannt, ob das Thema später nochmal aufkommt.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Asi bych měla dát 3 a půl hvězdičky, protože mne to dost bavilo. Malé anglické městečko, dva hrobníci na místním hřbitově vykopou ostatky , které jsou uloženy v mělkém hrobě, kam nepatří. Poklidné, bez většího napětí, ale po přestávce mne to zase přitáhlo je čtení.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 - Good

[Kat Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining entry in the series.

[J Grimsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cosy with a complicated plot and quite a few coincidences.

[Sara Aye Moung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series and interesting pair of protagonists

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mitchell & Markby #8. Lots of twists and turns. Better than her usual.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It appeared straight forward, and wasn't. Nice twists.

[Indigoaalane · Rating 2 out of 5]

suht igav lugemine oli.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

A tepid little cozy police procedural. Nothing here is original, I mean the main event is stolen from The Nine Tailors and it is badly told. This is another in that long list of production mysteries where the culprits are obvious from the beginning: pro-tip in a book like this, look for the one character who is introduced, is present during key events, has no obvious motive, and remains an unknown cypher. This volume has a number of flaws aside from being predictable. The couple at the center of the series are uninteresting, and only seem vaguely aware of each other. Our damsel, well she of course discovers all kinds of clues to move the story along in its plodding way, and in the end is, oh my, in distress. Our hero is a jerk, another in that long line of dickishly childish police investigators. The community they are investigating is pathetically insular and inbred, and the, oh my, surprise reveals are banal.

Simply put, this is a by-the-numbers novel written by what reads like a committee going down a checklist. The only moment of originality came during the **yawn** damsel in distress scene when she was rescued by a most ludicrous series of events. I laughed out loud. Passable for what it is, but nothing above the minimum effort by the author.

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

🍷🍷🍷🍷
A series I have come to really enjoy. Here, preparations for burial of the recently deceased spinster Eunice Gresham in the family plot with her long dead parents have turned up a skeleton of someone else, shallowly buried atop those older parental remains. As well, there are remains of what was a then unborn child, and looking back through unsolved cases leads Superintendent Alan Markby to find that they are those of then pregnant young Kimberly Oates who disappeared 12 years ago.
As always, Markby conducts the case to find, if possible, who murdered Kimberly, for evidence shows she was murdered, while Meredith is intrigued and investigates the past on her own, much to Markby’s displeasure. But in the end, her snooping provides the evidence that lays the whole story bare. And what a story it is! Before all is done, we learn of not two, but four murders, and are shown how the many failings of human nature can lead to such crimes, and we find that there’s not one murderer, but three!
A totally engrossing novel, and once again I am happy to recommend this series for all mystery fans.

[Julie]

i didn't care for this one as much as the others that came before it. this time the ending where the amateur sleuth is in peril just didn't seem as well done. it seemed more contrived. the way that she couldn't get hold of alan to tell him the vital thing that would have kept her from the confrontation with the murderer. it felt too formulaic. but i will still try the next one, as i have really liked all the others.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best of the Mitchell and Markby series that I've read yet. The primary reason is that there is this glaring red herring, that you know must be a red herring because you identify it so early, but you can't find a plausible alternative till just about the same time that the sleuths find the alternative. There are certainly clues when you look back, but the red herring is pushed so strongly that it's hard to see the real perpetrator.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ann Granger is back! This time a grave digger is digging into an old grave in order to add a new family member. Suddenly a skelton is discovered, and it is a pregnant female. The mystery is on, who is she, who killed her, why? Through Meridith's help, Alan is able to figure it out.

[Aileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice easy read in the Mitchell and Markby series, this one seeing a body found when a grave is opened up to add a family member, only this body shouldn't have been there.

[Annette Meier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mystery - kept me wondering until the very end . . . interesting twist on the last page also!

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting, with a twist at the end

[Nancy Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story too was better than the series has been--very complicated and a very unexpected murderer!

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW - great read. Surely kept me wanting to turn the pages to see what was happening and to whom it was happening. Surprises along the way. would totally recommend

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mystery where you're positive you know who "dun it" until the end when you find you're wrong!