An Embarrassment of Corpses by Alan Beechey - When children's book author Oliver Swithin, reluctant creator of the notorious "Finsbury the Ferret," finds an old friend's body floating in a Trafalgar Square fountain, he can't convince the police to treat the death as a murder. But when more corpses turn up daily it seems that there is a serial killer about using astrology to find his victims. But is it as basic as it seems? Only Oliver'S uncle, Detective Superintendent Tim Mallard sees the true pattern.

An excellent mystery. Unfortunately the copy I read was misbound with the pages out of order so I was constantly having to see what page I was on. Luckily it was only the last quarter of the book. I really enjoyed the characters and the mystery as it had me stumped. I will defintely read more of this series.

Bk 2: Murdering Ministers brings back our favorite children's author Oliver Swithin, his uncle Mallard and his now girlfriend Detective Sergeant Effie Strongitharm now at Christmas time. Oliver is interviewing a childhood friend who is now a minister for local church. Effie tries to find a runaway teenager and winds up as an eyewitness to Murder in the Church. Is there a connection? And will finding it reveal who stuck strychnine in the sacraments? Hysterical to the end and again not obvious who dun it! I can't wait to read another in the fun series.

Beechey's website is fun to read to learn more about his books and characters.