Showing titles in Small Town & Rural

Bella is living her best life in Wynbridge, with her beloved Spaniel, Tink. She’s found a way to keep the house she inherited from her grandparents while expanding her dream business – Away With the Fairies – and she’s ecstatic that Christmas is on the horizon! In fact, everything is...

Shame and longing can flow through generations, but the secrets of the heart will not be buried for ever. It is 1987 and a small Irish community is preparing for a wedding. The day before the ceremony a group of young friends, including bride and groom, drive out to the beach. There is an...

London, 1875. Taking one last look around her little room in Covent Garden, Nettie Carroll couldn’t believe she wouldn’t even be able to say good-bye to her friends. Her father had trusted the wrong man, and now they would have to go on the run. Once again.

'A wonderfully satisfying read: love, passion, drama, violence, menace and peril, and characters you fall in love with' – Santa Montefiore An Island full of secrets . . . Summer, 1929. Mhairi MacKinnon is in need of a husband. As the eldest girl among nine children, her father has made it...

When sisters Addie and Susanna receive invitations to a memorial for their Aunt Gayle, they're heartbroken to learn the woman who raised them has passed away. But arriving on Anchor Island, they're met with the shock of their lives: Gayle is alive and well, busily preparing her own 'Celebration of Life' at her beloved pudding bar, The Sweet Life Café. Agreeing to stay for the event, the sisters begin sorting through their late father's belongings, reopening wounds they thought long buried, and forcing them to reflect on their lives since leaving the island.

Morgan tries to steady her trembling hands as she enters the abandoned tent in the shadow of the mountains. The woman once lay peacefully watching the stars in the glistening night sky. But she has been dead for some time… When a farmer reports an abandoned campsite in Rydal Falls, Detective Morgan Brookes hopes its occupants are just out enjoying the beautiful views nearby. But nothing can prepare her for the smell of death in the air, or what she finds as she crawls inside the wind-ravaged tent.

A woman's death sees rumours flood the island community – as Inspector Jimmy Perez's life is about to change forever. Wild Fire is the eighth Shetland mystery from Ann Cleeves. A new English family have moved to Shetland, eager to give their autistic son a better life. But when a young...

It was always Samantha's dream to run her beautiful rescue centre, Hedgehog Hollow, full-time. But just as her wish comes true, she becomes a victim of her own kindness when she finds herself with a house full of guests - all with their own problems and secrets - looking to her for support. When her self-absorbed cousin, Chloe, unexpectedly turns up at the farm - swiftly handing over her baby to Samantha to care for - trouble is definitely brewing. Especially as Chloe won’t tell anyone why she’s left her husband, James.

Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life, but she’s having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother, who she’s genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer. She hopes that her old friend, disgraced-journalist-turned-novelist Phoebe Fredericks can help her crack the case of whether her mother’s perma-tanned, iceberg-smiled, three-times-a-widower fiancé is hiding a murderous past.

The Sunday Times Bestseller ‘Lovely, lovely, lovely… Sue Townsend meets Kate Atkinson meets Nina Stibbe’ MARIAN KEYES ‘Powerful and profound’ Guardian ‘Another sure-fire hit’ Daily Mail ‘Funny, melancholy, acutely observant’ Sunday Express ‘Cannon is so attuned to other...

Moving to the little village of Budbury, Zoe hopes the crisp Dorset sea breeze and gentle pace of life will be a fresh start for her and her goddaughter, Martha. Luckily for them both, the friendly community at the café provide listening ears, sage advice, shoulders to cry on and some truly excellent carrot cake. And when Martha's enigmatic, absent father suddenly turns up, confusing not only Martha but Zoe too, the love and support of their newfound friends is the best present they could ask for. Have Zoe and Martha truly found their home at the Comfort Food Café?

Everyone loves Summer Ryan. A model student and musical prodigy, she's a ray of light in the struggling small town of Grace, Alabama - especially compared to her troubled sister, Raine. Then Summer vanishes. Raine throws herself into the investigation, aided by a most unlikely ally, but the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous her search becomes. And perhaps there was always more to Summer than met the eye . . .

Lucy Andersson-Spring's twenty-ninth birthday comes with a side helping of a quarter-life crisis. She loves her community, her sewing shop, and her secret social media account featuring Starlight Grove's cat mayor, but maybe she needs to be more ambitious, more self-sufficient. At least, that's what the alphas she dated last year kept saying... before they cheated on her.

A Netflix original series! Read the book that started it all! ‘Carr has hit her stride with this captivating series.’ Library Journal on the Virgin River series ‘The Virgin River books are so compelling – I connected instantly with the characters and just wanted more and more and more...

The top 10 Sunday Times bestseller NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES starring Samantha Bond, Jo Martin, and Cara Horgan. Season 3 coming in 2026! ‘I love the audacity of the Marlow gang, those ladies sure know how to live’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Fiendishly clever and a satisfying puzzle to try...

Ava Bedford's quiet existence in Nevada shatters when she becomes the sole witness to a brutal murder linked to rising political star Congressman Richard Callahan. Forced into witness protection, Ava is relocated to Cedar Falls, a rugged Wyoming town nestled in the shadow of towering mountains. But even in this peaceful haven, danger lurks—and it's never far behind.

Brought to you by Penguin. Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village in North Yorkshire, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son Nathan and ageing Labrador Dido, both at the discretion of his former partner Julia. It's a picturesque setting, but there's something...

'Oozing with mystery, style and unforgettable characters – I'm transported into a world of delightful intrigue and murderous mystery, and all home in time for tea. Absolutely fantastic.' Jonathan Whitelaw, author of The Bingo Hall Detectives The perfect Cornish cozy mystery for fans of Richard...

Brought to you by Penguin. The girl in the lake was never supposed to be found. When her body surfaces in the frozen waters of Cayuga Lake, a note left on the body turns Brendan Holmes from private investigator to prime suspect. With his name on the line and a deadly adversary closing in, Holmes...

Brought to you by Penguin. *LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025* *WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARDS FICTION AWARD 2025* *WINNER OF THE WINSTON GRAHAM HISTORICAL PRIZE 2026* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2026* Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in...