The Baby Snatcher
Ann Cleeves's sixth and most recent book featuring Inspector Ramsay is The Baby Snatcher (1997).
When 15-year old Marilyn Howe turns up on Inspector Ramsay's doorstep he has little choice but to invite her in, for Marilyn is convinced that her mother has disappeared. But when Ramsay returns the young girl to her home, on the isolated coastal community known as the Headland, they find Mrs Howe safe and well.
Six months later, Ramsay has more or less forgotten the strange incident, busy as he is on the trail of a local child abductor. Until he receives news that Mrs Howe has disappeared once more. Then a body is washed up on the beach, and he soon gets drawn into the strange relationships of the families living on the lonely Headland...
"Ann Cleeves's Northumberland-based Inspector Ramsay novels have a distinctive flavour of their own. ... This is a strong, dark crime novel, distinguished by its intelligent, spiky characterisation. These are people whose actions are rooted deeply and plausibly in their own psychology. Cleeves is particularly good at showing the claustrophobia of enclosed lives."
The Baby Snatcher is available from Amazon:
The Healers
The fifth Inspector Ramsay book, The Healers was published in 1995.
Farmer Ernie Bowles is found lying on his kitchen floor - strangled. Not a pretty sight.
Inspector Ramsay fears the case will not be simple. It isn't.
Certainly not when there is a second strangulation. Two killings are more than a chilling coincidence. A third suspicious death provides a tenuous link between all three and leads Inspector Ramsay to the Alternative Therapy Clinic. Could one of the healers be a killer?
"The characters come live off the page and she delivers a convincing solution"
The Spectator
"Confirms her place in the premier league of British crime writers"
Hampstead and Highgate Express
"Highly enjoyable"
Harriet Waugh, The Spectator
"Watertight and exciting"
Susan Hill, Good Housekeeping
Order The Healers from Amazon:
- in hardback,
- as an A & B paperback
- or in large print hardback or large print (paperback) editions.
Killjoy
Gabriella Preston is found in the boot of a car, lying curled on her side like a child asleep. She is dead. The car belongs to Gus Lynch. Gus Lynch is the director of Hallowgate's Youth Theatre, Gabriella his female lead.
Inspector Ramsay and Sergeant Hunter are called in to assist the local police who have their hands full with an outbreak of joy-riding. Another death and an escalation of violence among the joy-riders threaten mayhem. Against a background of spiralling disorder Ramsay realises what could have provoked someone to kill - and to kill again.
"Ann Cleeves is a gifted recruit to the traditional detective novel and on her current form will continue to command attention"
B.A.Pike, Twentieth-Century Crime and Mystery Writers
Killjoy was first published in 1993. Order it from Amazon:
- in the hardback edition,
- as an A & B paperback,
- or on audio cassette (read by Gordon Griffin).
A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy
Dorothea Cassidy, the vicar's wife, lies dead in the park's flower bed. The parishioners were daunted by her goodness. But one of them wanted her dead. Who? 0ld Mrs Bowman, dying of cancer; Clive Stringer, a disturbed adolescent; Theresa Stringer, a single mother with a child in care and a violent boyfriend - or was it someone in her own family?
"Perceptive, convincing, quietly compelling"
Marcel Berlins, The Times
"The best detective novel I have read this year"
Harriet Waugh, The Spectator
"She is already exceptional"
B.A.Pike, Twentieth-Century Crime & Mystery Writers
Order a copy of A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy (first published in 1992) from Amazon:
- in hardback,
- as an A & B paperback,
- or in the Ulverscroft Large Print edition.
Murder in My Backyard
In this second Inspector Ramsay novel (published in 1991), our hero faces a murder investigation on his own doorstep following his impulsive decision to buy a cottage in the quiet Northumberland village of Heppleburn.
When local uproar over a proposed housing development ends in murder, the pressure is once again on Ramsay to act from within and interrogate every possible suspect. But then tragedy strikes a second time, and Ramsay must test his true measure as a detective working against the clock.
"Taut slice-of-small-town-life police procedural underpinned by the wry premise that unrelenting goodness can be as lethal as evil"
The Guardian
Order Murder in My Backyard from Amazon:
- in the hardback edition,
- as an A & B paperback,
- as a Soundings audio cassette read by Gordon Griffin (image left)
- or as an Ulverscroft Large Print book.
A Lesson in Dying
Inspector Ramsay made his much-praised debut in 1990, in A Lesson in Dying.
Heppleburn, once a Northumberland pit village, has always been close-knit, friendly and safe - until the murder of headmaster Harold Medburn. Suddenly, the village seems unfamiliar, uncomfortable.
The school caretaker and his daughter pursue their own route of investigation, which should have made Inspector Ramsay's job a little easier. But hampered by false leads, powerless to pre-empt the killer's next move, and overshadowed by the evil atmosphere of All Hallow's Eve, Ramsay finds his own reputation is on the line...
"A fine debut"
Susan Hill, Good Housekeeping
"A good debut for Inspector Ramsay; quiet, puzzled, very human"
The Times
"A quietly entertaining mystery"
Sunday Telegraph
"Perceptive picture of changing social pattern, cast strong"
Guardian
Order A Lesson in Dying from Amazon:
- in hardback,
- as an A & B paperback,
- in the Ulverscroft Large Print edition
- or as an audio cassette (read by Gordon Griffin)