The Banbury Cross Murder Mystery series is set in the small market town of Banbury, Oxfordshire, in the UK during the 1960s.
The three men walked briskly off, following the growing throng, Shapes taking care not to spill any of his precious beer. Their target was the start line for the race, which, with the show ring now extended, was close to a stall selling a fine collection of tea towels, mugs, calendars for the following year and sundry other goods. Already gathering together directly in front of it could be seen a small group of scarecrows and, so far, a single Aunt Sally.
The beer tent was an enormous affair, acres of off-white canvas that flapped gently in the breeze, held up by a small forest of sturdy metal poles and mile upon mile of pegged out ropes. In the not inconsiderable experience of Sergeant Stanley Shapes it was one of the biggest he’d ever encountered, surely capable of accommodating a hundred or so people.
Margery Redhill sat on the bench of the little wooden bus shelter, looking out on a glorious sunny day. In the field opposite, a small herd of black and white Friesian cows were grazing contentedly on the last of the late summer pasture, while a buzzard drifted overhead on outstretched wings, scanning the ground below as it sought out its next meal. From a small stand of trees came a short burst of vibrant hammering before a woodpecker took to the wing, a flash of green as it skimmed low across the grass.
Who would have thought golf could be such a deadly game?
When two players stumble upon a dead body in a bunker on the thirteenth hole of their favourite golf club, their discovery is about to set in motion a series of events that will lay bare some of the less savoury aspects of the human condition.
Inspector Leslie Dykeman and the irascible Sergeant Stanley Shapes find themselves engaged on a case that will drive them to distraction as they begin to investigate the murder of a man who seems, at first sight, to have had no enemies. But first sight, they will discover, can be a deceptive thing, especially when deceit, greed, envy and desperation are at work.