It wasn't the sort of place where anything should happen. Gurney Close was just a small, newly-built cul-de-sac, three nice houses and a bungalow overlooking the river Wye. None of the people who move in - three married couples and a divorcee - expect anything much to take place, beyond, perhaps, some neighbourhood friendliness. With this in mind, they organize a party to celebrate moving in. All goes well, a good time is had by everyone, until one of them is found dead the next morning. Lambert and Hook are faced with a baffling crime. For their harmless, normal-seeming victim turns out to have a darker past than they could have suspected - and enemies everywhere, very close to home...

The new Lambert and Hook mystery - When the committee members of the Oldford Literary Festival all receive anonymous letters telling them to resign or die, it marks the start of an unusual case for Chief Superintendent Lambert and DS Hook. All of the members identify one man as being capable of such a thing: Peter Preston, a self-important snob who is in disagreement with the head of the festival over what he sees as the dumbing down of the events programme. But could such a disagreement lead to murder? It's not long before Lambert and Hook have their answer . . .

Seven-year-old Lucy Gibson can barely contain her excitement when she learns that the funfair has come to town and Matt, her mother's new boyfriend, has agreed to take her. Despite her slight uneasiness in Matt's company and her upset over her parent's split, she readily goes off with him one evening, as excited as only a young innocent child can be.The next morning, Chief Superintendent Lambert briefs DS Bert Hook and DS Ruth David on the disappearance of a young seven-year-old local girl from a funfair the previous evening. On questioning her distraught mother, it appears that Lucy has vanished into thin air and so begins an intense investigation, racing against time, to discover who took the young girl – and to prevent more children from going missing before it's too late . . .

The new Lambert and Hook mystery - Martin Beaumont is the uncompromising owner of a successful Gloucestershire vineyard. He has built the company steadily over the years, with a small but dedicated team by his side. However, he sees Abbey Vineyards as his company, to do with as he pleases, much to the chagrin of his senior staff members. So when he is found dead in his car, Chief Superintendent Lambert and DS Hook don't have to look very far to find people with strong motives for the murder . . .