Date with Mystery * Julia Chapman * Dales Detective #3

The Chilling, High-Stakes Yorkshire Mystery of Hidden Greed and Local Betrayals. A routine commercial transaction under the crisp autumn skies of a quiet Yorkshire dales village violently derails into an agonizing psychological trap. For former police detective Samson O'Brien and his brilliant, independent partner Delilah Metcalfe - the co-owners of the cash-strapped Dales Detective Agency - life in their tight-knit rural community is disrupted by a high-stakes local crisis. The trouble ignites when a prominent, wealthy local farmer dies under highly unusual circumstances, immediately followed by a wave of aggressive, secretive land grabs executed by an elite, shadowy corporate development network.

Plunging headfirst into an independent, parallel tracking operation to protect their close neighbors, Samson and Delilah map out a treacherous landscape of hidden family histories, financial extortion, and ancient grudges. As the local police bureau writes the tragedy off as a straightforward accidental death, the duo uncovers an unpredictable web of greedy family members, small-time scams, and a highly suspicious paper trail designed to cheat honest villagers out of their ancestral properties. Fusing rapid-fire witty banter with short, suspenseful chapters and rich psychological depth, this third entry in the acclaimed Dales Detective series chronicles a heart-pounding race to expose a brilliant mastermind before a desperate criminal executes a final, permanent blow to the valley. 

Published in 2018 by Pan Books / Pan Macmillan