Meet Polly Hope: art expert, reluctant dog lover and… amateur detective?

London, 1941. Polly Hope is bravely working as an air raid warden during the Blitz when she saves the life of the charming Freddie Fairbank. Over a thank-you breakfast at the Ritz, he asks Polly to help requisition a sprawling English country house for the war effort.

Petherbridge Hall has grand rooms, lovely views and will be a perfect nursing home for injured troops, if they can only persuade the family to give up their house. But then they find the lord of the manor dead behind the gardener’s shed. With the local police too busy to investigate, Polly and Freddie realise they need to find the culprit, and fast. At least Toby the terrier seems happy to help.

With more suspects than you can shake a ration book at, our intrepid duo are on the hunt for the killer. But when Polly follows a clue down to the cellars, a secret door opens with a bang and her torch goes out… Really, in wartime Britain, couldn’t murderers at least wait until after tea?

Perfect for fans of cosy mysteries and anyone who likes their sleuths witty, their houses stately, and their wartimes adventures served with a dash of danger!

Friday Turner grew up in a small village in northern Lancashire, and was educated at Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School and the University of Durham. She also studied at the London College of Printing, and worked at the Westerham Press, Faber & Faber, and Eel Pie Publishing.

As Heather Cooper, she writes historical novels. Stealing Roses was published in 2019 by Allison and Busby. Stealing Roses and its sequel, A Shape in the Moonlight, have also been published in Germany by Goldmann. Arresting Beauty was published in 2023 by Beachy Books. She contributed to A Love Letter to Europe, published in 2019 by Coronet.

Friday now lives on the Isle of Wight. She is fond of sea swimming (summer months only) and makes really good marmalade.

Her website is at www.heathercooperauthor.co.uk and you can follow her on Instagram at @friday_turner_