Foxglove Summer

This series continues to go from strength to strength with this story that's set entirely outside of London. In fact, it's set in rural Herefordshire, which is about as non-urban a place as you can find in southern England giving it a very different feel from the other books. Despite which, the strength of the characters and the police procedural elements also keep it feeling similar in all the ways that matter. The core of it is a mystery concerning the apparent abduction of two young girls and this is built up very well, with the shades that it has of real-world cases that make you wonder how bad it's going to get and just what is going on with the supernatural elements.

The world is expanded again, with us learning more of how it operates as well as the simple extension of the physical setting to pastures new. Only Peter and Beverley actually feature in it directly, with all the other characters being either new or only spoken to at the end of a telephone line... and yet you hardly notice. The longer plot arc also continues in the background, not forgotten but taking more of a back seat to the engaging central story.