The April Rainers (DCI Webb Mystery Book 7)

‘A superbly crafted, riveting, page-turner of a read’ – Booklist

Death by strangulation is not a pretty sight, but then Ted Baxter, who had driven his wife to suicide, was an ugly character.

His wastebasket bulges with hate mail.

One letter — inscribed in copperplate letters with striking green ink — stands out: You have been found guilty of crimes against humanity. The death sentence will be carried out in eight days. Signed: The April Rainers.

Chief Inspector Webb of the Shillingham CID soon discerns a pattern.

Baxter was not the April Rainers’ first victim.

The two other known victims were an extortionist and a hostile-takeover artist; both had so many enemies that another threat seemed insignificant — even one inscribed in copperplate letters.

What connects the victims?

Who are the April Rainers?

Why are they warning their victims beforehand?

In his most baffling case yet, Chief Inspector Webb must find out who this group is and why its members are taking the law into their own hands …

Praise for Anthea Fraser

‘Ms Fraser is her dependable elegant, guileful self, withholding the killer's identity till a dying fall’ - Sunday Times

’A well-mannered, well-plotted and well-told story’ - Birmingham Post

‘Sympathetic, well-executed book, in which full attention is paid to human feelings and failings’ - Yorkshire Post

Anthea Fraser has written all her life but did not begin to take it seriously until after marriage, when she found herself at home with two small daughters and embarked on a correspondence course with the London School of Journalism. She wrote short stories before turning to novels of the supernatural, and then to crime. Her novels include The Seven Stars, The Ten Commandments, Death Speaks Softly and Pretty Maids All in a Row.