Anne Cleeves - Classic Crime Series Books 1 to 4

A Bird in the Hand

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again

A Bird in the Hand is the first novel featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.

In England's birdwatching paradise, a new breed has been sighted - a murderer . . .

Young Tom French is found dead, lying in a marsh on the Norfolk coast, with his head bashed in and his binoculars still around his neck. One of the best birders in England, Tom had put the village of Rushy on the birdwatching map. Everyone liked him. Or did they?

George Palmer-Jones, an elderly birdwatcher who decides quietly to look into the brutal crime, discovers mixed feelings aplenty. Still, he remains baffled by a deed that could have been motivated by thwarted love, pure envy, or something else altogether.

But as he and his fellow 'twitchers' flock from Norfolk to Scotland to the Scilly Isles in response to rumours of rare sightings, George - with help from his lovely wife, Molly - gradually discerns the true markings of a killer. All he has to do is prove it . . . before the murderer strikes again.Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again

A Bird in the Hand is the first novel featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.

In England's birdwatching paradise, a new breed has been sighted - a murderer . . .

Young Tom French is found dead, lying in a marsh on the Norfolk coast, with his head bashed in and his binoculars still around his neck. One of the best birders in England, Tom had put the village of Rushy on the birdwatching map. Everyone liked him. Or did they?

George Palmer-Jones, an elderly birdwatcher who decides quietly to look into the brutal crime, discovers mixed feelings aplenty. Still, he remains baffled by a deed that could have been motivated by thwarted love, pure envy, or something else altogether.

But as he and his fellow 'twitchers' flock from Norfolk to Scotland to the Scilly Isles in response to rumours of rare sightings, George - with help from his lovely wife, Molly - gradually discerns the true markings of a killer. All he has to do is prove it . . . before the murderer strikes again.

Come Death and High Water

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again.

Come Death and High Water is the second mystery novel featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.

The picturesque privately owned island of Gillibry off the North Devon coast turns out to be the perfect site for a murder . . .

A routine weekend visit by the Gillibry Bird Observatory Trust is made memorable by the owner's announcement that he is going to sell the island. A sale would mean the end of the Observatory, which for some of the birders makes life worth living. A fire in Charlie Todd's cottage adds to their distress. And when, next morning, after a fierce storm, they find Charlie dead in a bird hide, their pleasant September weekend assumes a dangerous new face.

Charlie Todd's murder could have been the deed of any member of the Trust. And it falls to one of their own, George Palmer-Jones, to unravel the identity of a killer within their midst . . .

Murder in Paradise

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again

Murder in Paradise is the third mystery novel featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.

Cheerful festivities take a dark turn when the groom's sister slips and tumbles to the perilous rocks below . . .

Newlyweds Jim and Sarah are welcomed home from their honeymoon to the Scottish island of Kinness with a huge celebration, and the whole island is present to witness the bitter end. But did Jim's younger sister Mary fall? Or was she pushed? George Palmer-Jones, retired birdwatcher and amateur detective, suspects the latter. But proving it will be difficult - no one wants to upset the balance of the island's ancient relationships.

There are definitely secrets being hidden, and George, helped by Sarah, begin to piece together a tragic story he wishes he had never heard. Kinness is a paradise lost . . .

A Prey to Murder

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again

A Prey to Murder is the fourth mystery novel featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.

The huge and powerful hawk dominated the scene. Its talons pierced the woman's flesh and the beak pointed towards her eyes . . .

The sight is a particularly horrible shock for George Palmer-Jones, ornithologist and amateur detective, as he was an old friend of the victim Eleanor Masefield. George and his wife Molly are staying at Eleanor's family-run hotel, and whilst George believed Eleanor was a beautiful and charming widow, Molly has other ideas.

Is Molly a little jealous? Or was Eleanor more a black widow - a ruthless manipulator of all those caught in her far-reaching web? Can Molly prove it in time to prevent another death?