Best Eaten Cold and Other Stories: A Murder Squad Anthology

The Murder Squad all share a special passion for crime, which is reflected in this superb new volume of previously unpublished tales. Funny and sad, atmospheric and dark, ingenious and frightening, each of the 13 stories in this collection—two or three from each contributor—will thrill lovers of crime fiction. In "The Habit of Silence", DI Vera Stanhope—whom Ann Cleeves developed "Because I was so cross with even feminist writers writing female central characters who were young, fit and beautiful. Vera isn't any of those things. She's overweight and middle-aged."—investigates the case of the body in the library. In Martin Edwards' "The People Outside," a tight-knit community is ripped apart by violence, and a lust for vengeance. Cath Staincliffe's "Boom!" is the explosive story of murder in Manchester. Margaret Murphy tells of a Liverpool lad troubled by a mortal sin, in "The Message." The title story is by Stuart Pawson, and asks In Cleeves' second offering, "Basic Skills," Maddy thought that books could change lives—but so can murder. Staincliffe's "Laptop" features a laptop thief who takes more than she bargained for. "Act of Contrition," by Murphy, asks if Janice is pleading for forgiveness—or seeking something more sinister? When a rich man's butler vanishes, in Edwards' "The Case of the Musical Butler," Sherlock Holmes is asked to investigate. Cleeves' "Mud" tells of a woman remembering the past, betrayal, and a death. "Riviera" by Staincliffe explores the question Pawson tell of a Christmas in prison—but goodwill is in short supply, in "Sprouts." At the end of a book, an index tells a tale of murder, in Edwards' "InDex."