Fruit Cake and Fear

A storm hits Peridale with disastrous effects. Barker's cottage is destroyed, forcing him to move in with Julia — but she soon has more to worry about than his socks on the floor. The same storm uncovers a secret basement underneath her cafe, and in it the body of a teenage girl who has been missing for twenty years.

When Julia realises the girl, Astrid, was the daughter of Evelyn, the eccentric local B&B owner, she vows to piece together the events that left Astrid trapped in a basement for decades. How did she die, and more importantly, who killed her?

Julia hunts for clues in a cold case the village had almost forgotten, hoping to bring Evelyn the peace she deserves. Book eight in Agatha Frost's Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery series: a light, British-set village mystery with a cat-loving, cafe-owning amateur sleuth. No cliffhanger, no gore, no graphic scenes.