Murder, Mustard and Cheese by Malcolm Noble

On a quiet October afternoon in the village where Peggy Pinch is the policeman’s wife, an old lady is poisoned in her parlour armchair. It is 1931 and folk with murder in their midst seem more concerned about Ogden’s unfair circulation of cigarette cards and the fate of Hedley’s Fairy Soap. Peggy cannot solve this murder without discovering the truth behind the myth that a German spy is living amongst them. No more than village gossip? Or did this traitor have a hand in the killing of Spinster Knightly? 

Malcolm Noble was born in Nottingham but grew up on the shores of the Solent. As a young man Noble served in the Portsmouth police. He has written sixteen mystery novels set in the south of England from the 1920s to the 1960s. He has had a series of plays produced on FM radio. Press reviews have emphasised his sense of place and atmosphere, his strong characterisation and first rate storytelling. 

Malcolm Noble lives in Market Harborough where he ran a second-hand bookshop for over twenty years 

He is a member of the Crime Writers Association. He has written biography, radio drama and literary criticism but, each year, it is his new crime thriller that excites collectors and readers alike. For 2023, he gives us one of his best.