Caroline Lennon

When recently widowed Thea Osborne arrives in the Cotswolds to house-sit for a local couple, her only fear is that three weeks there might prove a little dull. But when she is woken by a piercing scream outside, she calls on her neighbours to get some answers. Thea uncovers more tragedy and intrigue than she thought possible behind the peaceful Gloucestershire village.

Thea Osborne, accompanied by her trusty spaniel, Hepzie, is convinced nothing can go wrong on her next house-sitting assignment in the charming village of Blockley. The Montgomerys have asked her to look after their house while they take a much needed holiday. But trouble seems to follow Thea and when a body is discovered in the house next door, she finds herself in the midst of village secrets.

Thea Osborne and her faithful spaniel, Hepzie, have taken on a house-sitting assignment in the charming Cotswold village of Temple Guiting. But when a skeleton is discovered at the roots of an old beech tree, Thea soon finds herself drawn into a murder investigation. Perhaps the countryside isn't that quiet after all...

Thea Osborne has just lost her beloved father and retreats to her next housesitting assignment in Lower Slaughter to deal with her grief. The tranquillity is a welcome backdrop, but when her elder sister turns up on her doorstep after witnessing a horrific killing, the rural serenity descends into a web of suspicions and confrontations. As usual, investigating a murder while being a responsible housesitter proves to be no easy task.

Following a string of disastrous house-sitting assignments, Thea Osborne is understandably apprehensive about her latest commission: a wintry month in an isolated house with only her loyal spaniel Hepzie for company. Thea spends her first few days exploring the beautiful hamlet of Hampnett, meeting some of the locals. But when she stumbles across a man lying dead in a snow-covered field, Thea finds herself once again at the heart of a mystery.

As undertaker Drew Slocombe drives to a burial in Broad Campden, the last thing he is worried about is becoming a murder suspect. Thea Osbourne becomes Drew's unlikely defender when a body is discovered minutes from her latest house-sitting assignment. Drew and Thea begin to unearth the village secrets, together playing amateur detective to find the killer, and to clear Drew's name.

In the wake of a series of unfortunate experiences in the Cotswolds, Thea Osborne, accompanied by her spaniel Hepzibah, is perhaps over-optimistic about the English summertime and the possibilities of her latest house-sitting assignment in the secluded village of Cranham.

Despite the ease with which Thea's new job begins, looking after Harriet Young's reptiles, she soon finds a dark side to the characters she encounters. From the elderly Donny Davis to the enigmatic figure of Edwina, it soon becomes clear Harriet's beloved geckoes are not the only cold-blooded creatures at large in Cranham...

Book 9 in the Cotswolds Mystery series.

Thea Osborne and her canine companion Hepzie travel to the village of Snowshill for their next assignment, house-sitting Hyacinth House for the mysterious Yvonne Parker. Something doesn't feel right to Thea, and soon her intuition is proved to be right. A local boy, Stevie Horsfall, is found brutally strangled, with his mother as prime suspect. Thea, believing in her innocence, embarks on a mystery, taking her through the maliciously entangled lives of the village residents, to London and beyond.

When Thea Osbourne agrees to house sit for Oliver Meadows as a favour to her mother, she expects a few days peace and quiet. As usual, Thea quickly finds herself at the center of a dark mystery when she discovers a dead body in the gardens of the house.

Thea Osborne hopes to spend a quiet Christmas house sitting for the Shepherds in the picturesque Cotswold village of Stanton. Walks in the local countryside with the dogs and perhaps a meal in the pub are all the excitement she wants. When her arrival at the village coincides with the funeral of local businessman Douglas Callendar, found electrocuted in his bath, Thea's interest is piqued. When another villager is discovered brutally murdered the following day, Thea is thrust into the middle of yet another police investigation.

Thea Osborne, Cotswold house-sitter with an infamous reputation for getting mixed up in crime, is determined to avoid trouble this time. Her latest commission in the village of Daglingworth seems straightforward, with most of her time spent looking after an old corgi and a hibernating tortoise. Thea is ready for a relaxing if rather boring two weeks, with phone calls to new boyfriend Drew Slocombe the highlight of her days. Until, that is, a dead body is discovered in a nearby quarry...

Thea Osborne's latest house-sitting assignment is a little different to the rest. Along with her spaniel, Hepzie, Thea finds herself in the village of Chedworth. She is tasked with creating an inventory of Rita Wilshire's possessions, requested by her son, Richard Wilshire, after moving her into a care home. All goes to plan, until Thea and her fiance, Drew Slocombe, find Richard dead in a barn. Was Richard's death suicide? Or something more sinister? When the clues lead them in circles, Thea's relationship with Drew is put to the test. But there is a crime to solve, and neither of them is willing to give up just yet...

Cassie Maddox has left the Murder Squad and started a relationship with fellow detective Sam O’Neill. When Sam becomes involved in the case of a young woman stabbed to death just outside Dublin he finds the victim bears an uncanny resemblance to Cassie and involves her in the hunt for the killer. X rated, contains offensive language and explicit sex.

Being on the Dublin Murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed. Her working life is a stream of thankless cases and harassment. Her new case looks like a regular lovers' quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty and lying dead. Other detectives want her to arrest Aislinn's boyfriend, but everything she finds out about Aislinn takes her further from the simple woman she seemed to be. Antoinette soon discovers this is the case that will make her career - or break it...

On a wet, windswept morning, a field on a desolate farm gives up the dismembered bones of eleven women. They have been buried there since 1915, their skeletons bearing the marks of a meticulous butcher.

Then a young woman goes missing. When her remains are found soon after, police are horrified to discover the bones were carefully stripped before being arranged in an arcane pattern.

With the crimes of the past echoing in the present, DS Katie Maguire must solve a decades-old murder steeped in ancient legend before this terrifying killer strikes again…

Simmy has been adjusting to life in Windermere, running her florist shop and trying to put her tragic past behind her. But just when she thinks her life is quietly coming together, it starts to unravel at the seams when she delivers a bouquet with a mysterious message attached, that brings sinister secrets to light.

As the leading churchmen and women gather at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD to debate the rival merits of the Celtic and Roman Churches, tempers begin to fray. Conspirators plot an assassination, while mysterious, violent death stalks the shadowy cloisters of the Abbey of St Hilda. When the Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic Church, is found murdered suspicion inevitably rests on the Roman faction.

Attending the Synod is Fidelma, of the community of St Brigid of Kildare. As an advocate of the Brehon Court, she is called on to investigate the murder with Brother Eadulf, of the Roman faction. However, the two are so unlike that their partnership is described as that of a wolf and a fox - but which is which?

More gruesome deaths follow and the friction among the clerics could end in civil war. Can the solution to the mysteries avert such a conflict?

Book 1 in the Sister Fidelma series.

Wighard, archbishop designate of Canterbury, has been discovered garrotted in his chambers in the Lateran Palace in Rome in the autumn of AD 664. The solution to this terrible crime appears simple as the palace guards have arrested Brother Ronan Ragallach, as he fled from Wighard's chamber.

Although the Irish monk denies responsibility, Bishop Gelasius is convinced the crime is political and that Wighard was slain in pique at the triumph of the pro-Roman Anglo-Saxon clergy in their debate with the pro-Columba Irish clergy at Whitby.

Bishop Gelasius realises that Wighard's murder could lead to war between the Saxon and Irish kingdoms if Ronan is accused without independent evidence. So he invites Sister Fidelma of Kildare and Brother Eadulf to investigate.

Book 2 in the Sister Fidelma series.

In the mid-7th Century AD, the Venerable Dacán, a much respected and beloved scholar of the Celtic Church, has been found murdered while on a visit to a remote abbey in the Irish Kingdom of Muman. When Dacán's foul death is used by a neighbouring kingdom to demand reparation from Muman, bloody war seems imminent. Summoned by Muman's dying king to investigate, Sister Fidelma is asked to solve the mystery of the brutal killing and by doing so to prevent the inevitable war breaking out between the two opposing kingdoms. She sets out for the remote abbey with a warrior named Cass - and very little time. But there are more sinister forces at work behind Dacán's death than just political intrigue...

Book 3 in the Sister Fidelma series.

A headless female corpse is found in the drinking well of a remote abbey in south-west Ireland. One hand clasps a crucifix; tied to the other arm is a pagan death symbol...

A merchant ship is encountered under full sail on the high seas off the Irish coast. But the crew and cargo have vanished - as if by sorcery...

Whose is the body in the well? Where is the crew of the vessel? Are these bizarre events connected? And if so, who is responsible?

The year is AD 666, and Sister Fidelma of Kildare, advocate of the Brehon law courts, must follow a trail of clues and investigate a host of enigmatic suspects to unravel the puzzle.

Book 4 in the Sister Fidelma series.

Ebert is not a man to make enemies. He is a chieftain with a reputation for kindliness and generosity. Yet, one night, his household is aroused by a scream from his chamber. The servants burst in to find Móen, a young man to whom Eber had extended his protection, crouched over the bloody body of the chieftain. Móen's clothes are drenched in Eber's blood and he is clutching a bloodstained knife in his hand.

There seems no doubt of culpability, but why did Móen kill the gentle and courteous Eber? The problem is exacerbated by the fact that Móen himself cannot tell them - for he is deaf, dumb and blind...

Sister Fidelma, advocate of the ancient Irish law courts, is compelled to begin an investigation of the killing in order to present an argument on Móen's behalf before he is condemned.

Book 5 in the Sister Fidelma series.

Sister Fidelma has been sent by her brother, king of Cashel, to Laisre, chieftain of Gleann Geis - the 'forbidden valley' - to negotiate permission to build a Christian church and school in his territory, replacing the pagan Druidic sanctuaries. Laisre is known to be hostile to the new religion, and Fidelma knows her mission will be no easy task.

Entering Gleann Geis with the Saxon Brother Eadulf, she comes across the naked, slain bodies of thirty-three young men, positioned in a sunwise circle. Each body bears the marks of stabbing and garrotting; every skull has been smashed. Who is reponsible for such evil, if not the heathen Laisre?

Book 6 in the Sister Fidelma series.

The Abbey of Imleach, in the south-west Irish kingdom of Muman, now rivals Armagh as the centre of the faith in Ireland. For the founder of the abbey was none other than St Ailbe, the man who brought Christianity to Muman, converted its king and baptised him at Cashel in AD448.

But now, calamity has struck the community of the abbey. Not only has an elderly monk suddenly disappeared, but the holy relics of St Ailbe have also vanished. These sacred relics are not just the concern of the abbey's community but are a priceless icon and political symbol of the entire kingdom. So who would have dared to take them?

Sister Fidelma, together with Saxon Brother Eadulf, are asked to investigate. It seems there is more to the disappearances than meets the eye; much more. Fidelma gradually uncovers a sinister conspiracy, in which the participants will stop at nothing - even murder - to achieve their aims...

Book 7 in the Sister Fidelma series.

When Sister Fidelma sets out on a pilgrimage in the autumn of AD 666, her main preoccupation is to reflect on her commitment to the religious life and her relationship with the Saxon monk, Eadulf, whom she has left behind. Complications arise during the first night on the ship when one of the pilgrims is apparently washed overboard. The discovery of a blood-stained robe raises the question of murder and Fidelma finds herself having to focus all her abilities on solving the mystery. Death dogs the tiny band of pilgrims in the close confines of the ship, but is not until the Holy Shrine is almost reached that the amazing truth is uncovered...

Book 8 in the Sister Fidelma series.

Sister Fidelma originally made her debut as one of the decade's most interesting sleuths in short story form. The sharp-witted and astonishingly wise religieuse captured the hearts of many readers as she successfully tackled the most baffling of crimes in her other role as advocate of the law courts of Ireland, using the ancient Brehon Law system.

The overwhelming response to these stories launched Fidelma as the heroine of a bestselling series of Celtic crime novels. But it also created a demand for further short stories.

Hemlock at Vespers is the first collection of these stories ever to be published. With its breathtaking range of settings and crimes, it is guaranteed to entertain and intrigue - and is an anthology that no lover of Celtic culture or historical crime should be without.

A short story collection linked to the Sister Fidelma series.

Arriving home from a pilgrim voyage, Sister Fidelma hears that her faithful Saxon companion, Brother Eadulf, is under sentence of death for murder. She hastens to the capital of Laigin, where he is being held, determined to appeal against the sentence. The crime took place at the abbey of Fearna where Fidelma clashes with the sinister Abbess Fainder. The evidence against Eadulf seems overwhelming - can he actually be guilty? Will Fidelma's emotional involvement blind her in her desperate search for the truth?

Book 10 in the Sister Fidelma series.

Sister Fidelma and her companion Brother Eadulf are on their way to visit the new Archbishop of Canterbury, when their ship is blown off course and they land on the coast of the Welsh kingdom of Dyfed. They are given hospitality by King Gwlyddien and Abbot Tryffin of the Abbey of Dewi Sant, and are asked if they would help to solve the mystery of how the entire monastic community of the Abbey, including the King's eldest son, could vanish into thin air. It's not long before the trail leads to deaths and treachery in high places and Fidelma and Eadulf are faced with a sinister and baffling puzzle.

Book 11 in the Sister Fidelma series.

As they are preparing to return to Ireland, Fidelma and Brother Eadulf receive a mysterious summons. Eadulf's childhood friend, Brother Botulf, has requested their presence at Aldred's Abbey at midnight on the old pagan feast of Yule. Fidelma and Eadulf battle against the harsh winter storms to arrive in time, only to find they are too late. Botulf is dead - killed by an unknown hand. As they struggle to comprehend this staggering news, it soon becomes clear that the murder of this young monk is not the only trouble facing the abbey. The abbey is haunted by the ghost of a young woman - a woman some say bears a startling likeness to the Abbot Cild's dead wife. But can Fidelma and Eadulf discover the truth before they themselves fall victim to the danger which pervades the abbey walls?

Book 12 in the Sister Fidelma series.

A servant has been murdered and the baby in her charge abducted. Fidelma of Cashel has solved even more horrendous crimes in her career as an advocate of the ancient Brehon Courts of Ireland. But this case is different. For both Sister Fidelma and her companion, Brother Eadulf of Saxmund's Ham, the case is unique because of the personal emotions involved. The baby who has been abducted is their own son.

What is the motive for their crime? Could someone seeking vengeance on Fidelma and Eadulf have done the deed? They have made a lot of enemies in their pursuit of justice.

Fidelma and Eadulf, ignoring protests that they are too emotionally involved to undertake the investigation, set out on an increasingly desperate mission to save their son...

Book 14 in the Sister Fidelma series.

In this collection of tales, Sister Fidelma, the seventh-century sleuth of the Celtic Church, investigates the death of a young peasant woman, and the discovery of a body in a saint's tomb amongst other crimes and misdemeanors.

A series of horrific murders has brought terror to the Kingdom of Muman. The victims, all young girls, were slaughtered with unspeakable violence on the nights of three consecutive full moons.

Suspicion falls on three dark strangers from the distant land of Aksum (Ethiopia), who are guests at the Abbey of Finbarr. A panic-stricken mob attacks the abbey, leaving the religious in fear for their lives. Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf are called in to restore order and find the killer, but it soon becomes clear that the three mysterious strangers are hiding a dark secret. And what about the ageing Laig, a hermit-like apothecary, who is known to have instructed all three victims about the magic and power of the moon; what sinister truths are hidden in his dark woodland dwelling?

As Fidelma struggles to repair her faltering relationship with Eadulf, can she uncover the truth before the killer strikes again on the next night of the full moon?

Book 13 in the Sister Fidelma series.

On a storm-driven night, wreckers drive a ship onto rocks off the coast of Ireland. An Abbess leading a pilgrimage is killed and the young religieuse with her abducted. An ageing scholar is murdered in the Abbey of Ard Fhearta. Do these events have a connection? Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf go to Ard Fhearta to examine the mystery.

When Sechnussach, High King of Ireland, is found dead in his bedchamber with his throat cut, all clues point to Dubh Duin, the chieftain of the clan Cinél Cairpre. The Chief Brehon of Ireland asks Sister Fidelma to investigate, and she soon reveals an intricate web of conspiracy and deception that threatens to unbalance the five kingdoms and send them spiralling into a violent and bloody civil war....

Sister Fidelma originally made her debut as one of crime fiction's most interesting sleuths in short story form. The sharp-witted religieuse captured the hearts of many readers as she successfully tackled the most baffling of crimes in her other role as advocate of the law courts of Ireland, using the ancient Brehon Law system.

This collection contains an astonishing range of crimes and misdemeanours and seamlessly blends historical detail, character and story into mysteries that will confound and surprise.

Whispers of the Dead is the second collection of these stories to be published in the UK. With its breath-taking range of settings and crimes, it is guaranteed to entertain and intrigue - and is an anthology that no lover of Celtic culture or historical crime should be without.

A short story collection linked to the Sister Fidelma series.

AD 670. Sister Fidelma and her faithful companion, Brother Eadulf, have been called to Autun to act as advisors to the Irish delegation of church leaders from Western Europe. But when the body of one of the delegates is found with his skull brutally smashed, they find themselves in the middle of a terrifying murder investigation.

Ireland, AD 670. When the body of a murdered young noble is discovered not far from Cashel, the King calls upon Sister Fidelma and her companion Eadulf to investigate. When Sister Fidelma herself becomes the victim of abduction, it is up to Eadulf to find and save her from imminent death, so that the mystery can be solved...