The Midthorpes have a curious pedigree. They were originally designed as straightforward farce, the central premise being a hugely successful crime writer, Raymond Baldock, and his on/off relationship with the delectable Lisa Yeoman. Both were born and raised on the Midthorpe Estate in South Leeds, both went on to university and are successful in their chosen fields.
I was born and raised on the real council estate upon which Midthorpe is based, and it really is in so South Leeds, and it really was the pits. I don’t know if it still is, because I left Leeds forty years ago to move across the Pennines.
Halfway through the original title, Missing on Midthorpe, I realised that human alone wasn’t enough, and I turned into whodunits.
There are two titles in the series: A Case of Missing on Midthorpe and A Case of Bloodshed in Benidorm. They are heavy on humour, but the mystery is just as intricate as anything in the Sanford Mysteries.
A Case of Missing on Midthorpe
A comic mystery of unruly behaviour, nouveau riche snobbery, and third-age decadence, complete with dodgy pills and murder.
When successful and wealthy crime writer, Raymond Baldock returns to Midthorpe, the scum council estate where he was born and brought up, he is hell bent on wielding his wealth and influence over everyone for the few days that he is there.
But he has reckoned without romance in the shape of the lovely Lisa. Then there is the mystery of the wheels stolen from his car. And after his demure, divorced mother poisons her boyfriend and is arrested on a charge of attempted murder, Raymond must turn detective to unravel the mystery… and get his wheels back. Missing persons, costly thefts, fake pills, a dead body, a middle-aged mother determined to embarrass her son and flaunt her new-found zest for life and love, spell out a recipe for comic mayhem in this, the first Midthorpe Mystery.
A Case of Missing on Midthorpe is exclusive to Amazon, free to read for Prime subscribers. You can find it…
A Case of Bloodshed in Benidorm
Raymond Baldock hates Benidorm.
So why is he there? Because he has been pressured into going, and when he gets there, it lives down to his worst expectations.
His laptop is stolen, his mother is there, attending a hen weekend, and he finds her in a compromising situation. He is humiliated in a bar, then blackmailed, and as if that is not enough, he has to face the determined wrath of Lisa Yeoman, the woman he stormed away from in the spring. And this is all before the bodies begin to turn up, which leave him as one of the prime suspects in …
A Case of Bloodshed in Benidorm, another dose of comic mayhem and mystery from Midthorpe.
A Case of Bloodshed in Benidorm is exclusive to Amazon free to read for Prime subscribers. You can find it…