Books by Pauline Manders

Book 4 in the Utterly Crime Series. Sleepy Mid Suffolk (UK) wakes up to the news that a man has been found hanging in a reclamation yard near Bury St Edmunds. Within days, a bronze statue is stolen and a broken automaton with a singing bird mechanism arouses suspicion.Can there be a connection? It becomes increasingly clear that these is, as the action quickly spreads from Thorpe Morieux through to Lavenham and Woodbridge. Chrissie, Nick and Matt, friends since a carpentry course at Stowmarket''s Utterly Academy, find themselves caught up with a network dealing in stolen metal and scrap.Add in a darkly brooding young man, a rundown pizza delivery service, a spooky remote car wrecking yard and you have another witty and fast paced narrative from Pauline Manders. Her quirky main characters previously encountered in Utterly Explosive, Utterly Fuelled and Utterly Rafted, fly by the seat of their pants through a plot filled with twists, deceit and bluff as the stakes are raised for DI Clive Merry.

This is the first book in the Utterly Crime Series. It is the summer of 2010. Imagine how surprised three regular carpentry apprentices are to find themselves embroiled in home grown terrorist activities in the tranquil Suffolk countryside. Up to the point where the story begins, their lives have revolved around real ale, quirky T-shirts and cranky classic cars. Unwittingly they are drawn into a web of subversive events which centre around the Wattisham Airbase.The plot unfolds as seen through the eyes of: Chrissie, feisty and with something to prove; Nick a talented apprentice with a tough exterior and an overly sensitive side; and Matt... well sometimes the less said about Matt the better. All three had first met on a carpentry course at Stowmarket's Utterly Academy. D.I. Clive Merry makes his first appearance towards the end of the book.In this lively first crime novel, Pauline Manders has woven themes of friendship; loyalty and eccentricity against a backdrop of rolling wheat fields, Norman church towers and fertile fruit farms. The action moves from Bury st Edmunds to Wattisham; Woolpit to Stowmarket and Needham Market.

It is August 2013 and Chrissie Jax and D.I. Clive Merry return to Suffolk from a short break in Amsterdam. Within a week, two bodies are delivered to the morgue and the international spotlight is on Clive and his investigation. Tension mounts as a tangled web of: car paint re-spraying; a catering outfit; pike fishing, and chocolate draws in long term friends Matt and Nick. Chrissie becomes part of the investigation in a way no one could have predicted.The action moves from Alton Water to Ipswich; Bury St Edmunds to Felixstowe; Hadleigh to Woolpit and Woodbridge. This is the eighth novel in the Utterly Crime series. It stands alone, but we see the return of many characters met before.