The Village Detectives

Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life, but she’s having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother, who she’s genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer. She hopes that her old friend, disgraced-journalist-turned-novelist Phoebe Fredericks can help her crack the case of whether her mother’s perma-tanned, iceberg-smiled, three-times-a-widower fiancé is hiding a murderous past.

When crime novelist Phoebe opens the post and receives an invitation to her own funeral, she’s horrified. Not least because the date of her death is marked as tomorrow. Deciding it’s nothing more than a prank from an enemy from her past, she determines to put it to the back of her mind. But the next morning, when her completely infuriating postman (who likes to think himself her no.1 literary critic) rings her doorbell, a parcel of poisoned pen-nibs explodes in his face. Forced to confront the fact her correspondence is more RIP than RSVP, Phoebe realises someone must want her dead.

Juno is feeling ready – at last – to start dating again, after losing her husband some years ago. She is sure she can make time from being a Village Detective, indeed it might help distract her from her crush on hunky (but far-too-young!) pub landlord – Mil. So she’s signed up to an exclusive new dating app and cannot wait. But when one of the founding investors in that same dating app drops dead in front of fellow Village Detective Phoebe in a nearby hotel, Juno knows she’ll have to put her love life on hold.

When handsome, former-rugby-playing, pub landlord Mil asks Juno Mulligan for a favour, she immediately says yes. Although she's initially disappointed that the favour doesn't involve any sort of romantic shenanigans, Juno is reminded that she does love investigating mysteries. Mil needs Juno and their fellow Village Detective, Phoebe Fredericks, to investigate a targeted campaign against the local Wyche Craft Brewery, now run by his friend, Ashleigh Wyche, a former-Lioness. A series of recent near-misses and attempts at sabotaging her property are surely no coincidence?