The Wild Wood Enquiry

Praise for

The Measby Murder Enquiry

“A pleasant read, evoking Saint Mary Mead and Miss Marple with its atmosphere of surface calm and hidden demons. It’s a solid book, cleverly plotted and tightly structured, with all the makings of a perennial favorite.”

—
Curled Up with a Good Book

The Hangman’s Row Enquiry

“A delightful spin-off.”

—
Genre Go Round Reviews

“Full of wit, venom and bonding between new friends.”

—
The Romance Readers Connection

“Purser’s Ivy Beasley is a truly unique character, a kind of cross between Jessica Fletcher, Miss Marple and Mrs. Slocum from
Are You Being Served?
—just a delightful, eccentric old darling that readers are sure to embrace. Pair this with Purser’s charming storytelling technique, and you have a fast-paced tale that will keep readers guessing to the very end.”

—
Fresh Fiction

Praise for the

Lois Meade Mysteries

“First-class work in the English-village genre: cleverly plotted, with thoroughly believable characters, rising tension and a smashing climax.”

—
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

“Well paced, cleverly plotted and chock-full of cozy glimpses of life in a small English village.”

—
Booklist

“Purser’s expertise at portraying village life and Lois’s role as a working-class Miss Marple combine to make this novel—and the entire series—a treat.”

—
Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Fans of British ‘cozies’ will enjoy this delightful mystery, with its quaint setting and fascinating players.”

—
Library Journal

“A strong plot and believable characters, especially the honest, down-to-earth Lois, are certain to appeal to a wide range of readers.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“The characters are fun. The setting is wonderful… Anyone who delights in an English village mystery will have a good time with this book.”

—
Gumshoe Review

“[Lois Meade is] an engaging amateur sleuth.”

—
Genre Go Round Reviews

ALWAYS LEARNING

PEARSON

For Philippa and her little boys.

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Fifty

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“FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE, scram!”

Ivy Beasley pulled the duvet over her head and vowed that she would not rise from her bed until the cleaners had finished the corridors of her residential home. They had been outside her door for hours, filling the morning with loud vibrations, which she could feel all the way down to her toes. “They do it on purpose,” she muttered. “We’ve got the cleanest carpets in Barrington!”

Katya, the Polish care assistant, would be knocking at her door any time now with morning tea and plain digestive biscuits. Only then would she sit up, take deep draughts of hot tea, and dial her fiancé on an extension number to wish him a fond good morning.

Ivy Beasley was in her seventies or early eighties—she varied the number according to who was listening—and her fiancé, Roy Goodman, was roughly the same age. Both lived in Springfields Luxury Retirement Home, in the
Suffolk village of Barrington, where they had met, fallen in love, and become engaged. Grumblings from the home’s manager, Mrs. Spurling, about having enough trouble without romance rearing its ugly head, were countered by her assistant, Miss Pinkney. She considered Ivy’s love affair with Roy the most lovely thing she had experienced in half a lifetime of caring for old people.

The engagement was not the only Beasley thorn in Mrs. Spurling’s flesh. Ivy had arrived at the home from Round Ringford, a village in the Midlands, full of complaints and requests for special privileges, and then to everyone’s astonishment, she had set up a private enquiry agency with a mysterious and, thought some, decidedly suspect character, Augustus Halfhide.

The third and fourth members of Enquire Within were Roy and Ivy’s cousin, Deirdre Bloxham, much younger, rich and flighty, who lived in a large house not far from Springfields. It had been Deirdre who persuaded Ivy to move, and at first she was quite sure she had made a grave mistake. Ivy was a pain and a pest. But then, as she grew to appreciate the old lady’s courage and persistence, she realised that her own life since she was widowed some years ago, which had been filled with good works and hairdressers’ appointments, was now much improved.

“GOOD MORNING, MY love! How are you? Well, I trust?” Roy had been awake for some time, thinking about how his life had changed since Ivy arrived at Springfields. He had been coasting to a dismal end, and now he greeted each day with enthusiasm.

“Fighting fit, thanks,” said Ivy. “Ready for breakfast?” She had already had two cups of Katya’s tea and cleared
the plate of biscuits but was looking forward to a smoked kipper with lots of white bread and butter, real butter. Mrs. Spurling had advised wholemeal bread and Bertolli healthy spread, but Ivy had replied tartly that at her great age it wouldn’t matter much, would it?