Camilla Chafer

Murder by the Book Camilla Chafer

Previously published as Murder in March

Ava March has a big secret. The ultra-reclusive author behind the sensational Miranda Marchmont romantic novels has decided she doesn't want to write anymore bodice rippers, not when she could be writing daring thrillers instead.

When Ava's loudmouth agent, Esther Drummond, comes to town, she is bound and determined to persuade her star author to write a few more glamorous novels rather than the books Ava prefers to write. Naturally, Ava knows she must refuse.

The only problem that arises is when Ava's eyes land on Esther's hotshot publisher, Mark Boudreaux, whom she brought along as backup. He's exactly like the kind of hero Ava wishes she could meet in real life. Just as Ava plucks up the courage to turn Esther down, she discovers her agent's dead body. To make matters even worse, Esther has been killed in exactly the same way that Ava described in her rejected manuscript.

With Ava as the prime suspect with an apparent motive for murder, and cherry-picked manuscript pages appearing around town, Ava's quiet, former existence is at risk of being ripped away. There's only one thing this wannabe thriller writer can do: Ava must channel her inner action heroine and solve the murder before her life becomes no more than a terrifying footnote.