The warden of the Plas Mawr Adventure Centre, Charles Martin, is a weak man whose unfaithful wife, Bett, has driven him to drink. Then Bett is found dead in her husband’s crashed Jaguar, at the foot of a cliff. At first, it is assumed to be an accident or suicide, but further developments show that it is a murder case. Tough, middle-aged Miss Pink, one of the Centre’s directors, proves herself to be a shrewd amateur detective. She puts two and two together and realises that the Centre is being used as a cover for something very serious.

When two climbers die mysteriously on The Old Man of Scamadale—a stack off the Scottish coast—the police, who know nothing of climbing techniques, would accept the deaths as accidents. It’s Clive and his climbing friends who convince them, from their own knowledge of the stack, that both men were murdered—and in doing so they put themselves under strong suspicion, for they alone appear to have the expertise needed to perform the killings. An ironical situation, but amateur sleuth Miss Pink handles it with her usual subtle detection.

At the little hotel in Glen Shira, in the Cuillin of Skye mountains, professional guides and dedicated climbers gather—among them Melinda Pink, J.P., an amateur detective. One of the guides, in his forties, is growing soft and careless, and moreover, he’s a womaniser. Another guide is a startlingly attractive woman, who hardly bothers to conceal her affair with her client, though his non-climbing wife is going almost insane with jealousy. The hotel owner, known derisively as ‘the Colonel’, is savagely resentful of the permissive society and the way the world is going. And the flashpoint in this situation is provided by a ravishingly pretty young girl who arrives, incongruously, in a big floppy hat, halter top, jeans and flip-flops. Miss Pink has two murders to contend with, each ingeniously camouflaged, and to reach the solution takes all of her climbing expertise and her understanding of what makes people tick.

Gwen Moffat gives her latest thriller a Lake District setting: the remote village of Sandale which, when torrential rain causes a landslide, is temporarily cut off from the rest of the world. This is the splendid background to a tale of blackmail, anonymous letters, conspiracy, a large-scale robbery, kidnapping and murder. Of course, not all these crimes are the work of the same person, and it’s Miss Moffat’s now well-known amateur detective, Miss Pink, who sorts out the puzzle—but aided this time by the enigmatic Daniel Cole, who claims to be Press but whose interest in Sandale may be more sinister. Lucy Fell’s liaison is notorious. So is Peta Mossop’s. Peta’s husband, the local inn-keeper, deals in stolen property—anything from sheep to loads of whisky. George Harper, a newcomer, is rather a mystery man, with a very beautiful daughter, Caroline. And when Peta is murdered and Caroline disappears, Miss Pink faces a problem which, even by her standards, is extremely complex. As in all Miss Moffat’s novels, the way to the solution takes in some tricky rock-climbing, as well as a sensational storm.

The delightful Miss Pink, Gwen Moffat’s amateur detective, is paying a visit to the remote village of Abersaint on the coast of West Wales... She’s there to join the birthday celebrations of her old friend Roderick Bowen: although it’s his 87th birthday, he’s still full of energy and recently emerged victorious in a battle with the atomic energy Authority, halting their plan to build a fast breeder reactor on his land. But Roderick has just had a nasty fall down the granary steps, and he believes that someone was trying to kill him. Then there’s the mysterious death in a fire of the flamboyant Sandra Maitland. Does Miss Pink have a murder to investigate?

In Snowdonia, an arrogant landlord, Richard Judson, is incensing local opinion by allowing his Alsatian guard dogs, who have been trained as killers, to run loose in a nature reserve. First Satan, a particularly vicious dog, disappears. Then Judson and his bailiff, Handel Evans, vanish too. Detectives Pryce and Williams are investigating, and Miss Pink decides it’s time she did some detective work of her own...

Miss Pink, an intrepid and unconventional murder investigator, is on her way to the remote estate of millionaire Jack Nielsen. She faces a hazardous journey alone, across the empty desert of Death Valley and through formidable mountain passes before reaching an animal sanctuary where pumas, bighorn sheep, eagles, rattlesnakes, and more are impartially protected. However, Miss Pink quickly finds that it's the people who could do with more protection... Soon she is investigating a couple of very puzzling murders - with all of Nielsen's family and staff as possible suspects. The search for the solution takes her through sandstorm and snowstorm, and up into the mountains twice in pursuit of killers. For an elderly lady who has come to the desert on account of her arthritis, she doesn't do too badly.

Miss Pink is making her way through the Rockies alone in winter, with her jeep at base camp for her mountaineering assaults on the peaks. It is tough going, not least when Miss Pink meets a grizzly bear, upright and threatening, ready to kill her with the swipe of a paw. In Cougar Canyon, she has come to the Logan ranch to join her friend Seale. The closest neighbours of the Logans are the Trotters who make an illicit living killing protected species of wildlife, and the Farrells who have a run-down ‘dude ranch’. When corpses start to be found, can the killings really be blamed on the grizzly bears?

Miss Melinda Pink, renowned Scottish mystery writer, arrives at the sleepy Scottish village of Sgoradale, determined to finish her latest book amidst small-town peace and quiet. But she soon discovers some sinister undercurrents... Local handyman, Ivar Campbell, regularly implies that he may be involved in espionage and intelligence work. Most of the villagers ignore this as lies and idle boasting. That is, until Ivar's wife leaves him, and his cottage is set on fire. But when anonymous letters and hints of blackmail escalate to murder, Miss Pink is on the case. Using methods that might be considered questionable by police standards, she refuses to give up until all the secrets of this quiet lochside retreat are fully exposed. Miss Pink has seen snares in action before, and she is well aware that in capable hands—and given a sharp twist—a snare can be turned into a noose…

In a remote corner of Utah, the community on Salvation Canyon seems a sanctuary in an intimidating land of stone. However, there is a history of stern Mormonism and cattle-rustling, while prehistoric Indians have left a legacy which the residents protect fiercely. In such a place there must be secrets. And so when Birdie, a young half-Indian girl so avid to discover the truth of ancient legends, disappears, the tension explodes to the surface. Then, when Birdie's disappearance is followed by that of a second child, Miss Pink can't help but wonder if the disappearances are related. Accusations fly and alibis quickly materialise as the formidable Miss Pink does what she does discerning who has the most to hide. As the stakes rise, Miss Pink must mine the depths of depravity before the shocking conclusion is reached... Gwen Moffat served in the WRAC during World War II. Afterwards she took up climbing and became the first woman guide to be appointed by the British Mountaineering Council. The first Miss Pink mystery appeared in 1973, and others have followed almost annually.

Miss Melinda Pink, gothic writer and mountain climber—and sleuth heroine of Snare and The Stone Hawk—is back on the trail in Rage. Dorset Press’s best-selling travel writer, Timothy Argent, has disappeared while following an old wagon trail across America’s West. The last trace of Argent came in the form of a cryptic postcard to his publisher from Gabriel, California—“Romantic Ghost Town of the Wild West.” As she investigates out in the foothills of the magnificent Sierras, Miss Pink discovers Crazy Mule Canyon - complete with a crazy recluse who prefers animals to people, and emphasises his points with a rifle. And it soon becomes clear that Argent seems to have left wreckage in his wake: a beautiful Algerian-English girl disappeared around the time Argent came through the ranch where she lived, and then the carcass of his baby blue jeep turns up. As usual, bizarre clues and red herrings abound and, if Miss Pink is not careful, she too could fall prey to whatever force lurks out there in the wild...

On the foggy coast of Oregon, where the precipitous mountains drop into the Pacific, the tiny community of Sundown perches between a wild ocean and a wilder hinterland. When Miss Pink arrives in Sundown, she finds a volatile situation, barely contained by good manners. And some people have decided to take matters into their own hands. Raptors have begun to operate in the canyons between Cape Deception and Fin Whale Head, and not all of them are feathered.

Exploring a remote canyon in the wilds of New Mexico, Melinda Pink comes upon a rifle and recent human remains in an old cave dwelling. She alerts the small community of Regis only to find that no one is missing. There was a recent suicide when the lovely but disturbed Veronica walked into the river – and a Mexican ranch hand made a discreet departure after the autopsy showed she was pregnant, but no locals are unaccounted for. Intrigued, Miss Pink stays in Regis to uncover a world of dark secrets and darker of marijuana gardens and brothels, frightened children, confused adults and others beyond the law. A violent storm is the setting for a third death and the body is borne away on the flood waters of the Rio Grande. The end is quiet and terrible, and culminates in Miss Pink’s acceptance into the circle of Veronica’s sisters to join them in a conspiracy of silence. Gwen Moffat served in the Land Army and the A.T.S. during World War 2. Subsequently she took up climbing to become the first woman mountain guide, and climbed professionally for 20 years. She published her story Space Below my Feet in 1961, followed by five more autobiographical books and many crime novels. Miss Pink was introduced in 1973 in Lady with a Cool Eye, followed by 15 in the series, and 13 standalones. She lives in Cumbria with two supportive cats.

'Cool, incisive tale of collusive amorality - from one of the crime shelf's defter hands' - THE GUARDIAN 'Gwen Moffat creates vivid characters, and not only manages a fast-moving, well-patterned plot but also shows an apptitude for brilliant, atmospheric set pieces' - DAILY MAIL When a Lakeland dale is flooded to form a reservoir there are no protests, only relief. The rising water should cover the remains of little Joannie Gardner, and folk can forget both the child and the man who left the dale shortly after her disappearance. Forty-five years on, as the water recedes in a prolonged drought, a dog's ghastly find revives the events and rumours surrounding Joannie's disappearance. Then another violent death occurs and it is amateur sleuth Melinda Pink who makes the connections to reveal more horrors than had ever been suspected.

In the foothills of the Rockies, Miss Pink is visiting her friend Sophie Hamilton. But despite the summer sunshine, there is a shadow over the gathering. Rich, autocratic, Charlie Gunn delights in playing cruel jokes on his guests - and watching the victims, which include his sister-in-law Sophie, squirm. When Charlie Gunn disappears from his remote hunting cabin, Miss Pink is drawn into a volatile situation. Charlie's end was a violent one. And the police, their suspicions aroused by by his multi-million dollar will, are not satisfied that his death was the result of a fall from a horse. The family is tight-lipped, guarding its scandals. Until a blackmailer starts to make demands and suspicions grow that Charlie's death could have been murder. With a wife who was martyr to his excesses and with a mystery surrounding his granddaughter’s disappearance ten years earlier, the family are all under suspicion. As a prime suspect is taken out of the river, Miss Pink braves rattlesnakes and subsidence to follow the blood trail to an abandoned copper mine. At the site of Charlie's hunting cabin, his last and very private joke backfires in a delayed and terrible climax…

In a remote Lakeland dale whitewashed cottages nestle in lush gardens, sheep roam the fells and the Rutting Beck runs crystal clear: it seems like a Cumbrian paradise... But Melinda Pink, visiting on holiday, knows better. She knows that yard-thick walls do more than shelter their occupants from the elements; they can also muffle screams. For there are serpents in paradise; dead sheep go unburied, tax dodges and benefit fraud are rife; the proprietor of the tearooms falls prey to a rumour of salmonella poisoning – and then the village busybody is found caught up in the jetsam of the flooded beck. Arthritic but insatiably curious, it is Miss Pink who takes up the cudgels on behalf of the other intrepid local old folk both alive and dead, and – as it soon transpires – of other, younger victims. Against a backdrop of a stark and beautiful countryside is woven a thread of love and lust, of betrayal and revenge.

Bringing together the first four mysteries of the acclaimed Miss Pink series, this box set of devilishly clever whodunits is a must for any murder mystery reader. From apparently accidental deaths on the craggy mountains of Scotland to a classic closet mystery in a remote Lake District village, amateur sleuth Melinda Pink is on the case. Lady with a Cool Eye (Miss Pink #1) The warden of the Plas Mawr Adventure Centre, Charles Martin, is a weak man whose unfaithful wife, Bett, has driven him to drink. Then Bett is found dead in her husband’s crashed Jaguar, at the foot of a cliff. At first, it is assumed to be an accident or suicide, but further developments show that it is a murder case. Tough, middle-aged Miss Pink, one of the Centre’s directors, proves herself to be a shrewd amateur detective. She puts two and two together and realises that the Centre is being used as a cover for something very serious. Miss Pink at the Edge of the World (Miss Pink #2) When two climbers die mysteriously on The Old Man of Scamadale—a stack off the Scottish coast—the police, who know nothing of climbing techniques, would accept the deaths as accidents. It’s Clive and his climbing friends who convince them, from their own knowledge of the stack, that both men were murdered—and in doing so they put themselves under strong suspicion, for they alone appear to have the expertise needed to perform the killings. An ironical situation, but amateur sleuth Miss Pink handles it with her usual subtle detection. Over the Sea to Death (Miss Pink #3) At the little hotel in Glen Shira, in the Cuillin of Skye mountains, professional guides and dedicated climbers gather—among them Melinda Pink, J.P., an amateur detective. Miss Pink has two murders to contend with, each ingeniously camouflaged, and to reach the solution takes all of her climbing expertise and her understanding of what makes people tick. A Short Time to Live (Miss Pink #4) Gwen Moffat gives her latest thriller a Lake District setting: the remote village of Sandale which, when torrential rain causes a landslide, is temporarily cut off from the rest of the world. This is the splendid background to a tale of blackmail, anonymous letters, conspiracy, a large-scale robbery, kidnapping and murder. Of course, not all these crimes are the work of the same person, and it’s Miss Moffat’s now well-known amateur detective, Miss Pink, who sorts out the puzzle—but aided this time by the enigmatic Daniel Cole, who claims to be Press but whose interest in Sandale may be more sinister.