My name’s Eve Mallow and as an obituary writer, I find it quite hard to conjure up a post about myself. It’s normally other people that I write about! Moira, who owns the village store, describes me as working in the death industry, but she’s wrong – obituary writing’s all about life. I find it endlessly fascinating, though sometimes a little scary since I often write about murder victims. I get to interview the deceased’s friends and relatives – the exact same people as the police. It’s inevitable that I pick up clues along the way. The local detective inspector, Nigel Palmer, hates me getting involved with his investigations, but not everyone disapproves. The village gardener, Robin, has become my partner in crime.

I’m an early riser and I’m often down on the beach with my wire-haired dachshund Gus before most of the villagers are out of bed. After that, it’s back to my seventeenth-century thatched home, Elizabeth’s Cottage, for breakfast. I love it there – when I’m involved in an investigation it’s a peaceful haven with its cosy inglenook fireplace and low beams. That said, danger’s come pretty close at times. I found an unwanted visitor in the living room once and it still comes back to haunt me.  .  .

During the day, a lot of my time’s divided between researching my obituaries, talking to interviewees, and working out why they might have wanted my subjects dead! But freelance journalism’s an uncertain business. I have a part-time job at the local teashop to ensure a regular income. While I’m there I try to make order. My best friend Viv, who runs the place, is a baking genius but chaos is her friend. We’re like night and day. I love details, lists and spreadsheets – you can’t have too much information when you’re trying to unmask a killer. She thinks I’m weird, but she likes being my Watson.

In the evenings, I sometimes sneak over to see Robin. We’re neither of us married, but we have to meet in secret. You want to know why? That’s too long a story for today. It’s frustrating. I’d like to spend a whole lot more time with him. When we’re not together, you’ll sometimes find me in the village pub, the Cross Keys, having one of Jo Falconer’s amazing meals and talking over the day’s events with Viv. Gus loves it there too. He and the pub schnauzer, Hetty, are playmates. It’s all good fun so long as they don’t get under Jo’s feet. What a cook! But talk about fierce.  .  .

As night falls, I can hear the wading birds calling from the estuary. I lie in bed under the beams at Elizabeth’s Cottage, puzzling over the murder victim I’m writing about. Getting to the bottom of their character often helps me work out who killed them, but the revelations don’t tend to come when I’m safe at home in bed. When it happens in the field, things can get a little sticky. . . Robin’s asked me not to almost get killed again, and Viv’s dead against it too. She’d have to hire a new teashop manager. I’m always touched by her concern.

I take all the precautions you’d imagine but I still get into trouble. The mystery at Magpie Lodge was no exception. In fact, I had my closest call yet. My heartbeat clatters like a runaway sewing machine each time I think about it. . .

Mystery at Magpie Lodge, An Eve Mallow Mystery #7
Genre: Cozy
Release: January 2022
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After the black sheep of the Fulton family is found dead, the village of Saxford St Peter is quick to blame it on his past misdeeds. But Eve Mallow is on the hunt for someone closer to home. . .

When the down-on-his-luck Emory Fulton moves into crumbling Magpie Lodge, and starts running historical tours, the locals are none too pleased. He’s inventing grisly tales about their lovely little village, and disturbing everyone’s peace.

But then he’s found dead in his bath, and everyone is suddenly running scared. Could something strange be happening? After all, the murder mirrors one of Fulton’s stories about Saxford’s dark past. . .

But Eve Mallow is sure the answers lie in much more recent events.

Accompanied by her stalwart dachshund sidekick Gus, she starts to dig a little deeper. Could it be Fulton’s snobbish bigwig brother, or the suspicious local academic? Why was his goddaughter handing him mysterious parcels, and why wouldn’t his sister-in-law let him in her house?

As Eve unravels the secrets of the living and the dead, one thing is for sure: Fulton was a haunted, hunted man. And if Eve doesn’t crack the case soon, she might find whoever wanted to keep Fulton quiet on her trail too. . .

An unputdownable page-turner, perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Agatha Christie and Betty Rowlands.

Meet the author
Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations. Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium. As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.

All comments are welcomed.