What are you supposed to do? You’re running a murder mystery weekend at your hotel and the actor playing the victim calls in sick… but there’s this rather good-looking man is standing at the end of your checking-in queue, begging for a room. Obvious, really. He can have a room if he’s prepared to be ‘dead’.

So begins ‘Acting Like a Killer’, featuring Amelia Watson, and guess what the good-looking man above’s surname is? Homes. And he’s an estate agent.

Set in Falmouth and on the south coast, this novel has a strong sense of place, characters visiting local landmarks, such as the Spinnaker Tower in Lee on Solent, which the author clearly knows well.

Patrick, who is about to be divorced, has two young daughters, and Amelia is initially anxious about how she would cope with children, especially as Amelia’s own relationship with her parents is difficult and distant…