Bled and Breakfast

A detective's genius comes back to bite him. Harry Mann's Saturday afternoon is disturbed by his boss, DCI Dyce, with a request to investigate what has been reported as a suicide. A retired major, now an hotelier, has been shot, and Harry has drawn the short straw. The major did not take his own life, and Jonathan Franklin's death is only the first of a bizarre set of hotelier murders that form a puzzle. Are they connected? Apparently not, and yet Harry believes that they must be. At least twenty people had strong motive for the first killing alone, including every one of the colourful and unusual members of Franklin's own household. Also in the background is the Landenar Corporation; a shady outfit, which is buying up hotels and B&Bs all over the county, committing crimes against family animals and property whenever their offers to purchase are refused. Franklin had been approached by them shortly before his death, and another B&B owner's wife died in suspicious circumstances shortly after an offer was made for the property. The deaths multiply but are not Harry's only problem: Patti, his new partner, is acting strangely and then attempts suicide. He saves her, but with unbelievable after-effects on his own post-bereavement depression. He and his team are coming to the belief that the murders subsequent to Franklin's could be to 'Hide the Lady', where innocents are killed to throw investigators off the track. Three murders, Harry's finds, relate to a disastrous incident in Afghanistan, and a desire for revenge. When he is realises who carried out the killings he is faced with the biggest problem of his professional life. He has a momentous decision to make, and things will never be the same again.