Wake the Dead

Dorothy Simpson

Jul 2017 · The Inspector Thanet Mysteries Book 11 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

A quaint English village’s summer gala is interrupted by murder in this award-winning mystery series starring the mild-mannered Detective Inspector Thanet.

The Thaxden Fête is one of the highlights of the Sturrenden social calendar, and this year it promises to be better than ever. Local celebrities have descended on Thaxden Hall to raise money for the town hospice. The food is exquisite, the music lovely, and the company divine. Det. Inspector Luke Thanet and his wife are having a wonderful time at the party—until murder intervenes.
 
The victim is the mother of Hugo Fairleigh, local member of Parliament and organizer of the fête. An elderly woman who suffered a stroke just a few days before, she’s an unlikely target for a killer, yet someone saw fit to hold a pillow over her face until she breathed no more. Suspecting the killer came from Fairleigh’s own circles, Thanet begins investigating the MP’s family, certain of only one thing: This party is over.
 
Written by the CWA Silver Dagger–winning Dorothy Simpson, Wake the Dead is a perfect English mystery novel: at once tightly plotted, understated, and utterly shocking.
 
Wake the Dead is the 11th book in the Inspector Thanet Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
 

About the author

Dorothy Simpson (b. 1933) was born and raised in South Wales, and went to Bristol University, where she studied modern languages before moving to Kent, the setting for her Inspector Thanet Mysteries. After spending several years at home with her three children, she trained as a marriage guidance counselor and subsequently worked as one for thirteen years before writing her first novel. Says Simpson, “You may think that marriage guidance counselor to crime writer is rather a peculiar career move, but although I didn’t realize it at the time, of course, the training I received was the best possible preparation for writing detective novels. Murder mysteries are all about relationships which go disastrously wrong, and the insights I gained into what makes people tick, into their interaction and motivations, have been absolutely invaluable to DI Thanet, my series character, as have the interviewing skills I acquired during my years of counseling.”