The Mirabelle Bevan Mystery Collection: Brighton Belle, London Calling and England Expects

Brighton Belle: 1951. Brighton. With the excitement of the war over and the Nazis brought to justice at Nuremberg, Mirabelle Bevan (retired Secret Service) thinks her skills are no longer required. After the death of her lover she moves to the seaside to put the past behind her and takes a job as a secretary at a debt collection agency run by the charismatic Big Ben McGuigan. But when confronted by the case of Romana Laszlo, a pregnant Hungarian refugee, Mirabelle discovers that her specialist knowledge is vital. With enthusiastic assistance from the pretty insurance clerk down the corridor, Vesta Churchill, Mirabelle follows a mysterious trail of gold sovereigns, betting scams and corpses to a dark corner of Austerity Britain where the forces of evil remain alive and well. England Expects: Set during the summer heatwave of 1953, England Expects finds Mirabelle and Vesta investigating the seemingly unrelated murders of a racing journalist and a cleaning woman. Their searches lead them through Brighton Pavilion’s crumbling passageways to the quad of a Cambridge college and finally into the shady underworld of Brighton freemasonry.And, while not on the murder trail, Vesta has to make some difficult decisions about her personal life. London Calling: 1952, Brighton and London. When 17 year old debutante Rose Bellamy Gore goes missing in a seedy Soho jazz club the prime suspect is black saxophone player, Lindon Claremont, the last person to be seen talking to her. Under suspicion, Lindon heads straight for Brighton and his childhood friend, Vesta Churchill who works with ex-Secret Service office girl Mirabelle Bevan, now in charge of the McGuigan and McGuigan Debt Collection Agency. When Lindon is taken into custody the two women dive into London’s underworld of smoky night clubs, smart cars and lethal cocktails to establish the truth. British Bulldog: British Bulldog sees Mirabelle on the trail of an RAF pilot who went missing during the war and mysteriously never came home. Her search takes her to Paris where she discovers an espionage operation smuggling secrets out of Russia. Her investigations also uncover some unwelcome truths about her wartime lover Jack and the true nature of his intelligence work in France.

Reviews of The Mirabelle Bevan Mystery Collection: Brighton Belle, London Calling and England Expects

'Mirabelle has a dogged tenacity to rival Poirot' – Sunday Herald; 'I was gripped from start to finish' – Newbooks magazine; 'Unfailingly stylish, undeniably smart' – Daily Record; 'A crime force to be reckoned with' – Good Reads; 'Plenty of colour and action, will engage the reader from the first page to the last. Highly recommended' – Bookbag