St Martin’s Summer

Mystery romance set in a country village among church bell-ringers.

“Joanna Trollope meets Miss Marple.”

“ Nobody … is quite what they seem”

The Story

Clive’s decision to send his eight-year-old son Robert away to boarding school threatens the end of the idyllic relationship enjoyed by Robert and his mother Rose. It also precipitates a crisis in Clive’s marriage. In business and at home he has had his own way for far too long. It is time for the worm to turn, and who better to comfort Rose than her bell-ringer colleague Simon, whom she has always found attractive? 

Meanwhile, the peaceful village of St Martin on the Hill is about to suffer its own crisis. Young Robert goes missing, and when an unpopular farmer is found dead in mysterious circumstances, Reverend Jeremy Swanson, the local rector, finds himself involved in the police investigation. But which of his parishioners can he possibly suspect of involvement in either kidnapping or murder?

“Joanna Trollope meets Miss Marple in this not-so-simple tale of country folk which cleverly interweaves romance and mystery.  Don’t be deceived by the gentle start; this story quickly gathers pace and both themes end with conclusions which are as unexpected as they are consistent with the developing characters of the lead protagonists.”

“Anstey certainly knows how to explore the inner life, its blockages, its suppression and how it can blossom in difficult circumstances that blow away the façades.”

“The reader is treated to page-turning narratives that weave between the protagonists and the dilemmas they face.Nobody, it transpires, is quite what they seemed at the outset and yet there remains a consistency about them which runs true to type in the end.”

Please contact me via info@janeanstey.co.uk or fill in the contact form. You can also order from LoeBooks at www.loebooks.co.uk, and they have credit card facilities. The book is available in paperback or as a Kindle edition from Amazon.