TWELVE CLOSE FRIENDS, ONE DEADLY ENEMY. A Ouija board spells out 'MURDER' and next morning wealthy widow Daisy Mills is found drowned at a Lakeland beauty spot. Was this a warning from beyond the grave, or an agent provocateur among the house party?

Could the earlier death of successful businessman Simon Mills really be the accident it seemed? And was it by coincidence that the same clique of old school friends had met before each tragedy?

Pitched into this forest of uncertainty, Skelgill and his team glean perplexing clues - an anonymous phone call, a hidden tracking device, a secret assignation - but hard evidence is thin on the ground and alibis watertight.

For want of a clear view, the detectives follow the money trail - and a tenuous case begins to take shape. But Skelgill is uneasy. Is the group closing ranks, or are long-held enmities subtly being played out around them?

Try as they might, the questions persist. Were there two murders? Just one murder? Or no murder at all? It falls to DS Leyton to bemoan the impasse: "Guvnor - it's a right old kiss and cuddle."

BRUCE BECKHAM is an award-winning author and copywriter. A resident of Great Britain, he has travelled and worked in over 60 countries. He is published in both fiction and non-fiction, and is a member of the UK Society of Authors.

His series 'Inspector Skelgill Investigates' features the recalcitrant Cumbrian detective Daniel Skelgill, and his loyal lieutenants, long-suffering Londoner DS Leyton and local high-flyer DS Emma Jones.

Set amidst the ancient landscapes of England's Lake District, this expanding series of standalone murder mysteries has won acclaim across five continents, with over 1 million copies downloaded, from Australia to Japan and India, and from Brazil to Canada and the United States of America.