Rosa Epton – serie

A very complex mystery develops in London's clubland and among the legal grandees who frequent the Old Bailey and the Inns of Court. For the Blackstone Club, with its fine collection of snuff boxes, is a legal preserve. And when the entire valuable collection is stolen, one young club servant knows exactly how it was done. But when a vicious murder follows, and suspicion falls upon him, he is unable to extricate himself from his predicament by telling the truth ...

Not much was known about Arthur Kedby in the West End Club that he frequented. 'He doesn't look much like a secret agent,' remarked one member, but in general that was what he was believed to be. But Kedby is a blackmailer, and not even a very successful one; his great success lies in the fact that he has never been caught.Then he recognises the face of a club guest - a face he has seen before. And all at once Kedby has an opportunity to practise his skills at a level that might just furnish him with a pension ...

On New Year's Eve, solicitor Rosa Epton spends a pleasant evening talking to a man who seems to be finding the date he has brought with him less than satisfactory company. The next morning she receives a call from the police. Toby Nash has been charged with raping the woman with whom he attended the party, and has asked for Rosa.Unfortunately for Nash and Rosa, the detective inspector in charge of the case is determined to get a conviction by any means.

In the fourth Rosa Epton mystery, Underwood's protagonist, whom Mystery Magazine declared 'one of mystery fiction's most talented attorneys', is called upon to defend the scapegrace younger brother of an acquaintance.Then the acquaintance himself is murdered, his skull crushed with a statuette of the Indian goddess Lakshmi, and Rosa must divide her time between manipulating a magistrate smitten with her charms and divining the culprit's identity.

A prominent judge is murdered on the opening day of the new Runnymede Crown Court, and Rosa Epton become doubly involved, both as a witness to the murder and the solicitor in a drugs trial over which Judge Ambrose was to have presided.His replacement, Judge Holtby, seems unduly upset by the death of his colleague - and then two more deaths occur. But was Judge Ambrose the real target in the first place? And what involvement does Rosa's client in the drugs case have in the whole business?Eventually Rosa is able to deduce the likely sequence of events, but there is still a final secret to be revealed ...

It is extremely bad luck for Sarah Atkins that she is very slightly over the limit when she knocks down and kills a man in a patch of fog. It is even worse luck that the man is Jonathan Cool, a well-known pop star.There are three witnesses: Cool's girlfriend, Sarah's husband and Sarah, whose fate will turn on their testimony. But as the evidence unfolds, it begins to appear that this may not have been a run-of-the-mill accident, and it is down to her solicitor, Rosa Epton, to unravel the truth.

Her Honour Judge Celia Kilby does not suffer fools gladly. Criminals, counsel and clerks all feel the lash of her tongue, and all know her bark is as vicious as her bite. So when she receives an anonymous letter threatening her life, no one is particularly surprised.But the police investigation fails to substantiate the threat; and then Judge Kilby is found murdered in her own garden and surprising aspects of her private life come to light, including an illegitimate son.Suspects and motives abound, but means and opportunity remains elusive - until Rosa Epton accepts a client who confesses to being the anonymous letter writer. But is her client the killer?

When schoolboy Jason Cutler is killed late one night in a hit-and-run, the police are puzzled by the presence of a letter in his locker, to which is attached a five-pound note. They are unable to identify its author, nor can they ascertain why the boy was out so late at night.Solicitor Rosa Epton has followed the case with interest, but when a client she has recently defended on a drugs charge turns up dead in the grounds of the school, her involvement becomes professional. It seems unlikely that the two cases are connected, but why does Jason's brother deny having seen him in the days leading up to his death? And who was the girl seated opposite Rosa on the train and behaving erratically on the day news of the accident came out?