[Professor Laura Morland Mystery 02] • Wading Into Murder

The irrepressible Laura Morland, Professor of Gender Studies, is back again! In WADING INTO MURDER (formerly titled Babes in the Baths), Laura walks - or more accurately falls - down a wall and swims across a rat-infested pool to rescue a baby in the famous Roman Baths of England. Attempts on her life and near-escapes come thick and fast after that. Laura is pushed down a circular stone stairwell, stalked at night by a sadist through a safari park full of wild animals, locked in the cellar of an ancient church and chased through cobbled streets on a stolen (and very wobbly) bicycle by a mob of angry drinkers.

Laura is ably assisted in her efforts to unearth the villain(s) who are attacking her by another eccentric cast of characters - the indomitable Lady Longtree, whose large umbrella plays a central role, her talented grandson who makes mystery-solving graphs, and a six foot tall redhead improbably named Violet. But are these friends really on Laura's side? Violet could be a man, and the aristocratic Lady has her own suspicious agenda. And who among the members of the bus tour Laura has joined is also a member of the criminal gang? One or more of them must be - that fact soon becomes clear.

When an innocent member of the tour group is murdered, Laura becomes even more determined to solve the mystery. The international baby-stealing gang she's tangling with is deadly and sophisticated - and intent on eliminating her - but to Laura, the fact that the children who are disappearing seem destined for the slave trade is more compelling. This is an issue she knows all about, for she plans to lecture on that very subject in Oxford later in the summer.

Laura must summon all her imaginative powers and more courage than she knew she possessed to solve the mystery of WADING INTO MURDER. But neither she nor anyone else knows the identity of the master criminal until the very end. A trap is set, the lure baited, a meeting called. The tension in the room rises to unbearable heights. Then, in a wrenchingly dramatic scene that culminates in a totally unexpected accusation, the killer is exposed.

The action in WADING INTO MURDER takes place in some of England's most famous and atmospheric sites: the city of Bath, with its ancient Roman Baths, Stourhead Gardens, Longleat House and Safari Park,and the magnificent cathedral in Wells.