High Island Blues

Book excerpt: Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again High Island Blues is the eighth and final mystery novel featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series. Swarms of migrating birds fall from the sky seeking shelter as the spring storms begin, but the birders are distracted by a far more shocking sight: Mick Brownscombe's dead body . . . Old college friends Rob, Oliver and Mick reunite on a birdwatching tour to America. It is the first time in twenty years the three have been together - since the fateful holiday to America during which they met the enigmatic Laurie . . . The tour party is hoping for spectacular sights at High Island on the Upper Texas coast, but as the rain pours down and the birds descend, Mick is discovered dead. Back in Britain, PIs George and Molly Palmer-Jones are working on a minor fraud case with the name of Brownscombe Associates attached. So when George receives a desperate transatlantic call from his friend Rob, he is on the first plane to Texas. His investigations make little progress - until the second body is found . . .