Murder in the Grotto (Main)

Café-owner and divorcee Cara Shelley gets caught up in a deadly ghost hunt in this warm and engaging cozy mystery set in a quirky British stately home.

Forty-something single mother Cara Shelley is very content running the Happy Huffkin café in the grounds of a quirky stately home. But her daily routine is shaken up by the arrival of a guest at Tanton Towers: the flamboyant Lady Izzy, who has plans for an extremely peculiar celebration . . . and wants Cara to cater for it.

Ten years ago, Lady Izzy's nephew, the former chair of the local ghost society, died after a ghost hunt in the Towers' spooky subterranean grotto. Now, she plans to commemorate his life - and death - with a fresh hunt in the very same place.

But the morning after the event, Cara makes a horrifying discovery in the network of caves. Unless spirits can kill, there's a murderer in their midst! Soon, the Towers is full of police, including the handsome but annoying DCI Andrew Mitchem. Can the irrepressible Cara keep her feelings in check and catch a cunning killer before she becomes the grotto's next ghost?

A contemporary Downton Abbey meets Agatha Christie - with a splash of Bridgerton! The British Stately home mysteries are gentle, very English cozy mysteries, peopled with engaging, eccentric characters and packed with red-herrings for the enjoyment of armchair sleuths everywhere.