Jill McGown – författare

Real-life crime has engulfed the domestic life of the Riverside Theatre players. For starters, there’s the violent death of Estelle Bignall, the beautiful, neurotic wife of a well-to-do doctor (and aspiring resident playwright). In truth, suicide seemed more Estelle’s line—especially during the Christmas holidays—but a thief saved her the trouble, stealing all the presents and leaving her bound, gagged, and suffocated.Instinct tells Detective Chief Inspectors Lloyd and Judy Hill that Estelle’s murder is far more complicated. At the crime scene there are too many footprints, too many fingerprints, too much conflicting evidence—and too many suspects: an elusive burglar, a sinister next-door neighbor, the victim’s secret lover, a scared kid with fresh bruises on his face. But which of them was desperate enough to commit murder?From the Paperback edition.

"McGown''s style is uniquely hers, engrossing, poignant, with effectual characterization."--Mystery NewsWhen the body of fifteen-year-old Natalie Ouspensky is found strangled near a public park in Stansfield, England, Detective Inspector Judy Hill and Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd have their work cut out for them. For Natalie wasn''t quite the innocent her mother believes, and her classmates at Oakland School guard Natalie''s secrets--and their own--like life itself. Then a shred of evidence points Hill and Lloyd in the right--and decidedly deadly--direction. . . . "[A ] compelling story . . . The characters are devious, cunning, charming--and truly, truly wicked. This small English town, overrun with malice, is well served by its finely delineated constabulary, with Lloyd and Hill at the top of their form."--Publishers WeeklyFrom the Paperback edition.

Detective Inspector Judy Hill anxiously watched the trial of serial rapist Colin Arthur Drummond from the public gallery--never forgetting his chilling threat that she would be his next victim. The prosecution should have an open-and-shut case. But sixteen months later Drummond is back on the streets, threatening Judy once more. And as Judy sets out to prove Drummond''s guilt for the second time, Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd is called to a horrifying scene. It appears Colin Drummond has struck again. . . .From the Paperback edition.

With a plot that defies the most inspired second-guessing and with menace ticking quietly away on every page, Jill McGown’s Death in the Family firmly establishes her as a master of mystery and psychological suspense. This gritty, sophisticated novel is the twelfth in the author’s internationally acclaimed series starring Chief Detective Inspector Lloyd and his colleague and lover, Chief Detective Inspector Judy Hill.Dean Fletcher had spent virtually all his twenty-four years doing things practically guaranteed to land him in trouble. But not until he fell for a blonde nymphet named Kayleigh Scott did he manage to totally ruin his life. Kayleigh had told him she was eighteen. In truth, she was not quite thirteen, and poor Dean was soon off to prison, a convicted sex offender, still smitten with his adolescent lover.Now he’s finally free again, only to be ensnared by two crimes that have Lloyd pulling out what’s left of his hair. One is an infant kidnapping (the child was born within hours of Lloyd’s and Judy’s own baby, Charlotte); the other is the murder of Kayleigh’s mother, Lesley, on the very eve of the family’s sudden move to Australia.Fortunately, Lloyd thinks he hears the ring of truth in Dean’s protestations of innocence. He is extremely curious about Lesley’s new lover, Ian, who has jumped headfirst into another relationship, and her old lover, Phil, whose world she had destroyed. And for all her air of placid innocence, Kayleigh herself isn’t above suspicion.With Judy out on maternity leave, Lloyd is obliged to pick his way alone through the minefield of birth, death, murder, and domestic evil. Death in the Family is a novel of uncanny power and chilling credibility.

Selected by The Times (London) as one of the twentieth century’s “100 Masters of Crime,” Jill McGown writes mystery-suspense novels with plots that defy second-guessing. In Unlucky for Some, her thirteenth book featuring Detective Chief Inspectors Lloyd and Hill, the quiet life of an English town scarcely conceals the deadly menace lurking around dark corners and within the human mind. Michael Waterman is a self-made millionaire. His casinos and nightclubs ensure a constant flow of cash, and Waterman knows what he needs to do to keep it that way. So far, it seems, he has stayed on the right side of the law. Certainly, no one seriously suspects him of murdering bingo player Wilma Fenton, who was struck down while walking home with a purse crammed full of winnings. Her murder looks like an ordinary mugging except for one oddity: The killer had left Wilma’s money neatly fanned out across her body. The motive behind the bafflingly violent act dogs Lloyd and Hill– now married and the harried parents of a two-year-old daughter. The stakes are raised with a second murder, modeled on the first . . . and then a third. A cold-blooded killer is challenging not only the police but the one witness to the first slaying: England’s premier expert on serial crime, well-known journalist and TV personality, Tony Baker. It has now become a twisted game of madness and logic–in which failure to outwit the murderer means more senseless deaths. In this astonishing Lloyd and Hill novel, Jill McGown’s storytelling genius will captivate longtime fans as well as first-time readers. Unlucky for Some is lucky for all admirers of virtuoso suspense writing.From the Hardcover edition.

It's Christmas at the theatre – and murder is afoot. Scene of Crime is a festive whodunnit from Jill McGown, author of Murder at the Old Vicarage.It's the season to murder . . .It's three days before Christmas and the Malworth Amateur Dramatic Society's rehearsals of Cinderella, scripted by local GP Carl Bignall, are struggling thanks to a flu epidemic.But, as rehearsals finally get under way at the Riverside Theatre, the police across town enter Carl's house - and discover the body of his wife, Estelle . . .Why was Carl so late for rehearsal? Why is the Bignalls' neighbour so reluctant to tell the truth about what he witnessed? And why is Dr Denis Leeward, Carl's partner, sitting in his car, slightly bruised and in a state of guilty panic?All Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd knows for sure, as he takes charge of the investigation, is that one of them is a murderer . . .'One of the generation of crime writers who shifted the genre firmly into the contemporary world. Although she held fast to the traditional skill of well-crafted plots, she brought a modern perspective to characters and situations, creating a series of thoughtful and engaging police procedurals' - Val McDermid

It's Christmas at the theatre – and murder is afoot. Scene of Crime is a festive whodunnit from Jill McGown, author of Murder at the Old Vicarage.It's the season to murder . . .It's three days before Christmas and the Malworth Amateur Dramatic Society's rehearsals of Cinderella, scripted by local GP Carl Bignall, are struggling thanks to a flu epidemic.But, as rehearsals finally get under way at the Riverside Theatre, the police across town enter Carl's house - and discover the body of his wife, Estelle . . .Why was Carl so late for rehearsal? Why is the Bignalls' neighbour so reluctant to tell the truth about what he witnessed? And why is Dr Denis Leeward, Carl's partner, sitting in his car, slightly bruised and in a state of guilty panic?All Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd knows for sure, as he takes charge of the investigation, is that one of them is a murderer . . .'One of the generation of crime writers who shifted the genre firmly into the contemporary world. Although she held fast to the traditional skill of well-crafted plots, she brought a modern perspective to characters and situations, creating a series of thoughtful and engaging police procedurals' - Val McDermid

THE FIRST LLOYD AND HILL NOVELThe news rocked the town. A woman's body found in a boathouse. And the woman's last known companion Missing Presumed Fled. To the people of Stansfield it's an open and shut case._________________________________________But Detective Inspector Lloyd - teamed up once more with Sergeant Judy Hill - isn't so quick to jump to conclusions. To begin with he's certain of only two things. First, that nothing can stop the reawakening of his tender feelings towards his colleague.And second: in a murder enquiry you don't rule out . . .'An impressive first novel: the plot is tidily constructed, and the author handles a multiple point-of-view narration with considerable ease and aplomb.' - T J Binyon, Times Literary Supplement

THE FIRST LLOYD AND HILL NOVELThe news rocked the town. A woman's body found in a boathouse. And the woman's last known companion Missing Presumed Fled. To the people of Stansfield it's an open and shut case._________________________________________But Detective Inspector Lloyd - teamed up once more with Sergeant Judy Hill - isn't so quick to jump to conclusions. To begin with he's certain of only two things. First, that nothing can stop the reawakening of his tender feelings towards his colleague.And second: in a murder enquiry you don't rule out . . .'An impressive first novel: the plot is tidily constructed, and the author handles a multiple point-of-view narration with considerable ease and aplomb.' - T J Binyon, Times Literary Supplement

A white Christmas. Deepening snow isolated the village from the outside world. By the time the body in the vicarage was discovered, Byford was cut off altogether . . .A domestic murder - Chief Inspector Lloyd thought it would be an open and shut case. But it turned out to be as complex and perplexing as his relationship with Sergeant Judy Hill.And both of them seemed to be slipping from his grasp . . .

The murder of a deputy headmaster's wife on the night of the Sesquicentennial Ball at a minor-league boys' public school brings together the team of Inspector Lloyd and Judy Hill. Diana Hamlyn's body has been found on the school's playing field. Death had been caused by the traditional blunt instrument, her clothing was disarrayed, her underclothes missing. It was a particularly disturbing killing.As Lloyd and Hill begin the harrowing routine of a murder investigation they rapidly learn that the woman had been a nymphomaniac - her conquests many, her fidelities few, the list of suspects for her killing appallingly long. That list includes her husband, her lovers and her colleagues, none with perfect alibis, some ostentatiously lying.It is an old-fashioned puzzle peopled with very contemporary characters. Once again Jill McGown presents a true novel of detection.

The murder of a deputy headmaster's wife on the night of the Sesquicentennial Ball at a minor-league boys' public school brings together the team of Inspector Lloyd and Judy Hill. Diana Hamlyn's body has been found on the school's playing field. Death had been caused by the traditional blunt instrument, her clothing was disarrayed, her underclothes missing. It was a particularly disturbing killing.As Lloyd and Hill begin the harrowing routine of a murder investigation they rapidly learn that the woman had been a nymphomaniac - her conquests many, her fidelities few, the list of suspects for her killing appallingly long. That list includes her husband, her lovers and her colleagues, none with perfect alibis, some ostentatiously lying.It is an old-fashioned puzzle peopled with very contemporary characters. Once again Jill McGown presents a true novel of detection.

Which is the odd one out:An ex-call girl wife of a wealthy crook, who has kept one step ahead of the law, a struggling artist married to Stansfield's prospective Conservative party candidate, or the telephone line which links them?Answer: the telephone line. It isn't dead.A double murder investigation brings Chief Inspector Lloyd and the newly promoted Inspector Judy Hill together again as colleagues. But the case is a severe test of both Judy's professionalism and Lloyd's ego, and soon threatens their more private relationship . . .

Which is the odd one out:An ex-call girl wife of a wealthy crook, who has kept one step ahead of the law, a struggling artist married to Stansfield's prospective Conservative party candidate, or the telephone line which links them?Answer: the telephone line. It isn't dead.A double murder investigation brings Chief Inspector Lloyd and the newly promoted Inspector Judy Hill together again as colleagues. But the case is a severe test of both Judy's professionalism and Lloyd's ego, and soon threatens their more private relationship . . .

When the celebrity football match was abandoned just before half-time, Bartonshire police had no way of knowing that the swirling, choking fog had concealed much, much more than the striker's fancy footwork.But by the end of the evening Chief Inspector Lloyd and Inspector Judy Hill were looking for a rapist - and a killer.And, somewhere in Stansfield, Melissa Whitworth was just beginning to discover the truth about her husband . . .

When the celebrity football match was abandoned just before half-time, Bartonshire police had no way of knowing that the swirling, choking fog had concealed much, much more than the striker's fancy footwork.But by the end of the evening Chief Inspector Lloyd and Inspector Judy Hill were looking for a rapist - and a killer.And, somewhere in Stansfield, Melissa Whitworth was just beginning to discover the truth about her husband . . .

Victor Holyoak made his millions by selling state-of-the-art security systems. In the end, even the most sophisticated devices were no protection against the intruder who murdered him in his own factory.The millionnaire's death shocked the townsfolk of Stansfield. But was there something they didn't know about their deceased benefactor?Chief Inspector Lloyd was convinced he had seen Victor somewhere before. Was his memory playing tricks again? Or did the murky past hold the clues to a murder that seemed to come under the heading of unfinished business?

Victor Holyoak made his millions by selling state-of-the-art security systems. In the end, even the most sophisticated devices were no protection against the intruder who murdered him in his own factory.The millionnaire's death shocked the townsfolk of Stansfield. But was there something they didn't know about their deceased benefactor?Chief Inspector Lloyd was convinced he had seen Victor somewhere before. Was his memory playing tricks again? Or did the murky past hold the clues to a murder that seemed to come under the heading of unfinished business?

The first three books in Jill McGown's classic crime series, featuring Detective Inspector Lloyd and Sergeant Judy HillA Perfect Match The news that a woman's body has been found in a boathouse rocks the town of Stansfield. The case appears simple: her last known companion, and the prime suspect, is currently missing, presumed fled. But Detective Inspector Lloyd, teamed up with former colleague Sergeant Judy Hill, isn't so quick to jump to conclusions . . . in a murder inquiry, you can't rule anyone out.Redemption: Deepening snow slowly isolates the village of Byford from the outside world, but the calm of the festive period is destroyed by what appears to be a domestic murder at the vicarage. As Lloyd struggles to keep control of his relationship with Hill, he finds more than he bargained for in this complex and perplexing mystery.Death of a Dancer: Lloyd and Hill find themselves caught up once again in a harrowing murder investigation. The victim is the wife of a deputy headmaster of a boys' public school, but they rapidly discover that she was not the upstanding teacher's wife that appearances suggest. As the mystery thickens, the list of suspects for her murder grows appallingly long . . .

"She had been in school uniform the first and last time Judy had seen her alive, and she had wondered what it would be like to be her mother. Now, she thanked God she wasn't."Detective Inspector Judy Hill had seen the girl that evening, talking and laughing with friends on the bus home. Now she lay dead in the glaring arc-light of a scene-of-crime investigation; beaten, strangled, and possibly raped.Oakland School is Stansfield come sunder a no less glaring spotlight as Judy and Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd begin their investigation into the murder of Natalia Ouspensky, aged fifteen, on a piece of open parkland in the centre of town.It is an enquiry which will uncover the secrets of staff and pupil alike, not least Natalia herself; and enquiry which will produce suspects and motives but to no witnesses; an enquiry which will deeply affect the lives of the innocent, but might well fail to convict the guilty.An enquiry, it seems, which is not going to yield a single shred of evidence . . .

"He'd waited for her outside her flat that night, but Lloyd had come home with her, and he'd had to let it go. But he'd get her. One day. He'd get her."Four young women. Four horrific rapes. Committed by a man who called himself the 'Stealth Bomber'.Colin Arthur Drummond - a privileged young man from Malworth - now stands accused of these crimes. And, watching his trial from the public gallery, Detective Inspector Judy Hill cannot forget his chilling description of a fifth unreported rape.Or his threat that she was to be his sixth.In court Drummond denies all charges, his lawyer 'Hotshot' Harper claiming police corruption and brutality. But the prosecution has an open-and-shut case; he had been caught in the act by two independent witnesses, and they have a DNA profile which proves he is the rapist. What could go wrong?Something does. For sixteen months later, Colin Drummond is threatening Judy again. And as Judy sets out to prove his guilt for the second time - and save her own job - Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd is called to a horrifying scene. It appears Colin Drummond has picked his next victim . . .

"He'd waited for her outside her flat that night, but Lloyd had come home with her, and he'd had to let it go. But he'd get her. One day. He'd get her."Four young women. Four horrific rapes. Committed by a man who called himself the 'Stealth Bomber'.Colin Arthur Drummond - a privileged young man from Malworth - now stands accused of these crimes. And, watching his trial from the public gallery, Detective Inspector Judy Hill cannot forget his chilling description of a fifth unreported rape.Or his threat that she was to be his sixth.In court Drummond denies all charges, his lawyer 'Hotshot' Harper claiming police corruption and brutality. But the prosecution has an open-and-shut case; he had been caught in the act by two independent witnesses, and they have a DNA profile which proves he is the rapist. What could go wrong?Something does. For sixteen months later, Colin Drummond is threatening Judy again. And as Judy sets out to prove his guilt for the second time - and save her own job - Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd is called to a horrifying scene. It appears Colin Drummond has picked his next victim . . .

More than half of Bartonshire, it seemed, had entertained murderous thoughts at some time or another about bullying farmer Bernard Bailey. Which might have explained why his property was protected by more security devices and surveillance cameras than Fort Knox.All, sadly, to no avail.After six months of highly publicised death threats, linked to a stubborn refusal to sell land for a new road, Bernard's bloodied corpse is discovered in his isolated farmhouse by his wife Rachel. A gruesome beginning to the working week which launches DCI Lloyd and DI Judy Hill into the most unusual murder enquiry of their careers.For as the initial evidence is sifted, the question for once isn't 'Who stood to gain from the death?' but 'Why didn't they do it sooner?'With the ever-present eye of the camera recording events, Lloyd and Hill have more evidence than they ever thought possible. But is it enough to stop a killer walking free . . . ?

More than half of Bartonshire, it seemed, had entertained murderous thoughts at some time or another about bullying farmer Bernard Bailey. Which might have explained why his property was protected by more security devices and surveillance cameras than Fort Knox.All, sadly, to no avail.After six months of highly publicised death threats, linked to a stubborn refusal to sell land for a new road, Bernard's bloodied corpse is discovered in his isolated farmhouse by his wife Rachel. A gruesome beginning to the working week which launches DCI Lloyd and DI Judy Hill into the most unusual murder enquiry of their careers.For as the initial evidence is sifted, the question for once isn't 'Who stood to gain from the death?' but 'Why didn't they do it sooner?'With the ever-present eye of the camera recording events, Lloyd and Hill have more evidence than they ever thought possible. But is it enough to stop a killer walking free . . . ?

'I shot someone dead.' He watched for her reaction, and there was more than just surprise in those dark blue eyes; there was something very like respect. 'I got out just over eight years ago.' 'What was it like?''Prison?'She shook her head, smiling slightly. 'Killing someone,' she said.Andrew and Kathy Cope, the proprietors of a debt-ridden detective agency on the verge of losing their home, are found dead in their fume-filled car. Few doubt that it was suicide.But Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd does. He knew Kathy, and doesn't believe she was a quitter. And why, he asks DI Judy Hill, were groceries put away on the wrong shelves? Why is Andy Cope's wheelchair still in the boot? Even Kathy's last case is a puzzle. Why, of all the detectives she might have employed, did a member of the super-wealthy Esterbrook family choose to hire the Copes?That night, the murder of matriarch Angela Esterbrook appears to vindicate Lloyd's doubts, but even he doesn't realize that the Copes' apparent suicide is just the curtain-raiser on a tragedy of almost Shakespearean proportions . . .

'I shot someone dead.' He watched for her reaction, and there was more than just surprise in those dark blue eyes; there was something very like respect. 'I got out just over eight years ago.' 'What was it like?''Prison?'She shook her head, smiling slightly. 'Killing someone,' she said.Andrew and Kathy Cope, the proprietors of a debt-ridden detective agency on the verge of losing their home, are found dead in their fume-filled car. Few doubt that it was suicide.But Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd does. He knew Kathy, and doesn't believe she was a quitter. And why, he asks DI Judy Hill, were groceries put away on the wrong shelves? Why is Andy Cope's wheelchair still in the boot? Even Kathy's last case is a puzzle. Why, of all the detectives she might have employed, did a member of the super-wealthy Esterbrook family choose to hire the Copes?That night, the murder of matriarch Angela Esterbrook appears to vindicate Lloyd's doubts, but even he doesn't realize that the Copes' apparent suicide is just the curtain-raiser on a tragedy of almost Shakespearean proportions . . .

It's three days before Christmas, and the Malworth Amateur Dramatic Society's rehearsal of Cinderella, scripted by GP Carl Bignall, is struggling thanks to a flu epidemic that has hit the production.But as rehearsals finally get under way at the Riverside Theatre, the police across town are entering Carl's house - and discovering the body of his wife, Estelle . . .Why was Carl so late for rehearsal? Why is Dr Bignall's neighbour so reluctant to tell the truth about what he witnessed? And why is Dr Denis Leeward, Carl's partner, sitting in his car, slightly bruised and in a state of guilty panic?All Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd knows for sure, as he takes charge of the investigation, is that one of them is a murderer . . .

It's three days before Christmas, and the Malworth Amateur Dramatic Society's rehearsal of Cinderella, scripted by GP Carl Bignall, is struggling thanks to a flu epidemic that has hit the production.But as rehearsals finally get under way at the Riverside Theatre, the police across town are entering Carl's house - and discovering the body of his wife, Estelle . . .Why was Carl so late for rehearsal? Why is Dr Bignall's neighbour so reluctant to tell the truth about what he witnessed? And why is Dr Denis Leeward, Carl's partner, sitting in his car, slightly bruised and in a state of guilty panic?All Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd knows for sure, as he takes charge of the investigation, is that one of them is a murderer . . .